Veggie Garden: If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me.

Let me admit to the world right now that I do NOT have a green thumb. That’s right, I’m a plant killer. My Father insists on giving me lilies on Easter, poinsettias at Christmas, and hydrangea plants for Mother’s Day. I kill every last one of them. I keep telling him not to waste his money but he insists on the plants to celebrate the holidays. And every time I try to make myself do better with their care. I remember thinking this year, as I threw away yet another brown, dry plant as evidence of my gardening skills, that I hoped people would get the picture. The only thing I’ve been able to keep alive are the two cacti I have in my front window. I wonder why that is…

So it was a HUGE leap of faith in myself when I decided to attempt to grow a vegetable garden. My hope was to satisfy my cravings for fresh vegetables by being able to walk outside my door to the garden and pick them. Since I focus of eating well, and fresh veggies are an enormous part of that, trying to grow a garden seemed like an obvious step for me.

I’m excited this week because my veggies are finally ready to be picked and cooked! My Tomatoes are ripening a few at a time every day. I can’t even explain the difference between my tomatoes and those you buy in the store. Although they may not be as pretty, they’re misshapen and the color is not at consistent, their taste is so much sweeter that those tomatoes you buy in the store. I have loved being able to eat them fresh off the vine as well as slicing them up with balsamic vinegar and a little sea salt. I made a basic ratatouille with those lovely tomatoes, summer squash and zucchini all from my garden. Having the zucchini has been wonderful, too. And I must admit that I was surprised by the amount of water in the fresh zucchini.  

I have adorable green peppers that are coming along nicely. I’m thinking they may be ready very soon. There are Serrano chilies that I’m going to have to figure out what to do with. (I don’t think I’ve ever eaten these and definitely never cooked with them.) I have banana peppers galore! We’ve been chopping them up and using them in fresh salads, sandwiches and adding them to tuna and chicken salad. They’ve even made their way into eggs in the morning.  I also have cucumbers that I started from seeds that are finally starting to blossom and tiny little cucumbers are starting to grow from beneath those flowers. And finally, my absolute favorite (and the easiest to grow I think after getting some much appreciated advice from my cousin Janey) are the gorgeous Sweet pea vines weaving their way up the string trellis we made for them to travel as they grew.  They’re perfect: fresh, crunchy and of course delicately sweet. Most of the time they don’t make it inside the house because I eat them as I’m standing there picking them.

I don’t know how much of the vegetables’ survival was related to the fact that I live in Vermont and it rains here allllll the time but if that’s the case, then I’m definitely grateful that they all seemed to make it through ok.

Next year I could try berries and corn too? And possibly take a shot at canning? Hmm, maybe it’s best not to be overly ambitious.

Fondly,

Betsey