If Only I Had Known. . .

It's funny the things that you wish you would have known or cared about in years passed.

This spring and summer I have been busy planting and tending to a vegetable garden in our backyard. It's been more work than I would have ever imagined it would be. And my lack of knowledge has surprised me. There is SO much to know about keeping a garden. . .or, at least, doing it well.

My grandfather was an expert gardener. As a child I used to LOVE going in his backyard and picking whatever fresh goodie I wanted that day. Raspberries were always my favorites (and still are), but I also would pick anything from carrots to peas, to apricots, to my own Halloween pumpkin. My grandfather knew every trick there is to gardening and people would often drop by his backyard asking him for advice (even my own mother). He also grew flowers upon flowers. In fact, he sold many of the flowers he grew and kept planting all year round in the greenhouse he had in his backyard. What knowledge he had gained from years and years of "tending his crops". While I always enjoyed the fresh fruits and vegetables and beautiful flowers, I don't think I ever appreciated the sweat and labor this "hobby" required of him.

My grandfather died one month after we bought our home and suffered from dementia for a number of years before that. I never learned any of my grandpa's secrets for keeping off caterpillars or what kind of soil was best for which vegetable, or if you really needed as much room for each plant as they say you do, or when each vegetable is ready to be picked, and so on. . . (all these questions I am having right now). I have sat back countless times as I have been tending to my garden and wished I could call up Grandpa, ask how he was doing (he'd say "terrible good"), and then get advice on my latest puzzle.

I know this is probably something so silly, and in the whole scheme of things my garden is really not that important, but it has made me stop and wonder what else I will wish I had known years from now. Do others ever find themselves in the same predicament of wishing you could go back and put more value on things you didn't give much thought to in years past?


I took some pictures of my vegetable garden as it stands today, mostly so those of you I have talked to about the progress can see how we are doing. I am actually quite excited to harvest all my crops, however, I do worry they will all come at once rather than in manageable amounts I can handle. We have already harvested our broccoli and onions that we planted earlier in the spring. It looks like we will have some tomatoes first and then we'll wait on our corn, zucchini, crookneck squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. I also planted some basil and oregano later on. If any of you lived close by, I would for sure share some with you!