My garden

In my last post (my first one in six months heh) I talked about my garden a little bit. I posted a list on Tumblr of what I had planted last week, but I wanted to post it here as well and add what I planted yesterday evening.

• Six varieties of tomato
• Four varieties (colors) of bell pepper
• Serrano peppers
• Red chili peppers
• Anaheim peppers
• Poblano peppers
• Green beans
• English cucumbers
• Kohlrabi
• Raspberries
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon

This weekend I will be planting some eggplant, a few varieties of squash and some fennel. It isn't quite time to plant the leafy greens and root vegetables yet, but I am getting ground ready for them.

I'm planting a wider variety of herbs this year than usual. Some of them are in with my tomatoes since it takes less room and they grow so well together:

• Basil
• Coriander (aka Cilantro)
• Flat-leaf parsley

In my checkerboard herb garden (I placed 12"X12" tiles between plants, creating a checkerboard look. I got the idea from a book.)

• Garlic
• Chives
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Oregano
• Thyme
• Lemongrass (I’m going to try and make it grow here. Please send good vibes. It would make me SO happy.)
• Marjoram
• Lavender

I know it seems like I am planting a lot, but the price of produce has gotten out of hand and I like to eat good organic food so it's financially necessary. Not that I'm complaining at all. I enjoy tending the soil and the plants and I am getting much better at it. I still can't keep a houseplant alive, but so far the garden is in good shape, thanks to my mom working with me.

My mom had to move in with me again last December. It was supposed to be temporary, but she is 66 and has a difficult time taking care of herself so I think it's best that she just stay with me. I always knew I would take care of her one day, I just didn't think it would be so soon. I am happy to do it -- I love my mom -- but I would be dishonest if I said it was easy. I was worried about how having her with me might affect my chances of meeting a nice man who wants to be with me, but I figure that any man who is worthy of me will understand. And my mom does plan to go visit my other siblings from time to time.

I've been reading a wonderful book called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. My friend Dina recommended it to me last year, but I am just now getting around to reading it. I think everything happens for a reason. I needed to work through some residual negative feelings in an organic way for a while in order to receive some of the messages. I'm only on the first chapter because I have to stop every couple of pages to really consider and process what I've read. The Toltec teachings that it is based on are very similar to Buddhist philosophy. I'll talk more about it later though. This was supposed to be a post about my garden.