Le Jardin

The garden is finally taking shape at our house. Before the raised planter box was built, we grew a few organic vegetables in ceramic pots around the backyard. Here's a picture of me and my first harvest - Sugar Snap Peas. They were crisp, sweet and delicious. The only downside to growing these snap peas is that aphids really like attacking their leaves. I use an organic bug spray that does not harm the vegetables, but boy do I wish my ladybugs stayed around to eat the aphids!

Now that we have the planter box in, I am excited to see how things will grow. Here's what is in the planter: Swiss Chard Ruby Red, Basil Genovese Italian, Cantaloupe Muskmelon Hearts of Gold (front row), Squash: Black Beauty Zucchini and Early Prolific Straightneck, Cucumber Straight Eight (second row), Tomatoes: Sugar Sweetie and Brandywine (third row), Sunflowers: Evening Sun and Mammoth Russian (back row).


The vegetable plants here grew from organic seeds I purchased from Botanical Interests. They have a wide variety of organic seeds and can be found online, at stores like Whole Foods, and nurseries such as Yamagami's Nursery (by the way, I love this nursery - very friendly and knowledgeable staff).