Squash plants
Spring is one of my favorite times of years because it is then that I get to watch my husband with anticipation as he runs our rear tine tiller through the garden, breaking the dirt that the winter snows and rains have worked so hard to compact.
We don’t have the ideal soil here. It’s a clay soil, what some would call gumbo. When it gets wet it’s sticky and sticks to the soles of your shoes and when it’s dry you could swear that it’s part concrete.
The last few years we’ve been here our garden has met with tragedy for one reason or another. Where we live there is no water under ground and so we have to haul water. This makes it extremely difficult to water the garden and so we are at God’s mercy and when He decides to send rain.
Last year was a cool wet spring and we lost all of our tomato plants to blight. The year before there wasn’t enough rain and everything died from a lack of water.
This year we had high hopes for our garden. With a new location, renewed energy and excitement I watched with anticipation as hubby worked the soil. This year we decided to plant all heirloom tomatoes. I started our seeds indoors in February. This is the very first time I have started seeds indoors and it was a new adventure, but by the grace of God we didn’t lose not a single plant and we had probably a 97% germination rate. Almost every single seed germinated and we only lost 2 plants later on.
When it came time to plant I sunk my hands down in the warm moist soil and dug out a hole. Carefully pulling off all the lower branches and burying my plants half way up the stalk. With each passing day I have watched these little plants thrive in our new garden spot. It’s almost been like watching my children grow.
One of my heirloom plants growing tall & strong.
The plants have done more wonderful than we ever thought possible and we praise God that our garden has done so well so far. It’s a joy to go out and see the work of your hands flourishing in the sunshine. All the labor that began last winter now starting to pay off with every little tomato that sets.
Our children too have been enjoying the garden, but for very different reasons.
Little travelers that come to rest in the shade of the tomatoes. I guess our plants are a blessing to more than just our family and hopefully they will continue to be so if we have a large crop of tomatoes that we can share.
And so it is with this that I wish everyone happy gardening this season and may all your crops be bumper ones. 
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