This is our third year to grow vegetables in our backyard. We started small the first spring we lived here (also the spring our son was born) with just a corner of the yard devoted to some tomatoes, basil and flowers. The following summer we did our first 4 x 4 foot garden boxes based on the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. We quickly realized that if we wanted to grow any significant quantity of produce, we would need to expand. So we turned our three 4 x 4 boxes into 4 x 12 boxes, and that's what we have this summer. We also have a 2 x 8 foot box for herbs right by the door to the kitchen.
I have to say that starting small was a good strategy for us. The benefit to doing it this way was that we didn't get overwhelmed from the beginning, and any mistakes we made were only on a small scale.
So what's in the garden this year? Here's our list:
strawberries
lettuce (several varieties)
broccoli
cauliflower
cabbage
kohlrabi
kale
swiss chard
peas
carrots
beets
onions
cucumbers
zucchini
summer squash
eggplant
peppers
spinach
tomatoes
watermelon
cantaloupe
basil
oregano
cilantro
Currently things are looking a little crowded in the garden. Partly because that's the nature of the square foot method. But also because this was our first year to use our own compost in the garden. And apparently our compost was stocked full of tomato and squash seeds ready to go! I've had an unbelievable amount of volunteer tomato plants coming up everywhere. And they look just as vibrant and sturdy as the tomatoes that I started indoors back in February! So hopefully this weekend I can dig around and figure out what to do with all these extra plants that have transformed my orderly garden into a miniature jungle.
This morning I got out and took some pictures of what's going on in the garden. I'll share a couple now and more later!
