How does your garden grow?

I am proud to say that I have YET to kill my garden. It does need some help in the weeding department, but as soon as I find some newspaper without color ink that will be taken care of. See I thought of putting down a weed barrier, but because we were trying to save money I decided against it. We didn't think it would be too bad because it is a raised bed and all new dirt....well we were wrong! I've pulled at least 2 dandelions out and numerous oak trees...yes trees, well more like saplings. So I tend to pull the big weeds when my dear Q allows. I read a blog entry one day about organic weed killers...one of them was newspaper(along with vinegar and cornmeal), as previously mentioned I'm going with the newspaper! Once I find some...(I don't subscribe to a paper, I get our local paper free, but EVERY PAGE HAD COLOR ON IT...so that won't work)

Anyway this is what we are growing...or attempting to grow. I've already had a fail, which you will see.

First up, my herbs...haven't really cooked with them much. But I hope I will at some point. I have 2 different kinds of basil (because I wanted basil and didn't realize I already purchased one kind!), Oregano, Rosemary, and Basil..they are thriving in my herb box.

Next to my herb box which rests on a concrete wall are my strawberry plants. I didn't take a picture of them because they are long past their prime, but I did get some strawberries this year that the boys all gobbled right up! Hopefully we get more next year and perhaps they will grow bigger!

Then we move on to our makeshift garden..the BIG one! Okay so its only 3 ft by 20 ft, but its working. This was not the original idea, where I really wanted it it didn't get much sun. I didn't want it behind our house as I couldn't take the boys out there without them wandering and we had to buy dirt anyway as our soil...if you can call it that is all rock and sand.

The first thing you see when you walk out our gate is my lettuce....its of the romaine family. Can't remember what its called really, but it has been quite tasty. I have been harvesting the leaves when I notice they are starting to get big and falling over...you can harvest the whole head, but this will allow it to last longer considering I had 6 heads growing.


Next is my um...broccoli and cauliflower. As you can see from the picture, I have broccoli flowers now. I had 3 plants and all 3 had cute little heads and then BOOM they grew taller and flowered. So I did something wrong, so if anyone has any suggestions let me know. I am going to let them seed and then sprout them for broccoli sprouts, they sound tasty. And I also need to add that A was one excited 3 year old about the broccoli, after all it is his favorite!

Beside that we have some zuchhini and summer squash growing...I think I have 2 mounds of each. But I'm not sure which is which as a little boy ran off with my makers...I have one tiny squash growing so far and a BUNCH of flowers. I've grown these in the past and I have yet to kill them.

Next are my cucumbers...and I actually have 2 pretty good size ones already! I wasn't sure they were going to survive as we had a little accident when it got really cold one night, but I went ahead and planted them and they are also thriving. This is a good thing as A LOVES them! He got quite excited to see I bought some the other day!

After the cukes, there are my peppers...I have jalepenos which have 3 good size ones ready to pick. I do not even know why I decided to grow them as we don't use them that often in cooking, but I guess this will force us too!

Then I have yellow and red peppers...I have one red pepper growing and perhaps a few flowers still, but not much is happening on the yellow plant yet! I choose to plant these varieties because these are the ones that are the most expensive in the store and I love the color and the taste!

After these I have 3 varieties of tomatoes! I HAD TO HAVE heirloom tomatoes. I'm a tomato girl and wanted something different, I've never actually had them before because they are usually quite expensive, but the plants were a little easier on my budget. Of course I couldn't just drive to Lowes/Home Depot, nope I drove 20 mins out of my way to get them so I hope they are good! The first picture is of a Moonglow, orange tomato. I also have purple tomatoes. I even chose some grape tomatoes as well. I was thinking that I may have one more type of tomato, but again someone "borrowed" the markers so check back in August! I was very excited to see these growing. A was too and the I reminded him he didn't like them(even though he attempts to still eat them) he wanted on RIGHT NOW but I told him it wasn't ready yet!

And finally our late arrivals...we went to the farmer's market one day and they were doing a special kids program where they read a book and could plant 4 plants. So we ended up...who am I kidding, I ended up planting...eggplant(because I may actually get adventurous and try it), green pepper, and some variety of onion...and the garden is full so they sit happily in their pots!

Hopefully, against my husband's better wishes we will have PLENTY of veggies soon!