Last year Shawn and I made vegetable boxes. It was around this time last year, wait, no, it was in April last year that we build these vegetable boxes. Let's back track a bit. A few months before that I had read Terri Blackstock's book Last Light. In the book the main characters are forced to plant a garden using their front and back yards. So, it being the first year Shawn and I actually lived in our house with a backyard, we were encouraged to plant once again. Let's back track a bit more. A couple of years before that when we had first purchased out townhouse, I had my brother-in-law (Justin) get a garden together for me since he has the greenest thumb this side of the Mississippi. That was the year before Shawn and I were married - so it's been about 4 summers since then. Well, the following summer after Shawn and I were married, we continued to have a small garden in half wine barrels in the back of our tiny townhouse. We had tomatoes, lots and lots of tomatoes and some beans which never grew because they didn't get enough sun. Well, last year we had:
*Watermelons (we planted too late for these to flourish)
*Cantaloupe (the ones that didn't get horribly attacked by aphids came out great)
*Tomatoes (lots and lots of them thanks to the dear that kept eating the tips off of them to make the plants absolutely EXPLODE)
*Lettuce
*Broccoli
*Carrots (so many carrots that we finally had to let them just grow and grow over the winter - and just a few days ago picked so many that we had about 10-15 pounds of carrots)
*Zucchini (this should have been a no-brainer, but we think they got cross pollinated with another squash planted next to it, so those didn't turn out at all).
This year here is what we have planted so far:
*3 different types of tomatoes (I eat tomatoes by the handful - literally)
*4 Zucchini (gosh darn it, we will get it right this year)
*9 broccoli plants
*1 Yellow Bell Pepper (we haven't had much luck with these in the past in the Bay Area, so we will see how these do this year)
*1 Red Bell Pepper (same as above)
*2 rows Romaine Lettuce
*2 rows Radish
*2 rows Snow peas
*1 Artichoke plant
*2 rows Mesclun (which is a variety of baby lettuce)
*4 rows of corn (which we should have spaced out planting, but nope - did it all at once since we are lazy) If the corn does well this year, we will plant many more plants for the second planting in mid-summer since we have tons of seeds left.
*1 Basil plant
AND - this is the best part - we have a 'pond' in our backyard that is now filled with rock, dirt and large stones. This weekend we are going to empty it out and make it a VERY LARGE herb garden (half of it anyway). Additionally, we are going to plant more veggies in the other half of it. We will probably plant onions (in honor of my sister-in-law Sharon who ADORES onions), corn from seed, more carrots for the dog (yes, she is CRAZY about carrots) and a whole bunch of herbs like:
*Basil
*Rosemary
*Thyme
*Oregano
*Tarragon
*Sage
*Dill
*Chives
*Parsley
*Peppermint
*Marjoram
My love for planting goes back much much further than just a few years. When I was a kid, we would visit my Aunt Edythe at her house in Campbell, Ca. She grew EVERYTHING - and I mean everything. Her whole backyard was vegetable boxes, compost piles to use in the vegetable boxes, a HUGE avocado tree and everything else you could possibly think of. Now, Shawn and I are NOWHERE near as dedicated as my aunt, but she was the ultimate inspiration for us having a vegetable garden. I remember eating the BEST vegetables I have ever tasted at her home when we went over for dinner. And, every year she would can fruits and vegetables to keep for the entire year. She made the BEST homemade chunky applesauce. I asked her for the recipe once, and she said it was apples, sugar, water and cinnamon - no measurements. :) I still have no idea how to make it, but gosh darn it, eventually, I will figure it out.
Today I am satisfied with what was accomplished. I must give HUGE props to my AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL
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