Last year we started our little veggie patch. It was an experiment that yielded great results: more tomatoes than we could eat, the most healthy looking basil plants I’ve ever seen (there’s still some pesto in the freezer), zuccini, lemon cucumbers, strawberries, and more. That was all from one little rectangular bed (shown here).
This year we moved it over a bit, and tripled it in size. I like to grow fruits and vegetables that the children love to eat, that are costly to purchase organically in the store, and that can be canned for winter (with BPA lining cans of most tomatoes in the stores, canning our own has become a priority). In this year’s garden: tomatoes (Better Boy, Sungold, Cherokee purple, and Mr. Stripey), cucumbers (lemon and armenian), zucchini and yellow squashes, strawberries (last years plants are already thriving), beets, carrots, and peppers. And we have already enjoyed a few weeks of salads with our own lettuces, chives, flat leaf parsley, beet greens, and radishes.
The main garden is fenced high to keep out any roaming deer, as well as Peter and Flopsy (or is it Mopsy and Cottontail?) who visit us nightly. Our late blooming cherry tree shades it ever so slightly in parts, but it’s too pretty to remove! We also added a bed of onions and leeks outside the fence and I am trying my hand at a new dahlia and freesia cut flower garden. More perennial herbs (planted by the original home owners) grow around the side of our home – thyme, rosemary, and greek oregano that goes crazy wild in the summer. It is getting so serious, my husband (who goes by “Mr. McGregor”) already has his eye on some cold frames for the fall!
The composter is out in the very back of the yard (you don’t need a fancy one – ours is an old trash can with holes drilled in it) and a kitchen compost can rests on our kitchen counter, waiting for scraps. The garden becomes our way of life – our own victory garden, and I can’t imagine summer without it.
Thinking about starting your own plot of food in a sunny spot? Go for it! You can have fresh produce for pennies, control how your food is grown, teach your children how to connect with the land, and reduce your dependence on fossil fuel. Who doesn’t love that?
So what are you planting? ;)