Baby Land

Our next door neighbors have a small garden in their backyard where they grow squash, zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers. They get their children involved in taking care of the plants, and I suspect it makes for an easier sell on eating their veggies when the veggies are ones they have helped cultivate. My best friend's parents have a garden and her three year old loves to eat tomatoes straight off the vine!

I mention all of this to say that I think a home garden would be a neat hobby to share with a young child to get them excited about vegetables. It's also a convenient way to have fresh vegetables on the table nearly every night - definitely easier than stopping by the store two-three times each week. Since pregnancy, I have been trying to eat more of the "right" things - I have found many new recipes that include fresh vegetables that we tried and enjoyed, which is saying a lot for this super-picky eater. I want to introduce my one year old to lots of different types of food so that she will be a well-balanced eater.

Now that vegetables are a bigger part of our dinner menus, my husband and I have toyed with the idea of planting a few things just behind our house - zucchini and squash are the top two choices, as we eat those the most. Our problem is that we have no idea how to get started... Should we buy seeds or an actual plant? What time of year should you plant? Where is the best place to grow this type of vegetable - shade or sun? What type of soil should we plant them in? How often do they have to be watered? Is it necessary to spray for pests? We definietly have more questions than answers.

So I open it up to all of you - can you help get us started with some tips? We're also open to some new, simple recipes, especially those using squash and zucchini! It will be a year or two before our daughter can fully enjoy all aspects of growing our own produce, but we are ready to get our little garden going...