Growing Season!

It's growing season here in Eastern N.C.! Our garden is in full-swing! We have planted sugar snap peas, green beans, peppers (jalapeno, sweet banana, and different varieties of bell), tomatoes (Beef Master, Better Boy, grape, cherry, yellow pear, Mr. Stripey, Celebrity, and an heirloom variety called Brandywine), pickling cucumbers, and basil. We also have a bed of zinnias (mere seedlings right now) and a sunflower coming up! I've also snuck in some celosia seeds where I can:) and am hoping those jovial accents of color and strangeness will pop up here and there this summer. I have also planted Passion Flower, in hopes that I will succeed in growing a vine and witnessing one of the most beautiful and alien-looking blooms of all! And, of course, we have about 7 rose bushes that are so beautiful and productive (we care not about black spot!!!)

Here is a picture of one morning's harvest last year, probably in late June or July. Once we establish a garden, my morning ritual can begin: I wake up around 6:00 or 6:15 each morning, brew my coffee, and make my breakfast. Then I head outdoors, coffee mug in hand, to water the garden. It's a very precious time before work, when early morning critters are out, and I can observe what's happening on the river and in the back yard at that hour. Also, it is a time when I can see what's new back there....are any of my plants flowering? Are any critters muching away at foliage? Is there anything for me to harvest this morning? Of course, it's not time to harvest anything quite yet (I always get ahead of myself this time of year, starting seeds indoors WAY too early, and sometimes transplanting the poor things outdoors too early, too!).

I shall miss this garden space after I leave.