The End of our Garden Beginnings

My mom has a green thumb.  Possibly two.  She once asked me to keep her indoor plants while she and my dad were going to be out of their house for several months.  Turns out she would have been better off just leaving the plants to fend for themselves.  I managed to keep two alive and have concluded that my thumbs are black.  I've decided that, for now, indoor plants stress me out and I need to just focus on keeping my kids watered and fed on a regular basis.

So instead of indoor plants, I thought I would try a little bit of outdoor gardening this year.  I'm starting small, folks.  Thankfully, our neighbors, Chris and Claire, are knowledgeable in the ways of vegetable gardens and were so helpful in getting things started.  My dad teased me that it was basically their garden, since they tilled the spot and helped plant most of the seeds or plant starters that they gave us!

It was fun to have a little plot out front and watch carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, and one onion grow.  The kids were a part of it all.  They liked pulling up carrots the most, and helped with our "clear-out final harvest" earlier this week.   

The girls with Claire, our kind friend and neighbor; AKA the gardening guru who told me to wait a few more weeks before pulling up the potatoes when I was ready to dig in a month ago.  So glad I took her advice!

There were SO many potatoes still clinging on to this one plant we pulled up

Look at the root system on that thing!

Someone decided he wanted to help after everything was cleared out and he could just dig!

I was shocked at how many potatoes we gathered.  It may not seem like much to most, but you have to remember that I'm only good at feeding and watering people and tend to kill all other living things.  Each of those potatoes was a ray of hope that I might actually be able to learn how to do this gardening thing!