Everything is Growing!

Right now Pandora, an online radio that we really love, is playing a song about caterpillars. It is very appropriate because I want to write about the garden. It takes up a couple hours of my time every day, but it's worth it. (This is Jessica writing.) The ground had to be shoveled, rototilled, and raked. The seeds have to be planted because good plants don't grow themselves. Actually, and amazingly, some food does grow out of the ground here: blackberries. Every yard, including ours, is sprouting blackberry brambles. The weeds also grow themselves, which bring us to one of the worse parts of gardening- weeding. One gardening book said that when the weeds are bigger than the plants, the garden is too big. We have never had such a big garden and it takes a lot of effort to keep all the sprouts from taking over but so far the weeds are under control. Watering everything also takes time, but it gives me a chance to carefully observe each plant. The raspberries' flowers have turned into tiny berries. The fuzzy peaches have started to get slightly golden. They are only grape sized, but swell every day. The carrots have started getting their grownup leaves. The roots are not orange yet, but they are going to be someday. A few days ago, mom cut some of the leaves off the garden and mixed up a salad of half home-grown and half store-bought leaves. It was good. On Monday all of the peat-pot plants were transplanted to the ground. The garden was almost complete. Yesterday a final row of marigolds (my favorite flower to grow) and sunflowers (probably my second favorite flower) was planted. All of the hours spent outside were a lot of fun and full of hard work and fresh air. Everyone has had a turn to water or weed. Now comes the hard part. Waiting for everything to grow!