First Fruits

This week my first tomatoes ripened. Mmmmm, and they were delicious. Picking and eating food from your own garden brings a certain joy to your day. It is a joy filled with wonder and accomplishment. I think some summer squash will be ready soon too.

We are getting our house painted next week, and I worry that the painters might do some damage to my tomato plants. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they are gentle to my garden friends.

The tomatoes are trying to climb up to Sadie's window to watch over her as she sleeps... as a guardian tomato plant.

Urban Gardening

I'm so excited about making use of this dead driveway space. Our car will fit up the driveway, but it's a tight squeeze- so we've never done it. But this driveway gets AMAZING sun! I've been toying with the idea of making it usable gardening space for a couple of years, but I recently decided to go for it! Our front yard gets 3-4 hours of direct sun daily, and our backyard is shaded by a massive cedar tree. But this driveway gets sun all day long! 

I got rid of the first 6-in of top soil (in case of contaminants), and added in some gardening soil. Side Note: You're not allowed to fill you green waste can with soil, oops! The plants have been there a couple of weeks, and they are thriving! I planted 3 more tomato plants in the middle strip (2 were already in the wine barrels), a cucumber, crooked neck squash, zucchini, and basil. I'll let you know how things progress. I can't wait to harvest my first tomatoes!

I love my spring yard!

It's been beautiful and sunny here in Oakland, yet it's rained enough to get the garden in full gear--it's just lovely!!

Lavender and Sweet Peas

I love this plant, don't know it's name...

Squash growing in 1/2 a wine barrel out front

Lettuce, thyme, rosemary, and mint in our raised bed in the front yard.

Tomatoes in our driveway! BTW, I'm planting a garden down the center of our driveway. I'll post a picture soon (I finished it today!). I'm so excited about it, because I get awesome sun there. Oh, and we don't use this part of our driveway...

It's (unofficially) Spring!

The entire fam was out in the yard over the weekend, enjoying the beautiful weather, and getting a kickstart on our garden. Dad weeded, I prepped the soil for planting (but probably not as thoroughly as I should have), and Sadie looked on--giving us advice now and again (see video). This week I've snuck outside during some of sadie's naps to water and finish the planting. Here are some of the yummy things we have out in the garden this year (hopefully they all grow well!):

Summer Squash

Strawberries

Snow Peas (whoops! I meant to get regular peas)

Tomatoes

Corn

Lettuce

Oregano

Basil