our garden.

Spring is in full swing around here and I’ve been LOVING it.  For the first time in the 4 years that I have been trying to grow a garden, I have truly fallen in love with gardening.  This little 15×20ish area has become MY place in our crazy house.  This garden has become a place of rest and escape for me.  I’ve been wanting to post some photos of our little vegetable patch for while now to update on the work we’ve had going on around here, but I’ve been hesitant to do so because it’s such a work in progress and it changes so much week to week.  I keep thinking, maybe after I’ve done this or that, but then one day I just decided to grab my camera and do it.  My idea of posting some sort of Martha Stewart lush garden just isn’t (and shouldn’t) be the reality I’m going for here.  My little garden is perfect and imperfect and that is what I love about it.  I am also posting a plan that tells you exactly what is planted (or will soon be planted) there so you can see where my vision is headed.  So far everything is coming along as we hoped…but it’s not going to make the cover of a magazine any time soon!  We have been bringing in quite a bit of greens for our “spring harvest” and I promise to continue to post how things come along but until then, here is what our little “regular people’s” spring vegetable garden looks like right now…

For those of you who are interested, our veggie garden consists of 5 4×4 boxes, 2 2×8 boxes and 16 bushel baskets.  It has a cute little bistro table in it now, is framed by an adorable set of bistro lights and is surrounded by a cut flower/fruit perimeter consisting of 3 (baby) dwarf apple trees, 9 young blueberry bushes and many many cut flowers that will soon be up and in bloom.  In our backyard we have also planted 1 peach tree, 2 dwarf Stella cherry trees, 2 dwarf pear trees, and a very tiny little future fig tree.  The hope is that in about 5-10 years we’ll have one productive little plot of land! Here is our current vegetable garden plan for 2011…

The peas on Hayston’s tee-pee have just begun to flower and produce and they continue to cover the tee-pee or as Hayston says they are growing “up up up and down down down”…well they actually aren’t growing down, but they are 3ish ft tall right now.

And if you ask him, he’ll proudly show you and tell you about them.

My arugula and spinach are going crazy right now, which means I am eating an incredible salad almost every day for lunch…

I am growing potatoes in bushel baskets and they are doing incredibly well so far.  I can’t wait to uncover them in a few weeks or so!

Just started getting in some summer stuff like zucchini and squash, of course! They are currently sharing space with some baby onions.

Sweet and tender baby spinach and lettuce…LOVE it.

Yummy cabbage.

Sweet little blueberries from our bushes which will form a hedge around the perimeter of our vegetable garden.

Teeny-tiny peaches on our peach tree!!

Baby pears on the pear tree.

Just a few of my baby tomato plants a couple weeks ago (before the cages went up)!

peppers.

turnips. and swiss chard in the back.

kale.

baby beets and carrots.

and of course some eggplant.

my little helper!

Bird watching in the backyard is an almost daily ritual…yep…we’re that nerdy!

Hanging out at our little bistro table in the back of the veggie garden.  This is my absolute new favorite place at our house.  I feel like buying this bistro table and putting up bistro string lights is what really changed my outlook on the garden this year.  It moved from another “thing” I had to get done, to a place to sit, read, eat lunch, hang w/ John or Hayston and enjoy the yummy produce growing around us.  I think that mental shift from a place of “work” to a place of “rest” was HUGE for me.  It is now where I like to get away while stuck at home (which I am a lot because of having a kid).  So thankful for the sanity this little veggie garden has brought along with it!

Sam enjoying HIS favorite outdoor space…my day lily bed.

Watching the butterflies, a new favorite pass time around here, well that and picking up bugs.  The other day it was a slug.  I’m trying not to react and squelch the happiness of my curious little guy, but sometimes it’s all I can do to not squeal like a little girl!

As much as I love him, Hayston and this orange ball have become the nemesis of my garden…luckily, I’m holding very loosely to any ideals I may have had about how everything will turn out in the end and reminding myself that Hayston needs all the room he can get to play and grow.  I just keep telling myself that most plants will be tough enough to withstand being crushed repeatedly by a two-year-old…right?

Luckily, that’s one cute kid…how could I ever stop him from having so much fun?

and one more of the bistro table and veggie garden at night.  John and I go out there almost every evening after Hayston has gone to bed to chat, read and have a little “date” here at home.  I think of it as my little Italy here in NC and it feels like a little vacation every time I sit there.  Absolute best investment we’ve ever made.