July 15, 2011
Sweet Garden Success
The author's vegetable garden. Photo courtesy of Lisa Bramen.
I’m about halfway through my first season of vegetable gardening, and frankly I’m amazed at how well it’s going. Considering how little I knew and how nervous I was going into this project, it’s been gratifying to see my little boxes of dirt turn into a well-stocked produce aisle. Few other endeavors would allow the novice such immediate success.
Much of it, of course, has been luck—I happen to have a south-facing backyard that gets sun all day, and Mother Nature has been doing a lot of the watering for me. The rest is just showing up: pulling weeds, pinching off tomato plant suckers (new growth in the joints of stems that could siphon away nutrients from the fruits) and harvesting veggies when they’re ready.
The latter, surprisingly, has been the most challenging. Some things, like lettuce mix and arugula, have grown so quickly and abundantly that I feel like Lucy Ricardo on the chocolate factory assembly line trying to keep up with it. I’ve been handing bags of the stuff to everyone I know, and I still have plenty left for two salads a day. Next year I’ll plant half as much.
And what was I thinking planting a whole row of dill? One plant would have been sufficient for the occasional sprig I need. I hadn’t realized they would grow to three feet tall. I couldn’t handle the pressure of a dozen plants daring me to find a use for them—and casting shadows over the rest of the bed—so I finally cracked and pulled up all but two (a couple of them found a new life transplanted in a friend’s garden).
Meal planning has become like triage; we eat whatever is most urgently ripe. One day, after weeks of eyeing my shelling peas, I realized they had reached peak plumpness and needed to be picked—stat! Any longer and they would become tough and starchy. Because peas take up so much space relative to their edible yield, we ate the entire harvest in one sitting. Next year, I’ll plant more peas.
I almost didn’t plant peas at all, because I have never been a fan. I was one of those kids who used to push my wan, shriveled frozen peas around my plate rather than eat them. But, along with tomatoes, peas might be the food with the most radical taste difference between fresh homegrown and store-bought. Fresh off the vine they are sweet and succulent—delicious.
Now on to the next project: learning how to pickle and can my surplus veggies so I can bring a little taste of summer into next winter—a season that always comes too soon around here.
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I don’t see one weed in your picture. That is impressive!
I have been planting what I call my “kitchen garden” for 4 yrs now. I usually have a dozen tomato plants, many squash/zucchini plants, and as of last year, eggplant. This year, I scaled back on the tomatoes (3 purchased and one “accidental”),4 zucchinis, 2 eggplant and have also planted a 5 variety mix of lettuces, radishes, and carrots. I have 1 dill, 1 parsley, 2 basil, 1 cilantro, and an abundance of oregano (it has become invasive, so I pulled most of it), sage, thyme, and chives. I am anxiously awaiting the carrots, lettuces, and radishes (which need to be thinned)as well as the rest (got a late start due to the odd weather we had this spring.) That is what I have…
thanx for your article. i was inspired to share my own gardening venture with you.
this is my first vegetable garden since my childhood days. a neighbor donated seeds and i went to work on the rest. my passion for gardening has been rekindled through daily weeding, watering, and care. feeding the community with daily harvested greens is wonderful, has connected me to the community in a whole new way, and revived my spirit. (must say my elbow isn’t bearing so well since turning the soil manually with a pitchfork. ouch.)
2 1/5 moons later (i use the new moon as my planting guide) I have an abundance of kale, a bit of swiss chard, way to few peas (i, too, will plant more next time), and the beginnings of mighty corn stocks.
Next season i will attempt more lettuces as i needed to purchase some romaine the other day to enhance our salad. I have found gardening to be an enjoyable pastime as well as wonderful daily exercise. thanx for sharing your story.
Congratulations on you gardening success this year. Eating fresh fruits and/or vegetables that you have grown yourself is very exciting. I also love your efficient use of space. Keep up the good work.
Congrats on the successful garden! You will find that preserving all this goodness by canning and pickling is actually very easy! I learned two years ago, and now I have a whole pantry of tomato sauces, salsas, beets, sweet and dill pickles, sweet and white potatoes, corn, green beans, fruits (I didn’t grow these, I bought these at the produce market), jams, jellies, and after visiting a friend who lives on the Washington coast, TUNA!
Once you see how easy it is to can food, and taste the difference between home canned and store-bought, you will be encouraged to do even more! I like to hit the weekly sales and buy enough to can up a small amount of whatever is ripe that week (did 4 tiny jars of pineapple ice cream topping last week, enough to last me about a year)!
I picked up a book that catered to small batch canning so I didn’t have to have bushels of product, and didn’t end up with 100′s of jars of one thing. I live alone and last years garden is still feeding me! It’s a good thing, too, because the weather here just wasn’t conducive to gardening this year.
My garden is overflowing with an abundance of peppers. So last weekend I pickled peppers…so I can then make salsa. This weekend, roasted tomatoes in olive oil and dilly beans…I love farming (my 20 little plants!)
It sounds like your first garden is a huge success! Congratulations.
[...] than can be eaten—or even given away—before they go bad. My first garden, which has gone surprisingly well, is no exception. To avoid waste you have to preserve the bounty somehow. My boss, who grew up [...]