not for hgtv

Throughout my childhood, one week out of the summer was dedicated to spending time on my grandparent's farm in Minnesota. We'd pick fresh, red radishes and run through the towering corn fields.

I daydream of those days and wish that my boys could experience life out of Southern California suburbia; even if for one short week out of the year like what I experienced.

However, my grandparents passed away several years ago and trips to the farm are a thing of the past. So last spring, I thought I'd bring the farm to the burbs.

The problem is that we have a very small yard which only has hardscape. This is a challenge for a girl who has Martha garden visions of row upon row of raised beds of plump, ripe, and colorful fruits and vegetables. However, the emphasis for the boys is to work with their hands and to eat something homegrown. I want them to relish in the process and feel satisfied when they eat what their hands helped to produce.

So I moved beyond my Martha envy and solved the problem by buying large barrels.

The boys each picked a variety of organic seeds to plant.

Long story short, this was the end result:



Nothing grew. Not a single seed produced a bit. The only accomplishment was that we kept the herbs alive... for a few short weeks.

Then they kicked the bucket.

We're trying again this year with some gained wisdom.

We've narrowed it down to one type of fruit or veggie per kid.







We started from a small grown plant instead of seed.

We drilled a hole and added rocks at the base of each barrel for better drainage.

I actually read the instructions and know which produce are grown at this time of the year. For some reason, I thought that all the extra lovin' from the boys would passionately will the seeds to grow last year even though we planted them during the wrong season.

I was wrong. Big time.

I'm praying and hoping that my farm girl roots will find planting success this time around or I'm going to have some major explaining to do to 3 hopeful farmers.