Gardening: A Family Affair * A Guest Post * with Wisdom Wednesday Link Up

Today I have the blessing of having one of my readers share a post with us! I pray you will be blessed by her words! 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe you live like this. This is not how we were raised.”, my sister said, as I came in stomping mud from my shoes. She was appalled at the way I looked. Dirty clothes. Dirt under my nails. Her disdain turned into amazement when she got her first taste of home-grown vegetables.

This isn’t at all how I grew up. But this city girl fell in love with and married a farmer.

Since farming doesn’t always make ends meet and is seasonal, my husband and I both worked other jobs. Thus gardening became more than just my passion and a way to cut back on the grocery bill. It became a family affair. A way to spend time together. A way to reconnect.

Not one to do anything small, as soon as the ground thaws enough to drive stakes into it, I am out measuring the garden area. Every year it gets bigger.

After I dumped piles of manure in different areas, the kids spread it out. My husband then discs or tills the manure into the ground. This will provide extra nutrients for the plants.

After the kids and I pick up the rocks that were turned up during the discing process, hubby and I rake the dirt around to level it as much as possible.

Next thing to do; lay out the hoses. Soaker hoses with shut off valves work best for me. This allows me to water different sections all at once or at different times. As I lay out the hoses, hubby connects them to the valves.

Time to plant. Some of the tender plants like tomatoes and peppers ,I start inside so I can slowly acclimate them. Vegetables, I’ve learned, are like people. Certain plants barely survive when planted next to each other. Tomatoes and carrots do great when planted next to each other.

As the plants grow so do the weeds. Weeding is done mostly by me, since I’m the one who really enjoys it.

We all pick vegetables when it’s time. Some need to be picked almost daily to keep producing. Others,like winter squashes, are picked just before the first hard freeze.

Though the kids are grown, gardening is still a family affair. It is still how hubby and I stay connected. It is also how I stay connected with God.