garden tour - spring 2013.

So last year Kurtis put in the 4th garden box for me.  It has been so wonderful to have a little extra space!  I tried to rotate crops a little this year.  My tomatoes and peppers get a little more shade than they have in the past couple years because of the rotation, which may come back to bite me.  But we're giving it a go!

Here's the first box with watermelon, baking and carving pumpkins, zucchini, crookneck squash, cucumbers, and eggplant.  It is a lot to pile in one garden box, but the vines drape over the edge and onto our rocks.  So it will work out.  This was the first year I saved pumpkin seeds from some pumpkins that we bought last year.  We'll see how they grow!

I also put three tomatoes down the middle of this box.  It is pretty crowded, but they didn't have a home, and I started them from seed, and I can't just let something die.  So there they are!

 This box has our snap peas (which Clara is loving right now!), onions - walla walla, red, and green, and then carrots and parsnips!  It will also house our green beans (I need to get those seeds in the ground!).

 Here are out minuscule tomatoes in the background and peppers up front.  I started them from seed again this year, and they always look embarrassingly small to start the season.  But they always seem to  come around!  We planted roma, early girl, and grape tomatoes.  And California wonder, green, red, and Anaheim peppers!

Here's our strawberry patch. Holy cow!  It's going crazy!  We have been eating strawberries for about two weeks now, and loving it!  We also have asparagus growing directly behind the strawberries, and two rhubarb plants that are trying to get established at the back of this box.

 In this tub, I threw a tomato and a bunch of basil starts I had.  I saved basil seeds from a plant I bought two years ago, and those seeds grew me plenty of basil last year, and enough for this year too!  Love when seed saving works!

 Here we have lemon thyme, rosemary, and purple basil.

 Another tomato.

 I've been propagating geraniums again.  Magic!

 Here's what's left of my seed starts this year.  I need to find a spot for some green envy zinnias, hollyhocks, and red hot pokers!

 Here are two pots of tomatoes (probably 4-5 plants) that haven't found homes yet!  I thought they were dead because I didn't get them water for a few days, but they're coming right back!  I can't throw them away!  Anybody want tomatoes?

 Here's a glimpse at what's underneath all that greenery in the strawberry patch.  Yum!

 Clara picking peas for breakfast this morning!

 A little bed head never hurt anyone!  We're keeping her humble people!

 And we picked these this morning!  I may need to squeeze in some time this weekend to make some jam with our strawberries and my Mom's rhubarb!

What's not pictured here is our raspberries which are getting blossoms, our two blueberry plants (we've got some bluets that are almost ready to be eaten!), and our three blackberry bushes.  Those are growing like crazy too!  2/3 of our blackberries are thornless, and we may need to take out the thorned blackberries in the future!  My salad greens just didn't do so well this year.  They were a little more neglected than usual.  I'm pretty sad about that!

I'll have to snap some pictures of our flowers soon to post.  They're all growing like crazy!

I'm so glad to have our garden space!  Clara is learning so much from gardening, and nothing tastes better than something you grew with your own two hands!!!