Gardening in the 'Burbs

You all wish this could be sitting in your living room, don't you? Last summer, Middle Child wanted to grow some vegetables, so Husband set her up with a few containers on the deck. Due to the multitude of critters on our property and the sloping, wooded lot, this was the best we could manage. She was thrilled. We were all amused by her use of the word "harvest" as a verb. As in, "I harvested some grape tomatoes today." She ate nearly every grape tomato that she harvested, but she was not nearly so happy with the peppers. The seed envelope described those as "pungent" which she didn't care for, so she kept blaming Dad for buying the "pungent pepper" seeds - always with the adjective.

This year, they decided to go all out and order seeds from a catalog. Middle Child poured over the photos and chose vegetables with names like Red Popper Peppers, Sweet Baby Girl Tomatoes and Salad Bush Cucumbers. Husband built that nifty little stand to hold the lights. The minute she comes home from school everyday, she checks her little garden to see what has sprouted or grown taller. She's anxious for the harvest, which probably won't be until late July at the earliest.

Near the end of May, the garden will be replanted and put outside on the deck in containers. And hopefully, these guys won't figure out how to climb the stairs up to the deck. Because they've already wiped out all my day lillies this year.