Hey y’all! It’s been a hot summer day here in East Tennessee, and we’re finally getting some relief around these parts with one of my favorite acts of nature–the afternoon summer thunderstorm. To me, there is nothing more beautiful, calming and refreshing than a sudden downpour after the oppressive, sticky heat has built and built all day. Especially if you’re fortunate enough to experience from a porch. I also really love these so-called “frog floaters” because it means I don’t have to spend 45 mintues watering my plants and consequently raising my water bill.
I am so pleased with how everything I’ve planted this year has taken off. From my windowboxes and landscaping, to my vegetable and herb gardens, everything that has touched the dirt has flourished. I’d like to think it’s because the land here is still blessed from all the years of love and labor put forth by my grandparents.
In the front yard, we finally got around to doing a little landscaping. Thankfully Lowe’s had their spring black friday sale and I was able to get some incredible deals, doing my entire front yard with brick pavers, black mulch and garden soil for less than $100. I wanted something low maintenance, so we decided to thin out some of Momma’s hostas and transplant them here. I am shocked to see people pay $4 a pop for these things at Lowes and Home Depot, when all you have to do is find someone who has them and dig up a small root! They take off like crazy too. Each bush in front of the house originally was one small leaf. And just since April they have grown into full size bushes. Momma also brought over some of her day lillies and we planted those off to the right of the front porch for some color. Ferns dangle from the front porch in the shade and we filled the planters and some hanging baskets with brightly colored petunias. (Side note: I scaled WAY back on the petunias this year. I absolutely loathe dead-heading these things. Maybe if I were a stay at home lady it wouldn’t be such a task, but right now it seems like such a waste of time.)
I also wanted low maintenance on my window boxes this year. So I did some research on shade loving window plants and went to town. I really wanted to achieve that “Charleston-style” window box, where things are just spilling over the sides. While I didn’t quite achieve that this year, I am tickled with the results I got for my first attempt. They’re full and lush with pops of color, which is just what I wanted in the end.
I also planted a small herb garden for the first time and, as much as I love my vegetable garden, this little plot of heaven might be my favorite space in the yard. I put it right off the kitchen for convenience when cooking, dressed it up with some cute fencing that also keeps away pesky rabbits, and decorated with a beautiful bird feeder/bath and some decorative stones. So far I’ve only put out sweet basil, curly parsley, mint and rosemary, but it has all taken off. We’re using my mint at the pub for our classic cocktails and it’s really neat to be able to see something I’ve put so much love into being incorporated into tasty treats for customers.
And now for the main event–the vegetable garden. Last year I only put out a 6ft raised bed with a few tomatoes and peppers and I was overrun. So this past autumn, someone told me if I threw out my decorative pumpkins and gourds into my garden soil and let them rot, then when I tilled it come spring, the soil would be extra rich and fertile.
They failed to mention that I should remove the seeds.
I had a monster pumpkin patch on my hands. I threw more than 10 different varieties of pumpkins and gourds into that space and now they’re all blended together. So god only knows what is going to come out of it. Needless to say, we had to till a bit more soil. So Mitch’s uncle Joel came over and ended up expanding my garden more than 4x the original size, and gave me some corn and pole bean seeds he had saved from his crop last year. I’ve never tried my hand at either but thought, “what the heck.” It has exploded. in the weeks since May 5 my garden has went from this:
To this:
It was too much to fit into one pic. Note the giant pumpkin patch in the middle of the garden. (it’s on the left side of the first pic and the right side of the bottom pic) I just started getting my first fruit too. All my little babies are so cute I can’t wait to harvest them!
I’m fairly certain within the next month I will be making more salsa and marinara. and I’m so excited. I urge anyone to try their hand at gardening. It just tastes so much better, and it’s a really neat feeling to know exactly where your food is coming from and to be able to eat something you have put a lot of love and effort into is quite rewarding. Gardens used to be the only way a family could eat and unfortunately with my generation that has all but died out. I would love to see a revolution of young growers! Share your pics from your garden and let me know what you have growing! Til then I’ll just be here being fabulous in my field of dreams!
Appalachian Barbie 