Garden Dreams

We get to gardening. It had to come in here somewhere. Truth -- I don't know lots about gardening. Growing tomatoes and basil on the fire escape in New York doesn't really count. And here in California, my .13 acre homestead is hot shade in the backyard (yes, there is such a thing. Hot, dry, shade. Nothing loves hot, dry, shade). The kids declared the front yard off limits. They need someplace for soccer, baseball, cartwheels and frisbee. So - my flower beds host a few pepper plants and two lovely artichokes. I hope the next owner enjoys them.

So when we needed to get our hands dirty, we had to be creative. With credit to the "Square Foot Garden" website and my husband, I had five great garden boxes - 3 foot by 3 foot each, raised up and set right in front of our garage (hey - it's California. We never put the car in there anyway). I don't know what the neighbors thought of this arrangement, but we successfully grew beets, carrots, cabbage, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, spinach, lettuces, strawberries, snap peas, mini watermelon, nasturtiums,basil, cilantro and mint. Unsuccessfully - fava beans. But they were fun to start - shooting up inches in a day.

When we put the house on the market - our realtors said the boxes had to go. Not socially acceptable. My sister inherited 4 of them, lucky girl. Always the rebel - I kept one. My snap peas and spinach are mid-season! Can't give them away. I gave in to pressure and (regretfully and with apologies) uprooted my very leggy sungold tomato plant. I loved that plant. No matter how ugly it got, the tomatoes were as sweet as candy and kept coming - July to January. Now my tomato plants are sprouting in pots, surrounded by more acceptable pansies. We may be gone before we get to eat them, but I couldn't help myself.

With 12 acres in our future, my kids and I are dreaming of our gardens. This is something I've heard real gardeners do. Dream. In the down season. And read garden magazines. But I've never done this. Because I garden in California and there's never time to dream! No matter how hard I try - I'm always behind. Something is supposed to be blooming or bearing fruit all year round. The pressure is just too much.

But at dinner last night, the kids set forth their plans.

My son (9) dreams big. He wants a maze and tunnels and those square bushes (we'll have to have a talk about those) and azaleas. His list of edibles: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pears, rhubarb, and very select vegetables -- corn (for the maze), pumpkins (obvious) and sweet potatoes (for fries). He's got it all planned out in his head.

My daughter (4) tells me she has her garden plans on her "mind list". She has lots of things on her mind list. But her garden is right at the top. She wants flowers. And artichokes, carrots, corn, tomatoes, all the fruit her brother wants except rhubarb and plus apples, and mint.

Pinch me . My kids are dreaming about gardens. We haven't even moved yet and North Carolina is working its magic.

Sweet dreams all. May they be organic.