I was out in the garden today and decided it was a perfect topic for TT... so without further ado...
Thirteen things growing in my garden
SQUASH! I sprouted a variety of squash seeds and then put them out in the 'pumpkin patch' where we left a couple of pumpkins composting from last year. Once everything was leafing out, I thinned things out and they are taking off! I'm hoping that we get a decent amount of winter squash, but if it's all zucchini, well then I guess we will have a LOT of zucchini bread this winter!
FENNEL! I have no idea where this came from, a volunteer from my neighbors yard, I think. One of them will be transplanted to Adina's house and the other two will continue to live in the squash/pumpkin patch and eventually become something delish!
STRAWBERRIES! or shabbies as Ruby says. We planted 5-6 strawberries last year and now they are taking off. If it ever warms up, we should have enough for breakfast on a regular basis! yum!
Oregon Sugar Peas. YUM. These were planted from seeds that were sprouted in my kitchen sprouter... and they are taking off like crazy. I am hoping for a fab haul that can be frozen, and eaten of course! I am also planning to re-seed a second time mid june for a late summer harvest. We'll see if I remember to do that.
CHIVES! Garlic chives smell and look delightful, and are a fab addition to a salad dressing or omelette.
LETTUCE and SPINACH! Nothing says welcome to spring/summer like a freshly picked salad. Last week we picked up lettuce at the farmer's market, but looks like we need to eat it fast because our garden is about to really take off. I planted a variety of lettuce and hopefully enough spinach to freeze some for later.
TOMATOES. This year I planted 5 plants, two roma, one heirloom, one beefsteak, and one yellow pear. My plan is to put up as many cans of stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce as I can, as we go through a LOT of them in the winter with lasagna and spaghetti.
ONIONS, SHALLOTS and GARLIC. We eat so many of these all year long. I'm hopeful this little patch will yield enough to last several months, if kept in our cool basement pantry area. This pix doesn't look too pretty, but the harvest will be fantastic.
NASTURTIUMS! These are delicious, attract bees and are beautiful. I always plant them around my veggie beds, and this year is no disappointment.
LUPINE! last year, I threw wildflower seeds in between the vegetables, thinking it would keep things lively, and in the end all it did was hide things like the beans, that I forgot to harvest at all. Most of the wildflowers from last year never came back, but this lupine did, and it got moved to a nearby bed. it's happy, and gorgeous and a reminder that every year, each garden is an experiment that you learn from.
I've also got chard, broccoli, soy beans, pole beans, kale, carrots, beets, parsnips, and cilantro, but none of those pictures made the grade. This year, is the first time in a long time my garden makes me proud. Last year it was cobbled together at the last minute, and I forgot about harvesting many things as our summer got crazy. The year before I planted very few things as the landscaping had just been done and then I went and had a baby, and the two years before I was too depressed by infertility to attempt growing anything at all. But this year, my efforts seem to be rewarding me before I even harvest. Just looking at all the fresh growing GREEN makes me happy. This is also the first year I've kept a journal or a notebook about the garden, and I made a map and plan before I bought seeds and starts. I thought about starting a garden blog, like Adina, but i can barely keep up this one and haven't posted on my knitting blog in 200 years, so I'd better just keep it all in one place!