reflections - on the last day of the year

On this very snowy Dec 31st, I've put together a composite of my favorite garden (and Skippy) photos from the past year.

It's been a fantastic year.

I've been looking back at all that's happened in my gardens. We put an awful lot of work into my community garden plot - the fence and gate, the removal of 10 giant stumps and several big rocks, mowing the community garden paths most of the summer, as well as general planting, tending and harvesting. I had a lot of help from my husband and son, from my sister and friends, from gardeners' who commented on my blog, and from my faithful and ever willing companion Skippy. Though I still grew a few vegetables in the raised beds in my side yard - herbs I gathered right before dinner and vegetables that could tolerate partial shade - I've come to realize the value of a sunny plot - and the pleasures of participating in a community garden. At the community garden I've seen new ways to support tomato vines, new ways to nurture garden soil, I've watched the bees come to other gardener's flowers, I've meet other gardeners and new friends, and spent many hours talking about our shared interest in growing food and flowers.

All in all, my little vegetable plots have yielded an abundance. An abundance of work, pleasure, joy, friends, knowledge, satisfaction, photos, weeds, sunshine, oh yes, and vegetables.