I found a miracle out in my garden today!
Weeks ago, I gave up on some greens that I’d been trying to grow. I’d planted lettuces, kales, mustard, swiss chard, broccoli, and chicory. The chicory grew to an ok height, but they were extremely pungent, and I decided they were a throw away crop. Nothing else grew higher than an inch tall. When it began to get warm, I decided it was a learning opportunity and that I had too much shade (I actually do have too much shade) to grow those things.
I left them where they were, but I got rid of my list that said what they were. I’d completely given up because they’d stopped growing…
Or so I thought! I don’t even know what these are, but either the Swiss chard (I vote on this) or the mustard greens grew a tiny bit bigger in the last few weeks. I went to plant sunflowers there today, and I saw them.
A row with plenty of greens in it (sparse, but enough for a couple of buddha bowls).
As I went through and prepared the soil for another crop, I pulled out the greens and threw them into a bowl. I didn’t get a whole bunch, but it’s a lot when I thought I wouldn’t get anything at all.
This discovery was a lot more than just getting a surprise handful of greens out of my garden. This is the first time that anything has ever grown from seed for me. I’ve grown potatoes, and I’ve grown garlic tops, but that’s actual food from the grocery store that begins growing on my counter.
Being that this is the second year that I’ve planted seeds that haven’t grown, I was pretty sure that it was my fault and that I had some serious learning to do. I definitely have some learning, but maybe not quite as much as I thought.
I didn’t grow a lot like I planned, but something grew in my yard. Yay!
Frugal Treehugger 