The intent of my gardening this summer was never to feed me or my wife and seven kids. Of course I’m excited to eat the food, but my tiny backyard plot might yield one or two salads and that’s about it. For me, gardening this summer is more about learning than anything else. I’ve been hanging out with a lot of gardeners the past nine months or so and even occasionally feigning that I knew a thing or two, and I’ve been looking forward to the summer to try out my new smarts.
In that light, here are my successes and abysmal failures.
Success: I planted a row of peas in April and four of them have sprouted and taken off. The first time I saw one of their little curling offshoots I just abut wet myself. I also planted a number of shallot starts a friend gave to me and they haven’t died, so that’s nice.
Failures: I started two bean plants inside and they were doing great. So great that I felt bad keeping them all cooped up inside, so at the first sign of the impending summer, May 1st, I took them outside and gave them their very own spot in the bed with the fledgling peas to keep them company. And they repaid me by slowly shriveling to half their former size and glaring at me until I looked away in shame. Lesson: Early May is still too cold out for beans, even if I have switched over to sandals already.
Failure numero dos: I planted lettuce, spinach and carrot seeds….way too deep. After two weeks and no signs of life, I asked a friend who told me that they should have only been planted 1/8 to ¼ of an inch deep. Which makes sense. They’re tiny little seeds with little to no muscle to punch their way out into the sunlight.
So in the spirit of continued learning, I replanted the crops just below the surface, watered and prayed. Onward!
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