Gardening – an exercise in patience and faith.

For as long as I can remember, I have always had a garden of some sort… when I was growing up on the family farm, the garden we had was of pretty good size… later, as work brought me to the suburbs, I have continued to plant seeds with the hope of harvesting fresh produce. Why bother? Well, for one thing I like the satisfaction of seeing the plants grow and knowing just how fresh those veggies really are. Second, I want to be able to grow and harvest the foods that I will be eating. (Doing so enables me the control of what pest control methods are used and ensures that my food is truly organic!) And finally, growing my own food can be much more cost effective than buying it at the grocery store or local farmers’ markets.

Now, I know that I do not currently have the space to grow everything that I would like to, but I figure something is better than nothing and every little bit helps!

For the last few years I have been planting in some raised beds that I had placed over an old cement foundation. I had not been happy with my results. Either, the plants were not able to grow as well because they were not able to establish a deep enough root system or, radiated heat off of the cement slab adversely heated the soil and increased moisture evaporation. I suspect that it was a combination of both.

So this year, I made the decision to relocate my raised beds off of the cement slab and I believe my plants are much happier. Gardening is something that everyone can do. Start small if you need to and make changes along the way as you learn new things.

This year, I have planted corn, cucumbers, sweet peas, beets, carrots, onions, tomatoes, green and yellow beans zucchini squash, lettuce, chard, kale, basil, rosemary, peppermint, cilantro, parsley and a variety of pepper plants.

I have already harvested some peas and the first batch of beans are just about ready. I also planted some beet seeds that don’t seem to be doing anything. I planted 24 seeds and have 3 seedlings growing… I am hopeful that a few more will still germinate. Sometimes one just has to wait and see.