Lessons Learned While Gardening
Lessons learned while gardening can be of great importance.
During the spring, my husband, Daniel, my 2 year old son, Ramey and I started a new venture. We planted a vegetable garden in our back yard. It was not big or even fancy. What it was, was a labor of love which in time added to the appreciation for one another that we shared already. Here was our plan.
We determined early our goals:
1. Start out small
2. Plant a manageable vegetable garden
3. Learn from our experience
4. Tend to it daily
5. Be resolute and know that even if we ended up with a black thumb and not a green one, we would give all.
Start out small
Starting out small was great and it was the wise choice for us. We planted six rows covering about the size of a 12 x 12 carpet. Using a small family tractor, Daniel tilled the ground and we added various nutrients and such to make our ground veggie-ready. It took a couple of days for us to get our ground set for this new garden but after a lot of sweat and determination, we were determined to plant.
Plant a manageable vegetable garden
The size of our garden was perfect for us. We selected some of our favorite foods such as squash, beans, okra, and tomatoes as our first crops. We added roses along the sides of the garden to bring bees and marigolds to attract butterflies. Our planting days were numbered and we enjoyed every single day.
Learn from our experience
This was our first family garden. Oh, I’ve spent many-a-day with my grandad in his large family farm garden but this was our own family garden and we knew that we would live and learn as we planted and found success and possible failure. We used the internet and even some books with my granddad’s handwriting in them to help us understand the logistics of growing a garden. Ah! Learning was occurring among the three of us.
Tend to it daily
We learned early on that a garden cannot be left even for a day without someone to “till” the ground and weed out the rows. We found out that water was a must during those hot summer days and that even watering at the right time of day would matter. This was a great learning experience for all of us as we took turns working the garden and worked it as a team as well.
Be resolute and know that even if we ended up with a black thumb and not a green one, we would give all.
Resolute-“purposeful, adamant, single-minded”. After reviewing the definition of resolute, I knew we were on to something to show a stick-to-it attitude as we learned if we would have a black thumb(no growth) or a green thumb ( a garden from which we would eat). Every day we followed our plan. Every evening we would discuss and talk about what was working and not working. We were feeling pretty successful and happy that we had chosen to follow a small and manageable plan for our garden.
There will be more posts about our garden but let me end this one with a confirmation that we indeed followed our goals and yes, we are a green thumb family; even Ramey.
