Q&A: How Does Your Garden Grow? (plus my green thumb update)

The next few days are going to be busy ones here at Simple Bites, as our family is getting ready to go on vacation. I’m feeling like June has crept up on me and now there are a ‘zillion’ (as my 5-y-o would quip) items on my to-do list. I have to admit, however: the thought that I’ll be on a distant beach with my kids by the end of the week is tremendous inspiration to have a productive couple of days.

Last year’s vacation was a family reunion, hosted by Danny and I, and while it was enormous fun, it wasn’t exactly relaxing! We are so looking forward to a real ‘getaway’ and this one is bound to be memorable – we are flying south with six of Danny’s brothers, their wives/girlfriends and children, and of course, the grandparents. Nineteen people. Yeah, we like all kinds of crazy.

Although I’ll be in Mexico, things aren’t going to slow down around here. I’ve got a few guest posters lined up that you are going to love, so stay tuned!

Today I thought we’d do something a little different and just chat about one of my favorite topics – gardening. And by gardening, I really mean the vegetable patch, herb pots and greenhouse. I’m not much of a landscaper and don’t have a knack for artistic flower beds; my passion really is the pea patch or anywhere food is produced.


Ramps or wild leeks growing on the forest floor in my back yard.

So tell me about your produce gardens.

  • Where are you in your planting stages? What are some of the plant varieties on the row markers?
  • What is popping out from the ground? Flowering? Climbing?
  • Some of you are probably already eating from the kitchen garden. What’s coming to to the table and how are you serving these first fruits?
  • Are there any roadblocks you’ve encountered? We’ve spotted a disastrously adorable family of hedgehogs lurking under our porch and are hoping they will not give us trouble in the garden.

Be it a small collection of patio pots, a row of raspberry bushes, or a full-fledged cabbage patch, I want to hear about what you’re growing to eat!

I’ll go first: Nothing. Yet. Well unless you count rhubarb, the ramps in the forest, and a few clumps of chives.

It’s a sad acknowledgment, but one I’m at peace with, because I know we’re doing the best we can with our busy schedules. Plus, I’ve got at least four other ways to source my summer produce, so although I miss having my hands in dirt, I’m not stressing.

Our plan was -and still remains- to build four large raised beds on our proposed garden site. We’ve even purchased the wood, see?

You guessed it. Like the chicken coop, this is Danny’s project. Since he doesn’t do anything half-haphazardly, this projects has been undertaken with a methodical engineer’s approach. They will be the best raised beds on the block – and will probably last our lifetime. [DB’s edit – it has rained almost 3 weeks straight since I got the wood delivered on the last sunny day of May.  Honest.]

Anyone interested in that tutorial?

So, I don’t know exactly when my beds will be ready for planting, but I’m holding out hope for July.

Don’t be shy! Chime in below and tell us about your garden. I’m in today and will be popping around to read your comments.

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68 Comments

  1. My boyfriend and I have a plot in a community garden near our house (we are apartment dwellers with no sun on our patio). We’re in Texas, so tomato season is underway! It’s our first year, but so far we have a hugely productive herb garden, several varieties of delicious tomatoes (no heirlooms– all “easy growers” this first round), red potatoes, carrots (purple!), onions, and lettuce. It’s a lot of fun, but the temps are already well into the 90s here, so we’re not spending as much time tending the garden as we should. Looking forward to fall gardening– winter squash and cooler temps!

    1. Love the community garden idea! We’re also strapped for real garden space, so that is a cool idea that I hadn’t heard a lot about before.
      This year we managed to perch a few pots of tomatoes and cuccumbers on our suspisciously sloping porch. Lettuce and greens are sitting in the shade by our front door, and I have a basil plant that’s brougt nothing but delight to our dishes this year. So excited to make bruschetta and Greek salad when (if?) we start getting tomatoes and cuccumbers….

      1. I really like our community garden! We get a lot of support and advice from the veteran gardeners, free water, and there’s a huge compost pile on site. I think you find community gardens mostly in urban areas.

        Your porch garden sounds lovely! We’re moving in a few weeks to a new apartment that should haves better light on the porches, so hopefully I’ll get to have some herbs closer by as well.

  2. It’s so beautiful that all members in your family gather on your vacation.We have a small garden and my mother usually palnt many kinds ò vegetables here.I like to visit my family on weeekend so that my mother will cook many delicious dish with what she palnted on that garden

  3. Oooo…. vacation! I am just about to hit publish on a post for today about our summer manifesto to grow, pick, and preserve more food. I am so happy to see so many people talking about growing food these days. For one reason or another I think it is becoming more evident that we can and should all be doing the best we can in that department.

    1. Shannon, I can’t wait to read your manifesto. You’ve already got such a great start, I’m sure this season is going to be incredible.

  4. We live in Central Texas and have built 4 4×10 ft raised beds. This is our second year to garden and are so far 100% organic. Are already eating romaine salad, radishes raw and straight from the garden, carrots braised and of course zuchinni grilled. This year we planted 4 roma tomato plants for canning purposes and they are loaded down with tomatoes just on the verge of ripening and two beefsteak tomatoes for slicing. We had two beautiful zuchinni plants but squash vine borers got them. Planted a large variety of peppers and of course cucumbers and canteloupes on trellis’s. Have already harvested and frozen greenbeans. Am replanting greenbeans and squash tomorrow. Love your site! I visit it all the time. Have the sourdough starter in my oven as we speak. Have a great vacation!

  5. After many experiments, we have found what work the best in our garden.

    – Asparagus : They are tender and so tasteful.
    – Tomatoes called Fantastic: Red, sweet, a lot of flesh, wonderful!
    – Raspberry: We eat them from august till novemeber in Quebec
    – Potatoes because our are free of pesticides
    – Climbing bean
    – Cucumber
    – A lot of herb especially basil and parsley

    Gardening is fun, relaxing, peaceful and even spiritual.

    1. Welcome, Lisa, and thanks for reading! I love the idea of creating a garden just for children. Now I think we might have some re-planning to do!

  6. Where are you in your planting stages? What are some of the plant varieties on the row markers?

    I am in North Carolina, so I am mostly done planting. This year I’ve put in a lot of heirloom okra and field peas, two of our most successful crops last year. Also lettuce, spinach, peas, kale, tomatoes (some plants and a few experimentally direct-seeded), peppers (plants), potatoes, summer squash, winter squash (I now plant only butternut, since it’s my favorite), watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers. I’m excited about the french cucumbers I planted for making my own gherkins/cornichons. Oh and a few herbs–cilantro, parsley, basil.

    What is popping out from the ground? Flowering? Climbing?

    We are actually at the end of asparagus around here, and coming to the end of peas. Our wintered-over greens have long bolted and the our garden now has a lot of beautiful yellow kale flowers. There are lots of spring-planted greens. The most exciting crop this spring has been our strawberry bed–in its first real year of production, it’s been going crazy. And then the summer stuff is all popping up–okra, field peas, potatoes, squash, etc. May is a happy time in the garden around here, before the serious heat hits! We’ve been lucky because it’s been a very wet spring, so the rain alternating with hot sunny days has been good for growing things.

    Some of you are probably already eating from the kitchen garden. What’s coming to to the table and how are you serving these first fruits?

    Salad, salad and more salad! Peas and spinach eaten raw straight from the garden. I had a big harvest of snow peas for the first time this year, and have been enjoying shrimp and snow pea stir fries. Quick steamed asparagus. Kale all ways–my favorite right now is a big batch of kale chips in the dehydrator. Strawberries and more strawberries–out of hand, on cereal, dipped in chocolate. I’ve managed to put a few in the freezer and a big batch in the deyhdrator. And did I mention salad?

    Are there any roadblocks you’ve encountered?
    Only finding enough time to garden. We had a lot of predation by bunnies last year, and my husband put a rabbit fence around the garden–which is so far keeping the munching at bay.

  7. In an attempt to make the most of the sun that hits our tiny back porch, my brother in law has grown a whole host of tomato plants and is going to put one in a pot for me. I also have an indoor herb garden in my kitchen window, and a little lavender plant just outside the back door. I live in a small apartment so there’s not much space on the shared porch, but at least it gets a lot of sun!

  8. I am hoping to build raised beds for next year. We have so many other things to do/fix around the house and therefore that project must be put on the backburner. I would be very interested in reading and learning from all you guys though!

  9. This year is our first year for gardening, and it’s been fun! We built our raised bed with cedar and made our trellis from conduit and nylon netting. In Wisconsin, we’ve had such a late spring that our hot-loving plants aren’t super productive yet, but hopefully that will change soon!
    Actually, my last blog post was a garden update!

    1. Great post on your progress! We definitely need to rig something up for trellis – after our raised beds are built, that is. 🙂

      1. Ok- question/comment… My husband went out to water tonight and, to make a long story short, he found a huge dead rabbit buried in the spot that the spinach didn’t grow (the only empty square foot in the garden) by “a dog or a crazy neighbor.” I’m hoping for a dog, personally.
        Anyway, it wasn’t there last night– for sure. Are all of the surrounding things and that plot contaminated now?? What do I do about that? Ugh.

  10. We are doing a bit of a fun garden this year for our first garden attempt 😉 we have four kids and they all go to pick out a couple things to grow.. so we have watermelon sprouting.. snake and ladle shaped gourds, sunflowers, peaches and cream corn as well as POP corn!! (i’m most excited about that one) cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, pumpkins, green onions and peppers and carrots. SO exciting to see them all come up!

    1. That kind of does sound like a round-up of produce that was influenced by children. Such fun! I love that you’re involving the whole family in the process.

    1. Beautiful garden, Erin! And what an ambitious list. I can see I’m going to have to check in again in the fall. Take lots of photos!

  11. Im so excited to plant potatoes this year!! I hope it works out I cant wait to see if they actually grow. Since I just had a baby and will be making my own baby food, Im growing loads of peas and grean beans. New this year is eggplant (for myself since none of my kids or husband will touch it). Im also planted lots of different tomatoes, some real funky ones like green striped and black&blue ones, very cool!!

  12. Hi Aimee! Just discovered your blog and tweets. When I have a minute to read (quite busy with a baby and a pre-schooler), I really enjoy reading it.

    Much of my garden has become a weed attraction since last year because I was very much pregnant and couldn’t take care of it properly. But this year, I am planning to make it a square garden (like your raised beds) as it is much easier to take care of. 3 – 4’x4′ squares is quite enough for our family. But there will be a special section just for my 5 year old. She really wants to have her OWN garden.

    I love to plant a variety of aromatic herbs, tomatoes, swiss chard, raspberries, strawberries, garlic, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers and green beans. This summer, I want to try leeks and squash!

  13. This morning I gathered squash, zucchini and gathered the last of my spinach. We had cucumber and Banana Pepper day before yesterday. My sweet peas are almost ready!

  14. My gardening thumb is anything but green (quite black actually), but I’m giving it a try this year. The boys and I have planted carrots, leeks, squash, basil, lavender, peas and zucchini. We’ll see how it goes, and I certainly look forward to reading more on this topic here over the summer.

  15. I’m in Florida, zone 8b, so we’re already getting into the “too hot for anything to grow” period of the summer. I do have 2 raised beds that are going pretty strong, though. We’ve been eating chard (the kind with red stalks) for the past couple of months, as well as all our herbs. We started getting cucumbers (Slicemaster) last week, and the first few yellow squash are about ready to be picked. The scarlet runner beans are blooming and the vines are at least 8 feet tall. On the tomato front, I’ve got 9 plants that are beginning to bloom–I was late with the tomatoes this year, oh well. I’ll probably just focus on upkeep and watering until August is over and then do a late summer/fall garden.

  16. We actually have 18 raised garden beds in our backyard. We use 14 of them (13 for gardening, 1 for compost) and 4 are used by friends/neighbours who live in apartments and want to grow their own produc.

    We have planted raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, zucchini, squash, kale, spinach, potatoes, carrots, garlic, herbs (basil, chives, parsley), peas…and I’m sure I’m forgetting something! We grow mass amounts that we like to freeze/preserve in the fall as well as give away to those who can’t afford it, or who live in places where they can’t grow.

    One of the major hurdles is simply upkeep! We have full-time jobs and so spending time caring for the garden can be overwhelming. Luckily we have great friends who help us out now and again. We don’t have any issues with pests, so that’s helpful. Right now we’re enjoying our herbs b/c nothing else has grown yet. Looking forward to enjoying the rest of our produce very soon (the peas are sprouting!).

    1. Wow, 18 raised beds! Sounds like a mini farm! I can see how upkeep wold be a challenge, but the end result is such a gift.

  17. I have a growing collection of pots on my deck where I plant a variety of herbs. I started off with a handful of pots a few years ago and enjoy them so much that I’m up to about 2 dozen now. They’re doing great this year – good mix of rain and sun for us here in New Jersey. I have lots of mint, oregano, thyme, and parsley already. The basil is still sparse but getting fuller every day.
    Enjoy your trip! sounds like LOADS of fun.

    1. Thanks, Rivki, we’re excited for our trip!
      Your pots sound beautiful; I think you just listed all of my favorite herbs.

  18. I just started a garden this year. I have always wanted one but wasn’t quite sure how to make it work in our yard. Then I was in a gardening store that had these gordeous willow baskets with inserts. They were not a bad price and they created instant raised beds for me. I am pleased to say I have spinach, radishes, beets, carrots, beans, zuchinni, potatoes and mesclun growing now. I have tomato plants I grew from seed as well but have not put them outside yet. Every time I go outside I feel absolutely excited about having fresh veggies this summer. I have a dangerous neighbour…… a gardening store, I went in there the other day meaning to pick up a hosta and walked out with a bunch of herbs. I have rosemary, thyme, parsley and sage in my garden now. I came home with three varieties of mint that our going in a container, chives, tarragon, lemon verbena and a pineapple sage. My deck is covered in strawberry plants , edible flowers and herbs! Its going to be a great summer!

      1. This is my first summer home, not working. A former work a holic needs to put her energy somewhere. So it was go big or go home. My baby loves being outside as well, so it makes it easy for the garden to be the focus.

  19. Hi Aimée,
    It’s be a VERY cold spring here in the Okanagan (and the rest of W. Canada), so I just put my veggie beds and seeds in last week.

    I’m happy to report that I already have radish sprouts, Swiss chard sprouts and a couple of zucchini seeds have sprouted. The robins are mining the gardens for worms, and the quail keep raiding the arugula, but over all I’m happy. Fingers are crossed for warmer weather this week, as I have my eggplant seedlings, Brandywine tomatoes, and some fraises de bois to plant.

    1. Loved your post. Thanks for sharing that, Jennifer. We’ve had an unusually rainy spring – but I can’t complain. Part of Quebec are flooding, so I feel blessed that we are at least keeping dry.

  20. Looks beautiful where you are. We just planted this last weekend actually. It has been so rainy where we are it was impossible to plant anything but we finally have some sun now. I planted peas a couple weeks ago and they’re all up and yesterday we started planting about 25-30 tomato plants. I can a lot of tomatoes and they usually do well here. We planted our potatoes already, and yesterday we planted our carrots and cucumbers and zucchini and other squash. I already have radishes and spinach and other greens up, plus my herb bed is stocked with things that came back from last year. I’m super excited, can’t wait for everything to grow and go crazy. But I forgot to plant beets! I need to get out and do that soon.

      1. Thank you! I’ve been trying but every other year I’ve had to buy some to can on top of what I grew so this year I’m determined to grow enough to can. Plus a few of my plants are cherry tomatoes. Love those 😀

  21. In the bleak of winter my dh and I thought we would go ahead and try square foot gardening. Lots of thought and panning went into this project. I purchased 2×8-8′ lumber and we made 4×4 foot beds .We bought 1×3 furring strips and made them into a 4×4′ square. Then we staples chicken wire to those frames to put on the sq. ft. beds to keep the rabbits out. Mixed peat moss, compost, and vermiculite along with some bone meal and blood meal. With all the rain I was able to take a tarp and cover each bed (to keep the rain out) until I got it planted. I’ve got 9 beds. Also in one bed I planted potatoes using the ‘lasagna’ method. I’ve never done this but we will see how the yukon golds turn out.

    1. So you’re also on a gardening adventure! Sounds like you’ve done you homework on this one. I can’t wait to hear how it produces!

  22. My grow space is limited to 1 window sill that measures 78 inches long and 15 inches wide.
    We have Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, Chives, Mint, Coriander and Garlic chives that are all growing like crazy and more or less fulfill our needs for these herbs. The peas I have are already producing about enough for about 1 meal a week, as a side dish.
    My beans and my 8 tomato plants are thriving but not producing yet. I had two of these tomato plants last year and each one produced a ridiculous amount of tomatoes. I have 3 little strawberry plants and I am hoping to get a few strawberries but I dont really expect much, hopefully enough for 1 dessert this fall.
    My chilli plants seem to be growing very strong.
    I also have Rocket, oak leaf and spinach and am already getting enough for about one side salad a week for the four of us.
    I live in Iceland so its not really that sunny yet so I expect a lot more through the summer but this has been my harvest for the last 4 weeks.

    We also have a communal potato plot but it is quite far away, everybody who is participating is on a rota so we take turns going out there. I have one turn this summer plus of course planting and harvest when we go as a group. This is our second year and the plan is if enough people want to keep on with this to expand to more plants next summer but they have to be plants that are harvested once all at the same time and can handle the neglect from only being visited once every 7-14 days.

  23. I live up in NE Washington where we’re just getting past the danger of frost. We live amongst many deer and do not have a deer fence so our very kind widower neighbor lets us use his huge garden space. He even tills it up for us every spring. My mom and I garden together, along with my children. We have all our our cool weather crops in such as spinach, peas, carrots, potatoes, onions, broccoli and cabbage. We’re hoping to get the rest in within the week. We are very ambitious this year and are trying to provide for our produce needs through the winter and following spring. We’ll see how it goes.

  24. My 7-year-old wanted to plant her own garden this year. Unlike her procrastinating mother, she got her seeds in the dirt at the right time! I resorted to buying starter plants recently–tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.

    I am wondering what other gardeners do when they go on vacation. Do you ask someone to water your garden while you are away?

    Last year our vegetables were saved by a very wet July, but I doubt we’ll be so lucky this summer…

  25. Perfect question for this time of year. I just got all the garden boxes planted here in Wasilla. I did starts for most of the veggies (brocoli, kale, kohlrabi, lettuces, zucc() and they are in the boxes, seeds planted for beans and peas. First cutting of big rhubarb plants, strawberry patch greening up, raspberry canes just leaving out. Potatoes were in about 2 weeks ago but nothing up yet. Kids have their own bed, my daughter chose flowers this year, my son a mix of things, he really wanted zucchini so he has one! We are having a warm summer so far and that is a good sign. Last year everything turned to a wet, slug-filled mess with cold, rainy days, and no pollinators. I’m an optimist about this year. Oh, and we have a greenhouse for tomatoes, cucs, and 2 free pepper plants. I turn heat on for night as it still gets a bit cool. I’m already geared up for aphid wars! Good luck–I hope your gardening goes well. I find I enjoy it more every year as some things get easier and the soil just gets better and better. Have a nice vacation, buen viaje! Saludos de Alaska.

  26. My garden plot sits vacant still. Here on the East Coast, we’re still waiting for the last frost date to pass, and waiting for the rain to stop long enough to dry out the soil for tilling. This week looks better than the last few as we are only forecast possibility of showers rather than definite rain. Hoping to have Hubby till the garden this weekend and hoping it will be dry enough to plant at the same time.
    We are going to grow corn, potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, lettuce, watermelon, swiss chard and a couple others I’m forgetting right now. Oh, and I’ve got 24 tomato plants growing on my bathroom window sill that are ready to start hardening off and get into the garden. I also want to put in some asparagus this year as it takes several years to produce enough for harvesting.
    We only moved to this house last August, so far this spring we’ve put in 5 large transplanted apple trees, and a rhubarb plant. We’re looking forward to harvesting from both next year.

  27. I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania. I have 6 raised beds (3×6 foot), but wish I had more. I am growing tomatoes, sweet and bell peppers, carrots, lettuces (both leaf and head), spinach, radishes, peas, pole beans, cucumbers, corn, cabbages, arugula, kohlrabi, rainbow chard, calendula, summer squash, winter squash, melon, chives, basil and broccoli. This is my first year and I am proudest of my homemade bamboo teepee (with intertwined pole beans and morning glories) and bamboo squash trellis (which are giving shade to the green cabbage). My big failures this year are red cabbage, spinach and radishes. My first planting of arugula got eaten alive by flea beetles, but the second planting is going great. I have already plucked off quite a few cabbage caterpillas off my brassicas. Right now, we are eating (very unremarkable) radishes, a little broccoli, green leaf lettuce, arugula, romaine and Bibb/Buttercrunch lettuce. The peas are close to harvest too and I have been sampling one each morning. Yum!

  28. We just finally got our plants in the ground. It’s rained every single weekend for a month so we just couldnt’ get them in until now. Hoping they still do okay. If not, there’s always the farmer’s market, I suppose.

  29. Just finished an update about my garden on my new blog… check it out if you have time! 🙂 We put in ten box gardens over the weekend and got them all planted yesterday!

  30. I LOVE gardening, LOVE LOVE LOVE! Can’t wait to get my hands all dirty planting seeds, nothing like spending a day getting all dirty. My husband has rototilled my garden twice for me now. We have had no moisture way up here in the north since all the snow melted. We decided to put our garden beside our dugout, good thing since it looks like we will have to water it ourselves until we get some rain. And we all hope the rain comes very, very soon.

    I am in the city getting ready to have surgery June 2nd. When I get home I am planning on planting my garden. Yes, I will plant my garden. I may only be able to do a row per day, but I will get it done. Due to the long hours of daylight that we have, yes way up here in the north, we can plant our gardens later and everything will still have loads of time to grow. Last year my garden was planted for me on June 12th as I had surgery on June 3rd. Having someone else plant your garden for you is very helpful but no fun at all when you want to be planting it yourself. Anyway, the garden did beautifully even though it was planted so late.

    So, this year I am planting carrot (tapes, never will I use seed again), lettuce, peas, beets, green/yellow/purple beans, potatoes, garlic, onions, tomatoes, squash, um I think that’s it. Oh, and I need to try to find some kahlrabies seed while I am in the city.

    Happy gardening all!

  31. Oh oh!! I do love to chat about my garden. Your soil looks so dark and rich. I live in the south east and our soil is SANDY!!! I add a LOT of organic material. My squash have fell victim (again) to squash borers. I plant my seeds indoors so I am able to get a full crop before the worms get them. I plant again in July when they have finished their life cycle.
    My tomatoes are still green but I am just ITCHING to have some fresh tomatoes. I also plan to make salsa this year…thanks to this site!

  32. I just came in from mulching the beans and tomatoes. I have to do garden work in stages and hope that the weeds don’t get (too far) ahead of me. One of the hurdles from the past was solved–we gave our heirloom seeds to a local greenhouse to start. We shared the plants with them and didn’t get charged for their greenhouse space. These plants are awesome!

  33. I started growing seeds in starter pots. I then got sick and everything died on me. So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to start my herbs and some vegetables again. I think I am going to try container growing this year. I am new to this website but eager to try all of this. I will probably have to start a blog myself so that I can keep up with myself.