News, and Garden Pictures

It has been a pretty eventful few weeks. We closed our martial arts studio last week, after 9 years. It was a hard decision, and the last few weeks have been tough, emotionally. We had a great bunch of students and parents, and I was sad to see it end. I will write about that later. For now, here are some pictures of our vegetable garden in it's neonatal state. Please be warned that the detailed images you get when you click on these pictures are big..

An overgrown herb bed: Sage and thyme in bloom, mint, and chives.

We got a rain barrel this year, so we can conserve water. I am thinking of raising it so we get better water pressure.

Last year we got a great yield from things planted here, and I am convinced it was because of the electric switch box and the cables underground :). Good thing we use small trowels and hand-dig. The trellises are from parts of gazebo that was destroyed in the big storm last year.
Heirloom tomatoes (Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Brandywine) and green beans. The heirlooms are the only plants we haven't started from seed this year.

Turnips in the foreground. Trellis is for peas. Turnips are really flourishing, but we are not sure how to cook them. I put the greens as fillers in some dishes.

A substantial bed of cilantro we managed to establish. It comes up by itself every year. We let some of the plants go to seed, and that keeps the bed going. On the left is catnip that we have to control in a rather drastic manner sometimes. Our cat is a junkie.

Another view of the cilantro, because Pam and I are very happy with how the bed turned out. We put cilantro in everything we cook, when the bed is like this.

The fenced-garden looks kind of sloppy because we keep expanding it every year. I am hoping to make it bigger next year. The empty space on right is for peppers and eggplant and tomato (the regular kind).

Broccoli, beets, spinach, swiss chard, and 2-3 lettuce plants. We have had a few meals from the spinach/beet/chard greens. Trying successive planting with them this time.

Thyme is bloom.

Lavender. Very pretty and aromatic when it blooms. I am not aware of any culinary use, however.

Onions. Saw some small onion sets in Giant Eagle on sale, and we bought them. Months later, I thought they we just taking up space in the kitchen, so I put them on the ground. Very cool to see them come up healthy, with pretty much no effort on our part.

Can't wait to get this asparagus bed established. This is only the second year, I have to be patient. Need to put a few more crowns in, this year.

Basil, ready to be hardened off and planted outside.