My "Victory" Garden

I love to garden. LOVE it. There is just something about digging in the soil and watching the plants grow that gives me an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and contentment. I've found the more I work in my gardens, the less attention they need. There's a life lesson in there somewhere.  I'll just leave it at that for now.

We have a few different gardens. We have our flower garden (front of the house). We have an herb garden-my first attempt at edible plants. We have a veggie garden and we also have fruit trees and berry vines. All this on less than 1/4 of an acre.

My husband and I have put in over 50 bushes/shrubs in our yard since we moved in 4 years ago. When we bought the house, there wasn't one tree, bush or flower to behold. There was barely grass since we bought the house in January. Our first order of business was putting in a flower garden with some really nice bushes and trees. Since we didn't have a lot of money, we bought very small, inexpensive evergreen/cold weather hardy shrubs as a base for our front flower garden. Bushes that started out as 12" tall are now 60" tall.

Within a year, I wanted to grow edible plants.  So, I baby stepped into an herb garden. This was the easiest garden I have ever started. Right now, we have camomile, oregano, parsley, thyme, stevia, chives, lemon balm (a lot of lemon balm), sage, rosemary, St. John's wort and calendula. This is our third season of herbs.  I give herbs away to poor unsuspecting family and friends.  I get weird looks.

Last year, we added a trail of lavender. It's really growing nicely this year. I even managed to dry a few bunches. I sitll don't know what I'll use the buds for yet

Also last year, we added a vegetable garden.  Here's what I planted in early May.

As of mid-July, this garden has completely filled out and producing.  Right now, I think I'm being overtaken by zucchini and squash.  Fear not. I have lots of zucchini and squash recipes!  I also have poor unsuspecting friends and neighbors.