I love this time of year! After anxiously studying the ground for days, today I finally saw some little teeny plants coming up. They're either kale or spinach - I can't remember which I planted where, and they're too small to tell the difference. It's been raining all afternoon, so by tomorrow there should be lots more stuff popping up. I cannot wait to eat some yummy homegrown lettuce (buttercrunch is our favorite), and peas. There is just no comparison when it comes to the taste, especially with peas. No matter how much you are willing to pay, you cannot go to the store and buy fresh peas picked that day from the garden. I've never seen them in a farmer's market either, although I suppose it's possible. So even though peas take a ton of space for what you get, we grow them. They taste like heaven! Last year I had to fight the girls to keep them from eating them all straight out of the garden. Someday, when we have a big yard and big garden, maybe I'll let them!
Digging around in the dirt is therapeutic. It's hard to feel depressed if you're on your knees with your hands in cool, dark soil tending to plants. I think the key to enjoying it is to not have more garden than you can handle, because then it just becomes a chore. We use the square foot method, which is so much easier than the traditional row method. It takes up way less space, no rototiller is needed, and it cuts way back on weeding. Who wants to spend all their time weeding? Uggh.
Here's a pic of our garden last spring. This was probably about a month after I had a c-section, so I was doing NOTHING outside related, and J didn't have much time to spend on it either. But it still looked good! This year, I am so happy to be in good health and able to get outside.