Our Attempts at Gardening

Since moving into a house, I've been trying to learn a little about gardening.  With moderate success.  I definitely know more than I did a few years ago.  I also know that our neighborhood supports plenty of wildlife that loves to eat almost all the things I've learned how to grow.  Deer, wild turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, and especially rabbits.  Who knows what else?  So until we commit to building a raised bed with a fence around it, we're going to have to keep our garden activities pretty small.  That doesn't mean we have to stop completely, though.

This year, we planted quite a few things, most of which were devoured.  The animals even got greedy and dug up all of my tulip and daffodil bulbs!  Sigh.  But what survived....a few gorgeous zinnia plants, with lots of bright pink and yellow flowers.  I adore zinnias and am happy that even I can grow them.  I will probably plant them every year from now on.  We also had a couple pumpkin plants that survived and seem to be thriving.  The pumpkins are still pretty small, so we'll have to see if we get any that are big and orange enough for Halloween, but we'll keep our fingers crossed.  An herb barrel, which has provided a nice supply of basil and cilantro all summer.  And a couple pots of carrots.  The animals ate all the ones we planted in the ground, so I planted some in pots, and they've done pretty well.  Relatively small, but I got impatient.  Baby carrots are yummy too!  The big boy and I decided we were tired of waiting, so we picked most of them last weekend and dipped them in ranch dressing for dinner. 

Although my gardening attempts have met some challenges along the way, I still think it's a worthwhile endeavor.  The boys love helping me plant and water, and I love that they know what a carrot looks like when it comes straight from the ground.