odorous savanna: The Garden | Tales of the Working Mom

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This gardening experience has been so much fun. The kids have really enjoyed it. My son every morning and evening goes out to check the progress of our labors. He excitedly exclaims ?there?s one!? as he finds the growing cucumbers. My husband checks things over and was the first one to notice the little ones growing on the vine.

Not everything has gone well with our little experimental garden. Here?s a few things that could use some improvement:

1) No herbs grew. Not. One. That was a huge disappointment. I love, love, love cooking with fresh herbs and couldn?t wait to cook with ones I?d grown. It can?t get any fresher than grabbing it out of your very own garden! But, that hasn?t worked out for us.

2) Our volunteer plant. Now, it was great to have a volunteer zucchini?plant from our compost pile. Downfall however it not only grew right over our onions but also got the grubs. Yeah, not fun. So, not only did several onions die/not grow but so did the volunteer plant.

3) Organic Seeds were a bust. The first time I went shopping for seeds I was with my sister-in-law. She?d favored organic seed and I didn?t have a preference. So, I purchased organic. I went back several weeks later and purchased a few more seeds. Luckily I did otherwise we?d have nothing in our garden. Yup, the organic seeds never grew.

There are a lot of amazing things going on with our garden. Here?s a few of those.

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1) Cucumbers galore! Oh boy did our cucumbers take off! My husband is very much looking forward to some home-made pickles and I?m excited to try out canning this year!

2) Just enough tomatoes. We have 4 tomato plants right now. Two are quite small and are on the verge of the cucumber hostage situation become a complete take-over. The largest plant has a couple of green tomatoes on it. I?m certain the second to largest will have some soon with the smaller plants following shortly after.

3) Watering is relaxing. I love watering the garden in the evenings. The sun is going down and I?m out there alone. The neighbors all retreated into their homes. It?s just me and my little garden.

4) Family enjoyment. As I mentioned above, my kids love the garden. In fact last week when we picked our first few cucumbers, my son was a bit overzealous and picked one early. They squeal with delight as they look for more veggies on the vine. That enjoyment is priceless.

5) Educational opportunities. Growing the garden has helped with educational opportunities. Not only do we talk about the fun of growing our own food but the importance of doing it. We have the chance to add a little science to our life by discussing why worms are important to gardens.

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We?ve learned a lot this year so far with our garden. So much it would be hard to narrow it down and make a list. However, the top two things at this moment that I?ve learned is this: 1) it?s not nearly as difficult as I once thought 2) Joy of a garden outweighs any heartache (or body ache).

How?s your gardening going? What challenges have you faced? What benefits have you received? I would love to hear from you!