After discussing the best use of our space as well as the healthiest way to grow food; we went organic and chose the above ground method. We read the Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew and got started.

I can’t tell you how many naysayers I encountered when I started talking about it. I live in the city. For real. I don’t have a huge backyard and I was working full-time. Well, we fooled them!

The first year we learned a lot. Things like cucumbers ‘run’. Meaning they take up a lot of space because they’re on a vine that grows and grows and grows. We had to get creative with them and their cousin the zucchini.

My son and I had a lot of laughs, fought off the insects, the scary tomato worms, and a lot of other things we’d never seen or heard of.

We discovered that there are a lot of hungry squirrels in our neighborhood. And can I say that the squirrels are downright rude? They half eat our tomatoes and leave the remnants on the table for me to clean up. We found out that they don’t care for them, they only want the juice. Ugh! That’s okay, We made cages out of chicken wire to cover the boxes and the tomatoes.

The cages are removable and keep the birds, squirrels and rabbits at bay. Except that time a squirrel risked his life to get the watermelon. Broke my heart. Next year we built a better cage.

The first year we planted cabbage, kale, green leaf and romaine lettuce, strawberries, sugar peas, green beans, collard and mustard greens, eggplant, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, two types of tomatoes, green and purple bell peppers, jalapeño and banana peppers, basil, rosemary, Lavender, mint, cilantro, and thyme. The herbs and hot peppers were mainly in our window box or pots.

Our dog Coco Chanel did her part scaring off the squirrels and watching us work. We were very pleased that first year and my son ate more vegetables than ever.

That was four summers ago. I’ve lost and added since then. The first thing I lost was my partner. He’s a teen now and gardening is not his thing. It’s okay with me though, he still does the heavy lifting and if I need help, he helps. Meanwhile, gardening has become a mode of meditation for me so it’s just as well. I get sun (tanned and Vitamin D), therapy from communing with Mother Earth, and I have a few awesome playlists for the crops.

Over the years I’ve added corn, sweet potatoes, okra, onions, white tomatoes, turnip greens, Swiss chard, carrots, habanero and ghost peppers, stevia, lemon verbena, and oregano. I tried bok choy but it didn’t flourish – I’ll try it again.

I’m in the planning phase for this year, I know it’s early but I really want to get it right. If I can just get the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers to mature simultaneously I’ll be a happy salad eater. It’s a lot of work and it keeps you busy. It’s so worth it though. Nothing is more rewarding than feeding my family and friends from my backyard. Fresh produce is the perfect gift!