Shhhh… Don’t tell anyone, but our “I’m so proud we grew everything from seeds” vegetable garden has a few late additions. No, I didn’t plant more seeds. It’s too late in the season for that. Rather than staring at a sad blank space where our failed strawberries remain, I went and bought three already-started seedling plants and transplanted them into the ground. For the record, there is nothing wrong with this. In fact, the overwhelming majority of community gardeners, including those who are veterans and have done this for years, transplanted seedlings into their plots. This is one of the reasons I went out and bought a few myself: I had gardeners envy. But regardless, our vegetable garden is no longer completely “from scratch.” And that’s okay.

So what else are we growing? Orange bell pepper (70-80 days to maturity), green bell pepper (75 days to maturity), and butternut squash (82 days to maturity). Now that our other seedlings (that I DID start from seeds) have had time to spread their roots, the new plants don’t look out of place at all. They’re about the same height as the rest of the plants. And we’re still growing them ourselves- they’ll need watering, weeding, and maintenance. Overall, I’m happy with our plot and it feels good to watch it progress. We still have some bragging rights since the majority of our garden came from little seed packets, but now we’ve also gotten a bit of help and will have a few more vegetables this season. And that’s the whole point, right? To grow your own vegetables.

I walked around and checked out all the other spaces in the community garden, and it’ll be interesting to see how they all turn out. Some of them are tidy, weed-free, and mulched to perfection with walking paths in between rows. Others have fences that could keep any animals out. Many have vegetables, but so many weeds you wonder if they’ve stopped by to tend to the garden since they initially planted. There are a variety of herbs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Everyone’s space has its own personality. I wonder what people think when they walk by our plot. Hopefully, at some point this season, someone will have gardeners envy when they see ours too. 🙂