My Garden's Progress

My strawberry plants are in full bloom.  Every day we've been collecting a small bowl for lunch this week.  My girls have loved hunting for berries that are ready to be picked and then picking them.  

In my backyard, all my plants are finally in.  

Although after this picture was taken, I added 2 jalapenos and a cherry tomato near the basil.

My strawberries do seem to be surviving after their near death experience with the leafrolling caterpillars.  I did decide to spray them with an organic spray I had been given to sample.  I read on the web that you should simply kill the caterpillars and not spray unless there is a big problem, but since this spray was organic and I needed to see if it works, I thought I might was well try it.  I haven't seen any caterpillars since...but I'm still checking every day.  

Here's a picture of their progress:

What I remember about my strawberries from my front yard is that the first year, the plants produced one or two strawberries and seemed to gain their strength.  It was in the second year and now in the third that they really began to produce berries.  So, my hope for these little strawberry plants this summer is that they will gain their strength.

My bean seeds are beginning to sprout.  They are one of the few seeds that will grow pretty easily outside without being started inside.  I think they grow pretty easily considering that I've only planted them in a small mound of dirt around the trellis.  Last year, I planted them very late (June) so they didn't bear any green beans until late August.  My hope is that they will climb the trellis earlier this year so that we might enjoy the beans longer.  Here is a picture of my yellow wax beans that I've planted beginning to sprout:

When I was a little girl, I did not like our garden.  I think I've shared before how it only meant work and chores to me.  My dad didn't believe in God and so he didn't see the beauty of the garden as God's creation.  As an adult, this is what gives me a sense of joy when I see something beginning to grow.  It is the realization that it is not me that has made this plant grow, though I have planted, watered it, and weeded around it.  It is God who makes these plants grow.  It is He who sends the sun and the rain.  I trust Him to care for these plants just as He does for me.  I am thankful for the innocent joy that I find in my garden and weeding my small beds that seem like so little on one hand, yet just enough to take care of on the other.