the harvest is plenty

 

A side shot of the small garden which has turned into a beast.

For my birthday this year, I asked my parents if they would give me a garden. So in April, because of course I was waaay too impatient to wait until my actual birthday, they helped me plant two small raised beds. It actually was a super fun process because a couple of my friends came over to help and we made it an afternoon event. My favorite part was digging up earth worms to put in the raised beds. Sounds gross but I found it really exciting!!

My friend, Kitty, from work gave me seedlings for spaghetti squash, coosa summer squash, eight different kinds of tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, banana pepper, zucchini, ground cherries, and eggplant. My mom had a kit for gardening that had seeds for cucumber, string beans, snap peas, yellow summer squash, tomatoes, and tri-colored peppers. Although some doubted that I would be successful, including my 60-year-old neighbor Jim, the garden that I have labored over for months is out of control with fruit!

Here are a few pictures of the crop:

spaghetti squash, yellow squash, and zucchini

chocolate cherry tomatoes, sun sugar tomatoes, and string beans

spaghetti squash growing wild

I was also able to make some yummy refrigerator pickles with my cucumber and fresh dill sprigs from my herb garden. 

                     

Lately, the drought has been taking a toll on the garden especially my baby watermelon that just began to grow, but today a miracle happened. We had a huge rainstorm come through! I was outside picking tomatoes and my Lebanese, 15+ cat-lady neighbor was taming her incredibly overgrown backyard, and the bottom dropped out. She looked up at me and threw her hands in the air pumping her fists with joy and I responded with a hallelujah and threw my arms in the air to praise God for the much needed rain as well. It was a special moment between the two of us and our love for plants and the outdoors. It still makes me smile thinking about it........

I feel very blessed to have such a plentiful harvest because I am able to give so much to others including sweet cat-lady neighbor. This garden has brought me much joy and continues to due so. :)