Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

Two posts in one week?  What?!? I know.  Pretty cool.

So, growing up, I frequently heard the nursery rhyme "Mary Mary Quite Contrary..."  Especially during preschool and kindergarten. I must say, I kinda hated that nursery rhyme for most of my life.. well, all of my life up until a month ago actually - kinda sad. 

The reason for my change in endearment to this antiquity is that, finally, for the first time ever in my life, I have a garden!!!

I'm excited! (Can you tell?)

Growing up, we usually had some type of flower garden and in Texas we even had a small vegetable garden in the backyard with okra and sunflowers (I'm sure we had more things than this.. but this is all I remember).  My dad's parents ALWAYS had a garden at their house, no matter where they lived (except Alaska.. sorry Alaska).  So I've been exposed to gardening for many years, but never had one for my own. 

When my girls were toddlers,  my dad would plant flowers in the back yard and the girls loved helping Pops take care of them (so did my dad -- I miss that man). The flowers only lasted a few months, but the memories were there forever.  My dad loved gardening, and it's something he left for me to continue on now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

In April and May, my mother purchased three tomato plants and we planted them in the front yard.  This sparked a desire in both of us to have a small garden in the backyard. In June she purchased a raised gardening structure (wood planks) and lots of wonderfully healthy peat/compost soil.  In the middle of June the kids germinated Lima beans and sprouted potatoes during their final science unit. We planted them in the ground on June 18th.  Since then, we've planted a few more Lima beans, okra, cucumbers, and a green pepper.  It's been so wonderful to watch the garden grow!

We're using the Square Foot Gardener technique (Google it, I dare you) so we're only using up a 4x4 section of our backyard and only have 12 of the 16 square feet plots full.  So we have room to continue planting (yay!).

Yesterday we saw our first Lima bean pod!!! It's less than 1/2 inch long, and is to tiny and cute! You can actually see three Lima beans inside of it.  The kids got a kick out of seeing it yesterday. (I'm tempted to dry it out and hang it on the wall as our first pod.. but that's just a little weird.. maybe..)

We also have some small cucumbers growing, one green pepper growing (almost ripe) with one more on the way, and one of the potato plants are flowering - a sign that vegetables should be growing underneath.

Those that know me well, know that I'm not exactly a patient person (I'm working on it.. slowly.. is that ironic?), but this gardening thing SURE takes patience.  It seems like months ago that we started this garden, but when I look at the calendar, it's only been 5 1/2 weeks.  I'm hoping that this garden produces not only lots of yummy veggies, but patience - a fruit of the Spirit - in me.  Only time will tell (pray for me!).

Next month and in September we have plans to growing lettuce, carrots, radishes, and spinach.  Next spring I hope to have an earlier garden and hope to expand to include two more 4x4 plots.  We'll see!!

I'm thinking of making a sign that says "Mary's Quite Contrary Garden".  What do you think?