I once grew a garden on my Mother's property...it was probably about 30' by 100'.
It was the first vegetable garden I ever grew. I've planted many since, but never one that matched that garden.
I had space. I had time. I had good soil. And I had an agenda.
I marked off the lines for the garden. I took a simple shovel in early Spring , and turned over the sod. It had always been lawn, so I had to turn over a lot of sod. It was hard work. Then I brought in the rototiller. A serious one....not one of those light weight POS.
I prepared a large quadrant of land for a vegetable garden, from what had previously been just grass. I grew up with aunts and uncles who always had gardens, but I had never had one of my own. I wanted to prove my mettle. And I wanted to see what I could produce.
This was in 2001. My surviving relatives at the time...all of whom grew up in the country, and all of whom had grown home gardens for most of their lives...looked at my garden and said to me....
"It's one of the best gardens I've ever seen."
They were, quite honestly, a bit shocked. Shocked mostly by the fact that a man of my generation still had any desire to put the effort into a home garden that is required. But garden I did. And that summer I prevailed upon my Mother, who at the time was only 63 years old, to teach me how to can/preserve. It was a wonderful summer.
I grew beans...half runners and pole beans...6 rows in total. Tomatoes. Beets. Turnips, hot Peppers. 2 hills of potatoes. Mustard greens and Collards. Cilantro, Basil and thyme. Green onions. Green Peppers. Eggplant. Snow peas.
It was a labor of love. And it paid back in bushels of produce.
I've never had quite the garden that I had that year since then. Mostly it is space. My Mom had an acre. I currently live on an urban corner lot...and I have done the whole vegetable garden thing once since living here. You can do the big square, or rectangular garden that you can do in the country, but if you plan it out, you can do a pretty respectable garden even on an urban lot.
I have never devoted every square foot of my lot to vegetables since I have lived here.
I want to take up that challenge, however. Next Spring, God granting and I am still here, I would like to turn every square inch of ground that we have here into a vegetable garden.
I'd like to see just how much I can produce.
The only problem is my wife prefers flowers, and doesn't think urban properties should be used for agricultural purposes.
I, however, am almost certain that I could coax enough produce out of our lot to do some serious canning, and still have veggies left over for the local food bank.
It's almost silly to can for just two people...but it's born and bred in me. And I actually enjoy the process. It connects me to my roots. And I know where the food is from.
So...what say y'all?
I have done flowers for the past two years. Should I go seriously, and square foot diligently, back to veggies next year? It might be the last time I do it.
I have had some good vegetable gardens in the past. I really want to plant something that pushes the envelope, and makes peoples' eyes boggle. I would like to plant a demonstration garden, in an urban setting, that shows budding home gardeners just what they can do with what they have.
Even though my wife doesn't think that farming and city go together. I know they can.