with silver bells and cockleshells...

Every year, around spring, Mom gets really excited. Because it is time to have a garden. We till the ground behind the house and then we head off to Lowe's. We only return from Lowe's when we have enough seeds to grow a small jungle (and when we are on a first name basis with most, if not all, of the employees).

Some years we grow tomatoes. Some years we have cantaloupe and cucumbers. But every year we grow weeds.

Mom tells people we have a garden, but when they come over, they wonder where it is. We point to the plot of ground behind our house that resembles an Amazonian rain forest. They don't believe us, so we take them over and point out the several cages of tomatoes. The tomatoes resemble raisins more than they do tomatoes, but the fact that there are cages out there usually convinces people.

I am tired of having to use what looks like a machete to weed the garden, so this year I have a solution. I will have my own garden. A small garden. I will grow sunflowers, wild flowers, and banana peppers (it is impossible to have a good garden without banana peppers). I am excited.



Hopefully, I will be better at gardening than I am at cooking.