Bringing in Some Garden Delights!

The colder temps at the beginning of the planting / growing season worked against us a bit. Although we could have harvested some beets almost two weeks ago, we’re just now starting to really harvest some vegetables from the garden.

This post has A LOT of photos, but we wanted to share. We hope this inspires you to grow your own garden (back porch containers, small garden, big garden – whatever you can do!) and to try to grow something new. Enjoy!

(PS, if you haven’t yet, you can read about the Epic Battle we are having with squash bugs / stink bugs here and also here.)

I have a Step 2 Garden Kneeler and Seat that I use and it’s pretty good. You can find lots of kneelers and seats on Amazon, like:

(affiliate links)

First Real Daily Harvest

Look at the size of the 2.6 pound Black Beauty Zucchini! (Makes up for those tiny carrots, hmm?) The beets (pulled both Fuerer Kegel and Ruby Queen Beets) were so flavorful! We also sauteed the beet greens with some bacon fat and vinegar – the beet greens are amazing! Unlike the poor zucchini plants growing alongside the beets, the beet greens are pretty much untouched. They are “restaurant – worthy.”

Also very excited to pick some celery stalks – first time we’ve grown it. Tall Utah variety. Very potent!

Won’t you come into my garden?

Just a little shot of the lower garden.

Well, some onions are coming up.

We’re not the greatest at growing onions (or leeks, chives, carrots) YET, but it’s nice to see that some are growing.

Ah, the mighty beets!

We are, however, pretty dang good beet growers!

Tall Utah Celery

This is the first time we’ve grown celery. We started it indoors and when we transplanted it, they looked so frail we thought they we’rent going to make it! Not so! They are coming up beautifully!

Our Double Yield Cucumbers

This variety is so reliable. The plants are covered with flowers. We picked a couple of small ones a week or so ago, but nothing too appreciable yet. Great for eating and pickling!

Potatoes Are Still Coming

We have not really hilled up much more on the potatoes. We talked about it and just might now consider the hilling to be done. We are out of compost and toyed with the idea on using grass clippings, but we have been using the clippings for weed suppression between the rows.

We’re hoping to harvest some little red potatoes soon. Did we mention that Mr. Gordon is planning to build a root cellar in our basement? More on that to come!

Also, those are tomatoes (volunteers that pretty much took over the leeks / onions bed) and carrots growing in the row against the fence.

New Yorker Tomatoes

This variety is supposed to produce early with smallish “eating” tomatoes. We believe that they are a little behind because of the cold weather. Still, the plants are covered with tomatoes and we are excited!

Sugar Snap Peas

We’ll have enough peas for eating and snacking, but probably not enough to put up.

Purple Podded Peas

We grow these because they are so pretty. Their dried beans are good for soup.

Italian Pole Beans growing up the tripod leg. Waiting on the beans…

Tomatoes and Peppers – what a match!

Rows of three different kinds of peppers and tomatoes. There might be three to four kinds of tomatoes growing. For certain: Firminio’s Saucing / Plum Tomato and New Yorker Tomato.

Possibly Rutgers and Amish Paste Tomatoes – volunteers we transplanted after the “Bird Attack of 2019” on the Firminio’s Tomato seedlings. There COULD be some Blue Beech Plum Tomatoes that were also planted (seeds, direct sow) following the bird attack.

Pepper plants include: Bridge to Paris Peppers, Joe’s Long Cayenne Peppers, and Sweet Pimento Peppers.

Sparky French Marigolds

These are gorgeous. Started mostly inside. (Did plant around the zucchini plants but they did not keep away the squash bugs.) Here they are nestled in between the pepper plants.

Sweet Pimento Peppers

So pleased to see these coming along considering that there’s been a lot of rainy days and the temps haven’t been as hot as peppers prefer.

Three Kinds of Bush Beans

Not seeing many pods on the plants, yet. Hoping to get a nice selection of Hank’s Xtra Special Baking Beans, Black Turtle Beans, and Light Red Kidney Beans. In the future we’ll need to grow a lot more to get us through a hole year’s worth to put up.

Joe’s Long Cayenne Peppers

We believe these are the Joe’s Long Cayenne Peppers and not the Bridge to Paris Peppers.

Nice View of Top Hat Corn

We planted the corn in succession (two plantings). The first corn planted is starting to get tassels (male parts). Hey – if you want to read a brief explanation of corn tassels and silk on corn and how they produce the corn we all love in the summer, here is a helpful article from the Cooperative Extension.

Side Garden

Corn in the side garden (Golden Bantam) is not doing as well as the Top Hat Corn, but these were leftover from last year’s seed packet and we planted them on a whim. (They didn’t do so hot last year either.) Plus, the side garden gets more shade.

Fortunately, we’ve been able to keep the squash bugs away from these plants (Yellow Summer Squash and Honeynut Squash) for the most part. Or, they just prefer the zucchini and location of the lower garden.

Circle Garden

Although we did direct sow twice, some of the herbs planted did not come up (Astragalus, Echinacea, Valerian, Chives, and Parsley), the Genovese Basil is beautiful. We also got some Dill and German Chamomile. The Holy Tulsi Basil did not come up like the other basil and is already flowering. Not sure what that’s all about. We have to read up on it.

Heaven “Scent”

Walking by the Genovese Basil is truly a divine olfactory experience!

Picked After This Post – Look, Garlic!

Just had to share. We wanted to check and see how the Garlic is coming along. Mr. Gordon picked a sample. isn’t this lovely?

And some more Sugar Snap Peas (they are lovely raw!) and our Tall Utah Celery. Both are perfect for dipping in hummus.

Hope you are inspired!

When we lived in a city neighborhood, we would read books, check out photos and blog posts, watch videos, etc. to be inspired, to plan, and to make happen our future gardens. We remain ever grateful for the opportunity to garden and learn like we are now.

We hope you will also be inspired and join in on the “Grow Your Own Garden Revolution” – wherever you are! 🙂