if at first you dont succeed try try again

I cant think of anything better than being able to provide my family with clean fresh food. I recently read that 1 out of 6 Americans or 45 million people are going hungry. This saddened and shocked me and they say it is expected to get worse, yikes. I am so thankful that through the ups and downs life often throws i have always been able to provide clean nutritious food for my family.

After we moved i no longer had a large area to garden in so i used my library card and spent a bit of time researching and learning about container, small space and hydroponic gardening. Here in our temporary home there is a beautiful view but no yard to speak of. I was so excited and now armed with this new info i recycled and re purposed our moving stuff into hydroponic containers. I planted a pretty good mix of veggies last spring just to find out that i had a lot to learn about trying to grow anything here in this new space.

Oh my gosh, first i found that cement and the light colored house stucco is a double whammy as it intensifies and reflects the suns effect which burns the plants unless partially protected. I also learned that we have possums, a gazillions rabbits, raccoons, rats and coyotes, all of which seem to have amazing timing. I swear just prior to harvest they would swoop in and eat my stuff! So last years garden was all but a total bust. There was no freezing or canning of anything. The only successful thing i was able to grow to a harvest were carrots, lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

I found that the root veggies worked because i could cover the tops with wire. Some lettuce survived and i say some because the bunnies liked it a lot too. I finally had to put it up high so that limited how much i could grow and cherry tomatoes. After i wrapped chicken wire around them they found enough protection to grow. Hardly a bounty of food but a lot of lessons learned.


One really great thing about living in California is that we can garden all year long because we don't have a frost. So i put on my big girl pants dusted off last years disaster and decided to give it another try. I planted spinach and lettuce seeds a couple weeks ago in hopes of a spring harvest. I use pod trays that are set up in my kitchen and they are doing really well.

Today the weather was warm and beautiful and after reading this and that i was completely motivated and inspired to get outside and start prepping my containers for another round. I hope to take the lessons learned, adjust plant types and construct new and improved barriers because I've heard it said that "if at first you don't succeed try try again.

Here's wishing you all a wonderful weekend!