We have vegetables!!! And lots of them!  Currently we are harvesting tomatoes (cherry, heirloom, and Roma), green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, green beans, potatoes, and egg plant. Our corn is finally starting to come in and we are starting to see some okra, black eyed peas, and snap peas.

I think the one thing I am learning about gardening is that our job as the gardeners is really just to support the growth that is taking place daily in the garden. Our veggies and plants are growing like crazy, they just need some structure and boundaries and support to help them grow to their optimal potential.

Last Saturday was a gardening day with a large group of us and we noticed some problems. Our cherry tomatoes were out of control. Our eggplant was sagging over because the actual vegetable is really heavy. Our black eyed peas were twisted and crawling all over the place. And finally our area of squash/zucchini/cucumbers was overtaking the entire garden, while many of the vegetables were rotting on the ground. We needed some serious support systems!

We started looking for rope and support poles and figuring out a plan. We used everything we could find in our old shed and someone even ripped pieces of their t-shirt apart for ties. We googled ideas to help revise our squash area. We came up with a plan to raise all the squash vines in the air along ropes so that the vegetables wouldn’t rot on the ground below. (We’ll see if this works and I will update you all on the next blog. You can see the picture below.) We staked up the egg plant and tied up the cherry tomatoes to 6 foot poles. It was a hot and productive morning.

What I am realizing is that these plants are getting everything they need to grow from the Creator, and all they need from us gardeners is a little tending and support along the way. My garden and I are not that different.  I need support too.

Last week at my job I basically had one of the worst weeks of my life, working 12 hour days, learning a new computer system, feeling like an idiot, and not sleeping well because I was having nightmares about the next day. It was horrible, and when I look back at last week, I realized that the whole time I had my husband cooking me dinner when I got home late, taking care of baby bottles every night, rubbing my back while I cried myself to sleep, and ultimately I made it. I made it through my week, and the reason I did was because I had my supporter. He is my one constant person. No, he can’t do my work for me, but can steadily support me in the tough spots of life. So, this is my thank you to my sweet best friend and biggest supporter in all of life.