Vegetable gardening is a perfect example of the old adage - “Triumph of hope over experience.” I find great pleasure in growing my own food for a whole host of reasons. I am grateful as well it is not the only means I have of getting food on my table.

I learned in 9th grade the reason humanity has been able to accomplish all that we have been able to accomplish is due to one pivotal fact, food surplus. Without a surplus of food, no specialization of jobs could take place (ie astronauts, writers, etc). Instead, we would all be working every day to make sure we have enough to eat.

Because if it were up to me and my efforts to grow vegetables to date - there would be no surplus. I would be hungry.

This summer is our fifth consecutive summer of vegetables. The first year, we removed the grass in our back garden by rototilling (that was an arm jerking, back sore experience) the whole area twice, and putting down mulch. I had grown up without grass and could not understand why we needed it, my husband, who had grown up cutting grass, was quickly on board.

The second summer we purchased seedlings at the Farmers Market and planted squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, beets, and a collection of herbs (basil, coriander, parsley, and thyme).

We grew the cucumbers along the side of the garage to reflect back the heat. They thrived until the leaves became covered with a gray mold and the plant died. The squash plants grew beautiful fruit until the vine was eaten by the squash borer and everything died. The only place we had room for tomatoes was under the tree. I figured the tree was on the North side and when I was planning the garden, in March, the angle of the sun was ideal. In August, the angle of the sun was not. The tomatoes died.

The beets were perfect and the slugs thrived.

Third summer, we grew seeds from the Produce Station and tried again. We had read about protecting your lettuce from bolting (blah blah, shade, blah blah, Spring) but had no idea what they meant, until we return from two weeks away in July. Oh - THAT is bolting lettuce. The year before we had spread lettuce seed and fed the squirrels.

Fourth year, time to get serious. We volunteered with Growing Hope to help build seed starting kits. We took home two full sets of growing lights and grew basil for them and three flats of goodies for us. We purchased our seeds through Seed Savers Exhange. We purchased compost from the City of Ann Arbor and created raised beds. We ate lettuce, arugula, swiss chard, kale, beets, and it was divine.

Then summer ended in July, our tomatoes caught the blight, the fruit became sunburned, and we harvested a handful of green tomatoes in September. It never got warm enough for our eggplants or cucumbers.

As the stack of seed and gardening catalogues take over our kitchen counter I know soon we will sit down to plan our summer of food planting. Thank goodness someone else is in charge of the surplus, because though I am hopeful all we plant will thrive in our garden, my lessons from Mother Nature to date are suggesting otherwise.

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