Sooo, I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything. I’ve been trapped in U.S. Census hell, which is only marginally less torturous than listening to R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet.” I’ve been working thirteen hour days, more or less, and most days the only attention I’ve been able to give the garden is while I’m either scurrying to or from the car. Fortunately, it’s been thriving quite well without me. I’m not sure how to take that.
Our first radish!
I’ve had some weird reactions to this garden, from raised eyebrows to gaping in disbelief to downright smirking and laughter. I’ve been told that the things we’ve planted such as green beans and tomatoes won’t grow in containers, that we don’t have enough space, that it simply won’t work. Well, I found it hard to respond as robustly as I wanted to with a mouth full of tasty green beans, so I let it go. I will say I’ve fretted just a tad over my salads, wondering if my green onions were happy growing in their little containers, if my spinach was suffering in the pallet box. Then I took another bite of my homegrown goodness and forgot about it. Yes, Virginia, there might not be a Santa Claus, but tomatoes can be grown in the city.
I would guesstimate at the moment we have roughly 100 tomatoes in our garden at various stages of growth(thanks to J's enthusiastic planting spree). This after we were told they need something like four times the space we’ve given them. The green beans just won’t quit producing. Some of our other experimental plants (such as J's single solitary cucumber in a pot with a vine a mile long) may not do so well, but the key word here is experimental. This whole garden was an experiment of whether or not I could actually grow a vegetable, so I’d call it a success! Wherever next year finds me, I won’t hesitate to start another container garden. My next endeavor is to collect seeds from everything so I won’t have to purchase seed packets next spring.
So without further ado, here’s some pictures of the progress of the garden:
The makings of a wonderful salad. 
Some fast growing spinach that went into a delicious Spinach Artichoke Dip
Another box made from discarded wood from our old deck. It was supposed to be a raised garden bed, but we never got around to acquiring soil for it. We are using it as a "container corral" on one side and went ahead and planted some things in the ground on the other.
The very first budding tomato!
The same tomato, with about 30 little tomato friends on the same plant! 
So you can build a container out of anything...this is a speaker box the guys next door gave us when they put a new, bigger, thump-thump-thumpier speaker in their trunk. J took the front off, drilled some holes, laid it on it's back, and VIOLA! It's now home to three thriving tomato plants and various herbs.
The original pallet box "before"
"After" Green beans, spinach, radishes, and onions abound.
I'm pleased with the results, despite all the ribbing I've gotten over it. I was actually chastised by someone for saying I "plucked" the green beans. Apparently around these parts, the correct word is "picked" and I was showing my "city-ness" which I'm guessing was distasteful. Whatever, they got off the plant and onto my plate, which is all I cared about. I don't care if they were levitated by a Martian laser beam. I think part of my stubbornness about this whole thing escalated when I saw the rather snooty, nay, SNOBBY, attitude by the country folks around here that narrow-mindedly think their way is the only way. Obviously, I'm not the first person that has ever grown a garden this way, but apparently I'm the first around here. A dubious distinction, I'm sure!
Til next time!
The Awkward Gardener
