But I have grown food! and I have eaten said food! and I'm still alive to write about it!
Our little vegetable patches have been an endless amount of entertainment for us this spring! I swear if you sit still long enough to can see them growing! One day the pea's were ankle height and the next they were knee height! It was amazing! (in case you can't tell, I'm easily amazed, seriously that pulled your thumb off trick every one's dad used to do, amazed me to no end).
We've already eaten more radishes than any two people should eat (although they are way different then store radishes, they're juicy and so much spicier). We've had . . . get this . . . 2 strawberries each haha
The only thing I've been disappointed with is, the green onions, I wouldn't do that again! They're taking for eva! and they don't look all that impressive and upon further review they are Super Cheap to buy at the grocery store (even organic) so it doesn't make too much sense to grow them in the limited backyard space we have.
Here's what's "UP" in the backyard:
On the left are our radishes, they are seriously done now and it's already time to plant round two, although we'll plant about half as many, I'm a bit radished out!
In the Middle is Lettuce. Lettuce has been so rewarding to plant! It's so easy to grow and it grows oh so fast! We planted the "Buttercrunch" varitey, it's like a cross between romaine and green leaf lettuce.
On the right are the pea's on their trellis!
Behind the lettuce are some carrots, both purple ones and regular ones.
And behind the radishes are some purple pole beans, I still have to add the teepee for them to climb up on!
and here's out before and after (because we all love a good before and after)
Before:
After:
Ignore the smaller bed on the left for now, it's full of beets and I planted them later because we had a bit of a cold snap and it killed all of my first beet planting! If you want to plant beets the soil needs to be warm and you need to have good weather people! I totally blame the failure of my first batch on the weather man! haha
But the second batch is coming in really well and with any luck we'll be pickling beets by the end of summer!
I hope you've all been having some vegetable luck, I'm thinking of grabbing a cherry tomato plant from Costco the next time we're there, although everyone has been warning me not too, apparently they over produce, but I have a great bruschetta recipe so I don't see how that can be a problem :) Famous last words right??
I'm so jealous. Your Garden looks gorgeous! Mine started to grow and than one by one started to die off. The Florida heat has been really bad lately and I think it's gotten the best of my little plants :(
ReplyDeleteGardening is so rewarding, I've been enjoying mine already this year too and can hardly wait for the tomatoes and eggplants!!
ReplyDeleteHi Ashli, I am Yvonne @ StoneGable. One of my dear readers sent me your way. She said you had a wonderful blog... and you DO! I am so impressed by your garden. It looks well loved and tended! I have a raised bed garden too. Our lettuce is magnificent this year. I think it is because we had so much rain early this spring. Our beets also had a rough beginnning. I'm looking forward with anticipation for what you will do with them.
ReplyDeleteI have been perusing all of your delightful posts. For a young mother and wife you have much wisdom! Kudos to you. I am a new follower.
It was wonderful to meet you today, Ashli!
Yvonne
Good job! Our raised garden bed gives me a lot of satisfaction too. They're my "babies" for now. It is just amazing to grow something!
ReplyDeleteJust a tip, you can grow green onions on a window sill from the ones you buy in the produce section of the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteIt's super simple, and I've been using the same few plants for months now!
Check it out here,
http://gettinby.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/my-green-thumb/
Your lettuce looks amazing! I've had much luck with squash & tomatoes, and yes radishes (did you know you can make radish-top soup?)
ReplyDeleteI just posted about my 2 gardens yesterday (we have a "home garden" and a "remote garden").
http://heartandhaven.com/2011/06/13/tips-for-organic-gardening-at-home/
Looks great! Our tomato plants are HUGE!! The snap peas didn't do to well...too hot here already, but we have a few. The herbs are growing like mad, and now the peppers are starting to take off. Nothing like homegrown!
ReplyDeleteCherry and grape tomatoes are great to grow in pots. I did 3 plants in a large pot last summer and there were lots of tomatoes. Made lots of salads, caprese appetizers, sauteed some with baby yellow potatoes, made bruschetta, and basically purchased very few tomatoes at the market.
ReplyDeletewhat a bounty! yay!!
ReplyDeleteI've picked more than 200 cherry tomatoes at one time off of one plant, so yes, they can really produce. :) But if you have too many, I'm sure you can find some friends who would enjoy your extras!
ReplyDeleteLookin' good my friend!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to grow a little garden but didn't take the time to read about and plan it out....any advice to a beginner??
Many Blessings,
M.
Oh fabulous everythings lookin so great you almost hate to harvest I bet!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are excited about your small veggie garden. I started mine 12 mths ago just 2 little square lots and planted such wonderful tasting food. It is such a thrill to be able to walk outside and get some lettuce for your lunch. (have been offline due to moving house and internet issues) but excited to be back reading your blog again. I will be setting up my little veggie plot at this house in the next month too. It's such an "happy" thing to do is grown your own food. Regards Kathy A (Brisbane, Australia)
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks wonderful! We also started growing vegetables in the last 2 years. But our radishes were all eaten by something. A mouse? A lizard? Anyway I think we got one each that didn't have a bite taken out of it! Our zucchinis were failures but we have had good tomatoes, this last summer we had yellow pear tomatoes and they were wonderful. I never liked tomatoes before we grew our own.
ReplyDeleteHi Ashli! A quick question - what do you with beets? We have some from our CSA box and I have no idea what to do with them!
ReplyDelete