Gardening!!

My husband is really into gardening and I am really into cooking, so we are both really looking forward to our second year growing some of our own food. We have plans to can some of the produce and eat it as long as we can (tomato sauce, salsa!!)   Last spring, Ryan transferred our side yard into a beautiful garden. We had a successful run with green onions, tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. For some reason we could not keep a basil plant alive. We experimented with many different vegetables and fruits such as potatoes, beets, carrots, corn, and watermelon.  It was so much fun and I learned a lot about what fruit and vegetables actually go through before they reach the plate. For instance, I had no idea potatoes produced such a large plant above ground! Squash blossoms are so pretty!  What an amazing opportunity for education... for adults and children alike.  We were able to eat fresh out of the garden a lot last summer!   It was so satisfying to go pick something, wash it, prepare it, then eat it!

Our garden, mid-July!

green onions, tiny beets and arugula

one bowl of the many many tomatoes we harvested last year.  fresh tomatoes are one of the best foods in the world. fresh tomato, basil, mozzarella, and olive oil on good toasted bread may be my "desert island food".

This year, we've been planning a lot more vegetables and some new experiments.

We bought our seeds over the weekend.  We got as many organics as possible and many of them were from the  Seed Savers Exchange!  We didn't get everything on our list yesterday, but made a large dent in it. We still need tomato plants, though we are going to experiment with growing from seed too, a jalapeno plant, and brussel sprouts. I'm so excited!!

The garden is ready for Spring!

Our seed haul includes... garlic, shallots and onion starters. flowers to encourage pollination. peas: shell and snap.  green beans. fennel. carrots. zucchini. mixed lettuce. butternut squash! broccoli.  rhubarb.  herbs (including catnip for Jack!)


If you want some inspiration for growing your own food I recommend reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.