Our First Garden

This is the first summer we've had a garden, and Jay was able to turn it from a weed jungle into a thriving vegetable garden. It took him a lot of sweat equity, but was totally worth it. We've got snow peas, green beans, zucchini, sunflowers, lettuce, tomatoes and three carrots. Oh and a bunch of Chinese leafy greens that my grandma planted, but we have no idea what they are. There's a cute little bunny that likes to visit our yard, and even without any protection, most of our veggies are in great shape. I think the bunny likes bok choy, so that hasn't fared too well but the rest of the garden has been left alone.
 

Our garden - 3 weeks ago

Our garden yesterday - it suddenly got crazy big after we returned from our holiday last week

 

Snow peas (left) and green beans (right)

Lettuce and tomatoes

Jay loves plucking snow peas right off the plant and popping them into his mouth. Nathan enjoys them too!

A proud gardener (left to right: snow peas, beans, zucchini, sunflowers (in back), lettuce, tomatoes) Not pictured: 3 carrot plants, various Chinese veggies hidden in the back

Last night, I made a simple stir-fry using freshly picked zucchini, snow peas and green peas. So tasty!

The previous owners must have loved roses, because we've got about a dozen rose bushes of different varieties. Also, some lilies, hydrangeas, sedem, hostas, and a bunch more.

Our fruit trees are doing pretty well this year. We ate some cherries (a little tart, but nice) and are waiting patiently for our apples to ripen in the fall. Unfortunately, prime cherry picking season seems to have coincided with our weeklong vacation to the Dominican Republic, so we missed out. There's also an apricot tree, but the fruits seem to fall off the limbs quite easily and don't look very edible...

For newbie gardeners like ourselves, I'm really pleased with how our garden has turned out. I was secretly worried that nothing would grow, and all of Jay's hard work would be dashed but instead the reverse is true - we've got way more veggies than we bargained for!

For more gardening goodness, check out Jay's sisters' outdoor blog.