What's growing right now

Our raised bed

I cannot claim to be the brains nor the brawn behind our garden - the credit for that must go to Jay, who got our family started on this crazy journey in the first place. Gardening has developed from a seasonal hobby for Jay to an increasingly essential aspect of our life and the basis for our future plans. I'll be doing my best to share what's growing in our garden this season and what we do with our crops, but all difficult questions will be referred to Jay, the only one of the two of us who really knows what they're doing.

While enjoying a glass of vino tonight on the deck and admiring the green sprouting up around us, I asked Jay how he decided what to plant this year and I got a great tour of our little garden. I just love walking around and looking at all the life (and the food!) that exists right outside our door. As John from Growing Your Greens says, lawns are dumb - grow your own food instead. We are well on our way to making our backyard functional and productive as well as beautiful.

See what happens when you let things grow instead of just keeping lawn?

A key aspect of how Jay chose to organize the garden this year was mixing insecting plants, those that support beneficial insects, with our regular garden staples. By mixing certain flowering plants with veggies, the beneficial insects can prey on those that aren't quite as welcome.

Bachelor Buttons (with some basil in the background)

Some of our insecting plants:

- Bachelor Buttons

- Wormwood

- Peony

- Wallflower

- Butterfly bush

We mixed these with vegetables such as kale, brussel sprouts, cukes, squash, tomatoes (currant and roma, among others), basil and collard greens. Can't wait to start cooking with all this yummy food!

Kale

Squash

Wormwood