When I was newly married I eagerly looked at my backyard and imagined all the gardening that I would do. Frankly, I was a little disappointed, as we live in the suburbs and have the standard postage stamp sized backyard, which I felt was not nearly enough for the vast landscapes of green that I would cultivate. I have a university degree in Biology, and I also took several courses specifically on plants (mostly to avoid the overcrowded courses full of wanna be medical students). I felt that this specialized knowledge would automatically translate into the greenest of green thumbs.
Sadly, that was not the case. After several years of watching my plants die and mentally calculating how much money these dead plants were costing me, I came to the humbling realization that growing plants takes experience, not book knowledge. Eight years later, I am happy with my yard. At the beginning I was not nearly patient enough to wait the time it would take for my plants to take hold, grow, and fill in all those bare patches.
My yard is also quite shady. We do not have much room for a vegetable garden, and even if we did, the plants wouldn't get enough sunlight to do very well. I am attempting this year to grow a few things, but I suspect that at the end of the growing season we might have enough food for one meal.
Green beans in my backyard
In replacement for the vast vegetable garden that is not going to grow in my yard we have started visiting a large pick your own farm once a week. When you pick your own you are sure that you are eating locally. It really couldn't get much better (ok, maybe if it was organic). We had a lovely time this morning picking green and yellow beans, snow peas, potatoes and raspberries. I want the kids to know that beans grow on small bushes, peas grow on vines, and you find potatoes in the ground!
We didn't do very well with the 'No eating' rule!
2 comments:
What a great idea!
All of the fun of picking your own and none of the hassle of growing them!
Since we live in an apartment with a north facing balcony (and live north of the arctic circle to boot) it's hard to grow things outdoors. Our balcony plants don't do very well but our veggies at the town greenhouse are creating quite a jungle although not being as prolific as we'd like. (e.g. lots of vine-not many beans although we've more lettuce and chard than we can eat!)
What are the prices like at the pick your own? Cheaper than getting them from a grocery store?
The prices are a little better than the grocery store, but not a great deal. I think it's worth it for the guaranteed freshness. You know it's fresh when you've just picked it off the plant yourself (and then ate it) :)
I was thinking about what the concept of eating locally would look like up at the arctic circle. I'm glad your veggies are producing something. Have you finished all your buttermilk?
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