Little Miracles in my Garden

I'm not a great gardener. I enjoy it-when the weeding is done anyway. But I'm always amazed, year after year, when stuff actually grows!

It's has to be a miracle.

I plant the seeds, water carefully and *poof* they grow! I have a black thumb, so the fact that I touched these seeds and they grow, should be documented.

I started gardening because I read too much. Books about our food industry, GMO's...all the crap. If I can save us, just a little bit, then it's worth it. Right?

It's hard work. I have no idea what I am doing. I water, I weed and I watch. That's it. I also pluck and eat, when that's required. I run from bugs and spiders. Worms have the ability to make me race out of the garden, tripping over the fence, until they disappear from sight. But my garden has been getting bigger and bigger as years go on because I can't seem to stop myself and really want a TON of healthy food.

This year I doubled what I planted from last year and included more variety. Next year may be similar, as we are planning on expanding our garden again. It's addicting! You cannot believe how addicting (unless you have your own garden). It's hard to stop once you start.

I decided to make pictures for you all to see, whether you care to see them or not =).

I have plans for all this "bounty". None will be canned, because I don't like the idea of all the work involved and the bacteria that can sneak in and ruin food so quickly. But I will use it, share it and eat it all. If, for some odd reason, we can't consume it all, we are going to freeze it in batches. Which works best for me, since I have 4 freezer options in my house.

Here are some pictures:

My tiny garden at the top. I have (from left to right) green onions, basil, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, green peppers are at the top and jalapeno at the bottom.

Baby Bell Peppers..so darn cute. Can't wait to chomp on them!

My overgrown cilantro. So pretty.

Random blue flower trying to sneak into the garden.

 There are a ton of them, but they are too pretty to destroy.

My pumpkin. This is taking over my second garden. Good thing I didn't plant too much in here. My second garden has the pumpkin, blueberry bush, raspberry bush, carrots, more bell peppers, watermelon and flowers along the edge. Ok..so maybe that is a lot...

Pumpkin is trying to find somewhere else to go.

Tiny, baby blueberries! When am I supposed to pluck these? Time for some Google...

 The flowers along the edge are growing like CRAZY but they won't bloom! Darn it.

 Our flowering, purple vine plant. Very pretty.

My strawberries. Took me over a half hour to de-weed these.

And there are green beans growing! We even snacked on some today, just because we can.

Squash is getting started. I love zucchini! And I have probably 14 plants...oops.

My Roma tomatoes. I see lots of sauce in my future...or salsa...yummmm.

No idea. But it's beautiful and so colorful!

I just love the colors that are splashed around our backyard!

This is by the door. I planted a few but something was eating them. My Mother-in-law planted those pretty orange ones and put the sign in. The colors remind me of autumn. It's so pretty there.

Well, that's it. It's so fun to see kids eat everything out of a garden just because they helped grow it and helped pick it. Evan loves it when I pluck a green bean or a strawberry for him.

It is well worth all the effort. I can't wait to see some pumpkins and watermelons grow!