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Maryland gardener comes home from vacation, needs a fourth basket as backyard harvest explodes

For households trying to stretch grocery budgets, even modest harvests of potatoes, herbs, greens, peppers, and squash can add up quickly.

A person holding a basket of potatoes.

Photo Credit: TikTok

One Maryland gardener came home from vacation to the kind of surprise many backyard growers dream about: a garden so productive it filled several harvest baskets.

What happened?

The video shows the gardener making the rounds through an overflowing backyard garden and filling basket after basket with summer produce.

@verygoodgardening

This #harvest includes potatoes, garlic, raspberries, ground cherries, chamomile, squash, zucchini, Swiss chard, celery, and basil from my #backyardgarden This was such a great surprise for me! #growyourownfood #maryland

♬ original sound - VeryGoodGardening

The original poster starts the video off saying, "Harvest time! I've got three baskets. Let's see if I can fill them all up. ... I just came back from vacation and my garden absolutely exploded with things that I need to harvest."

Among the produce gathered were several types of potatoes, along with garlic, romanesco, celery, Swiss chard, basil, a jalapeño, ground cherries, raspberries, zucchini, and Zephyr squash.

Not every part of the harvest was untouched, though. The creator says birds got to the top raspberries first: "birds came in and literally ate every single ripe raspberry that was on top."

When it came time to dig for potatoes, the gardener's children joined in to help pull up the Yukon Gold, Purple Majesty, and Red Gold varieties, eliciting one simple reaction: "It's like finding treasure."

Her haul ends up outgrowing the original plan for three baskets. "I ended up needing a fourth basket."

Why does it matter?

For households trying to stretch grocery budgets, even modest harvests of potatoes, herbs, greens, peppers, and squash can add up quickly.

Home gardens can also cut packaging waste while giving people more control over how their food is grown. 

A harvest like this one also shows biodiversity in action, as the garden includes a wide mix of produce rather than relying on a single crop.

What are people saying?

Some commenters said the video inspired them to grow more of their own food.

One person wrote, "You have inspired me to look into growing more fruits and veggies in my garden and green house decided I can use the fence to hang guttering for trailing veggies / fruit."

Others were curious about specific crops, with one asking, "What is a ground cherry?" Another commenter chimed in with their own growing milestone: "My first ever cucumbers."

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