Our Fall Garden

It's official, Dennis and I are hooked on gardening.

I was a little unsure about all of the time and energy it took to set up our vegetable bed. I was doubtful that we would get much of a return for our efforts. I watched those vegetables and thought they were growing way to slow for my liking.

Then, we started harvesting.

It is so much fun to be able to walk into the backyard and gather veggies to be eaten less than an hour later. I would never have believed how much a difference it makes in the taste without experiencing it. So far, we've only harvested our "greens", some collards, spinach, lettuce, and chinese cabbage. Oh yeah, and one jalapeno pepper. We've got a few more veggies that should be ready soon.

 Our cutest little veggie... yeah, she'd been eating dirt.

An eggplant getting ready. I'm actually not a fan of eggplant; we're growing them for our neighbor.

Squash flower.

Tomatoes ripening.

I'm letting my basil grow wild and free, and I think it's quite lovely that way. That vine is a sweet potato vine. This particular type doesn't actually grow sweet potatoes, but it grows like crazy!

Here are our peppers!

I know we've just got a few more good weeks before most of these plants will need to come up and be replaced with some more "wintery" veggies. I think we'll get some produce off of them before then, though. I feel lucky to live in a place that seems to avoid frost for quite a while.

We've also got carrots (which grow way too slow for my tastes), broccoli, cauliflower, and the aforementioned leafy greens. Oh yes, and garlic.

Next year, I'll plant less broccoli and way more chinese cabbage. I was pretty disappointed when that stuff ran out. I never knew I liked it so much!

I'm pretty excited about our coming addition to our mini-homestead - 4 chickens! I think our neighbor's wife gave him one of those "It's them or me! One of us has got to go!" ultimatums. So, he's offered to give them to us in exchange for eggs each week. Pretty sweet deal!

What do you like to plant in your winter garden? How long does it take to grow a carrot, anyway?

Don't tell anyone my kid eats dirt, k?

This post was shared on Monday Mania and Fat Tuesday.