Gardening is like playing golf. It can be incredibly rewarding and frustrating.

This year I grew potatoes for the first time. Huge success! I planted eyes from three potatoes and we ate taters for nearly two months.

Hubby got such a kick from reaching his hand under the soil and pulling up a whack of spuds. This plant sprouted up after all our potatoes were harvested, so we’re hoping maybe we’ll have a few more in the fall. Our only regret is not planting more!

A ton of lettuce was grown in this raised garden bed. Starting with Feldsalat (lamb’s lettuce) planted late last fall that we ate in early spring. Since then, I’ve been growing arugula and Asian greens that we’ve enjoyed all summer (Mogly included!), except for the leaves with clusters of yellow ladybug eggs (YUCK!). I’m embarrassed to admit I started growing arugula from seed in the house last year 🤦‍♀️ but hey, I’m a newbie gardener!

Also grown in this bed are radishes (on my fourth batch), a pepper plant gifted from a neighbour, and peas which didn’t do so well. Maybe I planted them too late.

In this raised bed we had an abundance of cucumbers! I wish! At least the marigolds did well. Next year I’ll plant potatoes here instead.

THIS is my ‘keep swinging and missing the golf ball’ garden area. Planted carrots here for the first time along the back. The green tops came up beautifully only to be completely munched a few days later. Planted four Hokkaido pumpkin plants that flowered then were completely ravaged (last year I only harvested ONE pumpkin). Planted a bunch of sunflower seeds here too last year and not a single one grew. Lavender doesn’t thrive here either.

Not sure what pests are using this area as their buffet. Ants? Slugs? Can’t figure it out. Maybe I can try growing potatoes here too! Or scatter a bunch of wildflower seeds and come what may.

But, I did reap some rewards in this garden, such as onions and finally a sunflower! I started my sunflowers from seed in the house this year and three out of five survived. I’m convinced it’s because I continually tossed deadheads from the marigolds there to ward off whatever devoured the carrots and pumpkin. Hmph!

This is our herb garden chez Hubby:

For years he’s successfully grown rosemary, chives, Thai cilantro, thyme, and enough sage to start a tea company (well, not anymore as he cut it back). I tried growing a pepper plant here that produced zero flowers and looked so miserable that I had to yank it out as I could barely look at it. Also tried growing parsley and basil here a few times that never ended well.

Last but not least are my Toma Toes!

I tried growing green zebra tomatoes in the raised bed where the potatoes and herbs are last year. I started them from seed indoors and had a plethora of starter plants. They grew well and produced tons of fruit.

Then the stems of the plants in the potato bed started to split and developed nasty-looking lesions that resembled a gang of worms (pretty sure it was Tomato Pith Necrosis). Along came a massive rain storm and a few days later ALL the promising fruit turned brown and rotted along with the plants. I wept.

So this year, I wanted to plant them where there is more protection. Once again I had an abundance of both green zebra and cherry tomato starter plants so I put tomatoes here (rooftop compliments of Hubby):

And here:

But I still had three plants remaining and no more pots! I was going to put them on the curb with a ‘zu verschenken!’ sign (literally meaning ‘to gift’). Instead, I decided to plant them beside the front door. Hubby thought I was crazy, and I agreed, as very little sunshine reaches this area. But I thought, why not try?

In the end, these plants thrived the BEST!

I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating cherry tomatoes from these plants well into October.

But I’m so happy with the performance of the other plants too – we’ve been eating tomatoes from them all (except one) for the past month. It’s such a treat to pick a ripe tomato warm from the vine. Pure happiness.

I titled this blog ‘Wisdom from my garden’ because I believe we can learn a lot from our gardens and apply it to everyday life.

Patience while waiting for your plants to grow. Faith that they will. Dealing with disappointment when they don’t. Joy when they do. Sharing your bounty with others. Basking in the solitude of weeding and watering. Connecting with nature. The pure pleasure of looking at and eating what you’ve grown.

And learning to ‘give anything a try’. You may end up with rock-star tomato plants. 🍅