The Garden Experiment

Back in my younger years, I would plant a garden ever year. I planted so many things - tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, green beans, carrots, peppers, beets - every year. But, back then, I had the best of mentors. My Dad would come practically every year and till up my garden. He even brought me manure a few times, when he had extra to fertilize my garden.

I usually had a beautiful garden. I would get so much stuff from it! I canned tomatoes, salsa and chili sauce every year. I canned beets every year. I canned green beans. And we would eat and eat and eat what we sowed. I kept it up for a few years after my dad died. But not many. Then George died. I never planted a garden again. It's been fifteen to twenty years since I last had a garden. I sold my house. I moved into a condo - oh how I loved my condo. Then I met this guy, married him and sold my condo. This guy - with whom I love with all my heart - and I bought a house.

Our house has a small yard. Which is great with me. I had a huge yard back in my twenties and thirties. I gave it all up, gladly, when I bought my condo. The house Ted and I have is in a little gated community. It's all individual houses, but built closely together with small yard. The front yards are maintained by the HOA and we maintain our backyard. Two years ago, Ted and I converted a third of our yard into a large patio. It's our family space in the summer. And I absolutely love it. Last fall, I was looking at the backyard and decided I wanted another third of it to be a garden area. I found garden boxes online and ordered them. It has three 4 x 4 sections. Two six inches high and one twelve inches high. My son and his wife helped me get the area cleaned up to set the garden boxes up. We got them set last year and waited for spring.

Come spring - my son, daughter-in-law and I worked on finishing it up and getting the soil in. We got the plants and seeds in and waited. I even got a little plastic swimming pool and made a sandbox for the grandkids. It's been a bit of a hit with the little ones.

I watered and fertilized. I watched and waited. We had tomatoes, Anaheim peppers, cucumbers, beets and carrots. I got excited with every little pop up plant. I got excited with every blossom. The first thing that came up - cucumbers. They were horrible. They were bitter. I only had a couple that didn't taste nasty. Then came my tomatoes. They all had rot bottom in the beginning. That began to stop - but they were all pretty little. The beets were a little close together, but I was able to harvest enough to can three quarts and four pints. They'll be used for holiday gatherings. We already had one, the kids said they were delicious. YAY - a triumph!!! The peppers were harvested, roasted and frozen. I'm excited to throw some in the Halloween chili. I pulled some of the carrots - and they went in a stir fry I made. It was pretty tasty.

I've already been researching to fix my problems for next year. Also how I can expand and add different plants to the mix. I'm excited for Experiment Year Two. Pinterest has become my best friend.

Today I pulled all of the tomato plants. I had already pulled the cucumber plants. All that is left is a few flowers and some carrots. We'll see how it goes next year.