The Gardener

With the warm days finally here, we have quickly resumed our summertime hobby of gardening.

It's the latest cool thing to do to profess your 'greenness', however, we've been at it for years. My dad has had a garden as long as I can remember. My childhood garden was filled with all kinds of goodies we used to pick as kids. Carrots, tomatoes, radishes, pumpkins. We used to pick them and eat them sitting in the backyard (after we rinsed them under the hose, of course).

His father had one too. I don't know what it looked like when my dad was growing up, but when I was a child it was an endless pasture of all things veggie. An enormous patch on the far edge of the lawn. There were things in that garden I would never have known existed, if not for the summer evenings spent out there too. Colorful cabbages, leeks, rhubarb, pickling cucumbers.

Here, our garden has grown considerably in the past three years, at least a 10 foot addition to the patch, and I'd say that's being modest. While we were away, my dad let his passion falter, planting only a few tomatoes and peppers every year. Without the time to invest, or the help tending, it was more of a hassle. Especially when there were not many to enjoy the fruits of his laboring.

Now we are home, the gardener is back, and our garden is full again.

We have beefsteak & cherry tomatoes, banana, jalapeno, & sweet peppers, and two types of cucumbers. Asparagus, green beans, yellow beans, eggplant, spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, celery, and rhubarb. There are raspberries, blackberries, strawberries. This year we added a little herb garden with cilantro, rosemary, basil, chives, and parsley. After this season we've already decided to expand the herb garden and move the strawberries to their own little space, creating a wonderful patch for the kids.

It is a lovely summer hobby, but it is a lot of work. Tilling, planting, weeding, harvesting. Then you have to know what to do with all of the stuff. Sharing, canning, freezing, drying.

As with many things, the benefits are so worth the effort. It's 'green' and you can't get much more local. Gardening is good for your body, both the exercise and the nutrition. It is a family affair, a time when everyone can chip in. It is an opportunity to teach the kids where their food comes from. How to spot the plants, care for them, when to pick them, how to cook them. Our kids help in every step of the process, from planting to eating. They help plant them, pick them, then help to make them into dinner or sauces, jams, & salsas. It's an opportunity to teach them skills they will carry with them forever, from the garden to the kitchen.

I highly recommend giving it a try for your family. Maybe you don't have the space or the lack the energy for something huge like we have. Maybe your kids would laugh and shun the idea. Then start small. Go to Home Depot, buy a pot and a tomato plant. Put it on your patio, or windowsill. See what happens. I guarantee, you'll buy a few more next year, and the year after that you'll be the master of your own salsa recipe. Or perhaps you prefer spaghetti sauces. Trust me, that's what it leads to.

You'll see.