Bloomin' Where Planted

One of the things that we missed in Texas was being able to grow things. We tried and tried with very little success to capitalize on their 3 growing seasons. Here we had to wait a while for the planting as it snowed well into May and froze into June. Definitely worth the wait though! Since Daddy wanted to see what we've planted (the garden just keeps getting bigger and bigger) here are some detailed pics of all that we've got growing. I can't take credit for all of it, Papa and Aunt Jamie have helped so so so much and so have the kiddos!Flowers . . . this bottom box has some giant sunflowers started in it that I hope eventually will have to be transplanted.
Two boxes are an experiment - planted with the same things and different mixtures of dirt to see which grows better. Tomatoes, peas, onions, peppers, and eggplant (with a couple marigolds to help with the bugs).
This trumpet vine was a baby when I was in High School. We thought it would never grow and now we're sure it will never stop - it's taking over the entire house! This is after I spent 2 hours cutting it back. Then we planted the bench boxes.
This box is misleading because I confess, I planted most of this from plants and not seeds. Still, it's beautiful and almost ready to start harvesting. Tomatoes, broccoli, spinach and lettuce.
This is my favorite box and the one I have highest hopes for. I have pearl onions, chives, parsley, tomatoes, peas, sage, chocolate mint, levege, cilantro, dill, golden thyme, radishes, rosemary and basil. I think I also have cumin coming up in there somewhere.
Here's a full-shot of the garden from the lawn. The front left box is one that Aunt Jamie planted - full of lettuce, carrots and onions.
This front rock garden has always looked so bare, but we fixed that! We went and transplanted a bunch of bushes, shrubs and flowers. It was quite the project, but made it look so much prettier! Papa is just working on getting the drip system out to it so that we don't have to worry about watering by hand.
More beautiful flowers in the planters in front of the house. Little purple panties and everything.
This is the latest addition to the garden, not quite finished. In the plastic we have zuchini squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, crookneck squash, pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, watermelon and crenshaw melon. Yet to plant is a lemon cucumber, pumpkin, cantaloupe and another squash. The rows to the left are all corn and this front piece of dirt will be something eventually - we just haven't decided what yet. In the back right corner of the picture you can see what will eventually be the strawberry box - a 3 tiered affair made of block. We are just waiting to pour the cement footer and mortar that baby together and then we can fill it and plant it full of strawberries.
This long box is full of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and more corn.
This box has tomatoes, peas, beets (the little guys coming up), red peppers and string beans with a little spearmint in the corner (he got kicked out of the herb garden for being too aggressive).

I didn't take a picture of the orchard which has me all kinds of excited (those tiny baby trees have really grown in the last few years, big enough that the hoodlums love climbing in them). Also, the berry patch is looking promising, the rhubarb plant is out of control and the grape vines they planted last year and we all thought were dead, have in the last week sprouted little green leaves. Add to that the cumfrey that lines the lawn (which Aimee has taught me how to use to make salve which I love) and it's a veritable garden of Eden around here.

So there you have it - SOO much growing and I can't wait to start eating it. As beautiful as the plants are, there's nothing quite so exciting as planting a seed and watching it actually grow. We have high hopes and lots more projects to come, but we're well on our way this summer!