Garden Glory

We are trying to get serious with gardening...I mean I am. I will explain Chris' involvement in a minute. For several years, I have created larger and larger areas to garden and expanding the library of produce that I plant. This year, I am excited to add corn to the backyard garden (check out photo)! I planted the seeds not more than a week ago and they are sprouting up quicker than I can say 'hopscotch jolly.' (Does that sound country enough?!) We live on 6 acres of beautiful land. Three acres are wooded and the other 3 are pasture. Our house sits right on the border of both. It is a perfect place to raise kids, do some gardening, watch the dog run and hopefully add a few farm animals. I am trying to convince Chris into letting us get a donkey from our neighbor who is giving hers away. (We'll see!!)
In the meantime, I am trying to nurture my little garden and hopefully be able to enjoy the fruit of my labor. I hope to see some corn, zucchini, red onions, 3 different types of tomatoes, green peppers,squash, green beans, and a variety of herbs.
Now..let me describe Chris' role in the gardening. He is an avid supporter. He will water it faithfully, create and maintain any composting, even purchase a few plants to add, and he definitely enjoys harvesting any ready fruits or veggies. As far as his involvement a couple of years ago, it can be summed up in 4 words: He mowed it down. We can laugh now about it, but 2 years ago, not so much. I was 8 months pregnant with our 3rd child and I had been nurturing my beautiful garden since the spring..and it was not funny. I had even started seeds indoors 6 weeks before planting during the winter months trying to get a head start. Here is where the crazy idea came from. During a car ride back from town one day, we noticed a man had mowed down his garden. It sparked a conversation going somewhat like this, 'Why would you mow down a garden? I wonder if he had already harvested all the veggies. I wonder if that helps it grow better next season. I bet he is going to plant new stuff now." That is how it went. A few days later, I look out of our kitchen window and discover that my husband has JUST FINISHED MOWING DOWN MY GARDEN! Let me say that we had just begun harvesting the veggies. It still had many more weeks of growth and plenty more veggies to harvest. You can imagine my response....and let me remind you that I was 8 months pregnant. This condition already creates an increased level of emotion. Needless to say, Chris will not ever mow down a garden again....and anyway the 4 foot high fencing that we installed prevents any temptation! His explanation?!1 Well..it was something like this: Didnt you say that you wanted me to?!! ha..ha...ha..ha... He was very serious and to this day, it has been chalked up to miscommunication. Ummm...hmmmmmm. Yep...miscommunication. See...these are the things that make a marriage stronger. and you just thought I was talking about gardening!