Labor Day in the Garden

Many consider Labor Day, which we’ll be celebrating tomorrow, the unofficial end of summer. It’s hard to see it that way in Arizona, where we’ll be enjoying temperatures above 100° well into September. But a benefit to this extended summer is an extended planting season!

Check out this vegetable planting calendar – the Phoenix area falls into Zone 9, which means now is the perfect time to start beans, cabbage, and cauliflower. In the coming weeks, you can start thinking about planting beets, carrots, lettuce, and spinach. Plus, it’s recommended to start the seeds indoors for the first few weeks before you transplant them outside (be sure to prep the soil when you do!), so if your family would like to spend Labor Day planting, you can do so while remaining out of the sun.

Seeds planted around this time of year will be ready for harvest in November/December, just in time to include the fruits of your labor as a part of your holiday meals. And as you eat them, you can soak in feelings of gratitude for living in a place where you can harvest crops in the winter!

Working in a garden provides great bonding time for your family, both in the planting and the caretaking of your garden. It provides lessons in how important it is to plant things at the right time and in the right place in order for them to grow, and in the challenge of accepting that you can’t control everything in your pursuit of the perfect carrot. But a garden is also a wonderful place for meditation and prayer, and you can foster these things for your family by adding scripture rocks to your garden.

All you need are some large, flat, relatively smooth rocks – and rocks are definitely available in surplus in this part of the country. You might like to paint them a solid color first, then use paint or Sharpie to add your favorite Bible verses, or words of inspiration, or pictures that make you feel calm and centered. Place them around your garden, and whenever you head outside to watch your hard work come to fruition, you can also treat yourself to time spent in reflection and prayer.

Here are some examples of colorful, inspiring scripture rocks. We’d love to see how your fall garden turns out – and that includes all of the things you’ve planted there. Share pictures and stories with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!