Garden Inspiration

Mid-August Harvest

I didn't write as much last summer as I hoped to about my garden, but it was pretty awesome.

This year, I'm itching to start planting seeds indoors, but I'll be out of town for work next week and between work and school, I'm afraid any seeds I start will be failures! I'm trying to get over the fear and muster up the necessary motivation to bust out the gardening gloves and seed-starting supplies and thought a review of last year's bounty might help inspire me (and maybe you, too!). Planting a garden is one of the easiest ways to get closer to the source of your food. All you need is some space, some dirt, some seeds, some sun, and some water.

Last summer, I grew:

• cucumbers
• tomatoes
• three kinds of eggplant
• four kinds of peppers
• corn
• blue potatoes (so fun to dig out of the ground!)
• acorn squash
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• Arrugula (Roquette)
• onions (though they never grew) 
• celery (neither did they)
• beets (ok, so they didn't either)
• basil
• Thai basil
• oregano
• parsley
• purple sage
• thyme
• rosemary
• chamomile 
• chives
• garlic chives
• lavender 

September 1 Harvest

September 19 Harvest

Garden in Mid-August

Garden in Mid-September

October 10 Harvest

October 17 Herb Harvest

This year, I want to grow:

• Lots more tomatoes (because you can never have too many, and if you do, that just means you have more to can and dry to enjoy all winter long!
• more varieties of cucumber
• more zucchini
• eggplant, but a LOT less than last year
• more potatoes!
• yellow squash
• butternut squash (I like it better than acorn, as I discovered this fall)
• a lot more parley (freeze leftovers)
• more lettuces
• kale
• all the herbs from last year
• more spicy peppers (because I kinda want to try to make hot sauce from scratch!)
• multi-colored heirloom carrots
• cabbage
• swiss chard (I've tried in the past, but it's never really thrived)
• onions (3rd time's a charm)

What are you going to grow to eat this summer?!