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![IMG_20231006_104624.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23xKtRn2f6s7UrFaXvL1ScV8UKez6jpuiooi8ak4FZqm3QnNSUEQEcBf1jenYCYTRPiTR.jpg)

I grew up with my grandmother, and one of the things I learned from her is gardening. My grandma believes in growing her own crops and plants, including livestock, as a way of eating healthy and reducing food expenses. She loves eating freshly made food, and having a garden at home makes it handy for her. Whenever she is set to prepare a meal, she visits the garden immediately and plucks some veggies. Grains and tubers are planted on her larger land, far from home. Even though I always see them as tedious work, they've been so beneficial. So when I got married, grandma encouraged me to have my little **garden at home**, considering how expensive things are in the city and also for healthy lifestyle purposes. Her ideas prompted me to have my little garden here.

![IMG_20231006_105120.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/242YA8QfmW9qHGt8emU9L9QjdyTrHPGqRZ7zvA2yEwMsNKu76oENg5iCFzbDGPfvWKFEE.jpg)
*<sub>My kids are watering the plants</sub>*

I planted this pumpkin leaf 🌿 two years ago, and it was doing well.  Every weekend, my kids and I spend time, weeding the garden and watering it. They enjoyed doing that. This saved me  some money because, whenever I am set to prepare vegetable soup or stew, I harvest from my garden, which is, so handy and fresh,with the natural manure I added while planting them.

![IMG_20231006_104652.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23yTdBbLcewSvH8Mk12Qqc4MLuTBDNiHNKQL8zLEwPpHgMHdRuL4KLpSuyDUUdyPrCfiE.jpg)
*<sub>My harvest</sub>*

Grandpa taught me how to cut pumpkin leaves in a way that the plant wouldn't be affected; unfortunately, I did it the wrong way. To my greatest chagrin, early this year, my garden became a mess... I wasn't proud enough to communicate with Grandma about my mess.

![IMG_20231006_111138.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23ynMtdYtZubdCaPAzcwNhUpyD31iHKxSDswYiQoSs5yizyMrwLckvzHhW7Z6mw6onuVr.jpg)
*<sub>Grandma and I</sub>*

Getting the pumpkin seeds to replant means calling her to send them to me here in the city, and I wasn't ready for her blame. So I quickly got bitter leaf sticks from a faraway neighbor and planted them. The growth was rapid as I added some natural manure bought by my husband.

![IMG_20231006_104740.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23t79QhsPJJcVoMj8dDUz7w3pbhAtj8SiUFhJsFHrC3EtgDKV9ADEhA6hr5SRW34CckTz.jpg)

The bitter leaf plant is used to prepare a kind of soup called bitter leaf soup. It's one of my family's favorite soups, and we can't go a week without preparing it. I did harvest some as well, and I felt fulfilled.

![IMG_20231006_104801.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23wqiZzfq6G8tSSJseKqQJH9BQADXWxBwAbpXXtMLxqKMQSWPwvYGtQJXmsFxs7bLNwVD.jpg)

I also planted curry leaves for my tomato 🍅 stew and jellof rice It usually has a great aroma. 

![IMG_20231006_104713.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23yJLcDAGXdFvdREZwDcMfBt3d2x419gTJsfyH56gpVNwqhvHSJYLHwxZYzbS1AkusE6D.jpg)

When I discussed this with my grandmother on the phone earlier this morning, I had no idea about this prompt. It's indeed a coincidence, as she raised the topic of my gardening and encouraged me to return to it no matter how I damaged the pumpkin plants. 

Recently, I bought some pumpkin leaves for a meal preparation at $1.5. Something I should have gotten free of charge from my garden if not that I messed it up during my past harvest. I explained everything to Grandma, and she promised to send me some pumpkin seeds while I resumed my **gardening project**.

Right now, the only plants in my garden are the bitter leaf plants and the curry leaf plants. I plan to resume growing my pumpkin leaf plants on my balcony as soon as I receive the pumpkin seeds, as promised by Grandma.

If you are looking for something to write this weekend, check out this [post](https://peakd.com/hive-168869/@galenkp/weekend-engagement-topics-week-174). @galenkp has released some writing suggestions for the weekend.

*I hope you have a great weekend,folks*.

*Thanks for visiting my blog*.

## All images are mine.

![20230615_081050_0000.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/nkemakonam89/23uQfW3EuLDCuy9SPdHR3DePvxHhK3E2kqeLKrshdMMXjpGMhGEdEctnfmTSGW9fGB8Zv.png)

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