Jun 17

Jun 17 Garden Adventure 2014: In the Beginning...

Peppers, tomatoes, purple kale, and some tiny pumpkins making an appearance.

Growing up, we always had a large garden at the bottom of our sloped yard. I remember picking tomatoes and cucumbers every summer, and making the freshest salads with them. I'd say that's likely where my love of raw food began. I'll never forget that one year when we planted the cucumbers too close to the watermelons and ended up with the biggest cucumbers I've ever seen and the least flavorful watermelons. Ever since, I've been extra careful about the spacing between those two. Now that I'm a homeowner, and since I eat a lot of fresh vegetables, I won't live without a big garden full of my favorite things.

Squash blossoms! Is there anything prettier?

This year, I've been on a mission to grow as much as possible in my little city lot. Since we eat salads almost daily, I've dedicated one bed completely to greens: spinach, kale, Swiss chard, romaine, and beets. They've grown so fast that I'm already planting a second round for next month's harvest. I am in LOVE with the colors in that bed! There's something magical about walking outside and seeing bright green next to dark green next to hot pink. I think I could sit in that section of the garden all day admiring its beauty.

From left: spinach, Swiss chard, kale, romaine.

One of my favorite things to grow are tomatoes, but not just your standard red bulb. I discovered heirloom tomato varieties a couple of summers ago thanks to the farmers market, and fell head over heels. The best, to me, are Cherokee purples. They have such a soft, delicate flesh with a sweet, slightly tangy flavor, and I can't get enough. This year, I've planted two of them, along with some Old Germans, which are a yellow/orange striped variety. I'll let you know how they taste once I have some. Those are my experimental type this year.

My Old Germans hanging out in the garden with some cucumbers enjoying the morning shade.

As far as the rest of the garden beds, I have snap peas that are coming along beautifully, squash, okra (since my hubby would like to sustain himself ONLY on it), red bell peppers, cantaloupe, purple kale (because, obviously you can never have too much color in salads!), and cucumbers. I also planted two pumpkin plants which I've never grown before, so we shall see what happens.

I still need to run string for the peas to climb, but they're doing great! And my okra is gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

There's also a mystery brewing in my garden. I ordered some heirloom seeds and started them in pots, but only a few took, and once I planted them in the ground, I'd forgotten what was in each one. Oopsie! So, I have one plant that I'm nurturing which looks like a tomato plant, but since I also had purple tomatillos planted in that tray, I'm not sure which one made it. I guess we won't know until it makes fruit. It's all part of the fun, I suppose.

The strawberry bed and pots of lovely goodies ready to take off.

In the back yard, I've got a lovely wooden table from Tractor Supply where I've planted my newest strawberries. These are a late-season blooming variety, so I hope to see some fruit this summer. Fingers crossed. I had two other plants from last season which we moved into a big metal tub and set on one side of the table. I'd grown a couple of celery starts in my window from my kitchen scraps, but they now reside on the table, as well. Along side those, is my Greek oregano and a pot of flowers. I'm pretty excited with how it turned out.

Celery, grown from my Trader Joe's scraps, and oregano.

On the front porch, I have a couple of herbs and some large flower pots. I started basil and cilantro from seed, and they seem to be doing ok. Since they were each only coming up on one side of their pot, I put a flower in the other side for some color. The large flower pots were my mom's idea, and I just love how they turned out. Vincas accompany marigolds or New Guinea impatiens and a spikey grass, and sweet potato vines dangle down the front. I think sweet potato vines are about the prettiest thing you could grow. The colors are so vibrant! Our porch is rather large, but had been totally bare until now. My next project will be finding second-hand furniture I can spruce up for a nice seating area. We live on a very-main street, so I want to have excellent curb appeal. The landscaping is quite nice, but we still need some color out there.

Moving indoors, I have plenty of pretty green houseplants, which were all gifts when our daughter was born last year. I was so proud of myself when I finally separated the mixed planter and they all lived! I've never been known for my green thumb, but it's come a long way in recent years, as you can tell. On a sewing table by the front window, I have stevia (which I have no idea how to care for), more basil (because you can never have too much), a struggling parsley plant, and a romaine "branch" that I really need to just eat since it's not doing well inside.

Basil! Parsley and stevia take backstage.

Fun fact, romaine will reach for the sun if it's grown indoors and you'll end up with six-foot tall, straggly lettuce. Not cute.

See... Not enough direct sun. Kinda reminds me of Jack & the Beanstalk.

So, that pretty much sums up what my gardening adventure looks like at the moment. I still have some heirloom corn and a few watermelon plants to get in the ground if I can find someone who'll let me borrow a tiller for about ten minutes. I'd like to do an update each month of how the garden is doing, so stay tuned for progress reports.