Gardening Peace

I bribed James with candy to go to a play date so I could work in the garden unencumbered.

It was a beautiful thing.

And a good deal on both sides.

Thanks to my friend for offering to take all four kids for a couple hours. It turns out Alice and Robert wanted to stay home, catch up on chores, and watch a computer turn. They are old enough (and compatible enough) that I was comfortable leaving them home together while I worked at the big garden a block away. The two littles got to play at my friends' house.

I got to prep the soil for and plant giant, edible sunflowers.

I got to prep the soil for and plant tiny blue flower seeds that attract pollinators (aka borage).

I got to check on my vigorous, robust, and happy little tomato plants thriving in the full sun and rich soil. That fungus I was fighting earlier has almost entirely vanished. Some of the plants' recovery might have come from the treatment I gave them, but I'm betting most of it came from getting the environment they needed. Plants, like people, get sick easily when they're under stress or malnourished. Now these little babies are happy and strong and they smell wonderful. Some are even starting to bloom.

Speaking of smelly tomatoes: Just the other day, I was prepping some tomatoes for dinner. They were some of those on-the-vine tomatoes. James walks by and sniffs, "Mmm, I love that smell." Then he sticks his nose into the bag of tomatoes on-the-vine and inhales deeply.

He said, "Take a picture of me making this face." Done.

I harvested three "heads" of green leaf lettuce this morning. Not bitter. That's the first time I've ever grown sweet lettuce. Ever.

That said, there's this mind block I still have to overcome when it comes to eating food I grow...I still don't entirely trust it. Like it's dirty or not as tasty or something. The kids kinda have it, too. They were willing to try the homegrown carrots, but they didn't really want them to be served as the vegetable at dinner. Alice was the same this morning about the potential for having homegrown lettuce at dinner. She raised an eyebrow and asked in her most diplomatic 10-year-old way, "Can salad be one of the veggie options at dinner tonight instead of the only veggie option?"

I ate a salad for lunch featuring this homegrown leaf lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson) and I was so scared it would taste bad that I drowned it with shredded carrots, smoked turkey, provolone, tomatoes, and lots of Ranch dressing. I don't think I actually tasted the lettuce at all. Which is a good thing, right? Sheesh, Susan. I kinda felt this way when our chickens first started laying eggs...wondering if they were actually safe to eat. Now I don't think twice about it. So, maybe eating fresh garden produce is just something I need to practice :)