The Beginning

For months, Tessie and I have been talking about our vegetable garden.  We have been planning, researching, and imagining the possibilities.  For me, a vegetable garden represents so much.  It is a piece of my childhood, a way to get closer to nature, the best way to get organic veggies, and one of the greatest gifts I can think of to give my children.  I have been dreaming of what it will mean for them to grow and harvest their own food.  Today, we started the journey.

We had already been collecting seeds, but it was time to get them in some soil.  This is the part where I offer up a confession.  I know nothing about gardening.  For all my dreams of a gorgeous, prolific garden, I have absolutely no idea where to begin.  This is made so much worse by the fact that my mother is a genius in the garden.  She had the most amazing vegetable garden when we were kids, and now, even in the desert, her flower garden looks like a New Mexican Eden.  I have trouble keeping my house plants alive.  But in spite of this, I am determined to feed my family with food I have grown them.  That, and I promised my daughter...

So we stopped in at a local nursery for supplies.  Tessie was jumping up and down with excitement, and Christian thought if she was excited, he should be too.  We got a little advice, some seedling soil, and a few more packets of seeds, then headed home to get to work.  Christian had no interest in digging in the dirt, so Tes and I were on our own.  After a call or two to my mom for some advice, we got to it.  Tessie filled our little pots with soil, stuck our labels in, and, very carefully, placed the seeds in the pots.  The process was long, and she lost interest temporarily in the middle, but she came back around as I carried our future tomato, cabbage, broccoli, lettuces, arugula, and spinach to sit in front of a sunny window.  She watered, and hopefully didn't drown, each pot, then stood back proudly to examine her work.  After she had run back several times to see if they were sprouting yet, I explained we would have to wait about a week.  "And then we will have vegetables!" she declared.  I laughed and gave her a hug.  Our little garden is off to a beautiful start.