I, too, like to dig in the dirt. With my hoe parked conveniently at the back door, I could snatch it up any time as I swept through the kitchen door and headed for the garden. All frustrations seemed to melt away as I whacked at weeds and buried them in the compost pile to make more soft rich dirt. There is something good for the soul in planting things and watching them grow, don’t you think.
In my Seattle garden, I decorated with a dark green plastic trellis in double rows two feet apart, stretching across my patch for string beans. Planted to cover the ends, seeds would send vines twisting so pretty across trellis tops. Blossoms turned into luscious Kentucky Wonder beans extravagantly hanging as much as a foot long for all we could eat and a winter’s supply in the freezer.
A favorite thing, easy to grow, was the ground cover of Chinese pea pods. I could plant them in early spring, and start a second crop in late summer. There seemed to be always more delicious pods to pick.
And rhubarb! Beautiful wide leaves for more great compost and stalks of oh, so fresh rhubarb, straight from the garden to rosy breakfast waker-uppers or some heavenly rhubarb pie.
Here in Florida, my patio gives me no dirt for whacking at weeds with a hoe, but I may yet get the knack of growing abundant luscious tomatoes, also good for the soul.
–Mildred
Generation Gapping 