Our First Garden

Spring is still creeping up, and I'm getting nostalgic.  Our first garden's bounty was HUGE and we knew nothing about gardens.  We were blessed with good soil.  That makes all the difference in the world.  check out our first ever harvest.  (Why didn't we pick that basil sooner? We have no idea).
This first garden was built on luck, guess work, water, and the internet.  We didn't even know that DC Summer + Lettuce =  Bolting.  One day we went to our plot and were shocked and horrified to see our greens transformed into bitter long stalks of plant sperm.

Reading the $64 Tomato, I'm reminded that gardening is as easy - or as hard - as you make it.  This guy is seriously nuts.  I am convinced.  For example, he refuses to mulch because he likes to be close to the soil, but then complains about how much he has to weed and water.  Not only is it way more work to garden without much, it's also less sustainable!  I can't imagine growing anything in DC without mulch.  It would be dry instantly.

New gardeners, just stick seeds in the dirt, water, (mulch!) and repete.  It doesn't have to drive you crazy.  Or cost you $64.  It's an act of faith that people have been doing since the dawn of civilization.  Plant it, tend it, eat it.

And if your lettece bolts, rip it out and try something else.