This girl’s vegetable bed!
It’s been a month since the veggies went into the ground. And boy, have they exploded! There’s been nothing to harvest yet, but one lone green pepper is working it’s way to a “pick-able” status, and just in the last few days, a bunch of flowers have popped up on the tomatoes and cucumber.
I’m hopeful that Operation Homegrown Eats 2013 will soon find some fresh salad fixins on my plate.
We (okay, I) decided that this year, the vegetable garden was going to get a facelift. In the form of a raised vegetable bed! Tom was on board more so because he likes to build things than because he shares my vision of “living off the land”. I’m still trying to convince him of how awesome it would be to clear some of our overgrown woods and put in an apple orchard.
I love this time of the year because it means gearing up for planting flowers and watching all of the blossoms emerge. We’ve had some crazy weather here in Cincinnati, so my flowering bushes are taking their sweet time to show some buds. My Knockout Roses seems to be the only thing close to blooming:
I’m hoping the weather holds out this weekend or next for us to build a couple of raised beds for my veggie garden. Last year, we cleared a spot and added topsoil, but things got a little unruly, plus heavy rains washed the soil out into the yard. So I decided that raised beds are in order for this year.
In the meantime, a strawberry plant has taken over last year’s veggie plot. I was planning to uproot it, but there are a decent amount of baby berries growing! So maybe I’ll leave it. Or transplant it? Not sure if that will work too well.
Are you growing your own this year? What’s your favorite fresh veggie or herb to cook with? I love basil, tomatoes and cilantro!
As much as a long drive home can be boring, tedious, and literally painful, I always love when you get the first glimpse of “home.” Whether it’s a familiar highway exit, a “Welcome to ___” sign or, in our case, a view of the city skyline, there’s always something special that signifies what’s near and dear. Tom and I even went out of our way (kind of) to make sure we crossed the Ohio River to catch this glimpse of the skyline – we both agreed it was more eventful than taking the back-roads route home.
When we got home, I was excited to find that my veggie garden seems to be picking up. It’s the end of August and I’ve only harvested 2 cucumbers and 1 lonely little strawberry!But I was able to pick this assortment this week:
Yep, that’s a cantaloupe! I don’t think it’s quite ripe yet, but I’ll give it a couple of days on my kitchen counter and hopefully it will be ripe enough to eat! I can’t remember what type of tomatoes those are. I thought the smaller two were Romas, but they might just be some kind of salad tomato. I think the larger two are Brandywines. My notes got all jumbled when I transferred my seedlings into the ground. I’ll have to do a better job of tagging my plants next year!
What do you have planned for your weekend? I think I’ll be making some kind of tomato salad. And hopefully enjoying some fresh cantaloupe!
(You can follow me on Instagram @onuwriter06)
While I was sewing my placemats at my parent’s house, I had to take a quick break to snap a few shots of this Rose Mallow in their garden. These plants are part of the Hibiscus family (love those!), and the blossoms are incredible. This one was larger than my head, probably about 10 inches in diameter! How can you help but smile when you see one of these enormous blossoms!?
Even the buds are huge! Like the size of golf balls!
And here’s a Gerbera from my backyard – I love this bright red-pink color!
Have a wonderful weekend!