Our Little Garden

First, let me remind you of Rychen's and my experience thus far in gardening:

One tomato plant and a basket of flowers.

No comments on the beached whale, please.

So, while some of you may shrug, this is a big deal for us. Here's what our garden looks like today:

Here we have: 2 zucchini, 2 tomato, 2 bell pepper, several lettuces, cilantro, parsley, onions, and radishes. So far, the fruits of our labors are... oh, right, still waiting.

Let me be honest with you. I am absolutely disappointed. Do you know how much WORK it takes to just to plant a garden? (especially a container garden with a very specific homemade potting mix) And you have to water it every day! And then, of course, WAIT. It takes like 2 months to see any fruit for your efforts. Then you pick the lettuce, eat it for dinner, and BAM 2 months of effort, Gone. Even a fruiting plant, you plant that seed and nourish it with care... DAILY for MONTHS... hoping to get rewarded for your efforts. But frankly, you may not (I think last year we got five cherry tomatos).

Recently, Rychen's grandparents gave us a bag of spinach and lettuce. It was like handing me a golden ring! Because now I KNOW what it took to produce these priceless leaves. I'll tell you one thing, I'm not about to go giving mine away! No sharing these gems. So you may look, but don't touch.

Here's an interesting phenomenon. Our lettuce is growing into a thick stem... anybody know about that? Tell me honestly, does this look remotely like a head of lettuce you'd find at the grocery store?

Alright, I'll end on a positive note. A few months ago, I started with lettuce. I paid $20 for lettuce starts (after which, realizing that $20 buys a lot of lettuce at the grocery store. What the heck am I doing?) and instead of growing them to a full head, I picked off individual leaves and sometimes cut the whole thing off, and let it grow all over again. Not a bad idea. Here's my beautiful homegrown spring mix (with the stumps in the background...wait another month for my next meal) and yes that is a FLOWER! My bok choi when straight to seed. I paid $4 for that flower, don't laugh.