Beginner Gardening: seeking disappointed veggie gardeners!, 1 by dividedsky

dividedsky wrote:
Disappointed in the whole thing? Nope. In my first veggie garden, my sweet peppers came down with some vague disease and I got only a few small ones. The green beans were attacked by flea beetles and didn't produce well. My zinnias - of all things! - struggled and I found out late in the season it was because a dog was peeing on them. In my second veggie garden, I planted the green beans too close to the pumpkins and didn't get as many as I wanted. Japanese beetles feasted on the pole beans. Garlic rotted in the ground. I had trouble keeping up with the powdery mildew.

But was I disappointed to the point where I thought it was pointless or I wanted to quit? Absolutely not! I learned so much in those two years that now people are asking me for gardening advice. And I had so much of certain vegetables, herbs, and flowers that I was giving them away in big bags. I benefited from the exercise and fresh air and homegrown organic veggies. My two-year old nephew "helped" me garden, and now he knows where food comes from and what it takes to produce it. In other words, I got so much satisfaction out of it, despite the setbacks, that I couldn't imagine saying that I was disappointed.

But I do have this website to rely on, and it's an amazing resource. I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did as quickly as I did without it.

Some people say that anyone who plants a seed is an optimist. You kind of have to be, to be a gardener and go back year after year to face the weather and the bugs and whatever other challenges come your way.

This message was edited Feb 2, 2010 9:15 PM