In The Garden

“How lovely the Silence of Growing Things”

Walk down past our deck and come see our garden! In the garden you might actually see some dreams growing…

I’m so excited because this year it’s the best it’s ever, ever been! You may remember I shared how to build raised beds a few months back, click here to read that post.

Well, a lot has happened since then! A  lot of planting and a lot of growing.

I took these photos in the late afternoon on the 4th of July. Last year we only had the bed way in the back and we did tomatoes, peppers and chilis. This year we added a second bed and it’s full of deliciousness.

The lettuce is delicious and we’re growing three varieties.

There truly is nothing like fresh lettuce from the garden. It has so much flavor and doesn’t even need dressing! Although I still put a little dressing or oil and vinegar on mine 😉

This year we’re also growing Tatsoi which is also known as Chinese flat cabbage. I’ve been putting it in stir fries and in with scrambled eggs in the morning. We’re also trying out onions, leeks, carrots and rhubarb.

The rhubarb is huge and I plan on making lots with it but we created a lovely cocktail on the 4th and I’ll share it with you next week. It’s delicious and refreshing.

We’ve really enjoyed watching the tall beans grow, and grow and grow! We had to add more canes for them!

I can’t help but think of mischievous Jack and then I look at my own boys. I can picture them both climbing up a giant bean stalk….

In the other bed the tomatoes are doing well but aren’t ready just yet and the tomatillos are so tall!

We’re also growing chilis and bell peppers in here.

We don’t use chemical fertilizers in our garden as I like to keep it organic for the kids and it is thriving this year. I don’t think we’ve ever had a lovelier garden.  Yay!

We spend a lot of time watering and weeding and tending to our garden so we can enjoy this lovely food.

Weeding is a constant.

But my favorite thing to do is walk down here with the kids and watch them as they see what they’ve planted GROW. They seem to light up when they see the potato plants starting in the barrel or when it’s time to get some lettuce for dinner to go with grilled chicken or steak. Conor is eager for the tomatoes. He picked out ten varieties and he eats them right off the plants.

We just started using the sprinkler down here and Conor LOVES it!

I wish you could hear Conor’s belly laugh and giggles. He LOVED it and got quite wet (thank goodness for the waterproof cast). He was soaked. After this he ended up going in the paddling pool in all his clothes and pulled me in with him (Boden sundress and all). He thought it was quite funny that both he and I were soaking wet in our nice clothes. This is one of those memories I’ll treasure forever.

The day that we played in our garden and splashed in water, without a care in the world!

I found this quote online and just thought it was so lovely!

“Plant dreams, pull weeds and grow a happy life.”