Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Spring Garden

    Here's my garden, in January I think.  Not too much happening in it right then.  I have raised garden beds, which are really easy to take care of.  Each bed is filled with compost, (that we got from local farmers) instead of top soil.      
 
My husband joined the corners of each bed with countersunk screws.
When we filled the beds we put the frames directly over the dead grass in our back yard and dumped the compost in.  We didn't do any digging beforehand.  I get a few weeds here and there, but nothing much.  It's almost like a play garden with how easy it is to take care of. 
 
Here are some of my spring favorites to plant in the garden.  I apologize for not posting these pics sooner.  I took them in February I think.
 Pansies--I love planting pansies in the fall.  They winter really well and on warmer days perk right up and provide a lovely splash of color amid the browns of winter.

 Cabbage--great for Chinese Cabbage Salad, egg rolls, runzas, coleslaw

 Onions--did you know that if you buy green onions at the grocery store, you can use the green part in whatever you are cooking and then stick the bulb part (with a little bit of the green above it) in cup of water on your window sill and it will grow green onion shoots, which you can use a few more times.  Or you can plant that little bulb part in dirt and it will really do well.  Just be sure to leave a bit of the green above the ground.

 Broccoli--nothing beats fresh broccoli from the garden.  Try it in Broccoli Cashew Salad, or roast it in the oven.  Yum!

 Strawberries--they speak for themselves.

 Spinach--my all time favorite leafy green, pick the outer bigger leaves and it will keep growing until it shoots up and goes to seed, giving you several weeks of yummy fresh salad for dinner.

 Leaf lettuce--great until it gets too warm outside, then the leaves turn bitter, still edible, but the kids don't like it.
Carrots--grow well while it's cool, but hard to get started if it's too hot

I should have taken pictures a couple weeks ago to show how these veggies have grown.  I went on a trip for 10 days and everything looks huge now.  Check back soon to see how my garden has grown! ~Lena