Since we moved into this house, five years ago, we have planted a garden. It was a struggle getting into the garden groove for the first couple of years (although we always had an abundance of vegies) but now I feel like we are rockin’ right along. Everything runs smoother now. We ammend the soil with things like lime, fertilizer, our own rich compost and then we put up a chicken wire fence to protect it from any of animals that enjoy our yard. Craig turns the soil and then I get to planting.

This year it started out like this:

With water, sun, weeding and love, it has now turned into this:

Over the years, we have tried a huge assortment of plants. Some have worked and some have not. This year we tried cauliflower and lettuce for the first time and to my amazement, they have done super well.

The cauliflower started out growing really fast. My small seedlings popped in no time:

I was worried about it for awhile because the huge leaves started to get holes. Cabbage worms? I have no idea. I never see any pests around so I just let it go.

Before you know it…….BAM, I’m grilling it with olive oil, s & p. Delish!

I sowed some butter crunch lettuce seeds in two neat rows. We have been enjoying salads every couple of days. It is super smooth and crunchy:

The peas are gigantic but I’m a bit dissappointed in the taste. Last year, I had leftover sugar snap peas that were awesome. Ben would eat them right off the vines. So sweet. This time around I picked up something else. If I catch them when they are tiny, they turn out to be sweet…

But then when they get bigger they are like blech! Is it because I have to actually cook them? Maybe I will try that because they are gigantic:

The swiss chard is amazing. I’ve been supplying my Mom with it weekly and we have been eating it weekly as well:

Cucumbers are absolutely nuts. Want some?

You know I had to plant something Caliente, Jalepeno:

The tomatoes are just starting to ripen. When they do, I will have 5 zillion. I did find three yellow cherries that were ready and me, Monsta and Craig gobbled them right up. They were like candy:

To sum it all up…..Nothing brings a family together like a garden. Me and Ben share our time out there daily and it is like he sees it for the first time every day. He notices everything and how great is it when your four year old is eating peas before 10am.?

I would like to add that our garden and lawn  is completely organic which makes it that much more awesome.

Well, I enjoyed taking you for a small tour of my garden. I would love to hear some of your stories. Anyone enjoying harvests of your own?