The Cycle Continues

I'm so eager to get in the garden.

Sun on my back. Dirt under my fingernails. The smell of green around me. The winter was long and desolate, and the freezer and canning shelves are getting empty.

But we're waiting, waiting, waiting for things to dry out around here.

And I'm not the only anxious one.  My tots, who did so great with last years' garden, are eager to dig in the dirt with me, too. I was pleasantly surprised by how they thoroughly enjoyed helping me clear out the asparagus patch this spring and rock pick the garden.

I have a lot of goals for this years' garden. It's bigger than last year, and we're slowly working on the berry patch addition. As of right now, it appears that only half of the new blueberry plants survived the winter, but two of them are these plants and that's very exciting. One of my goals this year is to keep the acidic-soil-loving blueberry plants alive in my alkaline soil....and maybe even plant some more if we seem to have success.

Other gardening goals this year include establishing strawberry plants - which we just planted the other day,

keeping the dog...

 ...from digging where she shouldn't and killing what she shouldn't (she's already killed 3 1/2 of my 5 brand new variegated weigelas.....*sigh*), and keeping the critters, whatever and whoever they are, out of my beets! I will have beets grow successfully in my garden this year. It's just been too long since I had garden fresh beets.

This years' garden will include everything from last year with favorites like green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, squash, and Indian Corn, plus more.

New to our planting line up this year is:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Carrotts (we have heavy soil; I have no idea how they will turn out)
• Snow Peas
• Shell Peas
• Popcorn
• Cherry Tomatoes

One of my favorite things about gardening is the cycle - the planting, growing, tending, harvesting, dying - how we're always in some part of that cycle - how my heart, as a child of God, goes through the same cycle - how the death can lead way to new life....

....which is probably why I also enjoy composting, which we've kicked off for the season now that we don't need waders to get out to the compost piles.

Last years' compost filled the new strawberry beds, and as we we loosened the chunks and leveled off the mounds, we found a salamander. I was able to stifle a scream and hide my disgust in order to show the kids, who admired it before we returned it to the compost piles out back. Yuck.....my toes curl just thinking about that thing.

As the husband surveyed the asparagus patch, which is finally showing signs of life, and repeatedly disciplined the dog for digging in the new strawberry bed (she's left it alone since!), we also admired all the big juicy worms as we planted the strawberries. The kids kept informing me that "the worms are so happy," which I think is their way of remembering that I told them last year worms are good for our garden.

But it's not just all spring work, preparation, and dreaming around here. We were able to harvest the first of the season just a few days ago. The rhubarb is ready! The kids proudly cut the pink stalks themselves after a brief, in-one-ear-and-out-the-other, lesson on safe scissor handling. The first pickin' ended up in a dessert, but the rest will likely go into making rhubarb slush for all the summer festivities we are looking forward to.

We're so excited about what this gardening season has to offer, and even though the kids won't have their own garden this year, we're gonna link up over at The Inadvertant Farmer to participate in the KinderGARDENS series! 

(I missed the opening to link up this week.....*sigh*....but if I had been on the ball, I would have linked up to THIS POST.)