Gardening for Beginners

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to gardening -- no, really. I’ve tried-and-failed and tried-again-with-some-success to keep indoor potted plants alive, but this is my first real, outdoors tending-things-and-watching-them-grow experience. With my mom, mother-in-law and sister-in-law and their collective wealth of gardening know-how an ocean away, I've been poring over piles of gardening books from the library. It’s just lucky that I’ve taken up this hobby in such an extremely vegetation-friendly climate.

Our four year-old is my enthusiastic partner in this endeavor. Every morning after breakfast Jack pulls on his froggy rain boots, and we “take a turn about the garden” to examine the growth of the past 24 hours. It’s a lovely little ritual with tiny Sophie toddling behind, all three of us still in our pajamas and sporting wild hair, as we go along the beds examining the plants and getting excited about their progress each day.

Here’s Jack, proudly harvesting some lettuce.

And here’s our first raspberries of the season -- well, actually our third and fourth raspberries, as the first and second ones were gobbled up before I could grab the camera.