My Garden

    



 Hmmmmm. My first post. I'll keep it short. Since I'd like to write about wholesome food and cooking, I guess I should start with my biggest inspiration and motivation in the kitchen, my backyard garden.
      My husband and I decided to start a small vegetable garden about a year after we bought our home. We started off simple with turnip greens and tomatoes that first spring, but before we knew it, our small garden went from a ten by five foot plot to something that has engulfed our backyard, and blooms and provides all year round. I practically live in my garden. It's really a must if it is to survive the constant assault by caterpillers and plant diseases that thrive in our hot and humid weather. But as much hard work that I put into it, my garden has provided ten fold of therapy, exercise, wholesome and organic food, and beauty.
       The husband and I are huge proponents of organic and whole food. I don't think organic should be viewed as a newer concept dreamed up by us naturalist and hippies, but really as a throwback idea to how our grandparents or great grandparents grew food. That is why we find the best information on soil health and pest control usually comes from the old timers at the feed store. So, any info you get out of me on gardening will never include the words,''Seven Dust.'' I love that my children can pull a strawberry or cherry tomato right off the vine and pop it into thier mouths.
      Anywho, I will probably post about my garden almost as much as my cooking. In our home, the two things go hand in hand. Enjoy a few pics below.


The 'Sippi Hippie

A few shots from last Spring.

 We love interplanting edibles and ornamentals.

 We cram it in to cut back on weeds and watering.

 Speckled Lima beans climb a bamboo tepee.

We collect bricks, stones, and blocks that people throw out from curbsides. They make great borders.

Here are a few from this Spring and Summer.

 No garden is complete without sunflowers.

 Mine and my daughters rain/garden boots from last year.

 I planted Pink Zinnias several years back, but they have volunteered to come back each Spring.

 Happiness on a stalk.

 The husband checking the corn.

 More volunteers. The cosmos come back each year.

 Giant Swallowtail.

 The husband and daughter checking out how tall the corn is.

 Zucchini is a staple crop in our house.

 Speckled Lima Beans.

Volunteer pumpkins.