Garden 2015

Today was an exciting day. We looked through our leftover seed packets from last year to figure out what we needed to buy more of. We went to the store to grab more seeds and also got refills for our Jiffy Seed Starter Greenhouse. We've been using these seed starters for several years now with much success. Here's an overview of what we're growing this year!

Our garden last summer was very productive.

Our front yard looks pretty abysmal right now.

We live in a co-op, which means that we have a row home and yard that we "share" with our co-op organization. We own and maintain the interior - appliances, finishes, etc. - and they own and maintain the exterior and building systems - structural, roof, plumbing, electrical. It's a bit complicated and utilizes a Mutual Ownership Contract for the legal side of things, and we have a co-op fee that we pay each month. It has its benefits (i.e. great maintenance; extremely affordable for this area; great sense of community) and its disadvantages (lengthy approval processes for making changes to the exterior, which is frustrating for two architects; strange rules in regards to what you can plant and remove from your yard). All in all, we do enjoy this little starter home for ourselves. Thankfully, no one complained about our massive garden that took over our front lawn last year (our backyard is all shade). Let's hope that good luck with our garden continues in 2015!

Seed packets left over from the garden of 2014.

Tomatoes
Hands-down, my favorite harvest from summer produce is tomatoes (okay, tied with watermelon). Growing up, I would pick a tomato right off the vine, rinse it off with the water hose, and eat it like an apple. This is a technique I learned from my mother (similar to the technique of eating every single pea out of every single pod, but that's another story). Justin's favorites are tomatoes and blueberries. I can't explain to you how much we love growing (and eating!) our own food!

I digress. Tomatoes! We always plant too many tomatoes, but is that really so bad? Here's a breakdown of the tomatoes we've planted this year:

Prudens Purple: Prudens Purple tomatoes can become very large - up to one pound! They are very sweet.

Big Boy: Big Boy tomatoes are pretty big, between 10-16 ounces. They were first introduced in 1949 and are still a garden favorite.

Beefsteak: Beefsteak tomatoes are very large with soft skin. They average about 17 ounces.

Ponderosa Pink: Ponderosa Pink tomatoes are huge, meaty tomatoes that can get up to 2 pounds. These are great canning tomatoes.

Yellow Pear: Yellow Pear tomatoes are one of our favorites. They're quite small at around 1 1/2 inches long. They're good for making tomato preserves. Or you could just pop them into your mouth right off the vine like we do.