A history of the garden

When my father first moved to Andersonville, he dreamed of a garden where he could walk out and get fresh fruits and vegetables without having to drive down the crooked road to a mediocre store to get overpriced produce. Maybe that's my dream, but I digress, he wanted a garden and has always had green thumbs. I however, am not so lucky. Cursed with an inability to foster living things I have killed a fern, an ivy, numerous random potted plants, bamboo, and the list goes on. When arrived for my first visit there was an area in the yard that "Uncle Bob" as I will refer to him from from now on, my father's friend from back when they worked 100 years ago in the music biz, had started to carve out for the garden. Uncle Bob seems to do amazing work. He is incredibly funny and educated me in the ways of the garden. My father wasn't feeling well enough for the hard labor of actually putting in the garden and would help when he had the energy to on rare occasions. Basically, Uncle Bob and I worked our tails off and helped my father seem his dream come true. I got much more out of it though.
It's a slow process and I learned it's a bit more difficult than just digging a hole, dropping seeds, and spraying with miracle grow. At the end of tilling for weeks and planting everything imaginable, Uncle Bob found some pumpkin seeds. In a little rocky area that wasn't tilled we thought it was a fun idea to plant a "Punkin Patch". It was what we thought was the worst area of the garden. The pumpkins sprouted from the 5 (yes, five) seeds. We now have at least 25-30 pumpkins in different stages growing up the fence and all over. I told my father a few days ago, that if pumpkins were made of gold we'd be rich!
Through the summer while I was back in California my father harvested, eggplant, spinach, bibb lettuce, arugula, all kids of peppers, heirloom tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, yellow squash, green and yellow beans, cucumbers, white corn, blueberries, raspberries, onions, shallots, gold and purple potatoes, and the list continues...
I was lucky enough to get in on some of the summer action and there were still potatoes, corn, tomatoes, onions, peppers, pumpkins, and watermelon when I got here. Pumpkins are the thing that are quickly becoming the product that I will probably have to sell on the side of the road to make a living as Fall approaches. More about pumpkins in a future post.
So, for the girl who killed everything growing up, I am thankful for Tennessee's miracle mud and Uncle Bob's patience and my father's dream. I just might have a little green thumb in me after all. Took a lot of years to find though.
Photos top to bottom are from May to August, and end with Uncle Bob tilling the garden today for some Fall planting and the watermelon I am being patient and waiting for. More pictures of the garden in future posts.