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<\/a><\/p>\nWhich was shocking considering this year’s potato bed didn’t grow anything except grass.<\/p>\n
Once I had all the plants in the right place, I had to choose the number and varieties that I wanted to keep. \u00a0More zucchini, less squash because the children only eat squash if it’s hidden in the recipe. \u00a0More big tomatoes and less of the medium-sized ones because we love the large slicing type for sandwiches and a plethora of medium-sized tomatoes means I have to feel bad about not canning. \u00a0Although with 47 tomato plants giving it their all, I will still feel bad about not canning.<\/p>\n All the eggplant because only 8 plants germinated in the greenhouse and even they were weenie this year so a lot of them will probably get eaten by flea beetles.<\/p>\n I also decided to keep all the peppers. \u00a0All 75 of them. \u00a0Hard to say if it was because I had the extra space in the garden by rotating the peppers to a long raised bed in front instead of a shorter row in the back. \u00a0Or because I grew a bunch of hot peppers for the first time and wanted to try them all. \u00a0Or if I just get so tired of giving my extra plants to people who say they want them but never bother to come pick them up before they wither away in their plastic pots. \u00a0Or people who pick them up but never plant them and tell me later, with a laugh, how the plants died on their decks or garages before they had time to get them in the ground. \u00a0Or paying customers who gripe about paying $1 for a plant that I’ve been caring for since January that would cost them $4 at the local garden store. \u00a0I did put aside one unlabeled pack of pepper plants. \u00a0A Surprise Pack—I have no idea whether they are sweet peppers or spicy but they are up for grabs if you’re feeling adventurous.<\/p>\n Once the thinking was done, it was time for physical labor to start. \u00a0Everything got trucked down to the garden with my little wagon. \u00a0Wheelbarrows of compost were brought down to snuggle around the roots, manure from the barn piled between plants to act as fertilizer and mulch, trellises strung and stakes pounded into place. \u00a0For days I trekked the worn path between the greenhouse, the barn, and the garden; rolled up and down the driveway with my wagon. \u00a0There was no room left in my mind for worrying and wondering and the only images I carried around with me were the ones I encountered as I worked.<\/p>\n The salvia set off so nicely by the buttercups I never got around to weeding out of the perennial beds.<\/p>\n The frog eggs laid in a pot of water lilies in the koi pond.<\/p>\n This year’s strawberry crop. \u00a0Wild strawberries being the only strawberries that I grow.<\/p>\n The grass spiders or funnel weavers that have set up all over the pasture.<\/p>\n And tucked themselves into crannies of the garden.<\/p>\n The broccoli ready for harvest….<\/p>\n and the blueberries getting ready for a banner year.<\/p>\n The Silkie trailing a trio of chicks in the barnyard, despite brooding in plain sight right in middle of the buck barn.<\/p>\n The comfrey just big enough to cut and lay among the newly planted beds for a burst of nutrients.<\/p>\n The lamb’s ear that jumped outside its bed so I’ll have some to share and some to transplant to the front perennial garden.<\/p>\n Max the duck, who was fighting a leg injury, all recovered and resuming his place on the deck. \u00a0Where the ducks are not allowed.<\/p>\n Everywhere the brilliant hues of spring competing for attention.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n