Our Little Garden

Despite the debris left behind from our logging extravaganza last summer, we were determined to have some sort of a garden this summer.  We knew it wouldn't be exactly where we wanted it in the years to come, and we knew it wouldn't get exactly the love and care it might deserve, but we had already bought the seeds, so...

We didn't plant much, and we chose plants that were easy.  Two rows of peas, two rows of beans, a row of cherry tomatoes, a row of peppers, and a row of ground cherries.  And one rhubarb plant.  We cleared a little spot next to the back of  our house; a place we could watch and water easily (too easily as it turned out - one corner was right below our roof gutter and received more than its share of downpour) and where the plants could enjoy lots of sun.  We put down a litte fertilizer, watered a bit - mostly in the beginning; thankfully we were blessed with lots of rain this summer - weeded once in a while and hoped for the best.

And the plants grew.

And grew.

And grew.

Call it beginners luck (and there was certainly much of that!) but our first garden was a plentiful little thing.  Yes, we lost some pea and bean plants due to the torrents of water shooting onto them from the rain gutter.  Yes, we found ourselves having to look up what exactly ground cherries are, what they are supposed to look and taste like, how to tell if they are ripe.  Yes, we planted our tomatoes a bit too late in the season and found them just about ready to ripen the night before our first frost.  Yes, we (actually Matty) found a recipe for "tomolives" that saved the day!  No, the peppers didn't quite work out...

But our little garden was a very special one for us because it was our first.  Just one step begins some of life's greatest journeys.