Wednesday's Wonders 5.12.10 Gardening

I absolutely LOVE gardening. The meditation of working in the ground. The sense of accomplishment when harvesting and tasting the wonderful things grown. The coming together of friends, family, and community. The wonderful things that happen with sometimes little or no effort of the gardener.

I am so excited and happy for a new garden in the works. We have extra land at the gallery I work at and have all decided to start a vegetable garden there. There will be 7 to 8 of us working and tending to the garden. The ground has been worked, the bunny fence is installed and we are ready to plant! We currently have 52 plants of 15 vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and even more seeds. Our last frost will be tonight (28 degrees!! brrrr!) so tomorrow is planting day!


I came across a fellow blogger who planted Bee's Friend (Phacelia tanacetifolia) and I though this would be a wonderful addition to our garden. It attracts bees and other good insects that help keep away the bad ones. I ordered it right away!!

A great gardening tip I discovered by chance was to have a few plants of catnip around the parameter of your garden. This will bring the neighborhood cats around and keep the bunnies and other furry pests out! I suggest getting catnip as plants and place in pots. The larger the plant the better as some cats will just devoir the whole thing in one sitting.

And don't forget those great Marigolds. They come in such a great variety of heights, sizes, variations and range from the most beautiful yellows to the deepest rusty orange. These are a long time staple in gardens to keep out bad insects. In Mexican tradition, the marigold is widely used in celebrations of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead on November 2nd. The marigold is known as Flor de Muerto or (Flower of the Dead). I've seen them hanging strung together as garlands over entrance ways to homes in the fall. I will be trying this in the fall as we have 22 marigold plants and tons more seeds that will be going into our garden.

Gardening has always been something as a family we always did. I am forever grateful for having this knowledge and feel close to my family everytime I work in the garden even though they live hundreds of miles away. I am excited to see how our work garden turns out and see what relationships and connections are made and continued. Please stay tuned for updates on our little garden!

Do you have a garden? What do you love most about gardening?