Oh banana's....I forgot to bake!

Guess what!! I got so into doing nothing today, I forgot completely about baking.
I have gone to town, bought some Seventh Generation laundry detergent that smells heavenly, visited my friend Felissa and watched some 21 Jump street with my Johnny Depp obsessed daughter!
I also wrote up list of vegetables I am going to plant in the garden this year!!!!

I thought since I have no banana's today I would share my randomness today!!

My garden

Is there anything more beautiful than a garden in the spring? Watching and loving each little plant grow and thrive under your watchful eye. You fret, and weed and weed and fret that your little babies will make it through the rain and wind, only to wake up one morning and find them struggling to come out of the soil and bask under the sun. My very first garden was a labor of love. My mother was a brilliant gardener, she could grow anything. She would hand till a garden every year with a shovel and a hoe. It was amazing to see the dark brown earth turned upon itself and know that in a few months it would be filled with every type of delectable vegetable you could ever want!

My first garden was an homage to an English garden and Martha Stewart. I wanted a very free open design that incorporated both fruit and vegetables. It was a tiny little thing about 12 x20 feet, but I loved it so. My mother helped me hand till it, set the borders and decide on which veggies to grow. Together we choose, okra, tomatoes (both Mr.Stripey and cherry ), zucchini, Kentucky Wonder green beans and yellow wax beans. I also grew strawberries. The strawberries tried to grow, but the heat was to strong. The green beans never got off the ground, but the cherry tomatoes and the okra took off and we had more than we could eat. I wish I had a picture to share, it was the most free form, pretentious garden you have ever seen!!!

My mother shared all of her secrets and some really wonderful idea's that I still keep close to my heart.

When we moved into our colonial house, I picked the yard before the house. It has a huge back yard in a sunny location that would be perfect for a garden.. Before long I had smuggled in chickens (which is not allowed in town.) I had three gardens filled with fruits and veggies and a rose garden underway. My own personal Nirvana....And the squirrels nirvana too, those pesky buggers ate all my sunflowers and most of the seeds for our corn plants. The rabbits nibbled our Brussels sprouts and the tomato bugs flourished!

I adored every single moment of it! I love the look of my feet tanned and dirty from walking barefoot in the soil of our garden. The sight of the recycled cucumber archway house I built from old fence and found t-posts...and there still is a hint of Martha and the English garden....I just cannot help myself! I have a sort of On Golden Pond look about me in the summer. I own a huge floppy white garden hat my mother bought me to protect me from sun damage. A pair of overalls with more holes than Swiss cheese, and a very loved and lived in pair of orange flowered garden gloves.

I wish you could see it! I think it is the most beautiful place in the world and you will find me there everyday all summer long.

I was unable to have a garden for the past two years, due to my illness and it always made me a little sad to round the corner of the driveway and see nothing.

No whimsical old metal pie plates blowing in the breeze to ward off squirrels, no ceramic angel in the center protecting it, no eight foot tall cucumber house that my youngest daughter loved to sit in and read. Nothing just barren nothingness...

Not this year....This year I am going to be elbow deep in organic fertilizer and soil, the smell of sun and coconut pouring off of my tanned skin. My cats prowling for bugs and my 14 year old daughter naming various toads names like, Ethel and Mr. Hubert (it's tradition!!)

Here is a list of what is going into the gardens this year, we will have 3 :

Grape tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Mr.Stripey Heirloom tomatoes

Beef steak tomatoes

Okra

Beets

Turnips

Parsnips

Carrots, both long Danvers and purple carrots

Kenenbec potato's

Irish boiling potato's

Kale

Rainbow Chard

Spinach

Romaine lettuce

Radishes

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Acorn squash

Butternut squash

Kentucky wonder green beans

Snow peas

and I also plant...

Marigolds, to keep bunnies at bay

Morning glories that wrap themselves around the snow peas, very pretty

and...

Watermelons and cantaloupe (although they never turn out), but I have hope!!!

We are breaking ground this weekend and I am so excited! We always plant potato's on St. Patricks day for luck and our yield is always bountiful!!! We grow an all organic garden, using our kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, rain water and our homemade compost!~

So how many of you plant gardens and what do you plant?? I am excited to hear about your gardens!!!

Sorry about the late post, but goofing off takes time!

Tomorrow I am either making gumbo or spaghetti and I promise I will post it at a decent hour!!!

Hugs and joyful thoughts!!!!!!