Our vegetable gardens are nothing out of the ordinary. We have a smallish city-yard, so our gardens are small. When Russ first built the raised beds and set up the trellises and the rabbit fencing, I naively thought we were on our way to self-sufficiency... at least where summertime veggies were concerned. I don't know why it didn't register with me that little gardens would yield little harvests. But I figured that out after the first year.
Now our little gardens are mostly for snacking. They don't feed us well. But we plant them year after year. Because the kids love it. And because I love it. There's a lot of joy in waiting for the first seeds to sprout, watering and watching the progress, spying the first tiny fruits, and snapping off the first beans or peas to sample. And pulling up the carrots in the fall - that's the best surprise of all!
I hope we always have a garden. Even our small gardens have never let me down. The simple joy of growing things together has been a special part of our family summers.
No mammoth-size melons or award-winning squashes here. Just simple, easy peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce - the first of which we ate for dinner last night!
No mammoth-size melons or award-winning squashes here. Just simple, easy peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce - the first of which we ate for dinner last night!
 |
| one of our two beds |
* * * * * *
Linking up with the lovely Gina at Someday (Hopefully) They'll Be Saints.
(go over and wish her a happy anniversary!)
What a great looking garden! I'm with you; our garden doesn't yield much at all (and it's even harder at high altitude), but it is fun to have one.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely garden! I've always wanted to keep a garden, but my feeble attempts (read: water for the first week, then completely forget I have plants to take care of!) never get me very far. You've inspired me to try again, though! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne!
DeleteAs for the watering... Do you have a chore chart for your kiddos? Maybe delegate the garden responsibilities :) I think my kids enjoy watching the gardens for progress because they get to help all along the way! (although, I have to be honest and let you know that that means sometimes plants get bent and veggies get harvested before their time, but at least they kids are involved and learning!) Oh! And we pay our kids to weed and pick maple tree "helicopters' out of the gardens too. I'm willing to shell out a couple dollars to avoid weeding ;)
How inspirational, I really should give gardening another try, I'm a gardener like you Anne.
ReplyDelete