Do you have a vegetable garden? I didn’t until this year when I attempted a small one in some garden boxes. I mentioned it in passing on a few posts because I had harvested lettuce from the garden.
Here’s my Hollywood garden story- from happy, to sad to what’s the moral of the story.
When everything first sprouted and began to grow I shared a few photos with my friend, Valerie. She has a lot of gardening experience. I was so excited, and she couldn’t believe how nicely everything was growing.
Welp, it kind of went downhill from there. Not kind of. It went downhill.
First rookie mistake:
I put too many seeds in the boxes, and they got overcrowded fast. So, I thought it would be a good idea to trim it from the top. Nope, my friend, Beca (another gardener), told me, they need their leaves. Duh, of course they need their leaves. I needed to thin it from the bottom.
Next rookie mistake:
I had expected critters to eat my veggies and planted basil in hopes that it would ward them off. I think that worked, but, the little bugs didn’t mind the basil and attacked. This all happened while I was traveling and by the time I came back, it was totally infested.
Third rookie mistake:
I made a vinegar, water and soap mixture to spray the leaves, but I did so during daylight hours and the leaves burned. That was the beginning of the end.
But I kept watering and waiting to see what might turn up.
I did harvest the lettuces and some basil early on which were tender and delicious.
And I got one or two mini radishes.
Lastly, my sister warned me that growing your own carrots could yield teeny tiny little stubs. Well, she was wrong. Mine didn’t even get to stubs. I finally pulled these up (months and months later) and you can see for yourself. That’s my pinky fingernail.
Cucumbers should be really easy to grow, but I think my whole box got too much direct sunlight. I say this, because the only one that grew at all, was on the other side of the trellis out of direct sunlight.
I decided a few things about my garden.
- I actually enjoyed gardening and I’m going to try it again but do it a little differently this time. (I pulled all the sad leftovers out this morning and planted more lettuce which seemed the happiest out of everything I originally planted.)
- Instead of trying to grow five plants at once, maybe I’ll start with one or two.
- This whole experience of having early success and then somewhat of a failure was a great metaphor for other areas of my life:
- It ended up being a fun learning experience.
- I didn’t take it too seriously.
- I actually laughed a lot. (Come on, look at that cucumber. And who harvests carrots smaller than a pinky fingernail???!!!!)
- I did harvest some good tasting vegetables, even if it wasn’t what I had imagined it would be.
- I’ll try again armed with more information next time (and go more slowly).
- It really wasn’t a failure. It was just my first try at something new.
- While most of my plant-based cooking works out, it doesn’t always, and that’s ok too. It’s all a grand experiment.
My friend, Stephanie (Chef Steph!) has an amazing garden and inspires me with images of her beautiful veggies. I live vicariously through her planting successes.
If you have a garden, I’d love to see what you grew!