Harvest Time

I am so thankful for the produce section of my local grocery store. I have complained in the past about the produce not looking so great. Now, I am going to be impressed with whatever makes it to the store.

I thought we would try a small garden this year. I have never had much of a green thumb, so I started small. Square foot gardening sounded perfect for me. I knew it would work. So, I put Tony and the kids to work and we started one 4X4 ft. garden. Enough for sixteen little planting areas. I knew it wouldn't be enough to fill our produce need, but I could supplement at the store. Yes, supplement. I stuck with "easy to grow" plants. The ones they usually recommend for kids' gardens since they are so easy to grow a kid could do it. Apparently, I should have let my kids do all of it.

Let me share a little of our harvest:

Okay - that's not just a little of our harvest. That's about it! I can't even make anything with that. I guess I can just throw them in the salad tonight. I thought beans were supposed to be a no-brainer. And, I didn't even know I planted cherry tomatoes. I also planted squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, radishes, carrots, etc. Maybe I am not being patient enough. But, the radishes even flowered out without the radish at the bottom. I'm not claiming any gardening knowledge right now, but I really thought the plants were pretty much done producing once they flower out.

I guess if we were farmers, we would starve. I'm pretty disappointed. I have images in my head of being like Laura Ingalls Wilder. Living out in the wilderness and being able to cook and sew for my family. I wouldn't really want to live that way, but the realization that I couldn't even if I tried is heartbreaking to me.

At least it's just plants. I can throw them in the compost when I'm done with them. I don't feel as bad when I mess up the gardening as I do when I mess up with the chickens. They don't seem to appreciate being my practice chickens.