We actually grew something!!!!

I can't believe it....yesterday we actually harvested edible potatoes and a handful of string beans from our garden. This is probably not a big deal to most people, but after a miserable failure at last years attempt to garden I was starting to think it was hopeless.

Last year I attempted to make the garden by tilling up an area of the yard...that is how most people do it right...well the weeds took it over before I could blink and we had the worst drought Virginia had seen in a long time. This year we made a raised bed and filled it with bags of soil...no weeding was the plan. We also put it close to the house so we could use the rain barrels to water it if necessary. Very scientifically I plopped a few old potatoes in there and covered them up! I didn't really think they would grow because I had no idea what I was doing. To my surprise a plant actually came to the surface. An Internet search told me to cover around the base of the plant so I did, still not thinking actual potatoes would grow. When all of the leaves died I started digging...no potatoes...dig a little deeper...no potatoes...then my husband stuck both hands in like a scoop all the way to the bottom of the garden and came out with five glorious little potatoes. We were so excited you would have thought we just had a baby!

Upon further inspection of the garden we noticed that some of our green beans were growing too. We had planted them to grow up the corn stalks because I had heard about the three sisters....we just did two sisters because I don't like cabbage. I was skeptical at first but it is actually working...I even see some corn growing too. On the downside our carrots never made it past the little spiky stage and only one tomato plant is growing out of many seeds we planted. I don't really have high hopes for it either because it is kind of sickly looking. Either way we are proud of our accomplishments...who knew a girl like me could get a real garden to grow. I am really enjoying the experience and feel like I learn something new everyday.