Gardening Fun 2018

Hello! Hello!

I'm just getting back from my trip to Destin.  I'm hoping to put together photos from the trip for a post tomorrow.  In the meantime, I thought I'd kick off this lovely week with a glimpse at what I planted in my garden this year.  For those of you are who newer to the blog, I LOVE growing plants and flowers in the spring and summer.  I keep a big collection in pots on my deck and also have a pretty large raised bed by the side of my house.  It's one of my great joys!

The weekend before last I went a little crazy at the Herb Festival and plant farm.  This was just part of my collection I had to get in the ground and pots in day.  I ended up picking up plants from no short of four places before I was done.  The Hubs was such a good sport helping me carry them all around and filling the car with heavy soil bags to plant them in.

I did lots of veggies in the raised bed again this year.  There is nothing like fresh picked veggies from your own backyard.

I decided to plant an extra zucchini plant.  I always seem to lose one of of them by July, so I'm hoping an extra will keep me eating zoodles all summer.

I also did one regular summer squash plant.

I also put in a burpless cucumber...

... eggplant...

... and four different kinds of peppers!

With the remaining space I'm going to plant two varieties of green beans and also kale!  I hope I have enough time to get the kale going before it gets too hot.

I love tomatoes and do them in pots on my deck so I can keep my eye on them.  Tomatoes are finicky for me.  I planted a red cherry, yellow pear and two black cherries. I've found it's a lot easier to grow smaller tomatoes, so that's what I do!

My herb tower needed a bit of a refresher after a long winter.  I got new dill, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano and lemon oregano.  Those out of control chives come back every year no matter how much I neglect them.  I do need to cut the flowers back so the chives don't get hard, but for now I decided they are pretty. 🙂

If you like this herb tower I did a DIY post many moons ago on how to make this yourself HERE.  This is such a fun thing to have on your back deck near your kitchen.  It makes it easy to get to your fresh herbs for cooking.

I also replaced my mint plant with plain peppermint and strawberry peppermint.  The old plant wasn't showing any signs of life yet, so I wasn't sure if it would actually come back or not this time.  In milder winters it does fine, but this year was so cold!

I never seem to have enough basil so this year I also planted four separate basil containers.  I have big dreams of fresh pesto and caprese for days.

I also planted flowers!  Some of the plants I got are still pretty small so they will look a lot more lush in a few weeks, but here's a little peak...

Aren't these so pretty?

These are my window boxes.  I shared how I do my window boxes here.  They also need to grow in.

I also added an extra pot on the other side of my deck this season.

I just love the way it all came together and I can't wait to get home and watch it grow!  Hopefully we'll be eating fresh veggies in no time.

Love gardening? Here's more about my green thumb...

• WNC Herb Festival 2014
• What I'm Growing This Year
• How Does Your Garden Grow
• Garden Update
• Planting to Garden
• Herb Festival

Also check out this super effective plant food recipe from Maybe I Will! It can help your plants grow faster.

Your turn!

Do you garden?  If so, what do you grow?