the garden

When I was growing up, my brother and I were forced into garden servitude every summer.  Weeding, watering, planting, etc.  It was not my favorite task.  My parents kept a large vegetable garden, fruit trees, and countless flower beds.  They still do, actually.  And although I liked being outside as a little girl, I enjoyed swinging, tromping through the woods, and playing much more than weeding a garden.  So I vowed I would never keep a garden.  Goodness, how time can change things.

Now I love gardening.  But you can keep the weeding, thank you very much.  We put in our biggest garden yet this summer.  I usually do strictly container gardening with maybe a couple hills of pumpkins and squash.  But this summer we went to town tilling up the garden space and planting in a bit of everything.

5 varieties of tomatoes, 4 varieties of peppers, 3 varieties of lettuce, radishes, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, watermelons, strawberries, and pumpkins.  We luckily have a bamboo forest in our backyard, so my mom and I made the tomato trellis.  We put hay down to thwart the weeds, and to protect the plants from drying out in the hot sun.  It's been relatively cool and rainy, so I've only had to water a couple times.  Today will be in the 90s, so it will need a drink.

 Most of our garden is inside our fenced off pool area.  We just had grass last year, but no one went up into the grass, so it was just unused space.  It is tiered, too, so perfect for gardening.  Yesterday while the littles were splashing in the pool, I went over and picked weeds and tidied up the garden.  I think it will be handy to have a built in distraction for the kids while I work in the garden!

I decided against putting my herbs into the garden.  I just love the convenience of walking out the kitchen door and having the herbs handy to snip off for whatever I have cooking.  Last night we used the cilantro for the first time!  I planted cilantro and parsley from seed, and I'm surprised at how well they are growing.  I think I'll try more herbs from seed next summer.

Besides the cilantro and parsley, I planted 4 varieties of basil (it's my favorite), rosemary, and oregano.  My sage and thyme came back from last year, along with a rogue fennel.  I don't really like fennel, so I may be just pulling it out from where it came up in one of the basil boxes.

So yes.  I DO have parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  I'm already enjoying these gardens so much, and we haven't actually harvested anything besides herbs yet!  I'm going on a couple long trips this summer, so I have to enjoy the gardens while I can.  I will probably miss out on most of the lettuce, but I've instructed friends and neighbors to come help themselves to veggies and a dip in the pool while we're gone.  So hopefully nothing will go to waste!

Do you have a garden?