The other veggies that my children will eat are broccoli (I know...kind of a stunning discovery) and carrots. Of course, these were the crops that DID NOT grow well in our little family garden. We planted the garden May 1st. It is now the end of September and below is a picture of one of our carrots. How long can it possibly take for a carrot to grow? Did we plant baby carrots?
The broccoli plants in our garden are HUGE...taking up almost 1/3 of the garden. But below my daughter is holding the single broccoli flowerette that has been harvested so far. Not exactly an efficient use of land.
There are some vegetables that have grown quite well in our garden. Ironically these are also the vegetables that my children HATE! The first crop that we harvested was zucchini. I'm pretty sure that zucchini could grow on most planets in our solar system. But be careful, because if you turn around for a second they can get the size of a watermelon. By the way...don't even try planting watermelon. We devoted an entire section of our garden to watermelon and not a single plant survived.
The next plants to be ready for harvesting were the peas and beans. Of course my kids hate peas and beans. So for two weeks I had enough peas and beans for me and my neighbors.
Another crop that has done quite well are the tomatoes. Fortunately, I LOVE tomatoes! Growing up in Southern California my dad would take us out to the tomato orchards and let us pick our own tomatoes. I can remember eating them right there like an apple. Right now my cherry tomatoes are coming on like wild fire. Every day I go out and pick enough for a salad. Pretty soon the regular tomatoes will be ready and it will be salsa time!
Finally, there is one more surprising development in our garden. A lone pumpkin hiding beneath the zucchini and tomato leaves. You would not believe the amount of leaves and vines that are winding through our garden just to produce this single little pumpkin. But it looks as though it will be ready in time for Halloween.
All in all our garden has been a good experience. Even though my children didn't eat all the crops, they did enjoy going out and helping me find vegetables that were ready to harvest. And besides...gardening is in my genes. My dad was a master gardener and his grow box crops were legendary! :-)
