I love summer because I love vegetables and I really love eating my own vegetables. Of course, my not so green thumb has prevented me from really enjoying a big garden - that and a serious lack of sun on our backyard.
My dad had a garden every year when we were kids, and when we bought our home 10 years ago he came up every year to help us plant a garden. His plants, which he started in the winter, were always big and ready to be planted. Even with his help, I didn’t have a lot of success. Sadly, my dad has fallen ill and this is our second summer without a visit from him. My son really misses him coming to see us and asked if we could plan our own garden this year. I guess he hasn’t realized that the success of anything in our backyard has been my dad’s doing but I agreed anyway.
We have kept things simple, tomatoes, beans, herbs and some pickling cucumbers (Sam wants to make some pickles this year!) and we decided to go out on the limb and try a watermelon and a butternut squash plant - knowing that they might not give us what we want - but it would be fun trying anyway.
I am happy to report that so far…. everything is growing. Our tomato plants are doing the best of all of the plants but I think we may have a little garden to feel proud of this year!
I will have to jump over to the CPO gardening board (Bugs & Blooms) for some help in keeping things alive but welcome your feedback and tips as I am sure we will be in battle with bugs and weeds before long.
We are printing off some pictures of our garden to take home to show Dad. Sam is very proud of his efforts and I am sure my Dad will be proud that his little grandson will keep his annual tradition alive.
Helen
