it’s hard to believe i haven’t been here for almost a month and a half, but, well… i guess things have been happening too fast. and, honestly — i have so many photos and anecdotes that i want to share that i’ve been feeling overwhelmed by it all.

i really, truly want to be better at updating this thing. because even if no one else is reading, this is my little memory keeper. this is the good stuff. this is the stuff that gives me joy.

so, i’ll share something i’ve been loving for a few weeks and will continue to love for the next few months: i planted a garden.

when we moved into the house at the end of last summer, the previous homeowner had three tomato plants, a patch of chives, and a giant patch of rhubarb. the rhubarb patch is still giant, but i constructed a more definite vegetable garden area and an herb garden (with about a fifth of the chives from the previous patch — there were a ton). it’s all a big experiment — and so far a mostly* happy one!

* “mostly” because i started a bunch of plants (tomatoes, a couple kinds of peppers, and strawberries) from seed in february or march and only two pepper plants remain. i don’t even know if one of them is the lone jalapeño seedling pod i started — i hope so! if they even survive the whole summer (let alone produce anything). i am not starting anything from seed next year, the disappointment is too great.

with jason’s help, i constructed a 4’x8′ border for the garden and prepped the dirt (before adding more as i planted everything). i also re-used last year’s giant tomato cages as a 2′ tall fence around most of the garden border, too, since we’ve got a couple bunnies living under the neighbors’ deck.

we had a bald spot where the previous chive patch lived, so i used a couple brick garden borders to create a formal herb garden. i love it! i found the best herb basket with three kinds of basil and rosemary for about $11 and got a small cilantro plant. i also dug up some oregano from my sister’s yard. we are going to eat so much pesto this summer!

the first night…

and tonight! i really need to start using some of that crazy cilantro.

this is my garden pre-planting. i left the fence on the north side of the garden tall for a cucumber plant to climb on!

marigolds keep some kinds of pests away and they’re pretty to look at while you’re waiting for vegetables to grow.

happy garden in its infancy!

while waiting for some growing, i started cooking with the herbs. did you know you can eat the flowers from your chives? they taste like red onions. they were perfect in a breakfast scramble.

i planted green beans from seed, sewn directly into the garden. i wish i could’ve had this kind of success with all of the other seeds i tried!

these are the beans today (!!), next to the strawberries i added last week. (unaware that strawberries like to spread, so i might have to keep a close eye on them this year and make a different plan for next year.)

one juliet tomato plant, four cherry tomato plants, one cucumber plant, one pickling cucumber plant, and one “purple beauty” pepper plant in case my final two pepper plants don’t survive or produce anything.

have i mentioned how much i love the camera on my iphone lately? because i really, really do.

the cucumbers are starting to climb. 🙂

seeing my little plant babies flourish makes me feel proud and happy. i’m so excited for some tomatoes and beans! next year i’d like to get some garlic into the garden, too, and maybe some carrots. maybe i’ll need another 4’x8′ border?! i have so many ideas.