For as long as I can remember I have dreamed of having a garden large enough to eat out of for the summer. Somehow though, in the joy of late winter turning to spring, the days slip away and I find myself shopping at the farmer's market, purchasing my annual batch of tomato plants dreaming of how it will be different next year.
This year, oh this year was different. Finally. No thanks to me though. I was still filled with dreams, even went so far as to purchase a pile of seeds, to add to the pile from years past but that was it. This year, when Debbie wasn't studying she worked in our yard weeding the beds, trimming back overgrown plants that have been untended for a year or two, and planning for the garden we've dreamed of. One day while I was at work, she ordered a pile of compost and started building raised beds. All of those seeds I'd purchased finally had a place to be used. I had purchased several varieties of heirloom tomatoe seeds that we split with my father. They both planted seeds that thrived with very little fuss. In the spring, we started eating baby lettuce and other greens.
By summer pretty much all of our vegetables came from our garden. It was my dream come true. We're still getting chard and beets that I predict will last at least another month. The chard because there's that much and the beets because two people can only eat a few beets a week, even when you love them as much as we do.
I wasn't ready to let that garden go though. I wanted to see if we could continue to supplement our groceries with our own vegetables. So last month we cleaned up the beds, pulled the kale that was filled with white flies, the overgrown cucumbers, the remaining delacata squash, the wormy carrots, and the last of the beans. I think we're just finishing up the last of those cucumbers and squash.
I talked to a master gardener at work about what to plant and we began making plans for cold frames. One gorgeous weekend in September, we planted our seeds. They are growing well and we'll be adding a variety of home grown greens to our menu in about a week. Yesterday Debbie added several plant starts and build the cold frames. I'm a lucky lucky girl.
I'm already planning how "we" can expand next year.
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