ready or not....

for the first time in 5 years i am going to have a vegetable garden.  and as lee told the couple down the street it's the first time in 5 years i've been outside.  which is not true, because i have had the swimsuit tan lines to prove otherwise.  but, anyway i am going to have a garden.  i am not sure if i am ready or not.  i keep telling myself i am, but just telling this story this far has the tears welling up in my eyes.  nope, strike that... a couple of tears have already fallen.  you see it has been 5 years since i've had a garden and 5 summers ago my dad was still here to help.  and by help i mean DO IT ALL, but the planting, some of the picking, and some of the canning/freezing.  those were my jobs.  and doing this i have realized a few things: 1. my dad did a TON of the work before he told me it was time to come help.  i like to think it was because he loved to do it.  at least i hope that's the reason.  and 2.  i didn't ask enough questions.  i am quickly realizing my gardening knowledge could fill the tip of my pinkie finger.  maybe there is more in there i just haven't pulled it out yet.  God, please let that be so!!

so, there are a few things with this gardening deal that i hope do not have my dad rolling over in his grave.  i mean even though we did it together, we did it his way.  but, since it was at his house, used his tools, and his money i guess we could do it his way.  so by that theory i can do some things my way since we are at my house with my money.  and some of my (and when i say mine i mean, lee's) tools, we did borrow the expensive tools.  i don't want to dive in, i mean what if i can't do this on my own.  i don't want to invest lots of money in tools i may not use.  right?!?!?  i've talked to the guy down the street who loves to garden.  and i've talked to his friend, who happens to be the husband of one of my new friends.  i'm stressing about the lack of space i have.  i am used to gardening in a space that some of my friends said was a small farm.  so since i am confined to a smaller area and both these guys talked about going up i think i'm going to give it a try.  difference number 1.  oh, and my dad never would let us grow carrots ("never grow anything you can buy cheaper at the store"), but the boys wanted to grow carrots, sooooo.... difference number 2.

so this is either going to be great and therapeutic for me or a giant disaster.  only time will tell.  i just hope that i don't scare off my new founts of gardening wisdom.  i wonder if they know how much trouble they are going to be in this spring/summer.  i'm coming in this with little knowledge and a lot of emotional baggage.  so say a prayer for me.  and maybe one for lee.  and i guess add the muirs and the tows for their patience.  and you should probably add my dad and my grandma to the list as well so i don't embarrass them too much with my lack of country knowledge.  i'm sure both of them are somewhere getting ready for a good laugh at my expense.  or maybe they are both in hiding so they don't have to hear about how they didn't pass on the gardening wisdom they both had.  i'll let you know how this experience ends up.  hopefully with jars and jars of canned goodness.

tara