Gardening

Two years ago, we moved into the house we're living in now. It's a typical suburban house, on a typical boring squarish lot. It has good schools nearby, sidewalks, and pretty low traffic, making it nice for the kids. It has very dull landscaping, and due to the fact that I have no desire to research plants, and no extra money to pay someone else to do it, it's going to stay dull. Our backyard has a cool play set, a hand-me-down little house, a small slide, and one sad looking tree. But it has my big huge beautiful garden in the middle of it.

My garden makes me very happy (except for weeding - that makes no one happy). This year I'm growing peas, yellow peppers, red peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, various lettuces, cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, and some flowers. Green beans did not grow. My tomatoes have come down with mildew, so I'm currently attempting to use an organic spray to control it. I've never had to deal with that before. We've been eating lettuce for the past few weeks, and the peas are just starting to be ready to harvest.

I like the idea that my kids are learning where their food comes from. They can identify lots of the vegetables growing, and know a thistle from a carrot. The kids help with the weeding and watering and harvesting. I also like how cost-effective it is to grow organic food versus purchasing it. And it tastes so much better than the waxed, not quite ripe veggies at the store.