Hmmm: Growing (Up)

My Dad always enjoyed gardening. I remember he was always so excited and proud to show me the tomatoes, peppers, rhubarb, and other vegetables he was growing in a very narrow strip of dirt behind his house.

I was always somewhat intrigued by his gardening but I also thought that it seemed to be very time consuming and not really worth all the effort. As such, I never really tried it myself...except for one lame attempt at growing tomatoes and habanero peppers.

That is, until now.

This is a photo of some of our scrawny little corn we grew this past summer.

Clearly growing corn was an experiment that didn't quite turn out as planned but despite its dwarfish size the corn was delicious in a savory corn pudding we made a few weeks ago.

We had much better luck with green beans, zucchini, cherry tomatoes; struck out with eggplant and artichokes (long story); and, I'm anxiously waiting to start harvesting our pimentos de padrone.

Recently we planted a bunch of winter veggies...beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce, peas, kale, cauliflower, and broccoli. So far the radishes are looking great.

Now I finally understand what captivated by Dad so much about gardening. Growing your own veggies isn't about time or convenience, it's about the life cycle. There is an extraordinary sense of satisfaction from dropping a tiny seed in the ground, nurturing it with care and attention, watching it grow and mature, harvesting it at its peak of perfection, and then savoring each bite of something you grew from seed.

We're so into it now that we've implemented a prime directive for our yard...nothing gets planted unless its edible.

I'm glad that I finally learned this lesson from my Dad and am now following in his footsteps.