PLANTING MY GARDEN ... The Vegetable Kind

I'm so excited! Spring Equinox is only 10 days away - Daylight savings has sprung forward, and we are fast approaching that day of equal day and night before racing towards the Summer Solstice. My fingers are itchy to get back in the soil and I would say that Spring has been teasing forever, but I think we just plain skipped Winter this year.   Even as I look out my office window, what is termed by the national weather service a "winter storm warning"  is more an early spring rain in spite of snow in the mountains above 5000 feet.

Being in Brooklyn with my son and daughter in law last summer from mid June into August set aside the notion of summer vegetables but this year, especially with my daughter and grandsons moving 3 doors down, the promise of a fruitful garden has me rarin' to go!  This week's rain should soften the composted soil just enough to facilitate planting preparation.  What shall we plant?

Tomatoes of course - Sacramento veggie gardens are not complete without tomatoes!  Cherry or grape along with more substantial, bigger ones.  The boys love popping those little ones for snacks. And a zucchini plant .. maybe two ... and a pumpkin for fall.

And we have to plant lemon cucumbers, bell peppers, string beans and eggplant!

We have a small raised bed planting box, and some really neat deep pots.  I think the grandsons and I will have fun tending the veggies and sharing them this year.  Our harvest may not look like these lovelies ... but that's ok - we'll do the best we can!

We also want to plant a dwarf Meyer lemon tree.  YUM!  And since the fabric of our gazebo's cover gave up at the end of last fall, we have decided to trellis the frame and grow star jasmine and passion vines for a year-round green canopy for shade and summer fragrance, and for enticing the bees and humming birds.

PLANTING A GARDEN ... Nurturing Our Mind and Soul 

I am in an emotional space where I know there is much I should be doing - and can't seem to get it done.  And it occurs to me that I am not tending to my own needs as well as I should be.  The seedlings are there and planted, but the nurturing is not.

For instance - I have gained 30 pounds over the last four and a half years - and like weeds in my other garden, the only way I am going to successfully achieve my harvest is to eradicate the weeds - one at a time.  It takes effort and focus.

For instance - the success of my business depends on my actively soliciting new accounts.  This is not a new skill for me and I know that my garden will not be fruitful unless I plant those new seeds and tend to them!  It takes effort and focus.

I know my issue is motivation ... but I seem to have misplaced my mojo somewhere - have you seen it? It is, after all, having the right tools to cultivate our gardens, isn't it?

I have this amazing and wonderful opportunity to reinvent myself - to not have to worry about returning to the corporate world (though who will hire a 60+ year old who has not worked in a year and a half?  Not equitable but real.)  And yet I cannot quite put my finger on what it is that has me stuck ... that keeps me from attaining that little bit of success that I so want.  I'm not talkin' huge, I'm just talkin' comfortable to supplement social security that is rapidly becoming closer as the year goes on. To carry my weight and not depend on someone else (even if it is hubby) to support me.   What is it that I need to get planted in my garden to nurture in order to harvest the results I want?

What are you planting this year in your gardens this spring?  The one in the ground or the one in your soul .. or both?

Namaste ... I honor you!