Let it Grow: Garden Update #1

Last week I told you I was starting a garden, and that I would keep you updated on how things are going. Pretty soon I will be including pictures, but for now, you'll just have to imagine it :)

I started my garden in an old egg carton, but soon realized I did not go through enough eggs or save enough cartons to get my garden started, so I bought one of those peat kits with 72 little pods. Now my little dirtballs (literally) are overgrown with greens....the sprouts of watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, onion, tomato, corn, peppers, and more are showing signs of life! Pretty soon I am going to have to transplant them to Styrofoam cups or larger peat pots; they are all a few inches tall now and the roots are busting out of the dirtballs.

I'm still really nervous about the actual outdoor garden, though. I'm not sure what to do about this walnut tree situation. It seems like my only solution is to do an above-ground garden, but I'm still worried the poison that the tree emits through its roots and fruits will get into my plants and kill them. I feel really (strangely!) protective of my growing plants, and feel like planting them outside will be like a death sentence for them. I suppose it's kind of like having a baby (just go with me on this one....). You spend nine months waiting for those first signs of life, getting excited at the first kicks, knowing he or she is safe inside, and that you are solely responsible for not only his or her existence, but his or her survival. YOU control how able your baby is to survive. Sure, there is some room for error, but as long as you provide the necessities, your baby should grow and thrive. 

Then one day, the baby is removed from that safe, comfortable, controlled environment its always known and transplanted to a world where you are no longer the only factor in your baby's survival. It's a little bit scary every time you leave your baby with someone else, or feed him or her food you did not prepare, or leave him or her to external factors you cannot control. At some point, you just have to trust that the lungs will work, the safety measures you prepared will protect, and that you've done all you can to prepare this baby for a fruitful life outside the womb. 

Yes, strange as it might seem, I feel like a mom getting ready to transplant her kids to a world where not everything is controllable. And all I can hope for is that I have done all I can to prepare them for the elements of life outside the "womb"...and maybe that a hungry rabbit won't come and eat my garden.