The Gardener Within

I fancy myself a gardener. A little patch of land in the backyard where I can grow some lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, maybe a little zucchini and peppers, a few blueberries, perhaps even some herbs (cause that's going so well in the house. See what happened to our garlic). A little area with a defense shield surrounding it that won't allow the critters that like to terrorize our yard to get in and destroy my yummy veggies.


I fancy myself a gardener, but it all honesty spring busy-ness (or laziness) has won out over me actually preparing the yard for such plants and tending to them in the necessary manner.

But this year I was a little more determined. Dave and I decided to get a little serious about our landscaping and I took that opportunity to insist on trying our hands at a tomato plant. I convinced Dave to get one when we got annuals for our flower boxes. We took it home and I nestled it in the yard. Located in perfect sun and near the fence to aid in staking it, I was determined to get something out of it.



And wouldn't you know we didn't screw it up? The plant is huge. It's at least four times it's original size in May. Already I've plucked off four juicy, red and absolutely delicious tomatoes, and at last count there are over 30 little green yummies waiting to ripen, with many more blooms to turn into salad and burger decorations.


I hope this year's bounty wasn't too much of a fluke (after all, with such hot temperatures and hardly any rain this summer, it could have gone another way), because I'm pretty sure I've got an itch to actually prepare and plan a little better next spring. Our garden might not have everything I want in it next year, but I imagine we'll have at least a few more plants.