The (Potential) Vegetable Garden

My childhood memories of working in either my mother’s or my grandmother’s vegetable gardens include abundant green and hyper-productive plants. Eden, essentially. The picture below (#1), taken when I was less than one year old symbolizes all of that perfectly: working hard, smiling, large plants everywhere, the assumed overflowing salad bowl not far away. Well, with my new house and empty palate in the backyard, my memory is meeting head on with stark reality: it’s not as easy as I thought. Yes, yes, I could have planned better. I know, I should have read more and laid out a grid, started plants indoors, called experts, interviewed “green thumbs” and cataloged success stories. The bottom line is that I am hoping that millions of years of evolution (plants know how to grow, don’t they?) and Mother Nature come to my rescue. At times I had to act quickly: a cousin gave me pre-soaked bean seeds, so that day I had to put them in the ground somewhere. I removed a swath of sod and sowed my first veggies. Then, miraculously and counter to all of the pundits, they sprouted, necessitating my immediate need to build a fence to fend off the million or so fat rabbits that I see grazing the neighborhood (picture #2_. Other times my garden approach has been merely opportunistic. I had basil seeds, why don’t I start them indoors? No success yet (picture #3). Then a neighbor offered to rototill my plot. I accepted. Another expert gardening friend offered, in the form of handmade coupons, free labor and advice. Again, I accepted. So, like I said, I think that there is a potential vegetable garden in the works!