Blooms Buds and New Beginnings

Today is letter “B” in the A-Z Blog Challenge

http://a-zchallenge.com

Every morning I go outside to check the progress of my vegetables and flowers. Two weeks ago I planted tomatoes and green beans. I have five small plastic pots in which I filled with dirt three-fourths full. I made four holes in the surface of the dirt and dropped one seed in each hole. Do you know how tiny each seed is? I’m sure most people have eaten a tomato in their life. If not, you’ve likely seen one. I always remember a girl in fifth grade who yelled in rage one day at lunch when she found a tomato slice on her cheeseburger. “But I HATE tomatoes!” She made sure everyone in the lunchroom heard her. Since I was sitting next to her, I said how I loved tomatoes whereby she stabbed that tomato slice with her fork and let it drop onto my plate. I added it to my cheeseburger, took a big bite and stared at her while I chewed. Until then, I never knew a person could have such evil thoughts about a vegetable. Oh I forgot! Tomatoes are actually fruit. So as I watered the dirt in my pots, I had a vision of that girl. I don’t remember her name. It’s been about fifty years. Take that, Tomato-Hating Girl! I have ten more plastic pots and more seeds in the packet. As soon as I get more potting soil, I plan to plant more seeds. My goal is to get the seeds to sprout and become small seedlings about three inches tall. Then I will transplant 3-4 seedlings into a five gallon bucket. I have more big buckets ready to go. I plan on having twenty tomato plants.

Green beans. Three Bean Salad. Green beans with potatoes and ham. With butter salt and pepper. I only have one bucket planted with green beans so far. Two little sprouts are showing today and it’s only been a week. Where I live in Mexico, the ground is so dry, so that’s why I’ve been using the 5 gallon buckets. The soil is loose and full of rocks and sticks. I have to buy soil from a garden store. You only need one bean seed for each plant. There should be 5 buckets of bean plants in all.

My peach tree started blooming last month with pink flowers. Those have dried up but tiny green peaches have been appearing on the branches. I counted about twenty today. Mexican peach trees produce smaller fruit than the ones back home in Indiana. But they still make delicious pies and cobblers. During the covid pandemic, the tree was bare. Not one peach. Then last year, two baby peaches appeared. Sadly, the guy who was working on our windows ate those two peaches! Everything suffered from the lockdowns. Nothing grew. Some barely survived or died just like people.

My fig tree is twenty years old and lived through many seasons of growth, death and regrowth. This spring, new figs are starting to appear after months of bare limbs. We don’t have to do anything special except water it. They’re hardy and grow well in Mexican soil. Fig trees are mentioned in the Bible. When the figs are finally ripe, neighbors come to pick them or scoop them from the ground. I cooked fig preserves last year and baked fig cakes. I’m going to dehydrate some this summer.

A neighbor moved away and left some plants behind. I took them so I could try to save them. One revived after a few weeks. A pink flower opens up in the morning then closes up at dark. It reminds me of Morning Glories in the Midwest. I’m working on the other plants she left. Those may take more time.

My sunflowers sprouted. They’re about 4 inches tall. My husband Tony is going to dig a space in the ground so I can transplant them. Sunflowers are originally from Mexico. Girasol means “turning to the sun.” I let my four year old niece Leah pour water on the little shoots. She’s very careful with the water pouring almost drop by drop. Children need to learn about nature, about life outside, not be over-stimulated from the internet.

Our state is in a drought period. It hasn’t rained for nine months. I couldn’t water my plants if not for our well. The lake at the dam has dried up and people play soccer on the lake bed. Wildfires start with no warning out in the mountains nearby. Farmer’s animals sometimes die because they don’t have enough water for them. We pray for rain to restart the growing season so crops will grow and thrive. Everything needs a new beginning!