HOW DOES THE GARDEN GROW ....

I love to garden. I am an organic gardener. No chemicals in my garden at all. This is something I feel passionate about. NO CHEMICALS IN MY GARDEN. I feel like we all have a responsibility to be stewarts of this planet, and if my organic garden is just a small part, then so be it. We are fortunate to have a garden with good soil and flat. It is 40' by 60' so we have room for produce and flowers. It is my little piece of earth for tranquility.

I have always been an organic gardener. My father was, and so was my grandmother. Dad taught me that if you feed your soil, your soil will feed you. He showed me how wonderful compost is, and how kind spading is to the soil, rather than the shock treatment of rototilling. David learned to garden from his Dad.
I found a great book called "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you have got to get the book. A lot of nurseries have the book, and yes, you can find it at Amazon.com. This book totally makes sense, and he has a formula for organic fertilizer. That stuff is amazing and the soil loves it, as well as the beneficial critters that live in the soil.

I am growing stuff I never thought of growing. Walla Walla Sweet Onions for one. This is just the first basketful that we harvested. We harvested another one.

Russet potatoes and red potatoes. Parsnips and Brussel sprouts. It is true what you read, everything does taste better coming out of the garden.

The tomatoes are growing like weeds and full of green tomatoes. Yum yum.

And raspberries ...

and broccoli.
Sure gardening is a lot of hard physical labor, but good physical labor. It has been proven that women who garden have less chance of osteoporosis than women who work out in a gym, run, bike, or walk. It is the variety of exercise, including bending, lifting, carrying, shoveling, walking, and weeding, and the time spent in the sun which provides bone strengthening vitamin D. The fresh air is a big plus too, and the satisfaction of a job well.