Laine's Letters. My Secret Garden.

 Dear Sisters,

I enter into my secret garden as soon as I walk out of our living room door. Well, I like to call it my secret garden. ❤️ It is a large space surrounded by very tall, orange honeysuckle bushes with a large oak tree on the right. My secret garden is directly in the middle. Behind the honeysuckle bushes, which are at least 12 feet tall, sits our small orange tree grove with one lemon tree, one tangerine tree, and one lime tree as well. Behind the oak tree are numerous other honeysuckle bushes so that my neighbor's house next to us is obscured from our view.

 

We have our own secret spot.

 

In the middle of the garden are four big wooden squares which house my vegetable garden. A small set of wooden stairs leads down into the garden from the left. On the right there is a turquoise tire swing hanging from the oak tree. A couple of old benches flank both ends of the garden. There are numerous bird baths all around the outskirts. A few roses are in big pots encircling the garden with the birdbaths, as well as different kinds of cactus. A small rosemary bush and a small lavender bush are on either side of the biggest, orange bird bath. There are three, brown ceramic birds perched atop the birdbath to seemingly drink water all day. At the far left corner of the garden is another turquoise tire, but this one sits on the ground in the midst of sand and sand toys for the grandchildren. Just behind it is an old trellis with traveling pink roses that you walk under to get to the orange grove. To the left of the trellis is a pomegranate tree which just gave us beautiful, ruby pomegranates to the grandchildren's delight. Another area I walk under every day to go to the mailbox is an arch through the honeysuckle bushes. My husband made this when Lucy was little. My garden is sounding prettier than it really looks as it is a bit rough and rustic around our wooden squares with lots of brown patches of ground. Honestly, I've seen prettier gardens (including my daughter and sons' very green and charming gardens), but I just love this one. You know why? 

 

The birds. 

 

There are so many birds in my garden. They love living in the honeysuckle bushes and the oak tree. There is hardly a time in my day  on the porch swing or at the table on the patio that I don't spot a bird rustling around in the oak leaves or taking a sip at one of the bird baths. Sometimes I'll spot small birds and larger birds fighting over the birdbaths to bathe as I watch from my living room window. The bluebirds are often the winners, but the tiny birds will rule if there are enough of them on the orange ceramic dish at the same time. It's always exciting if I spot a yellow bird or a hummingbird. One such hummingbird showed up to drink from my hose one day as I watered the garden. It was an amazing 20 seconds.

 

I'm not very good at gardening. (My daughter and her husband, who live next door, are the real gardeners; and the reason I have so many dried veggies in my pantry.) So it's quite a miracle to me that the birds want to hang out in my secret garden. I try to make it as welcoming to them as I can. I change the birdbath water every day when I water my garden. Sometimes I throw birdseed out, especially in the winter. One day a bluebird was tangled and dangling upside down from one of the honeysuckle bushes. It was screeching quite a bit. I put a small towel around it while I untangled it from the branch it was trapped on. It had somehow picked up a plastic piece of mesh and got its foot trapped between the mesh and the branch. In the blink of an eye, it flew away after I released it. I often wonder if the bluebird remembers me when I am in the garden.

 

My four garden squares were made by my talented husband. He put a wire mesh on the bottom of each so that the gophers could not eat up my plants. Around the squares he put chicken wire so that the rabbits cannot get in. We have gophers and rabbits who would love to get at my garden, and these are our main pests. Even the birds will take a nip here and there.😊 I have to admit I love seeing the rabbits meandering about in the garden in the early morning. But I'm glad they can't eat my veggies. Behind my four squares is another large square that my husband is building for me. So more plants to grow soon.

 

This past spring I think my four garden squares had soil burnout. My vegetables never matured, and the plants basically dried up before they even grew up. I am always trying to learn how to improve my gardening skills, so I learned a method that really made everyone in my family take notice. First, I took out all the dead plants in the four squares and loosened up all the soil. For weeks I saved all my coffee grinds, egg shells, and vegetable scraps. Then I shredded a lot of paper (from old bills and such). Once I had all my "ingredients", I sprinkled the coffee grinds, egg shells, and veggie scraps all over my four garden plots, one plot at a time, as I had the needed "ingredients". The shredded paper went on next. Lastly, I put soil over the whole lot. I watered it for about a week. Then I bought zucchini, kale, broccoli, and green bean plants at my local gardening center. My daughter, Lucy, planted them for me.

 

Every plant took off and grew so beautifully without much help from me after that, other than to water every day. In the summer I harvested zucchini, kale, and green beans from my squares. Presently in two of my garden squares during the fall, I am harvesting Dino kale, curly kale, and broccoli. The plants are large and gorgeous. I've been able to harvest again and again from these plants. The other two squares have smaller kale and broccoli plants growing fast. I am trying to plant in succession. My daughter, Abbie, was amazed at my success with this method and has repeated it in some of her pots and containers. Everything is growing beautifully for her, too.

 

I got into the habit of saving egg shells and coffee grinds. So I put these at the base of our orange trees as I heard this is an excellent fertilizer for them. I put banana peels at the base of my rose bushes. My husband puts the rest of the vegetable scraps I save under the oak tree and continuously turns up the soil over them, so I will have compost to use when needed. There is a nice big fat rabbit who enjoys hanging out there. 😊

 

I've always had a secret garden. I remember when we were first married and living in Germany. (My husband was stationed there in the army.) We had a small patio surrounded by pretty bushes that you entered into off our living room/bedroom. It was our private place. I bought long green planting boxes and planted broccoli, green onions, lettuces, and I can't really remember what else. I watered them and tended to them. My German landlord seemed so pleased seeing our little plants growing on his property. I had all the planting boxes on a small table with two chairs for us to sit and relax nearby. The broccoli bolted as I didn't have the knowledge to pick it at the proper time, and then a strong wind one day knocked over two of the planter boxes which my landlord helped me tidy up. But my little secret garden carried on. 

 

When you come out of my kitchen door, there is a walkway that is reminiscent of my first garden in Germany. It is a very small patio type garden. On both sides of the small walkway I have numerous colored geraniums, a spider plant, rosemary, green onions, green house plants, cactus, purple and white alyssum, purple petunias, and a hanging rope swing in the middle. One of my white geraniums sits in an old green wheelbarrow with an old watering pot sitting next to it. An old wooden bird feeder hangs next to one of the hanging geraniums. At night all the solar garden lights come on that Lucy has put into the pots. It's honestly very rustic looking just like my secret garden. But I love this spot. 

 

Yesterday I had my tea in my secret garden as it was such a lovely day. I could hear soft praise music coming from Abbie's house. A bluebird was foraging around and had something large in its beak. I watched her flit from branch to birdbath to branch carrying her prize. It was the pause that refreshed. I was just thanking the LORD for all His goodness.

 

Jesus, our Savior, was often found in a garden. The first man, Adam, was placed in a garden. In the book of Song of Solomon a garden is mentioned many times in metaphors with such incredible sweetness and longing. No matter how small or large a garden is, it is desirable. Even a balcony garden can be an oasis.

 

I think wherever I live on this earth I will always seek out my own secret garden.

 

Love,

 

Laine