My Garden

There are a lot of Hispanic people in our neighborhood and one older gentleman who lived across the street from us last year would always comment "You must be a farmer's daughter. You always have such a nice garden."

Tis' true. I am a farmer's daughter. Any land that could be growing something edible, should be growing something edible. I'm glad that the Whitmers let me put planter beds all over their property, since it really gives me lots of food each summer. When we first moved here there were no beds and just some big plants along the side of the house. I looked at the lawn along the driveway and I knew it gets perfect sunshine for tomatoes, so my bed-building began.

This Saturday I was finally able to go down to Jerry's and pick up my tomatoes and pepper plants. All the other things I grow from seeds I harvest each year, or from food I find growing in my fridge.

This is my front garden bed. I have 6 different varieties of tomatoes, two potato mounds, Lemon Thyme (come get some if you want it), the purple flowers are chives, onions, cucumbers, two pepper plants, parsley, mint, and the big pot that looks bare has mixed wildflowers. I'll also have a couple sunflowers up front, since it's kind of become our summer landmark.

I put a fence along the driveway side because by August, those tiny tomato plants will be 3 or 4 feet high and consuming my driveway.

My side garden has two beds, only one of which is done right now. I have green onions, carrots, and a beet I planted 3 years ago growing in it, along with a giant onion I should just pull out. If you need carrot seeds I have tons! I let a carrot grow for 2 years and it turned into a tree! I had so many seeds off that monster it was crazy! My other side garden bed has garlic and potatoes. It needs another load of mint compost before it will be presentable. On Thanksgiving I had my nephew go out to the potato bed and dig up potatoes, onions, and garlic and we had sautèed potatoes with garlic, chives, rosemary and onions that I grew all of it from my own garden. It was soooo yummy!

My back fence is lined with sunflowers, like I have growing each year. It's a mix of small, dark-centered sunflowers and large yellow sunflowers. If you need seeds I have plenty, and now is the time to plant.

Those are strawberry plants you see in the foreground. When we moved in here 4 years ago there was one strawberry plant inside our back fence. I let it spread and now I have 3 or 4 inside the fence and 5 or so outside the fence. These are covered in berries.

I hope they taste good- they have in years past, but some people say that you shouldn't let your plants spread like this or else the berries won't taste as good, or something.

My inside back garden is all garlic, sage, rosemary, and a few stray strawberry plants. I was able to dig up a couple hundred garlic starts from cloves I left in the ground this winter and passed them on to people at work, church, and to my mom's neighborhood- all from my little back garden! I still have garlic starts if you need some.

Here is the giant rhodie that is in bloom right now on the front/side corner of our house. I love the color but it always gets in the way as I'm trying to coil up my hose. I put in a small flower-bed along the front walk to the door, and it has day lilies, daffodils, a giant purple iris, and some marigold seedlings that I hope will grow big.

Every year I feel so blessed to live in Oregon, where my garden grows with ease and minimal effort. I enjoy the bounty all year long and I love sharing what I grow with those around me.

Now I can't wait for berry season to start... U-Pick strawberries and blueberries, here I come!