
Open pollinated seeds form Baker Creek. March 11, 2017
March is a time when my dreams for the garden start to take shape. There are so many new varieties of plants I wanted to try; new varieties of heirloom tomatoes, peppers, herbs and greens. In March my office is transformed into a nursery that slowly fills with my dreams for the garden. They start small and with time grow to fill every inch of space under the grow lights.

We’re trying two new (for us) varieties of tomato and pepper. March 11, 2017
Dreams like seedlings need to be nurtured. With any luck if we nourish our dreams they will begin to grow and and with time become more than just dreams.

Young tomato seedlings. March 26, 2017
7 years ago the gardens of my dreams were a combination of tree stumps, mud, and 40 years of pine needles. Under thick layers of pine duff was NC red clay. We could have mined the clay for bricks or pottery. Digging when the soil was dry required a mattock. When wet it was a sticky, slippery mess.

Starting to cleanup the bed by the patio. 2010
But today, the last day of April 2017, you can see that what began with a dream, a vision of what could be, has become our reality and begun to blossom.

Dreams are important and with a lot of hard work and persistence they can come true.

Dreams need to be nourished, cultivated…

One of many pine stumps
There will be times when you feel overwhelmed and are filled with doubt…but don’t let it stop you. If we continue to cultivate our dreams and aren’t afraid of hard work they can come true.
The yard you see in the image above has transformed into the one you see below.

And the seedlings that started with a dream in March can also find a home in the garden.

Now this rabbit and I have had many conversations. She lives under the spirea bushes in the backyard. We have a truce but then she also has her dreams.

“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”
Pope John XXIII