The First Day of Our First Summer in Millerton

The Beginning....

As I've mentioned before, when we moved into our home there was very little in the way of landscape other than a few shrubs like rhododendrons, azaleas, and boxwoods, so I consider our yard a blank canvas.

My first project, as soon as the weather became warm enough, was to create a raised-bed vegetable garden.

Here you can see a squash, a pepper, a couple of tomato plants and the sugar-snap peas we planted in our first box - our first stage. We also planted some radish, which we've already started to harvest, and some petunia flowers (I always mix flowers with my veggies). In the second box we have bush string beans, lettuce, marigolds and potatoes (blue and red varieties).

The far bed, our third, is the one I stated this past weekend and it has cucumbers, beets, turnip, zinnias, arugula and chives.

I hope to start another raised-bed next weekend.

The process is simple. Build the raised beds, fill them with terrific soil, plant the seeds, water and watch them grow. THEN HARVEST. As you can see in these photos, that's all that is needed to have a thriving garden. But to do it right, and to prolong the growing season, plant your seeds in cycles and know which vegetables grow best in spring, summer and fall.

I was fortunate because growing up on the coast of San Diego North County, we always had a rather extensive vegetable garden because of southern California's nearly perfect soil and climate. Our garden not only provided our large family with a plethora of delicious vegetables, but also great enjoyment and an immense feeling of satisfaction. And let's face it. Even with Whole Foods popping up everywhere, there is still nothing like the taste of a carrot grown in your own garden or a tomato that is truly "vine ripe".