Okay - there's some needed whacking here about length of time between posts. I'd like to say it's because I'm thoughtful - but really it's because I'm lazy....
My vegetable garden is mostly in now - corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchinni, radishes, peas, beans, lettuce, onions, and spinach. I put in rice and buckwheat this year as well, to complement my wheat and oats (I am experiencing a strange fascination with cereal crops, of which I tried a stand [buckwheat] at the Ranch to see if it would grow). I have yet to get chickpeas, potatoes, and soybeans in the ground.
It's better than last year, but not great. My spacing still leaves much to be desired, and in some cases, I'm not even sure when the vegetable is ready - broccoli, I've discovered, is the flowering head of the broccoli plant. Wait too long, and the plant flowers...Oh well - I've decided to let it grow to the end, just to see what it does. I need not to make the same mistake with the brussel sprouts.
I've decided I really quite enjoy gardening. It is restful, a relief from having to think about the weighter matters of life, and gives one both physical labor and physical reward. There's also a happy sideline, that of imagining what will come out, or planning ahead (In my mind, I've already increased my wheat and oats by regulating their rows more closely...).
And, it's another reason to marvel at God's creation - to look at the size of some of these seeds, like broccoli or brussel spourts, and to see the resulting plant, is to marvel at His creative genius. I am sprouting out some tomatoe seeds right now. To see the first two leaves, and to know the resulting plant that will come, is simply awe inspiring and amazing.
The new bees should arrive next week. Stay tuned....