Just a little of what’s happening before the winter plantings. I had fun this year with the garden and at the same time I had the most pests, especially the 2 year-old kind. This was the year with the most expansion and I’m excited to plant more trees next spring! There have been so many people interested in gardening this year which is fun for me. I like to send people home with food whenever they come. I’m glad to have enough now to do that. This is the start of our 4th year in this house (crazy!) so the trees I rushed out to plant then are just now starting to produce. Wahoo!
If you are interested in starting a garden, just go do it. I started with 4 planter boxes, made by my husband, and expanded into my yard the next year. Although the boxes didn’t produce enough to share, I really enjoyed everything I learned during that time and recommend them for starting. I still use mine for my root veggies and to start my plants. I still remember how excited i was to bring my sparse but cute “harvest” in to cook with. Fun times. You have to start somewhere!
Here are the past garden pictures as well:
The curry plant is looking beautiful this time of year.
Just planted some peas a few months ago and they are coming in nicely. Oh wait, they were until the bugs got 1/2 of them.
It’s raspberry season! Even though the stores seem to carry them at the beginning of summer and they are draped across fourth of July desserts, now is their time to shine in the garden.
One pickin’ from our plant. These vines were never put back in the ground after we had taken it out to replace a piece of our fence. It didn’t grow much because of these but it still making a lot of berries right now.
Speaking of berries, our blackberries are on their way to 2012 awesomeness. They are going into their 4th year now and I’m finally getting the hang of it. If I train them now, I will get ridiculous amounts next year. Good deal. So, every few weeks I keep weaving the vines along the fence.
I planted 2 plum trees, Satsuma and Santa Rosa, this last spring and they are growing up too.
My middle guy planted watermelons just because and here is a baby one.
This pear tree is coming into its third year and is finally making pears
My persnickety mango tree that was here when we moved in finally decided to actually make some mangos. Sheesh. You give a tree some water and some love and how does it repay you…
We are getting a lot of apples this year which is sooo nice. These ones are on the other side of our fence which means my little unripe fruit snatcher can’t get to them.
The meyer lemons are turning colors soon. I’m gonna have fun with these fellas!
The kids and some friends planted lettuce and spinach in our front porch pots in August and they seemed quite happy there. Unfortunately, the next day some caterpillars moved in…I’m just keepin’ it real.
I love the passion fruit flower so much. More than that, I love passion fruit. It is one of my favorite flavors. It was one of the very first things I planted in hopes of getting many delicious fruits a few years later. Turns out, it was mis-labeled and is actually the non-fruiting version. Ugh. It’s pretty though.
The french tarragon is happy and I’m enjoying it before it goes dormant.
Fresh marjoram has been fun to have around as well. It has a very unique smell…much different than the dried kind.
Egyptian mint.
Another planting by my little buddy, a pumpkin this time.
A late season to tomato volunteer that is ready to go!
Your garden is so large. I am very impressed at the variety of trees/fruit/veggies/herbs that you have undertaken. How big would you say your garden is not counting the 4 planter boxes. I have a small garden myself and am looking forward to expanding it and planting some cool season veggies. Any that you would recommend?
Thanks, Cecilia
YES! Carrots are super easy to grow and are perfect for this time of year. If you have a garden, you might have already grown them, though. Beets, lettuces, chards, fava beans, and peas are all going in my garden right now :)