Garden Update

My mom has always been the gardener in the family, the one with the green thumb. She has planted a veggie garden in her backyard since before I was born. She takes after her father, and while I never got to see his skills, for me they are alive in her passion towards her garden and love of nature. 

My grandfather grew plants in the Caribbean, a feat that he figured out by using hydroponic systems he could grow a great tomato. As you can imagine a house directly on the ocean doesn't have great soil. His love of growing his own vegetables lived on in my mother, and then in my sister and myself. My sister and I asked every year if we could help in the garden, and we would, but not as much as we could have. Just this year, Liz made her own herb garden in her apartment, and took home an avocado seedling that I sprouted for her. 

Last year my mom was away much of the summer, and knowing her plans she decided to plant mostly flowers in her raised beds. We went to the farmers markets and got CSA boxes, but it wasn't the same as walking out in the backyard and finding an abundance of edible plants. 

This year, she was considering keeping it mostly flowers again, and I decided to take over at least one of the three beds. Well... one bed basically turned into all three after I got a little carried away when buying seeds. We have: two varieties of kale, arugula, strawberries, lemon cucumbers, three varieties of tomatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, two varieties of lettuce, red pole beans and lots of herbs. There is parsley, cilantro, mint, tarragon, basil, two types of sage, fennel herb, and dill. I am sure I am missing something!

The radishes we have already started harvesting, and the beets and carrots are a bit behind, but are getting there. The kale could be harvested soon as well as a nice baby kale for salads, and the baby arugula is not far behind. Bring on the harvest!

The images below are of the flowers and edibles that we plant right off of the patio, and the above are from the raised beds out back shown in the first image of the garden.