Our Garden

I never would have thought that I would enjoy gardening.  Or working outside in the yard.  Or any of that getting my hands dirty kind of stuff.  But while living in Virginia and only renting a house I realized how much I missed it.  So when we moved back to our home in South Carolina, getting into yard work was no longer a big deal for me.  I actually feel like I haven't accomplished anything unless I go outside at least once a day and do something.  Even when it is in the 90's.  Crazy....

We have a beautiful garden this year, thanks to the efforts of my husband George.  He is the true green thumb in the family (although our son runs a close second!)  He is constantly tending to something outside, whether it is our compost, or the yard, or especially the garden.  We planted a lot of things in containers this year.  We have new neighbors and they did a lot landscaping and had a lot of large pots that trees and such had come in.  They graciously let us have them and we have used them for most of our tomato plants, cucumbers, zucchini, spaghetti squash, watermelon, honeydew melon, and peppers.  We even have corn growing in one!  (George likes to experiment!)  

As we live in South Carolina the growing season begins a lot earlier and lasts much longer.  Although I've lived here for over 20 years, I still have a hard time adjusting to the earlier start to the season as in New Hampshire we usually couldn't start planting until Memorial Day.  Since we are able to plant earlier we also start harvesting earlier.  So far I have picked zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, and even a couple of tomatoes.  I've also picked and hung to dry quite a bit of mint as my son loves hot mint tea and I have been adding it fresh to cold green tea.  I'm looking forward to canning tomatoes this year and hope to buy a half bushel of peaches to can.  Our peach tree is still little and not bearing fruit yet. 

Here are a few pictures from the garden I wanted to share with you.  How is your garden growing?

Harvest from Sunday, June 7.  The herbs are mint and chocolate mint.

View of the backyard

Raised bed with zinnias and marigolds.  Those are strawberries in the pot in the front.

Tomato plants in the foreground and cucumber plants in the background.

Happy Crafting and Gardening!

Kathy