Backyard Garden Update

On a daily basis it doesn’t feel like my garden as grown much, but when I looked at this picture I took just two months ago it is amazing to see the progress!

(taken April 14, 2009)

We’ve already been enjoying our herbs. It’s so nice to go out back and cut off whatever I need rather than paying $3 for it each time at the grocery store. The cilantro I started from seed, so it is the smallest, but I’ve used a little here and there already. Next week I’m going to make homemade pesto since the three basil plants are getting quite large.

I’ve harvested at least 60 sugar snap peas already. They are delicious to eat right off the vine, and I have used them in a Crunchy Asian Pasta Salad twice.

Soon we will be eating our beautiful bibb lettuce. I will use the largest head this week for a BLT salad with blue cheese dressing. I planted the lettuce from seed and staggered the planting time so it wouldn’t all be ready at once.

The green onions I planted from seed are doing well and even though they’re only about the size of chives right now, I’ve snipped a few already.

I’m so excited for the tomatoes. I love fresh garden tomatoes and I’m excited to try some varieties that I haven’t eaten before (Mr. Stripy, Red Lightning, Yellow Pear, Sungold Cherry).

All 9 of my plants are doing wonderfully, even the 3 that were started from seed. Everyday I seen new green tomatoes and flowers popping up on the plants.

The rhubarb is getting monstrous. Soon we’ll be able to make something yummy with that. Maybe a rhubarb sorbet, of muffins, or coffee cake. Yum!

And it wouldn’t be a backyard garden without the mandatory zucchini plant! I only planted 1, but my neighbors has several zucchini and yellow squash. And they always share.

Not pictured: 1 jalapeno, 4 bell pepper, 1 eggplant, 3 blueberry, several strawberry, asparagus. The asparagus is kind of a wash this year because experts recommend not harvesting it the first year. The strawberries and blueberries haven’t done much, but again it’s just the first year and these are plants that will come back year after year.