A couple weeks ago we visited my flower gardens. May I now introduce you to the vegetable garden?

It is a small, little garden that suits us perfectly. It is all my husband & I need with some extra to share as well.

Bills dad was an amazing gardener. He grew much, and Polly, Bills mom, canned a goodly amount of food. His garden fed our family as well. He also grew enough for me to can tomatoes and beets. It was wonderful. I used to tell Grandad his garden should be featured in a Southern Living magazine. He taught me much.

I have noticed over these many years fewer and fewer vegetable gardens around our Valley homes. Three of our five children grow vegetables. They all are good gardeners. We have much to talk about around our growing seasons.

Sometimes I wonder if all the varieties of foods available in grocery store have spoiled our taste for the ordinary garden veggies? I have seriously been asked before how to cook fresh green beans.

Nothing, seriously nothing, from a grocery store tastes as good as homegrown. Don’t believe me? Plant a tomato, care for it, watch it grow and produce the best tasting tomatos you have ever eaten. It is likely you will never buy store-bought again.

Here is a neat thought: you grow tomatoes, ask your neighbor to container grow some green beans. Exchange your produce!

I grow lots of food for ‘free’. How? I plant potatoes that are sprouting in the pantry. I grow slips of sweet potatoes from those I have purchased at store. I let lettuce, dill, marigolds, and zinnias go to seed in the garden. They come up ‘volunteer’ next season. I save seeds from peas, beans, and limas.

Producing one’s own food is satisfying, great exercise, and gives one a good reason to talk to the neighbor! Working with the soil and nature–a beautiful art form.

Now, shall we take a stroll through my garden?

Thank you for joining me. What is growing in your garden?