It was worth it....

[jayene]

The juniper needles in my palms, the backaches from pulling out the stumps, the red bush thorns... every minute of it worth it. I harvested from the garden today. Now we've been pulling the odd tomato, lettuce leaf, and sugar pea out for weeks, but today I hauled a mess of green beans, peas, cucumbers, carrots and a couple of stalks of lettuce. I have to add some potatoes and onions but most of my stew for supper is coming from my garden! The pumpkins are taking over rapidly and the broccoli never really did head for us, but for a first ever garden I am pleased.
Tonight I make salad and stew!
Things I will do differently next year:
Start earlier (Though I won't have to clear the area I want to plant next year)
Start seedlings for my flowers (other then my marigolds all my flower seeds failed spectacularly)
Buy a hoe (weeding by hand all the crab grass is a back ache and a half and I ended up miserably behind)
Plant the pumpkins and cucumbers on the other side of the yard (I've trimmed the pumpkin back a dozen times, it keeps trying to grow across the driveway)
Pole beans instead of bush beans (I think I'll get more yield)
Trellis and fence bits for the beans and peas to grow up (my improvisation with dowels and twine was only partially effective)
Asparagus and strawberry roots put in this fall (can't wait!)
Put the lettuce and spinach in porch baskets
Buy a narrow table or cabinet for the back porch for grilling and gardening equipment
Try the tipsy pot arrangement for kitchen herbs
multiple hanging baskets....
Morning glories and moonflowers in the front
More daylilies
Two red climbing roses to either side of the yellow clove rose
Take out more of the front brush

Not to ambitious.... of course not. :-/

Comments

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

*clappity clappity*

I confess that I did a little dance when I had my first salad out of my deck garden. I even took pictures.

Last night I went out with a pair of scissors and snipped Pepper her dinner - only fair since she fertilized it all for me.

[lord-axiom.livejournal.com]

Don't sweat the broccoli- my mom never had any luck with it.

Any squash vine- pumpkin, zucchini, etc, will take over wherever you plant it. Each plant needs lots of room, like a three foot diameter between plants, in order to really succeed. Your pumpkins are looking for more room.

Dowel and twine trellises always worked well enough for my mom, but we never tried pole beans.

We've had our first meal of garden grown green beans, and it was nice.