I dreamed of a vegetable garden, to call my own…
I read up on companion planting.
I envisioned flowers, herbs and vegetables that complement each other, cozying up in lush beds.
It was summer of 2011 on our little piece of earth north of Tucson, Arizona, as the planning began.
We carved out a space for the vegetable garden.
I ordered seeds.
Mister Lovee enclosed the garden for me.
We decided on 8 beds.
We dug deep down to line the beds with thick mesh waffle wire, as we have a gopher epidemic here.
Miniature goats gifted manure, delivered by a friend.
Quickly, summer left us, and it was fall of 2011.
I planted a couple of beds to test.
We kept working.
Mostly me, I wanted to do this.
I wanted it to be my baby.
I felt something in the depths of my soul, beckoning me.
It took so much work and time.
It was a huge job, but fulfilling in ever way.
I started some plants inside in winter.
Lots and lots of tomatoes.
During those cool winter months I searched for a wooden arbor.
With no luck, I found some 10 ft. pieces of white wood (sign posts) in our wood piles, I dug 2ft.+ deep holes, and built my own.
Just like that, the dream was being created.
An escape.
Something I had to do.
A need.
A burning desire.
And so, it began…
I had grown vegetables in and around the flower gardens, and in a smaller enclosed garden near by.
But, I had to go bigger.
There was no question.
Why?
I don't know.
I just had to.
Something I felt that I needed to do in my life – grow edibles.
This was to be a special place.
A place all of its own.
Totally organic.
Winter and into spring 2012 brought us cabbages, and Brussels sprouts, and spinach.
Broccoli and lettuce of all kinds too.
Turnip seeds planted, which gifted so many to share.
More cabbages grew, onion seeds were planted.
Tomato plants were transplanted into the garden in early spring.
I tucked each one in with care and love, sitting in the dirt.
One by one…
Getting them in as perfectly and as securely as I could.
Pumpkin seeds were taken out of pumpkins, as I baked the last of fall's babes.
Then…
Planted in the ground.
Snuggled into the earth, to sleep for a little while, before the warmth would wake them.
I couldn't contain myself.
I kept ordering seeds, and planting them.
The seed packages from different places were so lovely.
So much life in a little paper envelope.
I even ordered some extra sort of fancy pumpkin seeds.
Just to see.
And then, the growing began…
The garden sprouted –
April and May, growing growing growing…
And then, came June.
Today…
In early spring I planted corn and sunflower seeds all around the inside of the garden.
I dreamed of a green wall surrounding me.
Cabbages in the covered cage below have been eaten, and now we await new sprouting seeds of different things.
Cages are removed when sprouts become large enough to be safe from birds.
The hot sun is making everything grow and grow and grow.
As my dreams of a summer vegetable garden become more real.
We pull big beautiful carrots and red onions out of the dirt.
The scent.
Oh the scent.
The glorious aroma of dirt and onions and carrots…
I used this as my companion planting guide.
I printed the pages.
I drew up a diagram of what to plant where.
Onions with carrots, in one bed.
Basil, and peppers and tomatoes in another.
In the center of the garden was a wonderful wooden table Mister Lovee made in the 80's.
He rebuilt it for me.
But then I needed more planting space, so it now lives right outside the garden.
In its place, more basil and dill and sunflowers.
Behind that, beans and strawberries.
(giant bricks hold the umbrella stand, as the wind whips like never before here)
In another bed, cucumbers, garlic, onions, dill, celery and nasturtium…
And farther beyond…
Turnips and beets and bok choy, and more.
The corn surrounding the garden gets taller everyday.
I decided to put in more tomato seeds in late April.
They grow below with all sorts of peppers, and a rogue squash plant.
The front entry was lined with wildflowers in early spring.
Bachelor's buttons and shirley poppies grew in massive abundance.
Less now with the heat.
Below, the tomato plants I began inside in winter, surrounded by basil and parsley.
I toss parsley seeds here and there, and they take off like mad trees.
On the day that the hives+anaphylactic shock debacle began, I curled into the corner below…
The scent of the tomatoes bewitching me.
I stood up parsley and tomato vines and trimmed here and there.
I washed all my sunflower leaves with more soap than I was supposed to, in a desperate attempt to get rid of the bugs on them (2 kinds). The soap and bugs and plant oils dripping all over me.
Whatever it was that caused the dilemma…
This is where I was.
Tucked into that little corner below, smelling the beautiful smells.
I begin to feel so confused that I don't know what or who to blame.
Tomatoes, parsley, bugs, sun, soap+plant oil drippings?
Or something else I don't even know about?
So, I blame less.
Because, it could have been anything.
So, I tread with great caution, and that is all I can do.
I collect arugula and other types of lettuce.
From delicious, peppery and intense, to mild and sweet…
I take some carrots and onions and lettuce across the road.
My neighbor e-mails me to say, thank you for lunch…
My heart smiles.
I spy cucumber flowers and bees doing their thing…
I look at the parsley a lot.
For some reason, I think the parsley has some serious secrets it needs to tell me.
It knows things.
It knows.
I stand back and watch everything grow bigger and bigger.
I spy little corns forming sooner than I imagined.
And a big shiny pumpkin pokes out from underneath a giant sunflower…
I look around.
More cautious than ever.
I feel good about being cautious.
With a slight tinge of reservation.
My birthday birdhouse from a few years ago (from mom and dad) greets me…
As the sun shoots beautiful fairy colors through the trees.
I ponder the last week again and again.
But I find that the happenings are fading from my memory.
I have never been a person who can hold onto things for long.
Even when I want to.
My brain just auto-corrects somehow.
It's strange.
As it forces me to move on.
So, I walk along.
I breathe.
I think.
I love the breezeway between the vegetable garden, and the pumpkin patch…
Squash blossoms just began in the pumpkin patch, which means it might be time to take the fencing down soon.
I close the gate as I leave…
Looking back to make sure everything is in check…
I am happy Mister Lovee is helping me with the garden ever since the scare. I have found a peace and acceptance in being helped.
All of a sudden, my garden becomes more our garden, and I love it even more.
I realize it is extra special now that it is shared.
Yes…
A place to share with someone you love.
That is what it has become…
With so much respect for nature at every turn.
Eyes and heart open.
Love, Vanessa
🖤
Vanessa,
Have the hives come back yet? I hope not. Then you would stop making those lovely crotchet flowers and go back to dusting your rock collection.
Also, I’m sorry the tea party had to be moved down the road. That’s okay. It’ll give me more time to invent a party better than yours, because yours are always sooooo good.
You really inspire to be a better person. I want a garden just like yours, and I know exactly how to get one because I have seen pictures of your garden in 100s of posts.
Also, when are you going to show us the inside of your cottage? You know, the one you promised to reveal months ago.
Your paintings are, individually, so unique. Sadly, I can’t tell the difference between them.
I also really love your cakes. They are decorated so prettily. It’s so upsetting, however, that you don’t like sweets enough to eat them. I would hate to think they go to waste.
I hope that you and your puppies prosper in life. They seem to be so healthy, but then again…so did many young pups who will remain unnamed. Being attached to our pets is important, but I often think that becoming too attached can lead to heartbreak down the road.
Love,
Snow White
Vanessa:
I truly believe with all my heart that whatever caused your allergic reaction will be discovered eventually. As terrible as it sounds, it seems that there is a reason for everything. Maybe we don’t and can’t see the reason now…maybe not even in this life, but there HAS to be a reason. I have to believe that. I believe that there is something bigger than us that holds us safe and makes good decisions for us, even though they don’t seem so good in our current lives.
I hope and pray that you never EVER have another reaction again. In the meantime, the goodness that has come from this is that you are now sharing your garden with Mr. Lovee. There’s a lot of work in that garden…and heart, but work too. You needed to let him help you. Now, he will love the garden just as much as you do.
Your hard work and devotion to your vegetable garden reminds me so much of my folks back in the Ozarks. My aunts and uncles all grew up during the depression…most of them have since gone onward…but their love and respect for their land and what they grew on that land was immense. I have that love for my little piece of land, as well. I’m learning to take my Southern desire for growing edibles and re-work it into my suburban backyard. Of course, all my folks gardened acres and acres of land. I have only a small patch compared to them (and you)!!
The love that you put into your blog posts have brought people together from all over the world. We congregate here to read about your garden, your art, your furry babies and your life in general. Your presence in this curious and modern electronic world of communication is like coming home. You are a comfort and I dearly love you and your heart.
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Hoping you have no more reactions.
Your garden is truly amazing. Everytime I look at your pictures and read I want to go plant more in our garden.
I have lots of flowers in bloom right now that make my heart happy. We have cukes and squash from the garden. Can’t wait for the tomatoes.
In a year or two I plan to retire and I want to have lots more garden.
I am really happy to hear that the frightening experience is starting to fade from your memory and you can start enjoying your beautiful garden again…Im sorry you had to go through that..but at least a good lesson was learned, how to let some control go and let others help out…(Im having to learn that lesson right now..Im 5months pregnant and want to ‘take care’ of EVERYTHING, but I do not have the energy, so I have to let others help me..)haha
Vanessa! Your garden is truly amazing! I love all of your veggies 🙂 And such a cute little fence!
Hope the hives stay away! Also, your postcards and other paper goodies arrived in the mail today and I can’t thank you enough! I hope you know that I really appreciate them–when I saw them in the mailbox I literally jumped up and down (probably frightening the car that drove by) and ran back to my house so I could open them. I love receiving mail, and receiving mail from you makes it all the more special.
I will put my purchase to good use 🙂 Thanks so much for everything! I look forward to your posts so much and sometimes I just come onto your blog more times a day than I can count and select a random post to read. I guess I just want to say thank you for inspiring my life and filling my day with happiness 🙂 You are a truly wonderful soul and a great person 🙂
Awe! DeLovely!!! The way this post began, I swear I could hear Meryl Streep saying “I had a farm in Africa”. Wishing you a life-time of happy hive-free days in the most beautiful garden in the world with your Mister Lovee. **blows kisses** Deb
Vanessa, I just Loved walking through the garden with u, via your wonderful posted pictures! My Girlll, you really have done yourself Proud!!!!! You really put your heart and soul as they say, into this beautiful garden. I truly understand your mixed emotions.
So you think the Parsley know something HUH! Well now, if we could just get the parsley to talk, Giggle, Giggle!
I am glad to hear your Mr. Lovee is your garden companion! I am jealous. I have always enjoyed it when me and my Hubster worked together doing yard work.
I have to agree with Kim above. She said it perfectly that things tend to happen for a reason. The bigger picture we may or may not come to understand but is there to teach us some life lessons if we pay attention, making us better off in some way or another.
So, I just want to tell you keep the Faith and continue to enjoy your days my friend<3
My girls and I are watching the Adele special we taped last night! Keep Smiling! 😉
Oh my goodness Vanessa, I can’t believe you’d been plotting this madness! You’ve got enough square footage there to feed a manor house full of folks, forget just yourself and Lovee! Though I am sure the neighbours and friends will benefit from this blissful place as well.
It is soooo beautiful. I am so jealous -_-. I wish I could grow things like that in this climate. I wish I had THE SPACE to do it in! Such a mahooosive garden. It’s wonderful. I’m in love.
That scare was so nasty and I really hope it doesn’t return. But maybe it was just a little nudge, not that you needed it, to remind you how good life is. Sometimes I have to see things that way when I don’t want to, and you always help me to do that.
P.S. You know what I am the super duperly-est mostest jealous of? Your flipping pumpkin patch. I tried growing pumpkins a couple of years ago. The got mightily infested with bugs. It was gross. Not trying that again.
Beautiful beautiful garden…so peaceful just looking at it 🙂 ..and I know it took a lot of hard work..that just doesn’t happen. Sweet of Mister to help you~ and glad that you enjoy that and share 🙂
I think~~~~ that is the type of garden where lil bitty fairies flutter from leaf to leaf…and lil gnomes run to and fro underneath making secret plans in the still of the night 🙂
Keep the good health progress up~ … good wishes to you Vanessa, Mister and your furry Boys.
Kimberly~
Your garden is gorgeous! I hope you are feeling better now.
Your garden is a veritable Fairy Paradise! Such amazingly delectable looking produce! We had the most unusual weather today. The big thunder clouds rolled in… I was sitting at my computer which does not face a window, and I heard what I thought was rain. I had just looked out the window not more than fifteen minutes before and what I saw now was a dust storm with lots of wind which lasted about two hours. Then the sky cleared and again, I thought is was the wind blowing harder and I looked outside and it was raining! Which cleared all of the dust away…but really, really weird weather! Yet refreshing too. Our evenings have been staying in the 80’s at night and with the rain it is now scrumptiously 64 degrees outside. How crazy is that???
After I took a few different antibiotics last year some of my old food allergies came back which I had as a child, including eating tomatoes. I guess I can’t eat them anymore. It’s strange how that happens.
Please keep taking good care of yourself like I know you do ANYWAY!
hugs,
Miss Teresa
Your vegetable garden is so beautiful! I see a lot of different vegetables growing there. I sincerely hope that you won’t get that hives again. I’m glad that you have Mr Lovee helping you.
A beautiful vegetable garden to be proud of, it’s magical!
It makes me so happy to hear about your improvement and your veggie garden. My Mr. Enchanted built me a a darling new veggie land. It has four raised beds full to the brim and is surrounded by a black iron fence and entered through a little cedar arbor (which my cat Ya Ya loves to climb and watch me work). I smothered the entrance with marigolds and thumbergia vine, and it is beyond precious! Lettuce, spinach, peas, Swiss chard, onions, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, cauliflower, broccoli, shallots, cabbage, and brussel sprouts (oh, and a potato barrel) are thriving. My old garden is hosting the three sister of corn, beans, and a variety of pumpkins (with flowers thrown in for good measure). When I am in my gardens – flower or veggie – I am reminded of the quote from Laura Engels Wilder, “It is the sweet simple things in life which are the real ones after all”.
XO,
Lisa
That’s great that you’re feeling better Vanessa. Your veg garden is a beautiful baby, of which you deserve to be very proud. We grow taeberries and raspberries and loganberries and gooseberries and wild strawberries (and all things berry)plus lots of rhubarb, but not many veggies yet. Starting this year with some broad beans so fingers crossed.
ps. I am excited to read about an upcoming Tea Party in your bloggersphere? What does this mean exactly? Perhaps I can bake you all some wonderland cakes? Emalina
Merci pour cet enchantement, j’adore les petits jardins, et plus encore quand il y a des rhubarbes ! J’aime tellement cette demoiselle que je l’ai dessinée, peinte et écrite en poésie !…
Un après-midi au jardin, entre filles, ce doit être trés agréable, surtout avec un thé délicieux !
In your last post? I believe, there was a sculpture in the garden..an angel? That picture has come back in my mind several times…”The Garden of Good and Evil” I loved that image and title ever since I first heard it, loved the movie as well, but the title and angel dipicting it reminded me again with regards to your latest challenge….. I am relieved to see you are bouncing back and now you have a sidekick! yahooooo…🖤Debi
Que linda huerta!
Uno trata siempre de alimentarse con frutas y verduras de huertas organicas.
Besos
wow thats an amazing vegetable garden you have. THey look like they are doing so very well. Hope you enjoy all of your produce. Hugs Sara
and I passed up the parsley Sunday because I
don’t know what to do with it once I plant it!!! Is it good in soups, salads?!!and my
friend Terry came over Thursday and she made
a tee-pee just like yours for lazy housewife
beans!!! hehe I LOVE your garden, I close my eyes and imagine me walking through with YOU and Mr. Lovee as my tour guide, hmmmmmm the smells, the sights, may I taste something PLEASE!!! Vanessa and Mr. Lovee’s garden a FEAST for the eyes, nose and tummy!!!Sending blessings and prayers….love makes the world go round!
Sometimes through hard circumstances we come to a place where we say, “aha…I understand a little more today this wonderful gift of life, of love, of earth and heavens”.
We never would have seen it any other way 🙂
Very happy you are feeling better!
Thank you for the walk through your wonderful garden. It is only 57 degrees here in Maine so seeing your lush garden was a treat. So glad you are feeling better.
P.S. I hope your vegetable garden never gets devoured by gophers. That fencing you put in should hold them at bay. Unfortunately…life isn’t fair, and people’s dreams are often crushed. But I know that won’t happen to you, because you are perfect.
Hugs and kisses,
Snow White.
So beautiful. And inspiring.
Such lovely pictures. Though different than my memories, your garden reminds me of my childhood and my mom’s garden. I loved having fresh, home grown veggies all throughout the summer, particularly tomatoes (okay, I know they are a fruit) and cucumbers. It was so great to just walk into the garden as a kid and pick a ‘mater or cuke and just chow down on it. There is nothing like fresh produce. Nothing.
Yours tells a wonderful story of your life and your relationship and I hope as you eat of the produce it brings up all manner of wonderful memories of the life you have lived.
I must say that your gardens are wonderous. Amazing growth..I would love to walk through all of it. From your beautiful flowers to your veggies and to see all of your extras. Your photos are wonderful…
I hope that you are feeling much better these days and that feeling doesn’t come back.
Love conquers ALL!
And you’re the fairest of them all…….and that’s why we all love you……
This post was written as beautifully as your photos, your words drawing me along and wanting more.
My only complaint is not one puppy picture!
Hope you are feeling better every day.
Looking forward to party day and playing together with all our friends. You have introduced me to many amazing artists.
such a fairy tale you weave
out of True Life!
a Slice of Heaven
invaded by The Evil Hives Queen…
whilst i have been traipsing
about italy
on vacation
you have experienced peril
of the serious scratching type!
OH NO!
LISTEN…
i Love the outdoors
like no one else
but
Poison Ivy is my undoing!
covering head to toe
with protection
and still IT finds its way to my skin…
why
why
why
does this happen to us
when we only have Goodness
in our hearts?
i have no idea
but i have suffered hives twice
and prayed to die…
only Strong Drugs knocking me out
with time passing
saved me…
once
i held my breath & sank
to the bottom of the sea
thinking
the salty surf would cure me.
it did not.
poison ivy has crept into my ear
and done hearing damage
of the scar tissue kind…
i try to B diligent.
i try to B mindfully.
this seems to B true for me—>
once attached by such things
in nature
then the next time It comes
stronger & quicker still…
i send you Blessings of Comfort
from all itchy things…
may hives
never visit you again…
NOTE: recently i learned
that itch*causing Things
can B carried invisibly in Doggy Fur
as pups romp & roll
about in things when we R not looking…
i know
i know
the idea of dog*hugs
POSSIBLY carrying Badness
is
heart breaking ……………………
{{ your garden is Perfection, BTW }}
Such a lovely garden you have, and now you have a helper to share it with–double pleasure.
Your passion for growing things is amazing. I had no idea the extent of your planting. Thanks for the inspiring tour.
I am so happy you have ventured into your garden once again. I do hope that the physicians can decipher what caused the severe reaction. I am glad you have Mr. Lovee by your side to venture into the garden with. There is nothing like fresh vegetables. 🙂 We’ve been enjoying our lettuce and basil…watching impatiently as the green beans and tomatoes grow. xoxox
A lovely sign post can really add a lot to the look of any area! It really shows you that even the smallest detail can make a big difference