Atomictumor

There have been many attempts at vegetable gardening here at the Cemestos Gardens.  One obstacle has always been that the vast majority of our back yard is covered in shade.  Over the years, we’ve slowly been staking out the best spots for planting, with varied success:

• In 2001, we planted 3 or 4 tomato plants at the back edge of the fence.  They grew, sure enough they grew…but they had passengers - some sort of fungus that enjoyed fresh tomatoes as much as we.  Back to the drawing board.
• In 2002, we planted a few more tomato plants at the front corner of the fence.  They developed the same problems as the previous year.
• In 2003, we became ambitious and dug up a fair amount of land in the back yard.  We planted corn, summer squash, tomatoes, all kinds of things.  Our seedlings started out okay, but neglect and a serious weed problem sent them to an early grave.  So much for ambition.
• In 2004, we took a year off.
• In 2005, we were gifted some tomato and mini yellow bell pepper plants from our green-thumbed Aunt.  We decided to forsake flowers in the front and plant them there.  It worked!  Fresh tomatoes and peppers for a good couple months - there’s nothing better.

Which brings us to today.  Earlier this spring, I dug out an 8′ x 8′ spot for a garden right next to the kids’ play structure.  It was a gamble of sorts - the area definitely is not in full sun, but I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would eek out enough during the day to support a few vegetables.  We planted four tomato plants (1 for each kid & Bos), 6 green bell pepper plants, 2 summer squash plants (belonging to October) and 2 cucumber plants (belonging to MastaG).  In the front yard, we planted 3 additional tomato plants.  Last, we planted 3 cantaloupe plants (belonging to Spotz) up by the road in our iris bed.  And let’s not forgot Bos’ head o’ basil…

So far, the venture has been successful.  October lost one of her squash plants to some unknown assassin, and Lugnut’s tomato plant is a bit dwarfed.  But all remaining plants are producing (or at least flowering), which is fantastic.  MastaG’s plant is sporting one cucumber, October now has 2 yellow squash, all the pepper plants have baby bells and every single tomato plant has fruit on it.  Right now, it is hard to be patient waiting for the tomatoes to ripen; eventually, though, we’ll have tomatoes coming out of our ears.  My last remaining concern are the cantaloupe plants.  They took their sweet time adjusting to the soil, and only began to flower a week or so ago.  I’m not giving up yet, though.

Gardening is really a joyful thing.  I love the notion that we are creating sustenance for ourselves that isn’t flown in from who-knows-where, or that’s been sprayed with 12 different pesticides.  I love that the kids have taken such an interest in it, and each morning run outside to see if their plants have produced any more.  And there’s just something about seeing it grow from a delicate little seedling into a massive, food-producing plant.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 1:24 pm and is filed under friends, Food, Kids, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.