garden

I never thought I had much of a green thumb. This I mostly blame on my mother. She always complained about her inability to keep house plants alive.  (She also put them up on high shelves and cabinets she couldn't reach, so that could be part of the problem.) I guess I just assumed that trait would be passed down to me.

I know very little about plant care. However, 2 years ago when I started my job, my Grandma gave me a Christmas cactus for my desk. It is still alive. And it has even bloomed a few times!  I don't know what I did to make it do that, so I can't share. Sorry.

The first year I lived in my house (we weren't married yet, so Brad didn't live there) we planted a garden together. In the shadiest spot of the front yard.  It grew, but not well.  And the veggies that did show up were eaten by raccoons.  Fail. 

The next year (when we were married, so he'd moved in), we moved the garden to the other side of the house next to the driveway. The thought of having car leakage running into my food grossed me out, and I tried to persuade Brad to build raised beds.    But nope. He just framed in the dirt with wood boards pounded into the ground and called it good. We got decent vegetables last year.   Lots of broccoli and TONS of lettuce and radishes.  But after accidentally eating aphid-covered broccoli I wanted nothing more to do with the garden veggies.  Seriously.  COVERED.  I ate mouthfuls of aphids before I realized they were there.  The grossest thing ever.  In my defense, Brad picked the broccoli, and steamed it without noticing the bugs. And he brought them to me in the dark TV room. I only noticed them because the light was turned on.  And then I barfed.

This year, I somehow convinced the husband that raised beds were definitely the way to go.  He built REAL raised beds, and even shipped in fancy, fresh, manure-filled dirt (it's the best kind for food growing).

We have a ton of stuff growing this year.  Romaine, spinach, beets, radishes, orange carrots, purple carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, corn, strawberries, sunflowers, tomatoes and lemon peppers.

This is a slightly old picture of the garden.  The spinach, romaine and kale are all ready for eatin'. The beets are giant, and so are the broccoli and brussels.  And we've had a couple good harvests of radishes already.

It's crazy how this garden has grown.  We planted everything from seed this year, and it's been pretty amazing to watch them grow from nothing. 

It really doesn't take much work. Just a few cups of beer (for slug traps), and some watering every now and then, and you get food!