Gardening

Our first year gardening has proved to be a success and we couldn't be happier. It's a great feeling heading out to your backyard for some fresh produce and herbs and quite delicious too!

It has been through a lot though. Most recently hurricane Irene. Prior to that a ridiculous flash flood/hail storm that nearly destroyed the squash and beets. Though some plants have sustained damage they seem to be surviving.

We were in a bit of a time crunch to get things planted once we closed on the house and moved in. Our soil is all clay so we needed raised beds. The first step was getting lumber delivered and Erik built the raised beds. The following day we had soil delivered but the truck got stuck in the wet clay and had to get towed out. The dirt was dumped in our front yard instead of in the beds and at that point we borrowed a wheelbarrow from a kind neighbor to start the numerous trips needed to transport the soil. Day three happened to be the day we left for Paris and I quickly planted seeds for all of our early spring items. We left and our neighbor did some watering while we were gone.

Watching a seed transform into a plant is sort of miraculous to me. Seeing those first little green leafs popping up is so exciting. Shortly after returning from our trip we planted the remaining seeds and plants. My dad mailed a bunch of his onion starts out from Utah and eventually it transformed into this:

Then this:

Plants blossomed:

The fruits of our labors:

Homemade beet soup:

A friend of mine made this yummy ratatouille recipe while we were visiting Boston back in July. The other day I had all the items minus the tomato sauce needed to make my own.

I can't wait to try the winter squash when it's ready. Until then we'll be eating lots of eggplant Parmesan, beet risotto, pesto, stuffed zucchini and other delicious things.

I highly recommend the Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone book by Deborah Madison for lots of delicious meals utilizing your gardens harvest. What are your favorite garden meals?