Enjoying the beauty around us

[Howdy]

On the way home after a fine dinner out with friends, my wife and I saw an amazing double rainbow highlighted by the setting sun.  We were traveling south with the sun just below the line of clouds providing an intense illumination through the intermittent rain showers and the outer colored band was just a normal fading bow but the inner one was so strong it looked almost to be casting a shadow.  Colors so very vivid and distinct rising up in a vertical bar with the arc tight and the returning side close and clear, it looked like you could reach out and feel the changing hues if only it would not keep moving.  Truly it was a gift from the Almighty capping a day of delight. 

With the passing days finally warming up and the risk of late frost over I am feeling pressured to be getting my raised bed gardening planted at last this year.  I have a small area of 180 square feet developed in several beds I have been working on for the last couple of years after finally winning my battles with a blackberry bramble in an unused area of my yard.  I needed to do something with the ground so I started by re-grading the space to improve drainage resulting in my lowering the ground level almost three feet.  Then I needed to do something with all that soil so I built the first raised bed and one thing lead to another.  Now do to my failing health I do not have the ability to work the ground and myself so hard so I am relying on the help of family and friends when heavy efforts are needed.  This year I have added four yards of mushroom compost to the existing earth and mixed it in as best I am able resulting in rich fertile beds ready to produce a bountiful harvest.  I hope to restrain myself by planting less and allowing more room for plants to spread out as needed.  My efforts are following after the Square Foot gardening method so I hope to have good success.  I am limiting the garden to three tomato plants, three bell peppers, four or five cucumbers, a single pumpkin, two watermelons and a cantaloupe just for fun as I do not expect much success with them.  I always have a few zucchini plants as I enjoy them so much even though I battle powered mildew and lose every year, and this year I am thinking about trying corn in a small area.  I am not very wise when it comes to gardening yet I yearn to grow vegetables myself even though I could easily purchase better quality and quantity for a far lesser cost.  I am not worried about chemicals or other concerns by buying food from the store and do not feel threatened by not knowing what has been used to grow the things I eat.  I just want to enjoy doing growing something myself.  I hope to share this passion with younger members of my family and last year the peas were a big attraction so I am expanding my planting with a couple of different kinds of peas and beans in a bed of their own.  If my grand kids will come, I will encourage them with joy and hope.  But even if I am doing this only for myself, I enjoy sitting in the garden with the warm sun caressing my head and shoulders while drowsing the afternoon away dreaming of the things my cluttered mind tosses up.  At least it beats being indoors watching the TV.   

[thecfarm]

My Father use to grow musk melons. You must have a short growing season,about 90 days if the last frost has just left you. We would start a good cow manure base and than he would "feed them" miracle grow. He would always say you have to feed them to got anything. He really liked his fresh melons. Others would try but would not feed them even though he would tell them too.
I look around this place and I thank God that I can enjoy my place. I was coming down the drive way with a bucket load of dirt to fill a rock hole and I just got all of the trimming done around the stone walls and the wife had just got done mowing,man the place looked great.