When I was a child, my grandfather had a huge garden. He would plant rows and rows of seeds and tend to it all summer long. He made it look easy. When he harvested the vegetables, he canned most of them and that’s what we ate throughout the winter. Now, I’m an adult and I wanted to grow a garden just as amazing as my grandfather’s. He passed away when I was in 8th grade, so I didn’t know I should ask him all the things I want to know now.
To start with, I don’t own a tiller and I don’t know that buying one is the best way to start this adventure. So, I think, let’s go with raised beds. Surely that works just as well. I don’t know why I thought that would be cheaper and easier than buying a tiller. There are so many options. Do I make them timber boxes or buy steel boxes? What size and shape do I make them? What about trellises? What’s the best way to do those? My head is spinning with all the options. Finally I had to tell myself, just pick something. You can always change it next year.
Now to decide what to grow. I pick up a book that is all about gardening and companion planting. It’s a lot to absorb! All the questions go through my head. How am I supposed to know the PH Balance of my soil or the moisture level? Am I supposed to be an expert and go test it regularly? What zone am I in anyway? I don’t remember grandpa spending so much time figuring all of this out. He just planted the rows, tended to them, and harvested them.
Finally I decide to just pick some plants I remember seeing my grandpa grow and decide I can do it. So, I have my sons and husband help me build the garden boxes from a kit we buy. Then we fill the boxes with bags of top soil and manure we buy from Walmart. For added looks and weed control, we add stepping stones between the boxes, and fill all the empty space around the boxes with mulch. I plant onion, radish, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, beans, peas, zucchini.
As spring progresses and summer comes, the plants begin to grow. Now I have a new set of questions! When am I supposed to cut the broccoli? Why are my tomatoes splitting? How do I keep the beans and peas from drying out on the vine? When did these beetles get on my zucchini? Can I still eat the cauliflower after the plant bolts? Gardening is supposed to be relaxing not adding stress to my life!
I had to take a step back. Isn’t good enough, good enough? …. What should my expectations for a garden for the first year be? Who told me I had to get it all right? Why do I think it all has to turn out perfect? …. So what, if I didn’t get to eat any of the cauliflower from the garden. I learned something about growing it, didn’t I? If I choose to grow it the next year, at least I know what to look for. So what, if most of the beef steak tomatoes went rotten before eating them. I really enjoyed the cherry tomatoes better anyway. In the future, just grow them instead of the big ones. So what, if beetles got to the zucchini. I was able to harvest and eat them for a month before that happened. ….. The world didn’t put those expectations on me, so why did I put them on myself?
I had to accept that what I grew that first season was good enough.