Growing things

I thought that I would share a few photos of the vegetable garden.  We do raised bed gardening for the most part, although we do have a lot of containers on the deck for tomatoes and herbs.  The raised beds are great because they are easy to weed and water, have high production, and are just plain cool.  So here are a few photos:

 The garden where a lot of good things are grown.  There is a lot of room to set up many raised beds.  We use the raked leaves for mulch around the beds.

Beans are coming up.  Note the drip irrigation system. 

The lettuce is ready to pick. Can't get enough of this stuff for salads.

The compost bins are filled.  We actually have four of these large bins for storing organic material used in compost.

Good amended soil from the compost bins.  The soil on the property is rich but the compost really makes it good for growing veggies.  We add some sanitized cow manure too.

Ahhh.....parsley.  We expect to see the black swallowtail caterpillars show up for a feast soon. That's why we grow a lot of parsley--the caterpillars have to eat too.  Nothing like fresh parsley and other herbs from the garden. 

So there you have it.  The garden is a thing of beauty this time of year.  However, by mid July when the heat and humidity have done their work,  I will long for the green freshness of the growing plants seen here.  Summer isn't kind to plants in this area.  There will be leggy tomatoes, borers in the squash, scraggly beans.  But the eggplant will survive and stand tall and proud with its purple fruit.  We will become innovative chefs of eggplant, fixing it in many ways.  I think that my favorite is to grill it with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. 

Gardens are a great passion in this area.  The ones downtown are formal and not filled with anything edible. Our flower beds are like the English gardens with a riot of different plants in many colors.  Only the vegetables are lined up in even patterns, like soldiers in a phalanx.  It must be imprinted in the genes, a throwback to ancient ancestors--the need to grow something that is not only edible but pleasing to the eye and the psyche.