There are a variety of things I’m good at. The top of the list – getting in over my head.
Case in point: the garden.
Even when I say I’m going low-key, I don’t. I’m a dirty nasty liar. It’s just that there’s this gorgeous space for a garden and I’d hate for it to go to waste. So we filled it up.
The biggest realization that I may have gone overboard was when I bought tomato cages. I needed 24.
We also ended up planting twelve pepper plants, and these yellow peppers are my favorite. How cute are those tiny peppers coming off the top?
Our strawberries came back strong and are spreading well this year. We’e already picked a lot of great fresh strawberries.
We also have an abundance of cilantro – which is one of my favorites. These reseeded from last year and are taking over. But I don’t mind.
The dill also reseeded this year.
We threw all our pumpkins into the back of the garden at the end of the season last year. They popped up and look awesome.
We also added a few other rows of pumpkins, gourds and squash, which have popped up already.
A row of lettuce has already started providing us with dinner salads. (I like to cut a little off the top of these plants and find that they last a little longer.)
Other plants in the garden this year include sweet corn, radishes, snap peas, cucumbers and onions. We surrounded the garden with a variety of sunflowers. It’s still early, but everything’s looking pretty healthy.
After we planted, Ryan put out a ton of straw. This helps keep the weeds down and provides some moisture retention. It also provides visible walking rows for a certain toddler who likes to stomp on plants.
To all the people who said kids will be more willing to eat food that they picked from their garden, meet Henry.
He liked helping mom. But he has no desire to eat lettuce, radishes or herbs. He wasn’t even sure about the “dirty” strawberries. *Palm to head*
Looks awesome! We did our best to put up chicken wire along our fence line to keep the bunnies out, but they are relentless. The tiny ones hop right through and ate my beautiful bean plants. For whatever reason my peas never came up this spring, I was disappointed but will try for a fall crop. I love to plan and harvest my garden…but I’m learning to deal when things go wrong (bunnies, bad wind storm, seeds don’t sprout). Cheers to fresh veggies though, it’s still so fun to pick and eat!
Looking good! I can’t wait to see Henry enjoying that pumpkin patch! (I have a great recipe for pumpkin bread if you need it. I guarantee he’ll eat it!)
So, first, Henry looks like a teenager in these pics. And second, I always love your garden posts. We’ve had crazy weather out here, I’m hoping our two (so SLIGHTLY less than you) tomato plants make it.
That’s one heck of a garden! Great post as well. I snorted at “I’m a dirty nasty liar”, haha
In my family, I’m the person who likes growing stuff in the garden but doesn’t want to eat any of it ;). Well, also Abe.
Lovely little garden!!
~Lor @ lovelyandcozy.com
Put tomato cages around your pepper plants too.
it will keep them they will grow as tall as the cage and the weight of the peppers can break the plants just a suggestion…it makes me miss our garden ours is on its year to rest the land..good luck
This is a great tip!
my kids love to help in the garden but emmy only eats watermelon and sawyer eats none of it. i know why the caged tomato sings. because it just wants my kids to eat it and love it.