First Fruits - or - My love affair with gardening

This is tech week for All Shook Up. It's been a wild ride, as tech week always is. Last night, backstage, one of the parents, April, asked me how I'm doing it -putting up a show, in the home stretch of planning my wedding, writing the Starlight Newsletter every week (Click here to see this week's newsletter), and keeping up with my blog. My answer? I don't know, but I garden a lot.

Gardening has become very healthy for me. Getting in the soil, working with the plants, watching them root and grow - it's joyous and serene, a great time for me to decompress and put my focus on something else. I've planted seeds, and they've all sprouted in the last week. I've also planted seedlings and larger plants. Some veggies, some fruits and a whole lot of flowers.

My soon to be mother-in-law observed last week that I must love fresh flowers. There are cut flowers throughout the house, and blooming pots of flowers (annuals and perennials) throughout the yard.

I've been gardening a lot lately at the new house. Here's what I've been up to:

The planter boxes in the back - they've all been weeded, hoed and had new soil added to them. In the front box we have lots and lots of tomatoes with room to climb. In the second box we have herbs (Oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and mint in pots so they won't take over) jalapenos and chilli peppers. The third box has cilantro (pre-grown and seedlings, green onion (pre-grown and seedlings), red, yellow and green bell peppers. In the last box there is lettuce (pre-grown and seedlings), zucchini, strawberries in pots, and more herbs (basil, chives, parsley). We pulled the weeds and put down fresh bark, potted a lime tree and an orange tree, and put down sod around the back for Indy.

Indy loves it when I garden, too. He's really enjoyed getting out of an apartment and being able to sleep outside in the sun during the day!

First Fruits (and Vegetables) - these are the first things to be picked out of our garden in the back. They're big and beautiful! Can't wait to eat them!

Planting Annuals in little pots out front. I also have quite a few rose bushes that are just starting to bud again. But these pots have gone nuts! I've never had happy Petunias before and for the first time they're thriving for me!

The walkway up to the house - I've been bringing these back to life after the last tenants neglected them. See the giant rosemary in the bottom left corner? It smells delicious!