Brown Shriveled Thumbs

Every year since we moved into our home, 8 years ago I have tried putting in a vegetable garden.  I have never been particularly successful.  The first year we had so much rain there were puddles for days and everything drowned.  The following year I had great success early on and then we went on vacation and came home to rows of dry dead plants.  The next year I thought I would try just a few plants my mother told me "everyone" can grow.  I guess she meant everyone but me, because while I had big zucchini plants every blossom fell off and I got exactly ZERO zucchini.

The year  after that I actually ate something I grew.  Dr. D and I decided that the soil here was the problem.  Where we grew up the soil was black and crumbly, here it is red clay.  So we bought bags and bags of soil and compost and added them both in along with some peat moss and fertilizer.  We mixed with pitchforks and shovels until our backs were breaking.  I told Dr. D that I had read somewhere that plants need deep soft soil so we piled up the soil into 4 rows about 2 foot by 6 foot and plunked in our tomatoes and hot peppers then stepped back to admire our hard work.  To our horror we realized that we had made a garden that looked like 4 graves.  Neither of us could speak for a moment.  But it was too late, our baby plants were in and we did not want to disturb their tiny roots any more than necessary so we left our "Grave Garden" to grow us what we hoped would be at least a few tomatoes and peppers.  We did not eat any tomatoes that year but the hot pepper plants did fantastic!  We had Cayenne, Hot Wax, Giant Jalepenos and Red Hot Cherries.  We ate a lot of hot peppers.  I pickled some, dried some and froze 3 gallon bags full of beautiful peppers.  That summer ended with lots of hope for the gardens to come...

We  put in a garden every year after that except one, the year we put in a pool.  That year I decided to focus on an small herb garden in an undisturbed part of the yard.  I fell in love with the easy to grow plants.  Not only were they great for cooking, they were very forgiving of the heat of the South and grew into big beautiful plants.  I will always grow herbs.  They make me happy!

This spring I jumped on the Square Foot Gardening bandwagon and built 2 4' X 8' X 16" raised beds with a drip watering system.  We still have some gardening problems but we have eaten many tomatoes and peppers along with broccoli, peas, onions, eggplants, beans and of course my beloved herbs.  The beans have been the little work horses of the garden this year.  I almost did not put them in because I am the only one in the family that likes them.  But I am so glad I did.  I pick 2-3 handfuls of beans every other day.  I grow purple, yellow and green bush beans and green pole beans and they all taste delicious!  So tender and satisfying.

My thumbs are not green yet but with a little compost, water and TLC they are greening up!  I started planning my fall garden today and it is going to be exciting!!