The weather has definitely been strange and erratic. Somehow, the garden still knows how to trudge along. We’ve been able to start harvesting a few things. This year we planted:
- tomatoes, peas, beans, jalapenos, red peppers, carrots, pumpkins, sunflowers, kale, cilantro, and basil
- Chives, tarragon, and raspberries regrew on their own.
From this impressive looking list of options, we already had a few casualties. The squirrels dug up all the sunflower seeds before they even had a chance to sprout. Even after growing the pumpkin seeds inside to healthy looking 6″ sprouts, the squirrels ate all those too. It was too hot for the peas. The plants remained small and scraggly, but we managed to get a few pods. Out of the 10 bean seeds we planted, only 1 grew and it’s tiny. I didn’t care for the raspberry plants last year so we only got about 25 berries.
The rest, however, are doing pretty well. I’m shocked as I’ve had many failures in past years, some nature related and others due to “black-thumb” gardening mishaps. For example, one year none of the tomatoes turned red and I had a massive aphid infestation (see Ferocity). Another year, a friend gifted us a cherry tomato plant. I waited patiently for the small orange tomatoes to turn red. Towards the end of the summer I mentioned this to my friend who informed me they were orange cherry tomatoes.
This year, however, I’ve been enjoying the magic of home gardening. I pick fresh kale for salads. Sprigs of fresh herbs get chopped up with my special herb-cutting scissors (yes! it’s a thing and one of my favorite kitchen gadgets). Perhaps my most favorite is picking fresh tomatoes.
As a child, I grew up spoiled on my grandfather’s greenhouse-grown tomatoes. I would wait all year to eat his tomatoes. Juicy and lush, glistening ruby orbs shining against the greenery of their stalks in the sweltering heat of the greenhouse. I used to pick them and eat them like apples, making a convincing case to put the tomato back in the “fruit” category. When people tell me they don’t like tomatoes, I can’t help but think it’s because they haven’t really tasted a super fresh, locally grown one. This year, I have the good fortune to gorge myself on them for a brief time.