For a few reasons, our small garden patch got started late this year. I should preface this post with the disclaimer that this was my dear hubby and I's first independent venture into the world of food growing. Consider yourself disclaimed...
I visited Allandale Farm late in August in search of seeds that might still be willing to yield some produce at such a late date in our brisk Northeast climate. I decided to give the spinach, arugula and baby carrot seeds a whirl as each packet's instructions gave me a glimmer of hope that they might be able to deliver on a promise of tasty and healthful sustenance. I sewed the seeds in little rows in our raised 5'x8' garden (built so finely by my handy husband) and crossed my fingers, not really expecting anything to come of this as my thumbs have been noted to be fairly brownish in past growing endeavors. How thrilled was I when I came outside several days later to find neat little rows of adorable sprouts popping out of the soil! "We did it! We really did it!" I thought. How wonderful to grow your own edibles! Well, as I began to grow a little more tired and a little less interested in the evenings, Andy religiously watered the ground, nurturing our greens in a way that I could not. A couple weeks later, I noticed that the greens had not progressed much further at all really. "They're just taking their time, building up their tastiness" I thought, in the ever-present optimistic prism through which I view all things:) Weeks passed, and still the greens stayed in their adorable sprout-like form, only now with little munches taken out by opportunistic predators. I finally resorted to one dose of- dare I even utter it aloud- horror upon horrors- Miracle Gro. Yes, I feel terrible about this, but I felt it was my only hope at the time. The application resulted in a touch of upward motion for the arugula, but not so much doing for the spinach.
So, alas, as November's chill set in, one blustery morning I went out to the garden to uproot my little, developmentally-challenged, and ever-so-slightly chemically-tainted friends.
I brought them into the house in a sweet woven basket to be admired for the day before preparing them in an itty bitty salad with homemade croutons (made from some Iggy's bread that we had lying around), some cheese bits, and a honey-mustard-balsamic vinaigrette. And so ended our not-so-productive growing season, a little sadly, but quite tastily as well. Better luck next year I suppose, lessons learned, or perhaps, not so much.
