Friday, June 24, 2011

Virtual Garden Tour: Edibles!

from the front arbor, looking towards the edibles
Greetings and welcome back to the Virtual Garden Tour! Yesterday I had a question on the post asking if we ever tuck any edibles into our garden. Yes we do! And they're tucked in mainly where it is the hottest and gets the most sun, and where we can easily get to from the door to tend to them. It's right in the front of our yard.

from the edibles looking towards the corner

Today we're going to take a look into what we're growing to eat, and I have to tell you, we're not doing quite as many edibles this year as we have in the past. But we are extending the season, with early kale and greens, and I'll seed mid summer for fall carrots and parsnips. In addition to what you'll see here, we also have a few giant black tubs on our driveway full of herbs and soon, bush beans. But let's take a look around...(remember you can click through to the flickr photo and see the notes I've left on the photos with more plant details).

the tomatoes are in

For us, the edibles are in the front yard for good reason: sun! These two raised beds are full of greens, chives, chard, strawberries and after this last weekend, tomatoes. I'm giving a go to the grafted tomatoes this year, and will let you know how they fare. Throughout the season I'll probably be seeding carrots in these beds, and I'm sure we'll tuck in a few other goodies we can't pass up. Like lemon cucumbers.

kale and lettuce
I've grown to really love kale.

chard, chives, kale
I need to harvest that chard and eat it up. Isn't it pretty?

peas, peppers, lilies, fennel, nasturtium
In early spring, this bed is full of tulips. But for now, the sugar snap peas are growing like gangbusters up those front trellises. Later they'll be replaced with pole beans. And oh, that fennel.

um, the fennel is a bit large and in charge
This bronze fennel will grow twice this size during the summer, and die to the ground in the winter. I love its texture, scent and flavor. If you need any fennel seed, you know who to call.

front bed

The barrel is home to basil and parsley and anchors this front bed (and provides the perfect hose guide for summer watering). You can see across the front to the bench in the corner, flanked on either side with barrels and columnar apples. Usually I tuck in some pineapple sage to add scent, color and blooms for the hummingbirds all summer long.

Columnar apples are producing

peas and a poppy, soon to be squash and cucumbers

The far side is one long planting bed, and it's currently home to another monster stand of sugar snap peas. They're about to begin producing like crazy. Once they're done, we'll grow pole beans here, and at their feet we have squash, cucumbers, and I even saw some corn seedling tucked in there recently. We're rotating the tomatoes out of this spot this year so as to give the soil a break.

peas? we have peas! and beyond that, an entire bed of arugula

I told you we had peas. From here you can get a glimpse of the back hangout, pergola and the never ending bed of arugula.

Writing this I realize I need to get some patty pan squash in (one of my favorites to grill during the summer), and some more peppers if we can make it all fit. Make it all fit. Ha!

Tomorrow, we'll return to the side of the house, out of the Side of Chaos and into the Side of Calm. This will be our path....

Path horizontal

6 comments:

Best Wishes, Marie said...

um basil. um caprese salads, caprese sandwiches .... um basil.

Heather said...

Can I live in your yard? I'll weed!

Anonymous said...

Lelo, I am eating up your garden tour ... ha, ha! Beautiful! And just wondering (if you've answered in the text, and I missed it, I apologize), how long have you been working on transforming the grass yard into this Eden? You are a patient woman.
Lee Ann

Jacquelyn said...

I am loving your garden tour! It is so inspiring. I can't wait to see the rest!

Paula said...

Your veg looks great. Can I come up to Portland some time (I live in West Linn) and check out your garden in person? I'd reciprocate, but I'll tell you right now plain and simple it's not anywhere near as pretty as yours...

GRACE PETERSON said...

The second and last photos look like they should be in a glossy magazine. Your kale, lettuce and chard look beautiful and bug-free, amazing with our wet spring. You're the first person I've heard of who is growing the grafted tomatoes. I'll be interested to see how they do for you. Are they just a fad or the wave of the future?