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An actual green cucumber. A little small, a little void of color. But a real life, edible cucumber. From our own garden.
OK. Before I explain how I did a little dance this afternoon, frightening my toddler just a bit and giving a couple of neighbors a big ole’ laugh, let me just say I’ve never been able to grow anything. After three years and what seems like hundreds of dollars in seeds, special soil, plants and organic fertilizer, I had nothing to show for it. Just four raised beds of soil and a fruitless strawberry patch.
One of the main selling points in buying our house about four years ago was the garden, fenced off from the yard. Inside are the four raised beds along with raspberries, grapes, a cherry tree and lilacs. Not to mention a center strawberry patch. I mean I envisioned my life as a pioneer woman. I would grow everything. Thanks to the owners before us who apparently knew how to live off the land. (We also have peach and apple trees outside the garden, crazy huh?)
What made the garden more of a plus, is that it would feed my mom’s main hobby. She loved to grow things and loved her plants and flowers. It’d give her something to do.
She mapped out what she would plant, and where.
First year, we did 10 tomato plants, cucumbers and green peppers. In the end? Nothing but two green peppers that had to be spit out after the first bite. Don’t ask me what happened to everything else. I was a garden idiot.
Second year, we used more fertilizer, read books, subscribed to a garden magazine and prayed a little. We could do this, my mom and I would chant before, during and after we planted.
Rabbits ate everything. Everything.
This year, husband tried to put his foot down. (Does that ever really work? Uhhhh…. No.) He was tired of the failed attempts. His solution - to fill each bed with some low maintenance ground cover, which he tried to convince me would look better than the fruitless plants wilting in the summer sun.
But, no, I was going to do this. I bought more books. I turned to blogs. Sister had sons give me books and magazines for Mothers Day.
And on that day, without mom to help and chant along with me, the three guys spent all day with me in the garden. Tilling, hoeing, digging, planting and sweating.
No one complained. … Well, toddler didn’t understand why he couldn’t pull all the worms apart, but that was about it.
Every day since, oldest has helped me water and toddler has helped me pull the weeds. Husband does the mowing and weed-eating.
First came the flowers. Never had many of those before.
Then some actual green things started growing. On lots of the plants, not just one.
So this is what happens when you actually learn what your doing, I thought.
Are you understanding the cucumber dance now?
We did it. We actually did it. Sure did take all of us.
But I gotta tell you, that was the best damn cucumber I think I ever tasted. Mixed with a small green pepper, also from the garden and five cherry tomatoes from a patio plant.
That’s the way to get this mom to eat salad. Have the family grow it.
Keep fingers crossed and lettuce could be ready next week.
May have to learn a dance for that.
Congrats! Some friends and I were recently having a cucumber dance of our own when one of us shared her surplus.. best part about gardening!My husband brought in cucumbers from his garden,OMG!(Um,we haven't had sex in a year and 4mn.and well,lets just say,you shouldn't show huge cucumbers to a woman who hasn't had sex in over a year)don't worry,cucumbers are safe,we donn't have sex,because I'm too fat,but thats a whole different story).I cooked 12-jars of pickles sun.,they look good,too.Very fun! What a great lesson for your kids, by the way. Just think what you're garden will be like next year since you'll be even better at it. I keep telling myself this... At least we always have "do-overs" with gardening, even if it takes a year to get there again.
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