While we have grown some amazing produce in our front yard garden, there have been several “learning experiences” that have produced fodder for the composing bin, instead of food for our table!

Full disclosure – This front yard garden is our first REAL adventure in growing our own food! While we had a few planter boxes in the back yard several years ago and I was able to grow chard – (enough for the entire neighborhood), I also planted “regular-size” tomatoes way too close together, and they ended up becoming a crowded, inedible mess!

I had such high hopes for the Brussels sprouts, and there were some cuties hidden by big leaves…

Then, they started flowering…

… like crazy and ended up with smooshed and half-rotted… So sad. I did eat the large green leaves (you probably guessed that!), as I cooked them with onion and garlic until just tender.

Another disappointment was watermelon… Our family LOVES watermelon! We were so excited to grow our own, especially when we saw these little ones…

However, we think they may have gotten too hot on the rocks (the front of our house gets the afternoon sun). I tried to eat it, but it was mushy and not very flavorful.

I was excited to grow celery, as I use it for so many recipes, and it is one of the veggies I always buy organic (due to pesticide residue). I couldn’t wait to include it in my weekly Crazy Salad prep. While it started off looking great, I kept waiting for it to grow a bit taller, but then it got inundated with little black bugs, so it went straight into the compost bin.

I was thrilled to see heads of purple cauliflower forming! Look at the depth of color (packed with phytonutrients, including anthocyanins)!

Then, it started to separate and the color began to fade…

I ate the cauliflower… but we probably won’t be growing it again (unless we learn some new tricks).

This is apparently what happens to a pineapple guava tree when you put it in a wine barrel that doesn’t have drainage holes! Root rot… and we let it go for too long. We recently purchased a very long drill bit and extension piece and ended up drilling holes going down through the soil (instead of trying to elevate the VERY HEAVY barrel). While my husband has all but given up on this one, do you see the green leaves? I still have hope.

Although my husband and I can be wooed by “perfectionistic” tendencies when it comes to some things in life, we have really taken a “go with the flow” attitude when it comes to the front yard garden, and are really embracing all that the incredible plants are teaching us. We know that as we learn more, we will be even better stewards of these little miracles!

Timaree Hagenburger, a plant-based registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN), certified exercise physiologist with a master’s degree in public health, has over 20 years of experience as a nutrition professor. She is a sought after speaker, media personality and author, who works with private clients, and in corporate wellness, has contributed to several cookbooks and published her own cookbook, The Foodie Bar Way: One Meal, Lots of Options, Everyone’s Happy (www.foodiebars.com)! Timaree is also the founder of an incredible online membership community, The Foodie Bar Way of Life, that makes loving the food (and living a life) that loves us back… simple, satisfying, sustainable AND FUN! You can contact her about working with her through 1:1 dietitian nutrition coaching, for hands-on cooking instruction and to inquire about arranging a speaking engagement.