Faith and Hope in the Garden

I started this post on May 25.  That's more than a month ago.  I was going to tell you what I planted in my garden and how it still, after all these years of planting gardens, requires a lot of faith to put those seeds into the ground.  But now?  It feels too late.  I mean, it's never too late to talk about faith, but you see, those seeds have sprouted and grown and now I've got bona fide veggies in my garden.  We've even been harvesting eating-straight-off-the-vine sugar snap peas for over a week now.

But you might find it inspirational, so, here goes...

I planted the rest of my garden last week.  I put some seeds in the ground a couple of weeks ago, but held off on the plants because of low temps.  Finally last week, the forecast lows were far enough away from freezing for the entire 10 day outlook that I felt OK putting the plants out there.  And then it rained.  Isn't that perfect?

My garden has moved this year, to a more sunny location.  I am so happy about this.  Hubby, who agreed to make the garden for me, expected me to want a huge plot.  But honestly, even though there is no reason to believe my garden will do poorly again this year, I couldn't stand the disappointment if we put a whole lot of effort into it and it still underproduced.  So I went small this year.  To see if it'll work the way I hope it will.

Which is not to say I didn't plant a lot.  I'm using Mel Bartholomew's square foot gardening method, which is a "revolutionary way to grow more in less space."  We'll see, Mr. Bartholomew.

Anyway, I have two 4x4 foot beds, and 3 pots.  That's it.  In one plot, I have 2 squares of sugar snap peas, 2 zucchini, 6 tomatoes (mostly roma, because they're better for canning), 4 green beans, and 2 squares of pickles.  Bubby wanted me to grow pickles, so I am.

In the other plot, I have spaghetti squash, honeydew melon, watermelon, pie pumpkins, 1 square of lettuce, with another to be planted in a couple of weeks, and 2 more squares of green beans.  I'm hoping the lettuce and green beans will be done producing before the squashes and melons take over the space.  In my pots, I have a grape tomato (Hubby and AKD like to grab these as they're passing on the riding mower), sugar snap peas plus lemon cucumbers, and carrots.

Already, the peas and beans are up.  It's so thrilling to see their little green heads bending up toward the sun.

By now you know how I feel about gardening.  It is nothing short of miraculous to be able to produce life from dried and shriveled and dead-looking seeds.  It takes tremendous faith to plant a garden, and seeing the evidence of life gives me hope.  It gets easier every year, but planting a garden remains an act of faith for me.

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It makes me wonder what other areas in my life I need to practice faith?  What dried up, dead-looking corners of my being can bring forth new life if nurtured and cared for?