Garden Delights

When I was growing up, my parents always had a HUGE garden. I remember spending plenty of time weeding and working (I'm sure my parents did most of the work) in the garden - not to mention moving sprinkler pipe. But what I remember most is eating from the garden. We spent all summer eating whatever was in season and all winter eating whatever my Mom had preserved. Fresh peas (eaten as fast as you can pick them) are still one of my favorite vegetables.

I am not as ambitious as my parents were. I have little time to spend weeding, watering and caring for a garden and little space in our yard to devote to a big garden. But I have found some gardening techniques that work for me.

Shortly after we moved into our house, Kirk built me four garden boxes. He was all for having a garden and I think he figured that putting in garden boxes over existing lawn would only make less mowing for him. Because we have such poor, clay soil, we filled the garden boxes up with this amazing, beautiful black dirt - bought from a man down the road who digs it out of an old pond - chuck full of organic material. I have always used soaker hoses to water the garden, but this year I switched to a drip system from Orbit. I have it attached to timers that water it automatically and, so far, it works great.

Over the past few years I've been perfecting how and what I plant to suit my space limitations and our food preferences. My garden is shaping up to be a great one this summer. I order my seeds from Territorial Seed Company - a favorite local supplier from our days in Portland. I plant what we love to eat - lettuce, peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, beets, radish, onions, etc. My new 'experimental' vegetables this year are Broccoli and Edaname. I am excited to see how they both turn out.

My favorite part of having a garden is watching my kids spend the afternoon 'grazing'. Always asking 'what can we pick now Mom?'. I love to see them enjoying the fresh and nutritious vegetables.

I also love deciding what we are having for dinner based on what is ready in the garden. For example, tonight we had one of my favorite dinner salads - Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad (see recipe below). It included lettuce, radish and sugar peas picked fresh from the garden this afternoon. It was delicious.

Applebee’s Oriental Salad Dressing: ½ c. honey ¼ c. white vinegar 1/3 c. mayonnaise 1/3 c. Dijon mustard ½ tsp. sesame oil Salad: Tyson Breast of Chicken – bake and cut into strips. One per person. 3 c. romaine lettuce 1 c. chopped red cabbage 1 c. chopped Napa cabbage ½ carrot shredded 1 green onion 1 T. sliced almonds – per person 1/3 c. chow mein noodles – per person