I love to garden, but until this year, I've stuck to mostly flowers and plants. Sure, I've thrown in the occasional herb (rosemary, basil, and lavender) and I've tried to add plants to ward off mosquitoes (like catnip, citronella, horse mint, and marigolds) but I've never given fruit or vegetables a go.
One of the reasons why I didn't try was because I didn't want to deal with watering all those plants. The summers get hot and dry here in central VA and container plants require daily watering.However, when both of my kids begged me to plant something they could "harvest," I decided to give farming life a try. I use that term loosely, because farmers are awesome folks who work tirelessly to bring the rest of us fresh food, but when my kids and I planted those potatoes, raspberry bushes, cantaloupes, baby watermelons, and strawberries, I was feeling pretty darned salt-of-the-earthish.
Are these plants going to flourish? I have no clue, but the potato plants have sprouted leaves and the strawberries have been bearing fruit for weeks now, so I'm feeling pretty positive. Next up? String beans and cucumbers because we might actually be daring enough to make our own pickles (tune in next year for that story!)
I know many of you don't have space for fruit and veggie plants, so I wanted to post pics of some creative space problem solvers. And here's a pic of my own farmhand harvesting a strawberry (it went right into her mouth actually!)Are you growing fruit or veggies at home? Which ones and have you enjoyed any yet?
