Around my Garden

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is for pictures of my garden. Whenever I am out there, I often will realize that I didn't bring my camera. LOL Then theres that part of me that is hesitant to do anything but close up shots so that no one can see exactly where I live (I'm paranoid like that sometimes). then there's that fact that with all of that rain and the heat over the last few weeks, I had a miniature replica of the Amazon Rain Forest going on in my backyard. LOL As a result, the pathways are still pretty weedy, but we have managed to clean up the beds (just ignore the paths). I tend to view my garden a success based on my yields, not how perfectly weeded it appears to be on a day to day basis. Obviously, a garden grows better if it is kept weeded, mulched, watered, and well cared for...but there's got to be a balance when you're a busy momma. Thankfully the kids do lots of weeding too. :-)

But, here are some photos anyways...again, most of them are pretty tightly zoomed when anything more would have shown some local landmarks that are visible from my yard...

In the center part of my main garden is a large square, lined with bricks, and full of culinary herbs. I love to cook with fresh herbs.

My favorite is basil...both purple ruffle and the large leaf basil. I grow about 100 plants from seed, and use every bit of it. When you see the price of basil in the grocery store, and the ease with which it grows, it's well worth it. Basil freezes well too.

Chocolate Mint makes great tea, awesome jelly, and even is pretty good when you make a strong tea, add milk, and pour it into the ice cream machine. MMMMM.

Cilantro is the leaves of this plant, and coriander is the seed. Right now, my coriander has gone to seed, but not before I harvested (and froze) lots of cilantro. The cilantro should grow back one more time before fall comes. I use this in all mexican dishes and some middle eastern dishes. Fresh cilantro is a must in making homemade falafel.

Dill, used in pickles and also some German dishes. I mostly grow it for my mother in law.

In the middle of my herb beds is a gazing globe and lavendar. I love the smell of lavender. You can use it in French (Provencal) cooking, make a tea out of it, or use it in bath goodies and sachets.

Marjoram is awesome in Greek and Italian cooking. In the background, I have a section of radishes.

Bergamot/Bee Balm (2 Varieties)

Nasturtiums are an edible flower, and their seeds can be made into "Pickled False Capers". They are also good for pest control in the garden.

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My sage is blooming. I love sage with turkey!

Borage is another edible flower that also keeps the bad beasties out of the garden. I like to freeze them in ice cubes to make things pretty. Some cake decorators sugar them and use them on cakes. They can also be put in salads.

Rosemary. I love it! But, I love herbs. :-). I like to use fresh rosemary in things like Foccachia bread.

Tarragon tastes and smells like licorice. I like to use the leaves, together with dijon mustard, as a marinade on chicken breasts.

I took this picture right after cutting some parsley for my favorite summer time lunch: Tabouleh salad. Only fresh parsley will do, and growing it is so easy (and buying it so expensive) that it's a no brainer.

Some Common Garden Thyme, with blossoms. I like to cut off a big hunk of Thyme, and lay my chicken breasts down on it, and grill them on a cast iron grill in the oven or on the stove top.

Violas...No reason for these other than they're pretty! :-)

In the front of the house, I have some dog roses, which are very strongly scented, and can be used for many things like making rose water, and potpourri. I also use the rose hips (fruit) from them in tea, after they dry out. Rose Hips are very high in vitamin c.

Around this area of herbs, I have different fruits and vegetables growing. This is my first cherry tomato on the vine this year!

My cucumbers (ignore the weeds). We make lots of relish and sweet bread and butter pickles. Can I confess? I hate pickles. LOL but everyone else in the family loves them.

My currants are ripening up. Mostly the kids just eat these fresh off the vine. Sometimes we make mixed berry jelly with the leftovers.

We also grow gooseberries. These Pixwell Variety Gooseberries are just the right level of sweet and tart.

Flanking my garden are some grape vines, growing Concord and White Table Grapes. These are a few months off from being ripe.

I plant onions from sets every year. This helps when I am canning up some salsa and my pickles, as I use lots of onions for that purpose.

Sugar Snap Peas...we train them onto tee pees. My kids like to eat them fresh off the vine.

Zooming out a little bit, you see my peas on the tee pee and my tomatoes. These are roma variety of tomatoes. Again...paths need weeding...so just don't pay attention to those.

I also have a few large beds full of hot peppers, and sweet red bell peppers.

When the weather gets to be a certain level of "too hot", the lettuce starts to super grow...and usually goes to seed very fast. I lost most of my lettuce when we had some super hot weather, and so we had to eat it pretty fast to save what we had left. This is my third batch of lettuce, some red bib lettuce.

Strawberry season is just about over with. We have a bed that is 4 ft. wide by 30 feet long just full of strawberries.

This is a wee little watermelon on my watermelon vines.

The apples on my apple trees are growing...we have a full load on the branches this year.

My husband and I are both unsure as to what this plant is. How sad is that? LOL He thinks we planted a peach, and I think we planted a plum. We are anxiously awaiting what this little guy is going to turn into when he grows up. I think I may be losing this bet, as it is looking more and more peach like every day.