Garden

Since being married and a mother, I have found little bits of my own mother coming out in me. One of the ways it manifests is in my love of gardening. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of all of the gardens my mother tended at each of the houses where we lived. Some years it was mostly flowers, other years it included veggies. My mother seems to love growing flowers most, and no longer grows any veggies. But I love all of the plants that produce things I can eat with my mouth instead of my eyes! I also like knowing that the food I am serving to my family is something that is wholesome, organic, and much tastier than what you buy at the store. Someday I dream of having the space for a full in-ground garden complete with corn, pumpkins, and other larger plants. For now, I have some nice raised beds and try to make the most of one little strip of full sun in our backyard. Last year was my first attempt at veggies, and I was excited at the few zuchinnis, cucumbers, green peppers, and giant crop of cherry tomatoes I acheived. I learned some things about my yard and the placement of plants according to the sun. This year I changed a couple of plants around and things are looking really good. Let me take you on a partial tour...

First is my herb garden. I love using fresh herbs when I cook and they are so expensive to buy! The nice thing about herbs is they continue to grow throughout the winter and get bigger each year! I have so much thyme this year, I think I may end up freezing some or drying it to use this winter. I also have oregano, chives (delicious on baked potatoes!), sage, and rosemary.

Next are the tomatoes. My big tomatoes are just blooming, so there's not much to see there. These are my favorite and must have "Sungold" cherry tomatoes. They are so sweet and taste like candy! One plant produces buckets of tomatoes all throughout the summer. They are really good in salads or just eaten right off the vine.


These are romas, you can kinda tell by the shape. This is my first time doing romas, so we'll see how they turn out.

This is a zuchinni that will be ready in about a week. I make zuchinni bread and freeze it to eat all winter. Our family LOVES zuchinni bread. I planted only one zuchinni plant last year and got about 3 zuchinni off of it, but it was in an area that was too shady. This year I have four plants in a much sunnier location and each plant already has 2-3 zuchinni on it!

Here is the start of a cucumber. I also have four cucmber plants and each has several cucmbers growing. I love fresh cucmbers out of the garden for salad.

I am growing onions for the first time this year. Walla Wallas and scallions are the ones I am trying. They are looking like they are growing steadily, we'll see!

And last is the lettuce. I did many different kinds last year, but the only two that weren't bitter where Romaine and Green Leaf. So this year those are the two that I am growing.


I also have strawberries that are pretty much done, pole beans that are being eaten by something unknown (I have tried slug and snail bait but it must not be slugs or snails), and green peppers that are not yet fruiting. I will have more updates as the season continues!