"How Does Your Garden Grow" OR "Give Me Thyme"

Brianna may be growin' like a weed, but she has a ways to go to fill up this T-shirt!
This blog post is about our garden, however, which is filling its allotted space pretty nicely now.

They say variety is the spice of life. Well, to prove it, Judy is growing NINE different herbs in and around our garden this year, the most ever. I know precious little about most of them except that they have distinctive smells and tastes, and Judy has already been using them in various recipes.

Rosemary (in the pot) and Cilantro (to the right of the pot).

Basil. Judy has successfully grown and used this for a few years. It's thriving beside the beans.

Parsley. This lone plant made it through the winter and is doing just fine.

Marjoram. This one's new in this location.

Oregano. Doing well amidst the veggies. (That's a squash plant beside it).

Sage and Chocolate Mint. Both of these are thriving in the humus of an old oak stump at our back gate and both are carryovers from last year or longer. Margie gave us the Chocolate Mint, which is great for surprising visitors.

Not pictured, Thyme. (Explanation: It didn't have Thyme to put on it's makeup. No really, I just didn't think it looked that impressive, since we think a rabbit or something keeps "pruning" it. : )

Okay, if you're sharp you know that the picture below is not an herb, it's 4 O'clocks. I'm very pleased with how this plant has established itself. I've had 4 O'clocks in my yard since I was a kid. I always loved their timely opening in late afternoon. I also loved the useless childish exercise of gathering their little seeds (but not planting them--duh).

Now, for some before and after pictures of our vegetable garden. First, three Before pictures.

This is our potato patch (thanks to Fred for seed potatoes when the feed stores were out) when the new plants had just emerged.

Below are six of our nine tomato plants (the others are scattered to test soil in other areas). We planted Marions this year, an heirloom variety, just for the sake of trying something new. We've planted Better Boys every other year we even had a garden of any size.

Here are our spinach and sugar pod peas.

Now for the After pictures.

These half-runner beans are now twining up the poles and toward the third and fourth strengths. We'll be thrilled if they do as well as last year.

Our little Marion tomatoes have really taken off and look as healthy as can be. I cut some new tomato cages for them from some wire fencing. Can't wait for those 'mater sandwiches. Some of my blog, facebook, and e-mail buddies have been mentioning those, too!

Here are the squash. I know from experience they can look great and not bear very well, so we're hoping for the best.

This is the first year ever we've grown zucchini, but it looks like soil under our old woodpile agrees with it. We grilled a lot of zucchini (among other veggies) last year, and we hope to grill our own homegrown ones!

This is the potato patch several weeks later. We've built up the hills twice and spend a lot of time squishing potato bugs and their offspring. Once we can train the granddaughters, we'll pass that job along. Jennifer and Amanda used to love it! We plan to enjoy some new potatoes along and along, then have a good harvest in the fall.

Well, there's still plenty of work ahead to keep the garden producing, but it so satisfying. We've enjoyed those peas for about a month now, with maybe one more good mess to come. We may be having our last spinach salad tonight, but each one has been healthy and delicious. Our garden is still rather small, but each year I am enlarging it, now that we have a tiller. We're planting new things, exploring new techniques, and definitely committed to organic!