Our first garden

Gabe was interested in growing vegetables the past couple years, so when we found out we could get a plot in the community garden for $5 for the season, including compost from a local, organic farm, we decided to give it a shot.  I was nervous.  I have never claimed to have a green thumb and have never really enjoyed gardening, but I was willing to try.  I figured it would be a good learning experience for Gabe, if nothing else, and maybe we'd end up with some free produce.

We planted the garden in late May.  We planted carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, and lettuce.  There were a couple random seedlings already there, so we left them.

A

Alex was so proud of his little shovelful of compost.

About 5 weeks later...

Holy produce, Batman!  We had tons of lettuce about ready, and our zucchini and cucumber plants were out of control.  Sadly, the carrots did not survive the brief cold snap just after planting.  We had to put up a fence to keep the vines from getting mowed.  The twins and I did that while Gabe was at VBS one day.

6 weeks...

Our first harvest...

Just one of the many heads of lettuce Neil picked.  He didn't realize you can just cut some off and more will grow, so he pulled them out of the ground.  Eh, you live and learn.  We still have a few heads left.  I had lettuce totally covering my counters.  We gave half to the neighbors.

We got 3 zucchinis and 2 cucumbers the first time.  We went back a few days later (yesterday) and got 7 more zucchinis and 4 more cucumbers. It's been less than 2 months.

The boys are so proud of their garden.  The twins kept trying to put the veggies back on the plants the first time, lol, but they get it now.  It's been so easy that I'll probably get us each our own plot next year so we can plant whatever we want.  I've already given away several zucchinis, but I'll be giving away many more, I'm sure.  I had no idea how many zucchinis one plant produced, lol.  Now I know to plant less next year, or maybe I'll just give a bunch away next year too.  We just added a few bean plants where the lettuce had been and still hope to add a little garlic too.  We're definitely getting our money's worth.  $10 for plots, another $20 maybe for seeds, a cage, stakes, and fencing, and tons of produce to eat and give away.