Growing

I planted a vegtable garden earlier this year. There were a couple of reasons I decided to try, one was the environmental benefit of growing my own organic food, locally. The average fruit or vegtable consumed in the US travels 1500 miles. That is a lot of carbon put off into the environment. The second reason was growing a garden seemed like a fun little project. If it works fresh tomatoes, lettuce etc. any night of the week.

Some of the food I planted had already been started; tomatoes and peppers; everything else was from seed; carrot ts,broccoli, squash, pumpkin (for carving in the fall), lettuce, onions and mint. Today we were checking out the garden and surprisingly things are actually growing. Small tomatoes are forming, mini-peppers are appearing and the lettuce, squash, broccoli and carrots are taking off. I guess now it is a sit and wait time with the garden. Hope for some rain (and sprinkler water), no hail, good sunlight, no rabbits or other pests and in a few weeks I can pick a salad 10 minutes before eating.

It seems so simple, plant some seeds and a few months later you have food. But there is a lot of luck in growing food too. We've had a few hard and heavy rain storms over the past few weeks. Luckily no hail at this point. You can plan, plant, organize and prepare for the garden, a bike race, protecting the environment or whatever you wish, but without a little luck the hard work isn't going to matter.

But it is the challenges, the things that don't work that are fun and cause personal growth. My onions really aren't doing anything. Not sure why. Maybe they don't have enough water, maybe not enough sun, maybe the soil in the far corner of the garden isn't very good. It is just like racing, why haven't I been fast, will training/riding a different way help or hurt, have I hit my limit or can I go further. For riding I can try switching the plan mid-season (as I just have done) and check the results. The onions may have to wait until next year. But taking what I have now and keeping track of it and analysing it will let me change and improve going forward. Because the onions don't grow this year I'll learn and grow for next year.