Hailey's garden update

Each evening, Hailey goes out to water and weed her little plot of vegetables, careful not to harm any of the plants and reports back just how much they have grown since the day before. I was a bit worried that the novelty of a garden would wear off, but she is grows more proud of it with each day.

The sixth delivery of vegetables was made today. So far Hailey has helped a disabled Vet, a young couple and a woman who is obviously struggling. In true Hailey fashion, she is able to find the beauty in each person she helps. Today was no different. We met a woman outside the super market that had the look of someone that had been using meth for some time. She was missing her teeth and scratched violently at her arms as she rocked on a bench, but as we walked away Hailey said "did you see how her eyes sparkled when she smiled?" 

When this little journey started, I figured it would be a good lesson to Hailey about how plants grow and maybe a bit about helping others.  We would spend hours discussing the different plants, giggle about how much dirt we had under our nails, and maybe make a delivery or two of veggies. While we did talk about the plants and giggle about dirt under our nails, I never imagined how much time we would spend talking with the people we brought the food to. I think this is what has made Hailey so determined to make her garden successful. She is no longer growing the food for a stranger, she is growing them for her new friends.

So far Hailey has been able to pick peas, beans, carrots (side note: carrots don't like to be transplanted), spinach and a handful of cherry tomatoes. The peas yielded more than I thought they would. The six plants were able to fill eight sandwich bags. I am not sure if that is a lot for a pea plant. I was not blessed with a green thumb so I just assumed they would die after giving us a pea or two.

Since summer finally started to grace Washington, Hailey's tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers may have a chance to grow. Let me rephrase, maybe the fruit will grow on the tomato plants. The tomato plants are ridiculously tall.

I will need to stand on the fence to get the tomatoes from the top

Hailey and I have already started talking about which veggies we will plant in the fall. I think we will try carrots again but this time I won't touch them.