Let's Garden!

Here we are in mid-February and before we know it, it will be time to start thinking about a garden.

My family has planted a garden for the last several years. I must admit, there were a lot of times when the LAST thing in the world I wanted to do was go out and work in the garden. This was especially true last summer when the weeds got away from us. We got the weeds under control, but it was A LOT of work.

My mother and I went out shopping for seed last weekend. It turned out that stores didn't have a lot of variety in terms of seed because it's still a little early in the season. We bought a couple of seed starting trays but the schedule has been hectic this week so we haven't had a chance to start any seeds yet.

We always plant tomatoes. I am NOT a tomato fan, but I will grow them, pick them and share them with friends. I like ketchup and all kinds of things made with tomato sauce but the thought of eating a tomato does not appeal to me at all. My mother announced that we are going to "limit" ourselves to 18 (!!) tomato plants this year. This means I need to build more tomato cages. Lots of fun. This year, I have promised myself that I'm going to label each cage with the variety of tomato. We put out a lot of plants last year and used the little spikes that came with the plants. Long before the weeds went out of control last year, the little spikes were gone. I've got a plan this year.

We've got lots of other things planned for the garden this year. We're going to add several varieties of lettuce and peas that we've never tried before. We're also going to plant sunflowers--just for something different.

It should be fun.