This post is sponsored by Seeds Of Change
I did a handful of garden updates at our old house. It was sad to say goodbye to that garden! But we’re happy to say that the garden at our new house is wild and thriving. And I think I like it even better!
The new garden is sort of one giant raised bed. When we moved in, this area was all mulch. We actually had to remove the mulch and put in loads of nice organic soil (with the help of our lawn guy, who delivered it in a big truck). It was quite the process to get started, but now that it’s done, we’re so happy with how it turned out. (Although the bad news is we might build some stairs down from our upper deck and have to relocate the garden!) Anyways, for now, it’s great because we can walk up to the lettuce and pick at arm’s reach – minimal bending required!
The greens are always my favorite part of our garden. As you have seen, we have garden salads pretty much daily throughout the summer. We always have some lettuce, but I’ve been mostly into the heartier kale varieties lately. Our kale is starting to look a little sad, but there are still lots of good leaves. We planted three varieties this year – curly, lacianto and red Russian. My favorite salad is a mix of them all with herbs on top!
My second favorite part of the garden are the herbs. This year we have mint, dill, basil, thyme and rosemary.
The mint is in a wine barrel to help contain it.
The basil is HUGE – pesto making needs to happen stat.
Our dill is just doing ok, but the rosemary is good. Rosemary is my favorite herb!
We find greens and herbs relatively easy to grow, but the veggies can be a little more difficult. We have okra producing some pods –
Eggplant –
Zucchini (gotta pick that sucker today!) –
And lots of tomatoes (Matt’s favorite). He built this A-frame trellis himself.
We really don’t have many green thumb secrets to share – we just get good soil, sunshine, water and things grow! We had some trouble with pests at our first house in Charlotte (a deer ate a whole zucchini plant once), and we had worms in our broccoli last year, but other than that we have had pretty good garden luck. Our greens are all from seeds, and the bigger plants we used starters.
The only downfall this year is that the peppers aren’t doing that well – we think they need better sun.
OH and I almost forgot the HOPS!! Matt’s glory.
They are climbing all the way up the house. He hopes to brew with them when they are ready.
Seeds of Change, a leading producer of sustainably grown seeds and nutritious organic foods, is my partner for this post. Anything we can do to get more people growing their own food is a huge win for the earth all around.
Seeds of Change recently launched a campaign called Save the Flavor. This campaign aims to raise awareness about preserving heirloom seed varieties on the verge of becoming lost. They created this video to spread the word, and it’s so cute. Great ending!!
One of the best ways to help Save the Flavors is by simply buying a Seeds of Change® Certified Organic product since 1% of net sales go back into supporting community-based gardening and farming. In 2015 their goal is to award $200,000 in grants to garden projects around the country.
Green thumbs for everyone!
This post was sponsored by Seeds of Change
Cool garden!
House Tour pleaseee!!! ????????????
I so agree! It’s a bit frustrating to read about the details of your life but not have a reference of where those details are occurring…
I mainly have a potted her garden right now. My basil goes back and forth from being in good shape to looking rough!!!! I don’t have a green thumb by any means but it’s been fun trying to grow things 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful company. We didn’t get to plant a garden this year, but, plan to next season. Your garden looks great- nice to see where all those lovely salad greens come from!!
I wish I had your garden! I live in a apartment in the city so it’s no really possible to have any veggies, plant, or herbs. Luckily, my parents have a big garden so I can always use ingredients from their garden when cooking at their place 🙂
Dill doesn’t like hot weather, so I find it grows well in spring and then again in the fall, not so much in July and August. What’s your secret for having your greens look so good this time of year? Mine either all bolted (lettuces) or look downright frightful (kale) from the heat.
I took these a few weeks ago!
Those greens would just be rabbit food in my suburban Charlotte neighborhood. They eat everything I plant! The only thing they don’t bother is my rosemary.
It looks beautiful!
Every summer I dream of having a garden, but we’re often out of town or living in a place where it wouldn’t really be possible. But next summer I definitely want to do herbs and tomatoes in pots on our patio or deck. Can’t beat having fresh veggies!
I want to garden more but the squirrels always end up stealing the food! I pretty much gave up.
LOVE the raised beds, and the containers you’re using! Also, that’s so awesome Matt is growing hops!
I need to start a garden 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks for sharing your garden! I really like seeing this side of the “real food” you eat and appreciate sponsored posts like this. I grew up in the Midwest but now live in Florida. We are able to grow lots of things here but during way different times of the year. It’s so weird to have to start seeds in January. And strawberry prime season is late Feb/early March, not mid to late summer like in my childhood days. I’m hoping to get the hang of the seasonal rhythm here one of these years.
We are growing okra too, but I think I’m waiting too long to pick them because they’re SO tough when I cook them (roasted in oven with EVOO and S+P). When do you pick them?
You do have to pick them young! We have had too many tough ones too
I’m so jealous! We are about to move to a deed restricted gated community (against my wishes) that doesn’t allow gardens like this. I’m going to have to seriously look into container gardens!
I love gardens! I wish I had outdoor space!
SO COOL that you’re growing your own hops! My bf wants to do that soooo bad but I keep telling him we need to wait until we’re in a more permanent location (aka not an apartment) because they get so big! Your picture proves that, haha 🙂
Those hops remind me of Blue Mountain Brewery! 🙂 Looks awesome!
Your garden looks great. I love your lifestyle/home posts so much! I’m not wishing summer away BUUUUUTTT, how excited are you for pumpkin beers??!!!! I totally bought a Pumking yesterday! 🙂
Very!
Beautiful garden – the space you have to allow it to grow is fabulous. Tip for using up the basil — Shutterbean’s Thai Beef Basil recipe (http://www.shutterbean.com/2015/thai-beef-with-basil/). It is refreshing, delicious, and a change of pace for us. It’s also a main reason I want a basil plant when it cools down. 🙂
I tried growing kale for the first time this year and while it did great initially, some horrible beetle type bug got into it and ruined just about all of my leaves. 🙁
I definitely have garden envy. I cannot grow anything. Not even zucchini or rosemary.