Howdy blogworld.
I’m so pleased to be greeting you from way down deep in the heart of Texas.
The last time I was in Houston, my parents and grandparents had just planted a garden. I wasn’t all that impressed, really, as it just looked like a bunch of dirt and seemed like a kinda boring hobby to me. Over the past few months, Mom has been sending me photos from her cell phone of some of the new growth but the pictures haven’t been of stellar quality so I could not believe it when I saw the garden with my own eyes! It still has a way to go but I cannot believe it is already bearing some fruit!
I’m so excited for my parents and grandparents to have this new little garden! My grandparents, who are in their mid to late seventies, tend to the garden every single day. Each time the four of them grow something new they quarter the vegetable and eat it together, even if it’s a tiny little Roma tomato. I’m also pretty floored. I do not have a green thumb. A few years ago Colin gave me his cactus plant to take care of for a few months and I killed it in record time. I’ve even been known to starve a variety of bamboo, which, according to Colin, is pretty impressive. And please do not get me started on the rosemary I tried to plant during my cooking craze. The death of the rosemary plant was the final straw, not to mention a prophetic foreshadowing signifying the doom of my overall Betty Crocker agenda.
Do you have a garden? If so, what kind of fun stuff do you grow? If you’re like me and you don’t have a green thumb, what is your latest hobby? My latest hobby is photography. I can’t get enough. I’m driving my entire family bonkers.
Why do we call it a “green thumb”? I love to garden – both flowers and veggies, but my thumb is brown! I know I should wear one of my 4 pairs of garden gloves, but there is something about being in the dirt that I still enjoy at 40. I wash a lot of dishes to try and combat my brown thumb.
My parents moved back to our area a couple years ago and don’t have room for a garden so we do one large one together. I love the help with planting and harvesting!
Your pics are great, Melissa.
Melissa-
Hi, good to hear from you again. Gardening is not my ‘thang’ either, I could never deal with the weedy things that touch you ankles and legs while trying to get the veggie. BUT my husband has a small and I do mean small garden, our youngest son has always helped in that..the planting part, not the eating of the veggie part. ha-ha-
Today at lunch we had the first of their tomatoes…oh. My. Word.! it was umm-delish. the best tomatoe I have eaten in e-ons.
Hi! I found you from another blog, Green Acres in the City. My family has a small vegetable garden in our backyard. So far, we’ve harvested tomatoes and carrots. We’re waiting on green peppers, corn, and cantelope! From your pictures, it looks like your new hobby is off to a great start! Enjoyed reading your blog.
My husband and I did a small garden this year. Tomatoes and sqaush did great, oh and a fabulous watermelon.
I’m thinking about getting a new camera (hopefully around Christmas). Been doing some research, Melissa- do you mind telling me what kind you have. Your pictures are great.
Hello Melissa,
I hope your having an absolute blast with your family! I have a green thumb, but not a garden as I live in an apartment..boohoo..sometimes I want to offer to weed a friend’s garden just to calm the withdrawl of not getting to dig my hands in the dirt. I also love photography, your pictures are great!! I drive my friend’s crazy with my camera…glad I’m not the only one! Blessings to you!
Melissa totally awesome pictures. I love the bee on the flower . I love watermelon and squash. I have a friend that is awesome with the camera and my Hubby works in Crime Scene so He uses one each day lets just say You don’t want to see the pictures I choose not too ! Have a blest Day!
I do not have a green thumb, but I love fresh tomatoes and peppers so I took a cue from Martha Stewart and tried planting some in planters on my deck. It seems to be working so far. I have only had two small tomatoes, but I see many more coming. Garden veggies taste so much better than store purchased ones. So to those of you who live in an apartment, don’t have room for a garden, or simply don’t want one – you may want to give this a try.
I started a garden of my own this spring. I have literally uprooted half of it and placed everything in pots. The problem….bad soil. I have never understood the parable of the sower better. The key to growth is fertile soil. So good. All is thriving now. I left my green beens in the garden, which is now overwhelmed with weeds, but beans are still growing. They are hardy little guys. Thanks for sharing….
Yes, we (my husband and I) have a garden. We have grown new potatoes, green beans, egg plant, squash, bell peppers, tomatoes (lots of tomatoes), purple hull peas and okra. We have had a bountiful harvest thus far and I have cooked many vegetable centered meals. We have two small gardens but you can grow a lot in a small area. My hobby right now is actually my yard (flowers), but I do enjoy the fruits of our vegetable garden too.
What a great post! We were blessed with a house this past fall so in spring I started bugging my husband to build me a planter box. I did get my planter box – we planted zucchini, honeydew, strawberries, pumpkin & watermelon. Nobody told me the zucchini had a mind of their own!! I actually had to trim back some of the leaves because they were taking over the entire space 🙂
I also planted a few favorite herbs in my Topsy Turvy Tomato & Herb Planter – one tomato, basil, cilantro & tomatillo. They are growing quite nicely.
Thanks for sharing!
My Favorite Garden vegetables are any grown by somebody else!
God bless the Garden Tenders who share their bounty ; )
Maybe you aren’t the greatest at cooking or gardening but if you took all or some of those pictures, your are doing a good job!
I love playing in the dirt of our garden–it’s lettuce, spinach, onions, radishes, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, green beans and snap peas for us. It brings great satisfaction to pick then prepare those fresh ingredients. The time I spend weeding provides some awesome time to pray too.
Melissa,
They are great pictures! I love them. Stick with photography, you have a great eye!
Melissa, I’m with you. A camera goes with me wherever I go. Today I knocked it off a table and I felt instantly sick. Anyway, I’m the one in the group that always creates a DVD of the event. Meanwhile, somehow in the last week I have acquired a thyme plant, bellpepper plant, rosemary, and 2 tomato plants…all gifts. I’ve done as much as purchased a few pots and soil. Leaves are withering and pots are still empty. I can almost hear the chant, “plant us, feed us…and eat us!” I wonder if I’ll actually get around to it.
Okay, time to work on my DVD from the girl’s weekend! I’m horrible. Sigh…
: )
not horrible…you just know what you like and are good at! I bet everyone loves your DVD’s!!! I bought a Mac 8 years ago so I could make LOTS of family DVD’s….
I have made one. Only becuase my pastor asked me to after a Mission trip.
No Garden and no DVD’s.
I am horrible. Sigh….
Does Beth have to look so darn cute even in the garden?! Good Grief!
I have 4 flower beds that I can’t keep the dogs away from so a veggie garden is out of the question- thank goodness for my dad! I LOVE homegrown ‘maters!
BAHAHAHA! I think that is the funniest thing I have read all day…good grief is right 😉
I just love the sunflower photo with the bug!
Great pics! Thanks so much for sharing.
Gardener…nope…my mom got those genes. I mostly have tried to kill flowers and never ventured into veggies. Your photos are gorgeous Melissa. I am currently into making cards. I belong to a group that makes cards for deployed soldiers. We send them over blank so that they can write in their own greetings and send them back to their families. Its called Operation Write Home…(www.owh.org) if you can add that 🙂
Leslie in Utah
I just found a great cookbook to use up for all those home grown vegetables. It is called The Harvest Eating Cookbook by Keith Snow. Also, make sure to take advantage of Starbucks free coffee grounds for your garden Our soil in California loves it!
Happy Birthday Melissa!!! I am sure you are having a wonderful day and may you continue to be blessed over the next year!
lovingly, Barb
Melissa,
I have such a “black thumb” that my husband gave me a FAKE bonsai tree for my desk at work. He didn’t think I would display it, but I do. And people constantly mistake it for a real live one!!!
We have a garden – tomatoes, peppers, butternutt squash, cucumbers, summer squash, and a pumpkin. I call it “our garden” but since I am seriously bug-phobic AND not good with plants….it is really my husband’s garden.
The camera is MINE though. our relatives complain that I am never in any photos anymore..but that’s ’cause I’m the one TAKING the pictures. The things we do for art!
Melissa~ You my dear, make me smile 🙂
Dear Beth,
Please forgive me if i’m not on the right page to leave this message. I am a rookie at this new technology, i’m coming out of my cave days. Anyways, I wanted to first tell you what a great spiritual mentor you’ve been through your books and Bible studies. The last in-depth Bible Study i did was Daniel, what an enriching time, awesome, awesome!! I just finished reading your latest book “So long insecurity” Wow! Keep those challenges coming, you do challenge me spiritually, to go above and beyond with God!
So my question, i know there have been spanish translations on some of your books,but i have yet to see translations on the in-depth bible studies like Esther and Daniel. Will there be, in the near future, spanish translations on these studies that can minister greatly to your spanish speaking sisters in Christ??
Thank you for your time and service to the Lord.
Inez 🙂
Welcome to the Blog, Inez! Check with the publisher for studies available in Spanish (www.Lifeway.com).
Finally coming back to tell you – Thanks, Melissa, for sharing the beautiful pictures; you’re doing great with your new hobby! I’ve been enjoying the sunflower with the bee as my desktop background. 🙂
I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since you added this post. Since then, we’ve had yellow squash, zucchini, a little bit of sweet corn, okra, and tomatoes. We will have more sweet corn and peanuts later on. However, it has been pretty dry here in North Alabama, and it’s just too costly to do much watering. The okra and tomatoes are hanging on, though. And, Praise the Lord, we had a little rain today!
Both my parents grew up in the country and a garden was a major source of food for their families. My husband was eager to learn from them and enjoys seeing the friuts of his labor in a garden. We enjoy having the veggies fresh, but I also freeze many of them. Mother always gives me canned green beans from their garden, which are still a favorite of my (now college-age)children. While they were growing up, if we ever had fresh beans or store-bought ones, they’d say “They’re not as good as Mimi’s!” 😀
This year I put all my herbs in small beds by my back porch with 2 small brick paths. And 1 cherry and two roma tomatoes and 1 bell pepper/ well that’s all that survival after having a half grown puppy around. We cooked with the herbs this year, not quiet sure what to do with the Rue herb though, but its there. We had handfuls of cherry’s for 2 months. Roma didn’t do well. Its been a while since I had a garden. Family is smaller now, so little is needed. Don’t give up on gardening, try big pots and alot of Miracle Grow dirt. My latest hobbies is knitting, spinning wool, photography and typing on my blog. I love serving the Lord in BSF International. And will be leading a 4 year old group for the first time. God is sufficient in all thing!…dlp