Love in the Garden: a few of our favorite things…
“We may think we are nurturing our garden,
but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us.”
–Jenny Uglow
We’ve reached the middle of August which is, in so many ways, the height of summer. The final, glorious climax of heat, humidity, sweat & sun before the season slowly turns toward the crisp coolness of autumn. Although much of the excitement of summer is behind us now, there is still much to enjoy in this final stretch of warmth before the season turns. In many places, lakes, rivers, and the sea are at their warmest temperature. It is a perfect time to spend a lazy afternoon floating on the water or to sip on an icy glass of lemonade and run through a sprinkler.
My most favorite thing about this time of year, however, is the bounty that pours forth from the earth. Our gardens are overflowing with abundance, farmer’s markets & stands are bursting with produce in every color of the rainbow, giant sunflowers are glowing golden on their stalks. Soon juicy apples will fall ripe from the trees and giant orange pumpkins will sit fat & round in vine-covered fields.
The show that the earth puts on at this time of year, and the bounty that comes from nurturing a garden for these last few months, is everything to my heart. I have been fascinated with gardening for as long as I can remember. One of my grandmothers kept roses, peonies, and poppies. My other grandmother had a house surrounded with winding stone paths and gardens that people would travel to see. As soon as I had my own space to sink my hands into dirt, I began to keep my own garden and I never looked back. The past few years have been touch & go for my gardening efforts as I’ve been in transition. My full gardening plans for this year did not come to fruition, but I didn’t let that stop me from getting a little something together.
Early in the spring I headed to a local garden center and picked out seedlings. I filled my raised garden bed with the little seedlings. Slowly, cherry tomatoes, salad tomatoes, and cucumbers unfurled toward the sun. I also filled a large wooden box and several fabric planters with our favorite herbs. Our harvest was fairly small this year, but it was enough to fill our gathering basket a few times and that is good enough for us. The important thing for me is to allow my children to witness the miracle of the garden and to understand that plants grow from a seed with soil, water and sunlight. There is so much magic in that process and I want them always to be connected to it and to know that food itself is a miracle that they can be a part of.
Next year I have bigger plans for our garden including walls of wildflowers, several more large raised beds, and possibly a small greenhouse. It’s so exciting to think about it and I know that I’ll be sitting here in the dead of winter hashing out garden plans and dreaming of these warm, wonderful days. Here is a shoppable list of some of our garden favorites. Click on any of the images below to shop.
I hope that you enjoyed this post, friends. If you have any favorite gardening tools or tips, please share them with us in the comments. Also, many thanks to my dear friend, Erin Witkowski, for these beautiful captured memories of me and my babies. Lots of love always–