When our family came to visit the garden, the granddaughters were delighted with everything. They each got to pull a carrot. How magical to see that perfect orange vegetable appear out of the dirt. Felicity, age three, was almost defeated by her carrot’s tenacity. When it finally came loose and she held it up, victory was that much sweeter.
The girls ate the freshest possible snap peas, straight from vine to mouth. After everyone else had wandered off, Laureli was still searching for pods to add to her basket. She picked only peas of perfect ripeness, with perfect technique. She remembered from last year!
Reece and I talked about the best vegetables for a tiny backyard space, where the focus is on kids even more than food. Use the vertical space, and choose vegetables that can be picked again and again. Kale, peas, beans – those are perfect candidates. Rachel remembers going out on the deck to pick scarlet runner beans that grew two stories tall, and eating them raw while she stood there marveling at the clinging, climbing vines.
