Once it became clear that we would be spending the summer in the Berkshires instead of NYC, that opened up more possibilities for 50x50, including starting my own garden. I wanted to start simply, like an herb garden, but decided to also include one vegetable.
I planted mint, basil, cilantro, and tomatoes. That was almost three months ago.
Now, at the end of summer, here is what I have to report. The mint grows like Audrey II, so I’m glad my parents warned me, and I kept it in a pot. We have made mojitos, mint tea, watermelon mint salad, and mint simple syrup. And, it’s still going.
The basil worked great for a while. We made caprese salads and pesto, and the kids just chomped on the leaves plain. After a while, though, it flowered which means the leaves aren’t as tasty, but it’s still alive.
The cilantro was great, and so handy to have around for salsas and other Mexican cooking. Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized that the plant is like humans and is most comfortable with temps in the mid-70s. So, by the time we hit June, my cilantro bolted. But, as with most things during COVID, we turned our lemons into lemonade and yielded coriander seeds.
Finally, the tomatoes. I bought one plant of “100s”, so named because they grow so many snacking tomatoes at a time. I knew it would take about two months for fruit to show; ours took a little longer. Now that we are at almost three months, we have dozens, not yet hundreds, of little tomatoes growing. They don’t last long since we eat them as soon as they ripen on the vine.
All in all, I’d call it a success. And, it was fun to grow some of our own food. The kids helped out with picking the herbs and watering the plants. If we’re stuck here next summer, I would definitely expand my horizons and try even more.