1st Abundant Garden

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Categories: Advice from Grandma - One Generation to Another, Things that Matter, What's it Like, Living Green?

Last year was our 1st abundant garden, since we moved to Malad, Idaho. The ground was tilled, but it was already June and my husband Bill was busy putting in a sprinkler system, there was no sign of a garden.

We are in the garden sign--1st Abundant Garden

I was thinking about these scriptures as I decided that if we were going to have a garden, it would be up to me.

Luke 8:1-15

  • Lord show me the right ground for my seed
  • I thank you for already preparing the place to sow
  • I thank you for a yield from this ground.

https://www.prayerrelay.com/prayer-points-for-seed/

1st Abundant Garden
1st Abundant Garden
Digging in the soil-1st Abundant Garden
Digging in the soil

I began making trips to garden stores and picking up any plants I could find at the local grocery store. I even bought a whole case of marigolds. We had tomatoes, green peppers, spaghetti squash, cantaloupes, crookneck squash, cucumbers, potatoes, mini-pumpkins and I also planted a whole package of sunflowers as a border.

Bill got the sprinkler system set up by the end of June, just before we went to Oregon for a week. He had a system to water the garden as well. I couldn’t wait to see how our garden was doing. I checked the plants, the minute we came home. I was delighted that they were doing so well; we had many producing plants and they were thriving!

The very next morning, something unthinkable happened. In fact, I thought my husband was joking when he told me the neighbor behind us had decided to spray the weeds in his field while the wind was blowing. It was true! The weed killer got onto our garden! Before Bill even told me about the spray, he took a hose and washed off the plants as much as possible.

1st Abundant Garden 1
Before Bill even told me about the spray, he took a hose and washed off the plants as much as possible.

Day by day, things got worse in our garden. The spaghetti squash that was close to the fence was already producing squash, but the large leaves began to wilt and curl up.

The Plants were dying
The squash plants were dying

The squash withered up and died on the plants. The crookneck squash was coming out with birth defects.

Where my tomato plants once looked tall and proud, they were drooping over. We were losing most of the marigolds, I had so nicely planted along the edges of the garden. Even the cucumbers on the far side of the garden were wilting.

Wilted tomato plant
My tomato plants wilted

I turned to my husband, remembering the scripture that said: “Cry unto him over the crops of your fields, that ye may prosper in them.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/alma/34.24-25?lang=eng#23

“Bill, I said, “I need you to give my garden a blessing. We need to pray for our crops.”

Bill began to pray and give the garden a blessing. After that, rather than seeing more and more wilted and dying vegetables, we saw improvements each day. The garden became beautiful and we had our 1st abundant garden.

The cucumbers were coming in by the basket full.

1st Abundant Garden 2
Cucumbers from our 1st Abundant Garden

We had so many healthy spaghetti squash, we couldn’t give them away fast enough. We got a bushel of mini pumpkins, towering sunflowers, tomatoes and baskets of crookneck squash.

1st Abundant Garden 3
Vegetables from our 1st Abundant Garden

By August, it was time for the county fair. I entered the beautiful vegetables in the fair, thinking it would be fun to get a blue ribbon on something.

1st Abundant Garden 4
Spaghetti Squash from our 1st Abundant Garden
1st Abundant Garden 5
Crookneck Squash from our 1st Abundant Garden
1st Abundant Garden 6
Cucumbers from our 1st Abundant Garden
1st Abundant Garden 7
Mini-Pumpkins from our 1st Abundant Garden

Little did I know, everything I entered from our 1st abundant garden, plus the canning and pickles we made from the cucumbers would all win blue ribbons!

1st Abundant Garden 8

Just a quick side note here: I saw this sign in the neighborhood the other day.

Now I can really see the difference between praying for a garden and swearing at it! This garden isn’t doing very well.

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One thought on “1st Abundant Garden

  1. I love your blog. We used to pray for our garden, cars, house and family. We were greatly blessed. So happy that your garden survived.

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