Lessons from my garden . . .

1. If a plant doesn't thrive, you can compost it. There's no failure in gardening, just recycling!

2. Thinning plants is a good thing. I resisted this practice at first, feeling like a murderer of beets as I plucked their hopeful little roots from the garden. But now that they are maturing, I can see that the veggies that had a little space of their own are much happier. The "more the merrier" does not apply to the vegetable kingdom.

3. Slugs can get into the Tub 'O Grub and destroy my harvest. Slugs can go anywhere their slimy little brains like. Except over Deadline.

4. Tomato plants get really big, really fast. I had no idea when I transplanted my first little starts that they'd be taking over my yard in just a few short weeks. (I had 22 plants at last count--and that's not including the dozen or so at the Community Garden). But today I spotted the first little green tomatoes dangling on the vine and you would have thought I'd just learned I was a grandparent. I can't believe I've lived this long without ever having grown my own tomatoes!

5. Fruit flies really like my compost bin, unless I keep more "brown" compost than green in the toter.

6. It's good to put labels on the seeds you plant or you might mistake them for weeds and uproot them

7. You can kill plants by over-watering as easily as you can kill them by under-watering

8. There's something incredibly satisfying about eating what you've sown, grown and harvested for supper. Gardening has revived my interest in cooking.

9. Gardening makes one more inclined to pray about the weather

10. Gardening is good for the soul . . .