My Not-So-Secret Garden

I love to play in the dirt! So... I planted a garden again this year. The garden is located in one of my favorite places: my childhood backyard. Check out the lush greenery pictured below. Ahhh. So relaxing. Tree-huggers we are.

The pros of this garden: 1.) My Dad sponsored the initial planting (READ: He paid for everything!), and 2.) Easy irrigation from the sprinkler system (READ: Dad's paying for all the water! Thanks, Dad!)

The cons of this garden: 1.) I can't check on it every day, and because we're a tree-loving family 2.) it doesn't get as much sunlight as it probably should.

Mom & Dad's backyard with 2 raised beds on the right

Do not be fooled by the apparent smallness of the beds/garden. Great things have come from them before and great things will come again!

The Buried Treasure:

Squash

Let's all stop and pray right now for squash. Please. Why? My squash experience last year was sad. Naïve gardener that I was - I learned about the Squash Vine Borer the hard way... by losing all my squash. Never fear! Try again this year! That's what I love about gardening for fun. I planted Crookneck Squash, Straightneck Squash, Zucchini Squash and Okra (okay, so okra is not a squash, but I didn't want to make a separate section for it).

Straightneck Squash plant

Pepper-madness!!!

This year's players include Anaheim, Banana, Bell (Orange, Red, and Yellow), Cubanelle, and Serrano. See how I just alphabetized those? Yes, I really am that OCD.

Serrano Pepper plant

Tomatoes with a twist. 

This year I'm growing the Amelia variety (for a standard-sized tomato). The Roma and Grape were excellent last year, so I planted them again in a new location (crop rotation people!). I always plant marigolds near the tomatoes - to keep nematodes at bay, of course! I just read a post that said marigolds have nematicidal tendencies properties. That makes them sound much more interesting! Such innocent looking, bright little flowers... heeheehee (evil, high-pitched, flower laughter). I remembered to put cages over the tomatoes while they were still small (yay me!) unlike last year when I attempted to wrestle thems into cages after they'd grown much too tall.

Civilized, caged Roma Tomatoes

The Wildcard: Asparagus!

Rocky wanted these. They will be an exercise in patience. You're supposed to wait 2-3 years before harvesting asparagus... can we wait?!?! We will see. Look you can already see little, tiny asparagi! So cute!

Asparagus

Herbs

The Rosemary and Thyme planted last year miraculously survived. This year I planted fresh Basil, Cilantro and Sweet Mint. Hello, Mint Julep! I can taste you already!

Sweet Mint

After a full day of gardening I played with camera settings and enjoyed the knockout rose blooms. These were a Father's Day present several years ago. I only stuck myself twice while messing with them.

Knockout roses
(soft-focus background setting on camera)

Bible Trivia: The first recorded garden planting is in Genesis 2:8 when God planted the Garden of Eden.   Jesus prayed in the garden before his betrayal and arrest (John 18:1), and he was buried in a new tomb in... you guessed it... a garden (John 19:41).

"For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations."
Isaiah 16:11