Virtual “Gardening”

Golden radishes!

As you may know, I (Phoebe) am currently out of town, and unavailable to tend to our Back to Eden garden.  But, thanks to my wonderful family back at home, I’ve been able to “garden” virtually.    Through pictures, and a couple live Skype video chats, I’ve been able to experience our garden in a whole new way!  Unfortunately, it’s not quite the same – you can’t pick up the water hose, and give the garden a good spray down, or dig your hands down deep into the earth.  But, even still, I’ve seen the garden grow, from afar!

It’s pretty awesome.  The tomatoes are growing big and strong, and blossoms and tiny tomatoes are already showing.  The onions are big, and it’s almost time to harvest them.  One has already been harvested, and it was about the size of a baseball!  (I’m so excited!!)  The radishes are growing well, too – we need to get some more seeds planted, so that we’ll have some later in the summer.  Unfortunately, the peppers aren’t doing too well (as reported from my family!), and some of the herbs aren’t doing well either.

But, overall, it looks like the garden is doing great!  I’ll get to see it in person tomorrow – maybe, just maybe, I’ll have enough time to make a short video.
In the meantime, you’ll have to be satisfied with these photos. 

My dear Mom and Dad. Not quite sure what they were doing with this garden-fresh onion, but it’s a cute picture, nonetheless! Mom was a gardener long before I was, and really instilled in us the importance of gardening. She also made it fun!

These babies are gettin’ big!

A red radish.

Some unripe raspberries.

Tomato cages are a must-have when growing tomatoes!

Our little raspberry patch. It’s so cute, isn’t it?!

I believe this is a yellow pear tomato plant.

Lettuce galore!

A Garden Conversation~

It’s amazing what things can happen when one gardens.  What conversations one can have when out in God’s beautiful creation, gardening!  Yesterday morning, my sister Abby and I were outside in the backyard checking out the garden; watering, weed pulling, etc.  We decided to harvest some of the lettuce that has gone crazy, before it bolts and turns bitter.  Well, our neighbor across the alley was out, and I said to Abby, “Hey, why don’t we go over to our neighbor and offer some of this lettuce to her?”  At that, we hopped the fence, and trekked up the alley, and over to Ms. Gale’s fence.  She was out tending to her own yard, which is full of beautiful flowers.  She gladly accepted some of our homegrown lettuce, and said she’d have a little salad with her lunch.  A conversation then ensued about her granddaughter and grandson-in-law who live just down the alley from her (and across the alley from us).  She said that she had been talking with her grandson-in-law a few days before, and asked him if he had seen “that garden over there” (referring to ours).  He said that “he sure did” see it.  Well, on Sunday we had seen him installing their own backyard garden.  So, maybe we inspired him to garden?  If so, that’s awesome!  We told her that she should send her grandson-in-law over and we’d love to talk with him about gardening.

So, you see, a simply act of sharing some garden produce turned into a wonderful conversation about gardening (oh, and also a bunch of her beautiful peonies), and hopefully, a new relationship with our neighbors.  Maybe something will turn of it – like a co-garden effort – or maybe not, but either way, passing along some of God’s blessings by way of garden produce is just great!  I’d highly recommend that you share any extra produce you may receive from your garden with your neighbors, friends and family.  It’s totally worth it.

Check out the video below if you want to hear the story ‘in person’, and get a short update on our garden.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Back to Eden Film Photo Contest

Back to Eden Film Photo Contest — I love working in the garden. Back to Eden gardening is so much more simple and easy, which makes gardening that much more fun!

Soil Therapy

Working in the garden is sort of like therapy.  There’s just something about it that’s good for your body, mind and soul.  Maybe it’s the sunshine, or working the rich, black soil.  Or maybe it’s just being out in the fresh air, and interacting with God’s beautiful creation.  I don’t know, but I love doing it!

Yesterday, my sister Abby and I worked on getting some more things started in the garden.  We planted (all in seed form) beans, radishes, okra, and cantaloupe.  I planted four squash seedlings that I started about a week ago.  I’m just hoping and praying all the seeds I planted will spring up and grow big, strong and healthy!  Oh, we also planted eight of the raspberry plants, and have to expand the bed to plant the rest of them.  We’re going to add some string or rope to the clothes line poles and grow the vines up on them.  And, a couple days ago Mom and Dad transplanted our fig tree from it’s pot to the ground.  So, we have quite a garden going here in the bustling suburbs of Dallas, Texas!

Joel works on dismantling some old pallets.

Joel is such a hard worker! He built all the potato boxes from wood off of old pallets.

It’s not property of Coca-Cola any more!

The raspberry patch.  Looking forward to seeing these guys go crazy!!

The micro greens have grown even more since I last blogged.

Just look at the beautiful, vibrant green! It’s so beautiful.

Oh, and to add to our little homestead / backyard garden, we have a large peach tree filled with unripened peaches.  Grandma has had this peach tree in the backyard for as long as I can remember, and it’s produced very well for a long time!  

Up close: raspberry leaves.

Our little space for the potted plants. It gets plenty of sun in the morning and early afternoon, and then shade for the rest of the day. Lettuce and herbs are growing there.

Up close: Comfrey leaves.

You know, I’m not sure what these flowers are from. One of the herbs, I believe.

A baby cabbage plant.

Italian Parsley

My handy-dandy clip-board has accompanied me on many a gardening venture.

Sunflower seeds are a fun thing to keep your mouth occupied.   (And, no, these aren’t from our garden!)  

The bean plot.

The future spot (hopefully!) of many a cantaloup vine!

See those four little green plants? Those are the squash plants.

The radish rows.

And, last but not least, the okra spot.

I’m happy! Hope all your gardening pursuits are going well!

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