My Vegetable Garden Begins

I took this photo last year at the farmers’ market with hopes of growing my own organic tomatoes this year. Big, red, vine ripened tomatoes. I pictured myself jarring enough to get me through the winter without having to run to the grocery store. And I had a fiendish plan to make this happen.

I offered our large and unused side yard to a friend. And not just any friend. A friend who knows her way around an organic vegetable patch. She was going to plant her garden and I would copy her every move. She’d have her vegetables, I’d have mine, and her years’ of expertise would allow me to side-step the trial-and-error frustrations that derails most first-time gardeners.

Then reality struck. Yesterday’s ground breaking revealed little more than a few fat grubs, the odd lump of coal (yes, coal!) and four tiny worms. The earth isn’t healthy enough to produce the bounty I’d imagined. Oh, we’ve got the space. We just don’t have the nutrient-rich soil. My immediate thought was to buy composted manure and some worms. These will definitely help, but the soil needs more than a boost. It needs time. A whole growing season’s worth. Or more.

So, this year, some undemanding potatoes and cabbages will help rejuvenate the soil. I’ll try my tomatoes in a (hopefully) more fertile area of the garden where flowers kept the soil alive and put my dreams of purple carrots, blue potatoes and bushels of homegrown beans on hold for another year.

Anyone here garden? What crops work best for you? Do you companion plant and rotate crops?