Year in Review: The Garden

2011 has been a turbulent, and exciting year.  I am sure this will go down as one of the most important years in my life.  Its the year I grew my second and third garden, the year I got married, and the year Parker and I struck out on our own in a town away from our families.  I have been reflecting on all of the events of 2011, and I have compiled some photos to share with you.  I will start with my garden.  

Spinach Harvest

The year started with an established garden Parker and I had planted in the fall.  The garden was full of spinach, kale, chard, collards, mustard greens, turnips, beets, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli.  The greens grew so prolifically!  I learned that I should frequently harvest handfuls throughout the growing season.  The plants grow so fast they won't miss a few of their leaves.  The broccoli and cauliflower didn't make it to full maturity.  Both were lost in a deep freeze early in the year, but fortunately nothing else was harmed.      

broccoli before the freeze

Spring gardening stated early this year.  We sprouted our own seeds instead of buying transplants from a nursery.  Tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers require a lot of time before they reach the transplant size you see at nurseries, so we started these seeds indoors under a grow lamp. 

Our spring garden was less successful than the previous year's.  The drought in Texas was so severe this year it made it hard to keep anything alive.  The upside to the drought was no insects though!  We grew a few different varieties of tomatoes this year that did surprisingly well in the scorching weather.  My basil plants were the other champions of the heat.  I had plenty of pesto this summer. 

yellow pear tomatoes

early summer cucumber

Parker and I had to leave our little garden when we moved to Temple in late October.  It was really hard to abandon our garden.  I felt like I was leaving a little piece of me behind to an uncertain fate.  It broke my heart to leave my little plant friends, especially the ones that were still producing food.  I hope the new tenants can get as much enjoyment from that little patch of earth as Parker, Abby, Banana, and I did.