Gardening...attempt number six...

I want to be a good gardener. I dream of luscious vegetable plants ready for harvest. I dream of eating and canning vegetables that I grew. Talk about knowing what went into your food! I really really want to learn this skill. So far, it's just not working for me.

First year of gardening....
I went all gung ho. I cleared a nice large area in my yard. Fought back the ivy and blackberries. Had a friend come down and use his tractor to till it all up for me. Worked in all the compost and good stuff I was supposed to do. I cared for my little plants all summer long. Do you know what I harvested?
Barbie vegetables. I had perfectly formed and ripe green bell peppers that would fit on a quarter. I had carrots that were smaller than my pinkie. The corn never made it past my knee.

Second year of gardening....
This year was going to be better. That last year was just a fluke, right? Well, it was better in some ways.
That year we added chickens into our yard. So, I required a fence around my garden. I did my best and put up a sort of a fence to guard my little plot. It was good! Everything was growing great! I had broccoli and peas and tomatoes all ready to harvest in just a few days. I would go out in the early morning and drink my coffee in the garden. One morning I went out and thought to myself, tomorrow is the day. I will harvest my vegetable garden tomorrow! Do you know what I harvested?
Nothing. That day while we were out of town, my chickens got into the garden. They ate EVERYTHING. I was left with skeletons of the plants. Carnage.

Third year of gardening...
Again, I decided to try with my little garden area in the yard. I would just have to be more diligent and keep those blasted birds out. I had just planted my seedlings and everything was going well. We went on vacation and I had someone come over to water my garden and care for the animals. That year we had record heat for our area. It just wasn't enough water for the garden. Even after I came back and started watering it more, the garden just didn't grow. What did I harvest?
Nothing.

Fourth year of gardening.....
This year I wasn't going to do the whole garden thing. The grass had taken over my garden area. We had more birds than before. Plus, we had vacation planned for the middle of summer again. Let alone I hadn't had any success yet. I was a bit discouraged to say the least. I wasn't going to do a garden.
Then my hubby brought home twenty four tomato plants! I had a virtual tomato jungle on my back porch. This was before I knew how to can anything besides jelly. I could cook with them, and hubby likes to eat them raw. We gave them away and many rotted right there on the plants. What did I harvest?
Tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes.

Fifth year of gardening...
I actually had success with the tomatoes in containers on the back porch. So, I decided maybe container gardening was the way to go. I planted my seedlings into three big pots on the back deck. One pot had peas and radishes. The next had green beans and carrots. The third had strawberries. The first to die was the green beans. I don't know why. They just died. Then I didn't realize it, but the radishes went to seed. Evidently, this will give you rock hard woody radishes that you can't chew and taste like wood pulp. The carrots seemed all good. Until I pulled them up. Barbie vegetables again! The strawberries sent out little shoots everywhere. This was a good thing and I let them. I didn't expect to get much fruit off them this year. I wanted those shoots for new plants. The peas actually did well! What did I harvest?
Enough peas for my family to eat fresh off the vine, but not enough to actually cook. We also got a handful of tiny strawberries.

This will be my sixth year gardening. I am trying the garden space again. My hubby will be building a real fence for me this time to keep the birds out. I've started my seeds a bit earlier in the hopes that the plants will have more time to mature on the garden. I still dream of bountiful harvests with enough normal sized vegetables that I can actually can some of the produce. Here is a picture of my garden to be. What will I harvest this year?

***Update***
Hubby and I discussed it yesterday, and we decided to make the garden space even larger!  We are going to do the entire side yard.  That will effectively quadruple my garden space.  Anyone want to come help me move sod?