It's a jungle out there!

Not too long ago I posted a few images of our summer garden. My! My! How it has grown!

This is our second year with a raised bed garden and to be honest, I do not know if I ever want to go back to an in ground garden again!

It is absolutely amazing exactly how much one can plant in such a small space. A friend of ours owns a fencing business and the parts come in 4'x4' wooden forms. Last year she saved us four forms.  We stacked one on top of the other to create two 4'x4'x16" beds. Then, we nailed boards between the two beds to create a third bed. We lined the bottom with landscape cloth to prevent weeds and filled them with mulch, dirt, compost, and old straw from our rabbit hutch. We watered the beds daily and let them rest for about 2 weeks prior to planting.

Green heirloom tomatoes on the vine

Green roma tomatoes on the vine
The perfect canning tomato!

Squash blossoms taking refuge from the sun
under the canopy of  leaves

Little squash forming at the buds of the blooms

When I was a little girl, we always planted a vegetable garden in our yard. My dad tended it all summer and then he and my mom canned whatever surplus we had. When I was old enough, I helped them too. To this day, I can remember the aroma of freshly boiled tomatoes ready for canning!

Now that I am grown, I have continued the gardening tradition. There is something extremely satisfying about growing your own food. While I do not think I can ever grow animals for this purpose, I do take great pleasure in the idea of self subsistence.

Fresh eggs ready for washing

Not only does the food you grow yourself taste better than food purchased in a grocery, you do not have to worry about where it came from or what chemicals have been used in its production. Gardening makes you appreciate the hard work it takes to provide food for yourself and your family. And, in the long run you will find you waste less and save more!

Happy gardening everybody!