350 Gardens, Week 7: First Harvest, and a Contrast

First, the disclaimer.  THIS IS NOT MY GARDEN.  Truly, I wish it were.  This is one of 350 gardens in the county–igrow’s 350 garden challenge.  Some of the “gardens” stretch the definition.  They are two pots, one of parsley and one of tomatoes, on a front porch,or one large pot with lettuces.  What they have in common is that they are growing food-bearing plants that they families tending them will eat.

It looks to me like these folks have had their first harvest, because some of squash are gone.  Baby squash can be great uncooked, used for dips or just to munch on, maybe alongside some crunchy carrots and some creamy cheese for a protein (or you could go vegan and use hummus for the dip).

They also have some tomatoes starting on their plants.

As a contrast, here is a picture of my scrappy yet wimpy squash plants.  The book next to them, for reference, is not a trade paperback, but regular mass market sized.  Yes, that’s how tiny my plants are.  This is the difference in the amount of sun the two gardens get, and, also, probably something in the nature of the soil amendments the challenge garden used.  Their soil looked pretty rich and mine is plain old backyard variety.