For those of you that don't live in Texas...we garden here year round... We recently moved to our new place just outside of Boerne, Texas and it came complete with 10 laying chickens and a wannabe garden. The folks that owned the place before us had good intentions of having a beautiful raised bed garden, but a job opportunity took them elsewhere and all that was left were some good bones for us to work with.
Larry and I both saw the potential...but we also saw all the work it was gonna take to put in the garden. The soil was rocky and void of life. The paths were overgrown with sumac and thistle. Even so...we took on the challenge because we knew what could be the fruits of our labor if we tended our garden right. So...this past Saturday we rose early and started the process. Earlier in the week we hauled in 7-8 yards of dirt from the back of our pick up to the garen via wheel barrow. All that was left to do was installing 5' X 16' cattle panel on the cedar posts surrounding the garden...install the drip irrigation system and plant our plants. Easy schmeezy...at least on paper. 
From ding to dong Larry, my sister, Melody, and I pressed through 95 degree heat and pure exhaustion and finished our garden... (It's still not completely done...but the plants are in the ground!) After the chickens, horses, sheep and pigs were put up I snuck back to take a look at the garden. The plants almost seemed relieved to be out of their pot confines and into the ground. To most they would have looked at it and saw a puny little garden...but what I saw was potential. I saw tomatoes that would become tomato sauce and salsa... I saw green beans on my Thanksgiving table... I saw jalepenos canned on my pantry shelf and herbs flavoring my dishes... It was all good.
Not all of us can have gardens. I am blessed to have ours... Yet...whether we recognize it or not we are all tending a garden of some kind. It may not be dirt and plants...but it could be your son or daughter who need seeds of love and encouragement sown into their lives. It could also be your home where seeds of increased value are painted and nailed on it's four walls. It could also be our business where each contact we make is the seed of a potential sale or new business. Whatever it is...it all takes hard work. There will be times we want to quit due to obstacles that seem to hard to press through...but it will be that extra effort that will make all the difference.
Right now your garden...whatever it may be...may look like just a few young plants without any fruit to show for your labor. But in time...with careful tending, watering and fertilizing it has the potential to reap a crop you never dreamed of.
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