A Garden of Plenty

Gardening. Something I do pretty well without a lot of knowledge. Even before we had kids, I loved to work outside, especially in the beds with flowers and vegetables. The northwest has great weather for all kinds of seasonal plants and vegetables, so I try to branch out and try new things every year.

The garden is an important way to connect kids to food. They experience where food comes from and how to nurture food. My kids help me pull the weeds, fertilize the soil, plant the seeds, and harvest the crops. Fresh vegetables are incredible and truly can be grown anywhere, even on the patio in pots. We, of course, call them salad bowls on our patio. This year we are growing bunching onions, many types of lettuces, and tomatoes in our salad bowls. We are growing potatoes in one really huge pot as well. This is a new crop for us. Last year we tried some small potatoes and really loved them. So this year, russet - and lots of them. Bush beans are also great in pots on patios. I bet bush peas would be great in pots, too. My pots are huge, but you can use wide and shallow pots for lettuce, bunching onions, and herbs of all kinds. Tomatoes, beans, and potatoes will need deep pots.

A small garden bed, if you've got it, is great for radishes (so easy to grow), carrots, beets, and lots of other root vegetables. I've never tried them in pots, but I bet if the pots were deep and wide root vegetables would grow well. Pole beans and peas can grow in a small garden beds also. All you need is a trellis. I love onions, so we grow red, yellow, and sweet onions. They don't always grow well, especially if we don't get hot, sunny days. They are delicious right out of the ground, though. Every year I also grow leafy greens like chard, arugula, and endive. The kids like the arugula now, but didn't at first. They always try the chard, but so far don't really like it.

In the northwest, zucchini and squashes grow bountifully and need a larger garden bed. I have a really big garden bed for these and the cucumbers. Last year I introduced the kids to butternut squash. So delicious. We roasted it and grilled it often - through November! The kids really liked it and were especially interested in it because they watched it grow all summer. This year we bought starts for a flying saucer shaped squash - looks fun. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and corn are easy to grow in a larger space, too. I really like to grow these with the kids so that they experience the awe of these veggies. They get so big and beautiful.

Tonight we harvested our first radishes. Beautiful and crunchy and spicy. This is why summer is my favorite time of the year. Next: entries on my experiences with canning!