what we're growing

*warning: picture heavy post**

Each year since we have lived in Rhode Island we have nurtured a garden. Before moving here, we lived in Utah. We rented a basement of a house and had access to some pots in the backyard for whatever we could grow in them. I tried to grow some tomato plants, but they withered away instead of thriving. Looking back I'm certain it was poor soil with a lack of nutrients....that and a lack of really consistent watering. I just didn't have the same time back then, working a lot (I did work at a nursery in the greenhouses! haha!) and being a fairly new newlywed. But still, I had an itch to dig in the soil, get my hands dirty, and watch things grow. When we moved to Rhode Island we still rented an apartment, but this time we were so lucky to have access to an actual plot of land in the back. It was roughly 20 ft x 15 ft., just enough space for a healthy amount of vegetables! I got really excited. that first year I only did some tomatoes and peppers, but each year following we transformed that small plot of land into a magical oasis of homegrown food. I started preserving lots of our harvest! I was making tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, squash pickles, strawberry jam, applesauce (we didn't grow them apples), and drying all sorts of herbs for storage. It was awesome!

When we moved into our new home we immediately located the spot for our next garden. It was the first thing I made Peter do to get the tiller out and carve out the garden plot, even before any housework... I mean, we moved in toward the end of April, there wasn't much time before planting!! Even still our garden didn't get planted out until June, a bit late. But it still yielded a great little bounty for our family. We went back to our old garden and dug up all the strawberry plants to bring over here. I'm hopeful that next year, after two years of moving them around here, they will produce enough strawberries to make a year supply of jam and give away to all the neighbors!! We have so many strawberry plants and more to come next year with all those runners shooting out!

This year our garden is not being as well tended and loved. I have a few children to tend to and water and fertilize :) They are growing like weeds, so that's good! However, even with only half the garden planted and with much fewer plants than normal, I feel our garden is looking well and producing some wonderful food! Here is a little tour!

Lemon Balm and Sage

View of the Garden (only half planted this year!)

We got our first real harvest year of raspberries this year, too! We transplanted all the raspberry plants we could find scattered along our back fence into one large plot next to the compost. After two years of growing and producing meager harvests we finally had a golden year!! Big, beautiful berries!

Tomato plants. I think there are 20 this year?? It's my number one most favorite thing to grow. I just wish I could actually eat enough tomato sandwiches to use them all up! Oh wait, I can... Well, what I don't put on a sandwich we turn into sauce, so it's all used one way or another.

Some lettuce and squash and the herbs just behind.

View of the back patio area from the garden.

Next year we need to grow more cucumbers! I wish I had a whole garden just for these creeping vines. The boys always want to grow pumpkins, cucumbers, and watermelons. With the squash and zucchini on top of that we definitely have enough to fill an entire garden! They take up sooo much space!

That pretty lettuce, which I'm afraid is beginning to bolt...bummer. I don't know if I have the energy to keep reseeding and keeping going with the lettuce crop rotation this year!

Some of the first green tomatoes! Soon these'll be in my kitchen!

Some of the strawberries we got this year after transplanting them all to the rock wall hedge we built this spring! Next year this patch is going to explode!

Some of the garden steps in the rock wall. I love the ajuga ground cover my neighbor gave me from her stash in her yard! It's taking very nicely and filling in beautifully!

Our little garden snail...

Part of the strawberry hedge...

Ahh, the garden plot...

The herb corner. I'm thinking of moving my herbs to a more permanent location outside of the garden, perhaps along the rock wall and walkway... They take up much needed real estate in my garden!

Ruth loves the cool grass in her toes...

And the sand from the sandbox...

We play outside whenever we can! I built this wooden baby gym for Ruth and she loves it, I'm happy to say. We take it in and out with us and it keeps her smiling for a long time.

It was one of the simplest things I've ever made. Even though it isn't perfect, it serves its purpose and makes my baby smile, so that sounds about right to me!

Sandbox play. This is Sam's sand snowman.

Our first two cucumbers. And our first two boys! Oh the things we are growing around here. Food and big souls!