I love summer. The warm air, bare feet, swimming, and sunshine early in the morning until late at night. Summer is definitely my favorite time of year. As a teacher I also get the summer’s off which makes this time of year even better.
One of my favorite things about summer is my garden. Each year I put together a garden of flowers, herbs, and sometimes vegetables. Last year my gardens got moved around and I had to put them in different locations so I had a late start to planting. This year I planted over Memorial Day weekend.
I have 2 gardens this year and a bunch of planters filled with flowers. The smaller of my gardens is an herb garden. I have a variety of herbs growing that I use in my everyday cooking and baking. The plants in the herb garden include thyme, pineapple sage, oregano, garlic chives, mint, stevia, rosemary, and two types of parsley. I use the rosemary and parsley several times a week and the oregano, thyme, and sage weekly. The other herbs I use as needed. There is nothing quite like having fresh herbs in the backyard.
My bigger garden is for vegetables. I already impatient for them to begin growing. Last year I tried growing cucumbers, squash, green peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes. The eggplant never grew, the zucchini caught the blight, and my green peppers were incredibly small. I did however get a ton of cucumbers which I canned as pickles, a lot of squash that we grilled, and tons of tomatoes that I made salsa and marinara sauce from.
Going off the successes from last year I planted my garden this year with two types of tomatoes. I also have pickling cucumbers and regular cucumbers. I planted zucchini is hopes of it growing and not catching the blight, and both yellow and summer squash for roasting and grilling. I also planted 3 small peppers plants with Thai chilies, jalapenos, and green peppers. I can’t wait to see if they make it this year. I’ve already begun canning fruit and can’t wait until the vegetables are ready. I’ll be updating you on the progress of my garden soon!
What are you growing in your garden this year? I’d love to hear about it!
Claire says
Last summer I became a mom. This summer I feel like I should grow something. I’ve always had a black thumb, which is pretty bad considering I love to cook and was raised by an organic farmer. My dad told me once that I have the know-how; I just had other priorities all my life. And to try try agian – just like you are doing. I guess we shall see.
Joy says
Right now, well, um, we’re growing….concrete. But I’m told we’ll have flowers soon!
Kenya G. Johnson says
I sang your title. My son’s first grade class did I musical – How does your garden groove 😉 I think grow was part of the chorus. Have you ever grown jalapeños before? Just a warning they are delish but MUCH hotter for some reason that any you would buy out of the store.