Here is my (future) rutabaga patch. The seeds were planted in about 1/2 inch deep holes, 4 or 5 in each hole and the strongest plant from each hole will be kept. They were planted in 3 rows of 7 each, so hopefully 21 rutabagas will be ready for harvest late September or October.
A little about myself: I'm 20, and have never grown anything myself before. This is my parent's garden. I'm almost underweight for my size, but I eat as much food as I can stuff into myself every meal. However, I'm also on a gluten-free diet, and trying to stay away from extra-sugary things (like soft drinks and candy) and MSGs. We eat a lot of food from our own garden, like peas, beans, lettuce, salad greens, tomatoes, garlic, and raspberries, and we also buy a lot of our other food like eggs and meat from local farms. There's something rewarding about eating food you just picked yourself from your own backyard. It's impossible to buy food that tastes this good at a supermarket. However, gardening does come with some work, like weeding and watering and making sure you harvest when the food is ready to be eaten.
You know, a lot of people play online games like this (hint: farmville) but somehow it hasn't hit them that they could make it real. You can buy a few cubic meters of good topsoil, you can buy seed packages for approximately 2 or 3 dollars each at a local store, and a few tools like a hoe and a small garden shovel and you have a garden. And you get real food that you can actually eat and it tastes really good.
So anyhow, rutabagas have become one of my favourite foods. I look forward to eating them this fall, and also through the winter because they keep well if stored in a cool, dark place. They used to be a staple on many homesteads before the days of supermarkets because they were easy to store and contained vitamin C which was needed when there were no fresh fruits and vegetables available through the winter.
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