Gardening.

There is something decidedly theraputic in gardening for me.  As a kiddo, my paternal grandmother gardened (flowers and lots o' veggies), as did my maternal grandmother (lots of flowers).  At age 9, my parents, sister and I moved to a bigger house with a much bigger yard and we had an enormous garden.  That garden provided most of the veggies I remember eating as a kid, as well as copious amounts of blackberries and raspberries hot off the vine. 

In my own life, I've always had pots of flowers wherever I've lived and when I maintained some permanency, I had a garden.  My little house on Maple Lane had all flowers and a continuously growing amount of flower beds surrounded the place.  I planted flowers and plants wherever I could, just to give the house a super-homey look.  I loved being in my garden.

After I got married, sold my house and moved in with the Hex, I started on his garden beds, making them much bigger than what they ever were before and also adding a decent sized garden in the back yard.  I planted all sorts of veggies and herbs and many a night's supper was supplemented with a basket full of produce direct from our garden.  Even when things were turning sour between us, I found solace in the garden, working the soil and seeing one thing spring to life from the ruins of another. 

When I moved to La Porte I just had some potted plants, then upon return to Carmel, I had several potted veggies and herbs.  When I bought my condo in Indy, I spent hours and hours amending the very neglected soil with composted manure, peat and garden soil.  One weekend I hauled over 1500 lbs of that mixture into the garden beds.  After that, I planted many of the flowers that now showcase the condo, as well as creating a raised garden bed for my veggies that summer. 

In Florida, gardening is a different animal.  Many of the native flowers I know nothing about.  The growing season starts in February, rather than May, and the soil here is mostly sand (as you'd expect).  However, the knowledge I gained while working at my grandmas' sides, as well as my parents' sides was put to good use this weekend.

Yesterday at Mary and Lee's four raised beds were created.  Four by four in size, cedar board construction, with good dirt, the beds were a labor of love for Mary, Lee, Mary & Lee's kiddos and I.  By the end of Sunday, we had planted: corn, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, parsley, oregano, strawberries, asparagus, peas, green beans, lettuce and spinach.  I'm sure I'm missing a few things.  There are four raised beds yet to be created, with even more things to come.  I do know that one of the four boxes to come will showcase flowers for a cutting garden, as Mary, Mary's mom and I all love fresh flowers for the house. 

So I'm gardening again.  It felt like a slice of heaven to be playing in the dirt again.