“She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.”
Proverbs 31:16
Evening is my most favorite time to spend out in the garden. The summer heat normally subsides to a more bearable degree, soft light fills the sky, and the nighttime frog songs begin to play. It is such a lovely time of day. And a perfect time for a meandering through the garden.
This space is not at its peak yet, but it is certainly filling up quickly! Open spaces now brim with pumpkin vines, trellises run over with lima beans and cucumbers, walkways overtaken by marigolds, and tomato cages bear much more weight than a month ago.
One of the happiest garden friends are the sunflowers! They bid us a cheery hello that is sure to brighten a soul. These flowers reseeded themselves from last year all throughout the garden, and I quite enjoy their company.
And what’s more, the fruit of our labor is beginning to peak out from behind the various leaves. Baby watermelons lay here and there on their meandering vines. The rate of their growth is amazing to me. In just a week’s time they grow from the size of a golfball to the size of a softball!
Now let’s stop by the tomatoes. As I mentioned in our garden update, my indoor tomato starts did not turn out the way I had hoped. We lost many because I could not get them in the ground fast enough for fear of late frosts. But I must say that these tomato plants seem to be twice as productive as the one’s from last year! It may seem quite a small thing in some eyes, but I believe God is supplying some of what I thought was lost in a way that I didn’t plan for. He does that a lot, doesn’t He?
I even admire the shape of leaves on the various plants. Tomato leaves are one of my favorites.
The pumpkin patch, decorated with yellow/orange blossoms, sits just next to the tomatoes. And here lies another story of blessing. Last month a herd of cattle broke out of the pasture near our house. Almost every one of the cows (50 to 70 of them) walked right through my garden…I was sure everything was lost. The pumpkin patch appeared to take the blunt of the parade, but amazingly, only one or two plants were squashed beyond repair! That left 25 or 35 plants to continue on. Again, I was left feeling quite thankful.
Did you know that pumpkin blossoms open during the day and close up tight for the night? I didn’t either until I grew my own a few years ago. The little things you learn while growing your own food are incredible.
The marigolds reseeded themselves from last year into an entire patch of spectacular golden orange! How lovely they are. A marigold plant sits here and there among the tomatoes, sweet corn, and pumpkins, but the largest patch is all along the eastern edge of the garden.
I planted them around the border of my garden last year as a natural bug deterrent. A few plants thrived, so I knew I wanted to have some in this years garden as well. Little did I know that hundreds of little marigold seeds were sleeping in the ground, just waiting for the warmth and rains of spring. I could not believe how many popped up all over the garden!
Thank you so much for joining me on this evening stroll through the garden. I hope you enjoyed the sights and little tid bits of information that you gathered along the way! I’ve found that I am much more joyful if I can spend at least a few moments out in nature each day, so a slow garden walk does a lot of good.
“All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah”
Psalm 66:4
More on Gardening
- How and Why to Prune Tomato Plants
- 5 Tips for Transplanting Seedlings to the Garden
- How to Cage in Tomato Plants
- How to Harden Off Seedlings
- The Basics to Starting Seeds Indoors
- A Guide to Caring for Indoor Seedlings
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