Why Gardening is Fun!

I love my little garden.  It gives us fresh veggies for the tale end of Spring and a good part of the Summer.  We have recently moved and there was a raised garden bed at the new house.  Quite a bit bigger than our old one, but not REALLY big.  Haven't taken a tape measure to it, but my guess is 8'x12'.  Here are some reasons why gardening is fun:

1.  Planting herbs and having fresh pesto...mmmmm.  Above is our purple basil, but it apparently doesn't want to be purple anymore, the leaves are turning green.

 2.  From the Garden to the Table.  A great concept for the kids to learn.  We went and harvested yellow squash, zucchini and green beans earlier this month.  I let the kids chop them (with very close supervision) and we set them on the stove to cook.  We plated up the beautiful bounty and sadly, they didn't gobble it up.  But they DID try it, which says something because squash and zucchini are not their favorites.  Greg and I did enjoy eating what they didn't eat :)

 3.  It's a jungle out there!  It happens every year.  I convince myself that the garden is just not growing fast enough, and it's pitiful.  Then, a few good days of Spring rain, and everything grows like crazy.  Tip for next year:  mark your rows!  I accidentally planted my squash on top of my potatoes and it's a hot mess in there.  I'm a little worried that digging up the potatoes might uproot my squash as well.  Live and learn.

4.  From seed to plant.  This was the  first year that I planted some things from seed.  We planted bush green beans as well as potatoes.  It's amazing to see those little plants pop out of the ground.  I almost wanted to cheer for them, they were working so hard.

5.  Mystery Plants!  We started composting as well and I guess we go some seeds in the compost.  Now we have random roma tomato plants all over the garden as well as some jalapeno.  Greg pulled some up thinking they were weeds. After I pointed the other ones out to him, they have safely stayed in the ground.  Also, we have asparagus!!  These were planted by the previous owner, and magically appeared in our garden this year.  I had to Google it to see what it was.  We had ONE asparagus stalk, and Greg was going to wrap that ONE with bacon and it was going to be delicious.  A squirrel beat us to it, and ate it.

I try not to be too critical of my gardening skills.  I feel like I learn something new each time I plant.  Of course, I am guilty of comparing my garden with others.  We planted onions and they just didn't get big.  But a church group planted onions around the same time, and theirs are huge and beautiful.  I'll be asking for some tips next year.

Happy Gardening!