by Aerialacro

Created on: August 15, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

All I wanted was a simple vegetable garden. We wanted to save some money on the vegetables we bought the most. My husband and I planned a small garden together. I knew a little about gardening, but we had to do some research. We went to the store to buy some plants, fertilizer, soil, and we even took it to a fancy level and bought soaker hoses. I was feeling pretty good on the day we tilled the soil. The following week, we planted the new vegetable plants proudly in the ground, watered, and sat back to watch it all unfold. The following sequence of events that happened to my husband after the plants began to produce vegetables can only be compared to the image of a one year old child on his first birthday tasting his first birthday cake. It is a slight taste at first, then a finger full, then he takes the whole hand and delves in. This was just the beginning.

The garden was no longer ours. It was his. He decided to build a structure. Yes, a structure around the new baby intended to prevent animals from coming in. It was a great idea, however, my husband doesn't just put a fence up. No. My husband digs a foot into the ground and puts plywood in so the animals can't dig under the chicken wire. Compared to what was coming, that wasn't too big of a project, but I suppose it was a good thing to have. We had so many , peppers, snap peas, green beans, and other vegetables. We were bringing fresh vegetable in and, if our daughter didn't eat them out of our hands before we got in the house, we were storing things. I learned how to pickle peppers. It was better than I could have imagined. We began our second season. My husband struck again.

Winter was coming. Most people cover their plants in winter. But my husband? Nope. My husband built a small green house from the former structure and surrounded our plants with a roof and walls. I must admit, it saved our garden, but seeing him sitting up on top of the trusses he had built for our new greenhouse that loomed over the tomato plants, was beyond any garden comedy I could have written. But this was not the end. We met the Strawberry Man. The Strawberry Man taught my husband about hydroponics. So began the next chapter in the Sawyer Garden Saga.

Mike began researching hydroponics. He started several hydroponic stacks of strawberries. He built it himself of course. But that wasn't enough. Now, we have a hydroponic heaven in our yard. Within the walls of our garden structure, lies a labyrinth of pipes and tubes that could make a water park look like a kiddie playground. Seeds have been planted for the season. Once they begin to grow, they will be transplanted into our new and improved monstrosity within the walls of what used to be a little vegetable garden meant for fun and a small crop of tomatoes.

I cannot complain as my daughters and I love having fresh vegetables and are pleased that we know what they were grown with. There is something very empowering to walking out to the garden, picking some carrots, going back inside and pureeing some baby food for my six month old. There is also a satisfaction to watching my five year old picking spinach off the plant and eating it right there.
Will our hydroponic heaven be fruitful? Will Mike come up with a new structure to build? How long until there are bigger and better hydroponics out there? Can we keep up with the Green Thumbs? Stay tuned to the Sawyer Garden Saga.

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