Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A Note About Spring

my cilantro garden
My garden has been calling to me now that the spring weather is upon us (at least here in south Texas!).  Of course, I usually can't hear the persistent cry of the dry flower bed or the weed-stricken vegetable garden; I'm a reluctant gardener, and usually turn a deaf ear to such things.

And while I was reminded by Luke's mom that gardening doesn't make you more Godly (easy for her to say, she's good at both!), I do feel a sense of persuasion to do it for the children.  It's such a neat experience to cultivate, plant, water, weed, and see the literal fruit of your labor!  And it's such a hands-on learning experience, without having to come up with a "hands-on" experience, if you know what I mean.

So, we embarked on our spring garden this week. We turned over the dirt, scooped out cat poop (my nemesis, if my dear neighbor would just stop feeding the stray cats!), fertilized (as if it needed it), got grossed out at two bright green grub worms (note to self: grub worms are bad, check on what to do about them), water, and planned.

We have cilantro in abundance this year.  I planted one little plant two years ago, and it kept coming back, so I added 3 more little plants in the fall and oh my goodness, do we have a fresh smelling garden! We're in cilantro heaven! It keeps reseeding itself and blooming in all sorts of odd places (my kind of gardening).  But I don't mind, because around here we use cilantro all the time (cilantro recipes to come).

Simple gardening is best for me, so here's the simple plan:
~pick two vegetables to cultivate
~add one more herb, probably rosemary (can't believe I haven't planted that yet)
~work on adding perennials to new-ish kitchen window flower garden

6 comments:

Denise said...

Yeah! I am so excited for you and the kids! Gardening is such a sweet and easy way to have really tangible conversations about the Creator! Hope I get to see your gardening efforts come to life sometime soon! Fun in the dirt!

Heather Pelczar said...

Cilantro is so hard to find in Italy!!!! Does it seed? (I know nothing about it except that I miss it!)

lizandbunyan said...

Love it! I would love to have a real garden but we have evil deer and in order to have said garden, we'd have to deer proof it with a high fence.
I do have rosemary but it's not exactly thriving. I think it needs more sun.
Anyways, enough of my garden woes. I am glad yours is thriving with heavenly cilantro.

Rachel said...

I was so sure I commented on this post of yours....haha, I wonder what random blog actually got my comment!

What I meant to post HERE is that your description of your gardening reminded me of those fall months I spent with your little family; I felt a little bit homesick for you all! And also, I can't wait to see a picture of the garden outside your kitchen window (since all I ever saw of it was the grass that you guys were trying to kill....)

darcie said...

yeah, I think you should plant rosemary this year-you'll use it in all your fancy dishes. in my garden- rosemary, sage, parsley all made it through the winter
I agree, even when the produce from the garden is sparse, the experience is worth it!

naomi said...

I've got serious cilantro envy