The Garden

So the last few years, I've tried my hand at gardening.  With not very good results.  

I think my gardening motto should be "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."  Because that's all I've been doing... trying again.  Two years ago was my first attempt.  The only success was a huge harvest of jalapenos (thanks to a very wet summer).  The mocking birds ate every tomato that turned the slightest shade of orange, the squash and zucchini rotted because of all the rain, and the eggplant were TERRIBLE.  Don't know what happened there, but they were just down right spit-them-out-of-your-mouth terrible!

Last year was the first summer in our new house, and we weren't sure where we wanted the garden yet, so I just stuck a few plants in the ground in a small space next to our fireplace.  The cucumbers grew but mostly they were too bitter to eat.  The watermelon didn't really do anything, and I can't remember what else we planted--that's how spectacular it was...

This year, we were on the ball.  Robby got some good dirt (since the builder filled our yard with sand) and created me a place to have a garden.  We got a rain barrel and put it in the garden so we could economically water our little plants.  I planted lettuce, basil, parsley, oregano, squash, broccoli, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, and a potato.  The potato was one that had sprouted in the pantry, so it was an experiment and I didn't put too much stock in it.  The rest were seeds or little plants.  

My only harvests this summer were some lettuce and basil.  I found out after I planted that broccoli is a cool weather plant and I should plant it this fall.  Why, oh why, does Lowes sell broccoli in the spring if it's too stinkin' hot down here to grow it??  Anyway, this is what happens when broccoli gets too hot:

The head stops getting bigger and all those little pods that we eat 

bloom into yellow flowers

The rest just fell apart.  Everything did great through the spring.  It was raining, but not too much, and the plants were growing.  Then came June and our 100+ degree weather and not much rain.  That was also the time I was 8.5 months pregnant and didn't spend much time outside.  Better luck next year, I guess!  

What I didn't know was that a surprise was in store for me.  Remember that watermelon I planted last year that didn't do anything?  Well, it came back.  All on it's own.  And it is FLOURISHING!  I have always loved watermelon, but I have been especially obsessed with it this summer.   

There were 7 melons on the vine, but I wasn't sure when to pick them.  They're personal size watermelons, so I didn't know how big they should be.  The biggest one quit getting bigger about a week ago, so today I picked my first melon.  I stuck it in the fridge and crossed my fingers--remember the cucumber?  A few hours later, it was time to cut it.

It tasted amazing!  Sweet all the way to the rind.  Needless to say, it didn't last long.  Between the girls and me, we had it finished off pretty quickly!  

So, if nothing else, at least I got a little watermelon this year.  I'll keep trying and tweaking things until I figure this out.  Hopefully one day I'll have a beautiful garden that yields lots of fruits and veggies.