You can count every rookie gardening mistake in the book right there in the “little box of dirt” we installed in the front yard two months ago.

For starters, I planted at exactly the wrong time. I knew that. And yet I planted anyway, because I thought it would be fun to flirt with a few seeds and consider it practice for the real season starting in September.

The gardening guides, however, did hold out hope for success with herbs as well as okra, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, peas, sweet potatoes and watermelon. My pea plants promptly died, and the watermelon vine was glad to see them go. That mighty vine took over the vacated pea territory to the left and invaded the zucchini on the right. I started those zucchini from seeds and was mighty proud when they came barreling out of the ground. So I could not bring myself to follow The First Cardinal Rule of vegetable cultivation:

You’ve got to “weed out” the weaker seedlings, making lots of room for one or two stars. But yank my babies out by the roots and cast them to the compost heap? Not a chance.

So now I have a tight tangle of zucchini shoots, a few yellow blossoms, and nary a squash to be found. I’ve got green limbs galore, but as for vegetables? The sum total of six jalapeno peppers and two of the tiniest bell peppers you could imagine is all I've produced so far.

I think I see okra blossoms turning into itty bitty pods, too, and this was very exciting until the thunderstorm the other night toppled the okra stalks. I've staked them back up, but I'm afraid the damage may be terminal. Time will tell.

Ants have found the box and are having a field day. It’s too hot to drive five miles to Home Depot for insect soap, and since there really aren’t actual vegetables yet, I figure the ants might as well enjoy themselves.

This agricultural exercise has served one useful function: The bloom is off my rose, so to speak, and my patience is wearing thin. Come September, I’m getting tough. It’s one plant per square foot, and anything that doesn’t produce won’t get invited back. And as for the ants, they’ll have to prance around at somebody’s picnic for a taste of the good life. My stalks will be slathered with soap.

So that’s my gardening update. (BTW, if you want to read about how I planted the garden, click here.) So how does your garden grow? We’d surely love to hear your stories!