Bloomin' Marvelous Series - Garden Envy

Hi Everyone!  It's Mary again, from Sweet Little Bluebird!  Today I'm sharing how my sister-in-law Annie's garden grows, for our "Bloomin Marvelous" series...and boy is her garden marvelous!

I have major garden envy.  Major.  Earlier this summer my family and I made a trip to visit family outside of Buffalo, New York, to celebrate a graduation. Good times were had by all, along with great food!  A good amount of the food on the table came directly from my my sister-in-law's vegetable garden.  For living in the suburbs, Annie has a pretty impressive garden!  I have never grown my own vegetables successfully.  I attempted to grow some tomatoes one summer and it was a complete disaster - not one healthy tomato.  After getting tips and a quick education on my sister-in-law's garden, I think next summer I may give it another try!   

This year Annie's goal is to grow enough vegetables and herbs to sustain her family through winter.  A source of her inspiration came from the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by author, Barbara Kingsolver.  Annie found this book incredibly enlightening about sustainable living.  This summer and fall she will be busy canning, freezing, drying what she harvests.  She planned her garden wisely.  She takes part in a local CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture) and receives a huge box of locally grown produce each week for $15.  She plants opposite of what she receives from her CSA boxes - so no veggies like broccoli in her garden. For the most part, Annie tries to purchase the majority of her food that is grown locally.  If however, she needs pineapple or avocado for a dish, she'll purchase that at her local grocery store.

So what's in Annie's suburban backyard garden?  A lot!  She has veggies planted along her back fence and two seperate beds in her backyard.  Additional veggies and herbs are planted around the side and front of her home.  Here is a list of what she grows:  fortex green beans, black beans, Portuguese beans, edamame, onions, garlic, chives, scallions, sugar snap peas, spinach, turnips, carrots, variety of tomatoes (large amount of heirloom), hot peppers, sweet peppers, parsnip, winter squash, purple and yellow potatoes, pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, two varieties of basil.  Additional herbs are planted in pots for easy picking right outside her front door. 

What I love most about Annie's garden, it's all 100% organic.  Not a single pesticide and she only fertilizes organically.  She achieves a beautiful, healthy and thriving garden by planting carefully (companion gardening).  To prepare her garden, she dug 8 inches deep, replacing her clay soil with yards of local compost.  She then added composted horse manure, more of her own compost (she has a compost pile in her backyard too), along with coffee grounds and sphagnum peat moss.   She is able to keep insects away by smart planting.  Onions deter a lot of bugs, so they are planted around the majority of the garden, except near her beans. Onions are green bean's enemies. To learn more about companion gardening, click here.   

Here are a few pictures of her marvelous garden and links to a couple of great recipes!   

During our stay we had a "make your own pizza" night!  

Annie picked turnips for pizza toppings and spinach for the salad.  

So good! 

Turnips were sauteed in olive oil...

Summer Spinach Salad... 

Annie was sweet and sent me a couple of photos 

and links to two great recipes to share with all of you.

First up, Vegan Pesto!  Click here for the recipe.

Next, Spicy Snow Pea & Sesame Stir-Fry!  

Click here for the recipe.

I'd like to thank my sister-in-law for sharing her home, garden and recipes...THANK YOU!  And thanks to all of you, for stopping by the Cafe for our Garden series!

Just a reminder, our link party is coming up on July 29th where we are asking for you to link up all your gardening posts.  It can be about your flowers, vegetables, fruit, recipes using your fresh produce or something that has been inspired by gardens or nature.