Gardening on purpose (or with a purpose)

So my accidental flower was such a success (to me at least) that I decided to go ahead and branch out, the first year here we bought a $1.00 can of wildflower mix and let Ella age 2 1/2 sprinkle to her hearts content. Soon we had Zinnias popping out everywhere, a nice thing to have when you have a girl who loves to pick flowers.
Since the flowers were blooming and we still didn't have a definite landscape plan I decided to reap some benefits from our dirt and plant some produce.

(WARNING EXCESSIVE DISCUSSION OF MY PLANTS AHEAD, FEEL FREE TO STOP READING NOW! -Or you could scroll through and at least look at the pictures.)

I had the brilliant idea to plant a 6-pack variety of tomatoes and a six pack of yellow pear tomatoes (these are really great for kids, they look like little pears and are usually very sweet). Tomatoes are wonderful things however, for those of you who can add that's 12 plants and a billion tomatoes, especially since Eddie is allergic to fresh tomatoes. The bright side was that we made friends with the neighbors who were happy to take them off my hands, especially because I had also invested in a Basil plant and was constantly pruning to keep it from going to seed. I also made my own pasta sauces several times that summer. Even so a lot of tomatoes fell to the ground which worked out well because I haven't bought a tomato plant since, I just thin out the million seedlings that pop up each spring and keep 1 or two. I don't recommend this if you want big tomatoes, because all I get are the cherry/salad size ones.

The next year we planted carrots, another kid pleaser because they can pick them by themselves and they can pick them early or let them wait a while, in fact there were a few that were picked really tiny and Ella just replanted them, they grew bigger and she got to pick them again.Peas are also nice because they hide so well that it is almost a treasure hunt to the girls to find them. Of course when they get bored they go to the strawberry patch and enjoy easier hunting. Our strawberries are small and often as much seed as fruit, but they taste wonderful and they give the girls a reason to go outside every morning.

That year I also added pumpkins and zucchini squash. The pumpkin didn't turn orange until almost Thanksgiving, and it was strawberry shaped much to the delight of the small people in my life.

Last year I planted earlier and grew 4 decent sized pumpkins which turned orange in August. I was a little perturbed but I remembered that before refrigeration and imported produce people had squash in winter. I brought them in out of the sun and they were still good to carve for Halloween and make pumpkin mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving.
Zucchini and I seem to have a love hate relationship, the first year I tried it they came out great, lovely green oblongs that we grilled on the BBQ all summer and into the fall. Then last year, I think they had an illicit relationship with my pumpkin plants, really who could blame them for falling in love with such lovely vines and blossoms. The result however was a large, seedy, half-orange-too-firm creature that didn't taste enough like zucchini or pumpkin to be any good. This year I am again planting both, but in different locations and I started my zucchini first so maybe the timing will work out in my favor.

My favorite addition to our garden rotation has been the corn/sunflower section of the yard, we have a 1 foot wide strip of earth running the side of the yard I planted corn all along and a cluster of sunflowers every 6 feet or so. The Sunflowers grow so fast and tall that they give you something to watch and measure while you wait for the corn. The corn is worth waiting for, our ears didn't grow any longer than 6 inches and some cobs had only a few mutant kernels, but it was sweet and to Liana it was better than candy. I have begun a new endeavor to take some of the larger rocks out of that strip in hopes of getting longer and fuller corn ears, we will see what happens.

I think the reasons I like to garden are simple, I see a tangible rewards for faith and hard work, I spend time in the out doors breathing fresh air (such as it is this close to LA) and most of all, I see my children excited about eating fruits and vegetables.