Entry No. 27

I realized I never mentioned my Lily of the Valley.  It’s truly one of my favorite flowers.  So delicate and beautiful, white and wonderful, heavily scented.  And the name, you know it just brings my thoughts to God’s honor.  Each year, these flowers will return, the same way God has been faithful to me over-and-over again.  Anyway, these went in front of my Hostas I mentioned here.  They’ve already started coming up!

The roots were so bare and small out of the package.  I felt a little awkward planting these. I mean, I had some difficulty imagining a big plant growing out of this.  Unlike a tiny seed… they looked dead and ugly.  As I settled them, watered them, I began thinking.  There have been many situations in my life that looked dead, unable to rise from the ashes – unrepairable.  Every time though – I was wrong.  God’s promise was true.  Now, I’ve grown to expect His faithfulness, trust it and anticipate what cool thing He’ll do next.  I really enjoyed planting these roots.  I hope they do fantastic in my shade garden.

“Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither wearily toil nor spin nor weave; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory, his splendor and magnificence was not arrayed like one of these.”  Luke 12:27

 

 

Entry No. 26

Here’s my potatoes!  Well, some of them.  This is the Norland Red patch.  I have another across the garden, looks much the same, filled with Yukon Gold.  These were grown from spuds, not actual seed like I wrote about here.  This is my experimental year with True Potato Seed so, I put spuds or Seed Potatoes in this Spring.  Growing potatoes is as close to instant gratification as I can find in my garden.  They’re the first thing to pop up each year.  Each day when I’d go out to check and see you know, hasn’t anything sprouted yet?! The potatoes were always there assuring me, indeed, things will grow.  We added straw the other day to several beds in the garden to help with weeds.  Over here by the potatoes though, it’s just to keep the growing roots out of the sun. Or, we’ll end up with green potatoes instead of red ones.  Here’s how we made our garden marker; in case you noticed the big, blue ‘Potato’ rock.

Entry No. 25

Scarlet Emperor Runner Beans

Beans.  Mine are growing very good this year.  I wrote here about the bean tunnel we’re trying… this is how it’s looking so far. Since the seedlings are up, my oldest likes to sit in the dirt. Plants herself right in the center under the tunnel.  She digs there, sings there, hunts treasure there, flicks ants and cuddles earthworms there.  If I’m not mistaken, I overheard her sail the ocean the other day.  It’s her special place.  I showed her some photos of how the tunnel may look when it’s all bushy and grown.  Man, were here eyes wide, ‘Mommy?  Can I play there? Can I get all dirty there!?’

Gardens are fascinating to children if they get a chance to enjoy them.  It can be hard you know, ‘don’t step there, there’s seedlings in that spot!  Don’t pull that, it’s not a weed! Don’t bury the seeds so deep – they’re not dead yet…‘ It takes a lot of effort in the patience department – a lot of love in the delivery of garden rules.  For the times last Spring and this one, where I’ve had to take a breath; pause, and remember fun in my Grandmother’s garden – it’s been worth it.  Anyway, I really had to just stop one day and recall more of what actually made those times so special.  Sure, I got in trouble sometimes {smile} but there was way more, ‘you can’ than ‘you can’t’ in my Grandmother’s garden.  So, I’ve tried to make it the same for my girls… and for me.

Watching things grow teaches us and our children to wait for God’s best – be patient just a little bit longer.  My girl can have fun before the tunnel is all lush and green. It’s because she sees what it can be in her heart – through the eyes of hope – hope sprung from the joy in her soul.  I showed her, I promised her.  She’s already planning to eat the beans with lots of butter, has a basket to collect them in, and knows she will.  She believes.  Trust, faith, willingness to wait, eagerness to plant again when a seed or two didn’t sprout. This is where the ‘can’s’ make room for her to learn so much more about God’s ways in our garden.  They say every garden tells a story… So far, so good.