Growing in the Ohio Valley

For our final feature of the season, our first year gardener Tiffany reflected on the ups and downs of starting her garden in the Ohio Valley:

Each year I make New Year’s Resolutions, and they always include a few of the top ten clichés: spend more time with my family, eat healthier, and/or learn a new skill or hobby. However, this year I was bound and determined to fulfill one of them. 2024 was going to be my year to GROW!

I saw my opportunity in February on a social media post for ‘Grow OV.’ I’d tried growing tomatoes once or twice before, but being a “city girl,” I had failed each time. After applying for the program, I remember thinking “third times a charm, right?” It was important to me to make this a learning experience for my whole family.

When I received the acceptance e-mail my family and I were thrilled! At the first meeting, I found myself intimated when asked to write a specific goal. My only objective was to GROW something, anything! Our family LOVES watermelon, so I narrowed it down and decided we would try to grow a watermelon.

Once we planted our seedlings, which included sunflowers, beans, cucumbers, cabbage, basil, dill, spinach, and watermelon, we watched in excitement as they started to germinate. It appeared each one would thrive until it was time to transplant into the garden but as weeks passed, our thriving sprouts started wilting! Luckily it was time for the first site visit with Hannah and Cara. My husband and I were convinced we had been overwatering the pods, but turns out, we hadn’t watered enough! The ladies recommended that we replant seeds in hopes of regrowing sprouts again in time for planting into the ground.

A sigh of relief came when we finally planted the garden, and everything started to grow! However, the harvesting season did come with its own growing pains. Bugs feasted on our cabbages and loved munching on our tomato leaves, not to mention a drought. Toward the middle of the summer, we found ourselves nurturing and cheering on our watermelon waiting in anticipation to taste how sweet and juicy they would be. Not only were we able to enjoy one, but several, over the rest of the season!

I believe each member of our family enjoyed our first attempt at gardening in some way. My husband and I had fun measuring the fruit of our labor through harvesting and the time spent together weeding, while our girls had a great time watering the garden (aka playing with the hose) and running to the neighbors’ houses to share what we had grown.

Participating in this cohort helped me achieve all my New Year’s resolutions, but most importantly it helped me GROW as a person, wife and mother. Putting down the phone and focusing on what’s important in life, being with my family.

Just like gardening, life comes with setbacks and challenges but with family, and a strong community, life is sure to be SWEET. Just like our watermelon. 😉

– Tiffany M., BYG 2024