Friday, March 28, 2014

Into the Garden


My last post was titled, Out of the Garden so Into the Garden seems fitting for this post.  After harvesting the cute gnarled carrots from my garden,  a month later it was time to remove what remained of the lettuce plants.  With my first attempt at gardening under my belt it was time to plant for the summer season.  Here in Arizona it comes a little earlier than in other parts of the country.  So today I planted sweet peppers, a Roma tomato plant, and some herbs.  My small raised garden bed is home to the sweet peppers.  The plants look hardy and already have blooms on them.  I'm already thinking about how good they will be and all the different recipes I'll use them in.

Last summer I planted mint and basil in a large pot in the backyard.  The basil was amazing.  When it came time to harvest the remaining basil, I chopped it in my food processor, added a small amount of olive oil to keep it from turning black and froze it in ice cube trays so I'd have basil through the winter.  Today I planted basil, cilantro, and rosemary.  The pot looks a little empty but it will fill in fast as the plants grow.  The mint from last year is still going strong.
Cilantro, Basil, & Rosemary
Mint
Roma Tomato
Basil ready for the freezer


One of the challenges I have in gardening is that my dogs like to eat plants.  They are happy to eat fruits and vegetables so I need to take measures to make sure they're not dining on my plants and that they're not digging in the nice dirt.  Enter the Superyard XT baby/pet enclosure.  I have sixteen of these panels.  I bought the first set when Rustin was a puppy and the second set when I was fostering for a Cavalier rescue group.  They have come in very handy for many situations including easily removable fencing.  The "fence" is just sitting on top of the boards and can be picked up and moved when I need to add fertilizer or pick peppers.  For the most part they didn't bother the basil and mint that grew over the sides of the pots last year and they won't be able to reach the tomatoes so this bit of fencing should be all that is needed.