Gardening Italian Style

I planted a garden back in April. I've never actually grown anything before, so it was all a big experiment. I have this little area next to our shed that I thought would be a good spot. I got a bunch of seeds from the BX and really just sprinkled them into the dirt. I read that you should space them out 6 inches apart, and with 2 feet between the rows and all that, but I didn't really take that seriously...and I didn't have that much room. Well as things started to grow I realized I probably should have believed the books, because now things are really crowded. I just went through and had to stake the beans up and the zucchini is trying to run over the garlic...and who knows what's going on with the carrots...they don't look like any carrots I've ever seen at the store.

But, overall I'm very proud of what I've been able to grow so far. I currently have the following things growing... tomatoes, peppers, celery, zucchini, garlic, carrots, beans and peas. I had lettuce, but it rained really hard for two weeks right after they sprouted and I think they drowned...they never really looked good, so I pulled them out to make more space. Here's what the garden looks like (with my first harvest on the ledge!!)



Mom and I ate our first batch of green beans the other day for lunch and they tasted great!



I also planted some herbs. I planted the basil out in this strange planter in the yard. We also put a kumquat tree and some kaladiums (sp?) in that area. The basil is growing so fast that it's going to take over the kumquat tree soon. We've been eating caprese as much as we can stand, and putting fresh basil in everything just to keep it in check, but I think I'm going to just have to start cutting it back and giving it away!



I'm waiting on the rest of the veggies to be ready, I can't wait for the zucchini, it's my favorite!!