#5 Grow a garden with more than three types of vegetables

Fall is on the horizon, and with it a harvest of homegrown veggies and fruits! While I paid more attention to my garden in the spring and early summer, Super Husband took over the watering, which somehow helped me to forget about the plants I was supposed to be tending.

Nevertheless, I go out to our back yard and find not one, not two, not three, but FOUR types of vegetables! (Well, five...if you consider the asparagus plant that's still maturing.)

Two types of tomatoes
Summer squash
Carrots
Snap peas (not pictured)

This is their story:

Feeling agrarian, I tried my hand at planting my own starts from seeds back in March. Apparently, I was still late in the game, because my tomatoes are late and my squash didn't produce as much as I'd hoped. It was still fun to see them grow from itty-bitty sprouts into massive plants. It was particularly fulfilling to get to share some starts with friends, too.

Fast forward to late spring, when the starts were in the ground and the peas began to climb their makeshift ladder. So far so good! I didn't have enough tomato cages to go around, but that was fine; I'd buy a few more later...

...Or not. Somehow, each trip to the hardware store ended with us at home, scratching our heads: "Wasn't there something else we needed to pick up?" Oops. So, the tomatoes are a bit sprawling. And they're JUST starting to ripen, thanks to my forgetting to prune the late buds.

The summer squash is great! Memories of childhood summers came rushing back with the first bite of steamed, buttery goodness. One of my favorite veggies back then. Super Husband isn't a big fan--more of a butternut squash guy, apparently. (Maybe I should rename him Mr. Fancy Pants.) Oh well! More for me!

Carrots baffle me. No matter how carefully I plant them, they still manage to crowd together and make thinning next to impossible. Pull out one that's too close to another--both come out! So I've left them alone, for the most part. They grow in strange shapes, but the taste is far from strange! Yum yum!

Carrots, tomatoes, and snap peas have been my go-to veggies for the past three years. The peas are always the first crop to come in, and even though I attempted to plant a second crop when instructed, they didn't make it. Too far from the sprinkler, I guess.

So there you have it! Four veggies and their varying amounts of success. Lessons learned?
1. Stick with the farmer's market tomato starts; they're so worth it.
2. Grow one summer squash, but also a butternut squash for Super Husband.

3. Carrots are great--"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

4. Peas would like more water, please! (Rethink the garden layout.)

While my "100 List" certainly prompted me to take on a larger garden this year, I think there's still room for improvement. I'm continually grateful for our three blueberry bushes and two dwarf apple trees, which produced SO MUCH great fruit this year. They're pretty low-maintenance, if you don't count the near tent-caterpillar disaster a few months ago (Super Husband saved the day, again!). Some winter pruning is definitely necessary, but that's not asking much.

Many thanks to my green-thumb friends for their encouragement and advice. (You know who you are!) I still feel clueless and a bit like a failure as a gardener, but you listen to my concerns and stupid questions with such patience. Thank you!

Time to get pickin'!