One of my favorite parts about this summer was starting my first vegetable garden! I've wanted to do this for so long, and so excited that I was finally able to have the space and time to do it this year. My grandfather is a farmer and I remember as a little kid going through his garden with him and him teaching me the basics of vegetable care! Honestly, I was just going off of faith, general research and knowledge, and his wisdom when I started this garden. It was totally a "trial and error" kind of deal, but I am so happy with the results.
So I started my garden 18 weeks ago, and all of my produce were little seedlings. I planted basil, cilantro, parsley, chives, strawberries, cantaloupes, silver queen corn, green peppers, yellow peppers, red peppers, sante fe peppers, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, white eggplant and tomatoes… seesh! So many things :) Everything produced SO well (except for the peppers…. I got one green pepper out of the whole pepper family)! I was able to eat to my hearts content and share my produce with so many of my friends. I picked about 12 cantaloupes, 20 cucumbers, 10 squash, 3 zucchini, 10 eggplants, 15 ears of corn, 6 tomatoes (about 25 more are growing now!), SO many herbs, AND fed all the wildlife in my yard whatever amount of strawberries they stole (I got to have 3 -___-)!
My secret? I put bunny poop in the soil (hehe)! I have 3 bunnies, and for the past 3.5 years, I have deposited their "soil" in one area of the yard. That particular area happened to be where I wanted to start the garden, so I dug up the ground, toiled everything, added additional soil, and went at it! A natural fertilizer is where it's at apparently! All of my veggies and fruit were so sweet, rich, and the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. I remember after tasting my first tomato, I could have just eaten it like a peach.
If you haven't tried your own mini garden, then I would suggest you try! It's so rewarding and so delicious! My philosophy is that if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and at least you tried! It is so gratifying being able to not only eat locally (I try to purchase my groceries local), but to literally eat from your backyard! So please enjoy a few snaps of my garden progress this summer :-) I'll keep you all in sync with what's to come for the Fall garden!
