Our wee little vegetable seedlings have turned into a veritable plant forest. You know how on the seed or vegetable containers there are recommendations for how far apart to plant vegetables and herbs? When I was planting our seedlings begun indoors and therefore very small compared to the nursery plants, I found myself scoffing at some of the recommendations.
“Five feet between zucchini plants?!”
“Three to four feet between tomato plants seems like an enormous amount!”
“There is no way I need this much space between the peppers.”
My home-grown plants were small. Puny. In fact, I wasn’t quite sure if they would grow beyond their seedling status and actually said a quick prayer of hope that they would grow since the boys had invested a lot of time and interest in this project.
If only I could have seen the future. What started out two months ago as this:
and then this:
Has grown into this:
Plants taller than G, almost taller than R. Vegetables a plenty, in fact, I’m already considering canning (am I crazy to try this?!) since I love the idea of canned tomatoes to last all winter long. Vegetables growing so fast, we laughed when we picked this zucchini and R proclaimed, “It is as a big as G’s arm!”
I am thrilled at how well our first year of vegetable gardening is going, especially since I have never had a very green thumb. More than anything, I love the idea that R and G are learning how food grows. That it takes time, patience, anticipation, work and love; but through all these you eventually harvest something delicious and wonderful. And I love the pride on their faces when they harvest something they nurtured, grew and tended to (okay, albeit with a lot of help from mom).
Pretty good life lessons, wouldn’t you say?
Life is sweet,
SPC