Dear Garden, I needed this.

Five months in to my new vegetable and herb garden and I haven't had much to show for it. Granted, the endless weeks of heat and me neglecting to water probably didn't do much for anything besides my rosemary, but let's not forget the squirrels. The damn squirrels. In real life I mutter a string of obscenities at them that would make a sailor proud as I ponder why Farmer Brown got such a bad rap in Peter Rabbit. Sure, I had a nice go of it early on when I was picking arugula from the garden daily, but after that my beets were a meager yield, the green onions were microscopic and out of my 4 heirloom tomato plants I haven't gotten to one before the squirrels carried it off. Damn squirrels.

When I went to harvest the carrots at the appointed time (per the back of the seed packet) they were teeny-tiny nubs of nothing. I have seen weeds with better roots than my carrots. In defeat I abandoned them...which turned out to be a happy accident. After several months of ignoring I pulled one to find it actually resembled a -- wait for it, wait for it -- carrot. I tried another one and it also looked like a carrot! In a matter of seconds I had a bouquet of carrots. Ah, yes...this just what this downtrodden little gardener needed.




Planted this year in the veggie patch: arugula, chiogga beets, green onions, multicolored carrots, shallots, pickling cucumbers, acorn squash, butternut squash, tomato: purple Cherokee, tomato: black krim, tomato: green zebra, tomato: Aunt Ruby's German green.

Planted this year in the herb garden: flat leaf parsley, basil, oregano, Mexican tarragon, lemon thyme, rosemary, chives, marjoram, cilantro/coriander.

Worth repeating: arugula, beets, shallots, flat leaf parsley, basil, lemon thyme, cilantro
Probably will pass up: green onions, carrots, tarragon (we just didn't use it at all)
Do differently: Next year I need to 'cage' the tomatoes so maybe I can enjoy one or two myself. Some herbs I think I am going to grow in other planter beds and containers.

Now I am off to consider my plantings for fall and next year. Please standby with bated breath.