How does your garden grow?

Growing up we had a garden. We lived on a small lot, but my dad dedicated half of our backyard to a garden. Here you can see the different boxes where we planted vegetables. Against the garage we had strawberries (usually).

I remember Saturday mornings spent weeding. Late summer mornings spent picking, and afternoons spent canning and freezing. I love that we always had a freezer full of vegetables and cans of fruits. Not all did we get from our garden. My mom's brother-in-law owns a farm and we got corn, peas, peaches, melons etc. from them. But we had so many that came from our own labors. I know that my parents were so pleased with that.

I just know I hated weeding. I don't like the figuring out where everything goes, making sure it has enough water, and keeping it alive until harvest time. I do love knowing that I am growing my own food. So I planted a garden again this year. Last year I didn't get anything. I had some beets, but they froze before they got big enough. My peas died while I was at girl's camp. And my tomatoes never got bigger than a grape (no, they were not grape tomatoes).

So this year I talked to a few people in my ward. One of the blessings of living out in the boonies, everyone plants a garden. And we have quite a few gardening geniuses in our ward. (Thank you so much). I went pretty small. Right now I only have five things planted. I learned that some things do better if they are planted when it is colder out. So I have peas, beets, carrots, lettuce, and spinach.
The racks are for my peas. In the box you see in the background I want to plant tomatoes (when it gets warmer) and melons. Hopefully I can get a harvest this year. I don't like pulling weeds any more than I did when I was a child. But I do like taking a bag of peas out of my freezer and knowing that I planted and weeded and harvested it.

Now, if only I could have a desire to do the same thing with flowers.