{Day Two} :: For Love of a Green Thumb

It all started behind - and in front of and all around - a white house in a small township in Pennsylvania. I owe my love of growing things to my grandparents, because for as long as I can remember, their yard always was in full bloom when we visited every summer.

Grandma lovingly tended to row after row of begonias, bleeding heart, morning glories, roses and more. She wandered the yard constantly, dead-heading plants and explaining how things grew to the grandkids who followed behind her. And Grandpa's little plot around the shed produced snap peas and cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes and lettuce. And mint had managed to take over the side of the space.

Mornings were the greatest, waking up in cool air and rushing out to see how many more morning glories bloomed and to pull fresh snap peas off the stems climbing the fence. And summer dinners almost always included some fresh bounty plucked earlier in the afternoon.

My mother learned to plant and care and grow from the best, and she put her knowledge to good use in our own yard - raising up perennials, changing the annuals with the season and coaxing crops of tomatoes out of the ground.

Spring was never really spring until a trip to the local nursery and an afternoon that ended with dirt pushed so far under your fingernails you were certain it would never come out. It was an exciting day the year Mom gave me my own little space to grow whatever I wanted.

This summer I continued the tradition in my own first house, bringing up lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, pole beans, tomatoes and jalapenos in the back yard and lining the front walk with mexican heather, dusty miller, and vinca. And I look forward to passing it along to my own children someday.

For tending a garden taught me the wonder of life from a seed. It made me realized nothing looks prettier or tastes better than something grown with your own hands. And it gave me cherished memories of time spent with my family.

Did you grow up planting things? Do you plant now? If so, how does your garden grow?

(Grandma's garden photos borrowed from my sweet cousin. Except the last one. That's my own garden.)