Gardening somehow skipped a generation or two in my family. My grandparents grew tomatoes, basil and green beans, but my parents were totally OK with buying corn in the freezer aisle.
I'm a devotee of fresh produce stores, but I always feared rabbits and bugs would devour anything I tried to plant.
So it was my environmentally-conscious daughter who cleared out part of the yard, strung up wire fencing to keep the bunnies out, planted a bunch of veggies and grew them organically.
It's a joy to go out and pick tomatoes for our salads. Now I know what "vine-ripened" really means.
But I have some questions for you experienced gardeners. Why did the tomatoes get splits in them? Are they safe to eat?
I didn't know what one plant was until it sprouted the tiniest broccoli floret ever seen. Should I give up hope it will ever produce a lunch's worth of broccoli?
How do I know when the carrots are ripe, since they're underground? Finally, is it normal for cucumbers to have a spiky thistle-type surface?
There's hope for future generations of gardeners in our house. Bon appetit!
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