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We had an awesome meal last evening – a mashup of ingredients straight from our garden with some great product from our CSA (Community Shared Agriculture program).

Here are some of the things I’ve learned this year:

• Like puppies and a new job, it really is more work than I thought.
• That work, when in the right mindset, is most pleasurable.  The more you do the task, the more you can develop the mindset.
• Consistency is key.  I twice went without watering for a few days and almost killed the entire crop.  These two short faults definately hurt my harvest.
• Big plants don’t necessarily mean bit yield.  I have two sets of tomato plans – one looks like a rain forest and the other like the Sahara.  The ‘desert’ ones have a higher yield than my pristine plant.
• Knowing how much water is an art form.  I wasn’t using nearly enough early on and cost myself a tonne of veggies.
• You can grow awesome plants in the shade – including ones that people claim need a lot of sun to thrive.  They just might not grow a lot of fruit.
• Picking tomatoes is a two-handed task.  When I cheat I usually break a stem.
• You can grow a cucumber plant up a wall and attach it to other vines.  More sun would have helped.
• Never give up.  My hot pepper plant all but died before it really started to grow – yet it is in the best shape of all (and in the best spot for sun).
• There is nothing like tomatoes off the vine.  I had remembered this intellectually but the taste is something that can’t be intellectually processed to be understood.
• A few herb plants can be a lot of herbs.  I should have grown a greater variety and used them more often in my cooking
• Fresh herbs that you’ve grown are also far more flavorful than those purchased.
• A reminder: things you grow yourself just taste better.
• While I can grow from seed, our apartment lifestyle is not ideal for it.  Starting with plants may be cheating – or may be practical.
• Our yield has been relatively miniscule. I’ve also learned how to be ok with that and celebrate our successes first.
• Ask more questions.

These are some of the lessons of the summer (so far)…