It is finally nearing the time to start putting our plants in the ground. We started our seeds indoors that need to be a little plant first before being placed in the ground, and they are already growing. We planted them less than seven days ago.  Wow! My husband and son expanded our garden area so that we will have room to plant zucchini and beans. This is our first year for the zucchini and beans, and I am looking forward to the harvest once they start growing. We will also continue growing tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, and basil.

We are starting everything from seed, so hopefully everything we touch will grow (keeping fingers crossed over here). I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I consider it a great honor to keep the bad bugs and weeds out of the garden. We saved some of the seeds from our basil plants last year, and I can’t wait to get them into the ground. We over planted our basil last year (six plants), not expecting it to do so well since we’ve always grown them in containers. It was like a basil jungle, we had bags and bags of the stuff. We finally pulled four of the plants out near the end of the summer and the two remaining plants still produced enough for our needs.

Our last frost date is around April 15th, so we’ll be keeping everything indoors until it’s time to transfer everything. Check NOAA’s site to get an estimate of when the last frost date is in your area. Select the state you reside in, and then follow the chart to the city where you reside or that is closest to you. The chart is then divided into three categories of 90, 50, and 10 probabilities indicating the date and the probability, or how likely, frost will occur at that date. To play it on the safe side you can opt for the 10% probability, which means there is only a 10 percent chance that frost will occur after that date. We are using the 10% date, which is April 13th for Oklahoma City and will plant somewhere around that date.

As you can see we started a new raised bed garden right on top of the grass. We did this last year as well, and had no problems with weeds or grass coming up through the dirt. The new raised bed offers a lot more space than we had last year, and once we are in the full swing of growing season, we’ll really be able to tell how many plants the bed will be able to hold.

Here are the little seedlings that have started to grow:

I know it’s only the end of September, but now may be the time to begin thinking about your garden if your planning to have one next year. I have really enjoyed growing our garden this year, and have learned some things that will help us have an even better garden next year. I have grand plans for our garden, and hope that we can add a few vegetables in addition to our herbs, and peppers that we grew this year.

What did I learn from our garden? I learned first and foremost that we need to plant earlier. Our bell pepper and tomato plants finally started producing fruit within the last month, because they were planted too late in the season. Next year, we’ll definitely get these into the ground after the last frost to ensure not only a larger crop, but an earlier crop. We learned that six basil plants produced way too much basil for our needs. We even gave our basil away and still had too much. We ended up pulling three fully grown healthy basil plants from our garden because the production was just too much.

We learned that although our oregano liked the sun, it enjoyed the shade provided by the towering basil plants. When we planted the oregano it seemed to struggle and lag behind. We weren’t quite sure what the problem was. Its growth took a sharp turn for the better when the basil plants began to overtake the garden and provide shade.

I have started planning for next years garden by saving the seeds from our basil plants, and peppers. Saving the seeds from something we’ve already purchased will cut down on next years initial expense. I also plan to bring our rosemary in for the winter and replant in the spring to give us a head start. I am excited about what next year will bring and thankful for the lessons we learned this season from our mistakes. In the past, we have only planted basil plants in pots so this is essentially our first year to have a garden. I think that for the most part we were successful in our endeavors, but I know that some of my reading this winter will include how to create a better garden.

Yesterday I was finally able to see the fruits of my tomato plant. I received a tomato plant in the middle of May when I participated in a landscaping workshop held at The Home Depot. The tomato plant lasted about two months. I’m not sure what I did to it, but it died a slow death until I finally put it out of its misery in our compost pile.

My husband felt sorry for me and at my attempt at gardening and purchased another tomato plant around the middle of July. The plant started blooming last week and yesterday I was able to see two little tomatoes that were smaller than the size of a pea. I was excited to finally see something happening besides the big fat tomato worm that I found munching on the tomato leaves.

As I looked over the other plants and herbs that we have in our garden it reminded me of simpler times. I can remember visiting a friends grandmother around the age of ten who owned a good size garden in the city. During the summer we could always find her sitting in the kitchen picking the ends off the green beans to prepare them for canning. Today we have such busy lives that it seems that we don’t have the time to garden and “put up” the fruits of our labor.

It is so neat to walk into our backyard and see all the peppers, herbs, and soon to be growing tomatoes. It encourages me to continue our garden and expand it even further. The great thing about gardening is that it doesn’t take up much room, and can even be incorporated into your current flower beds if you have room.

We have a small raised bed in our backyard that for the most part seems to be in the best part of the yard since the plants are growing like crazy. We also have some container gardening plants, but the side of the yard seems so bare and the perfect place for more raised bed gardening.  When deciding what to plant, I think about the vegetables that are the most expensive to purchase. A couple of our favorites are asparagus and parsnips. We love both of these because of the sweet flavor they produce after being roasted in the oven simply by adding salt, pepper, and olive oil.

While it would be nice to walk out in my backyard and pick garlic, parsley, or cilantro I can normally find these items on sale or at a reasonable price at my grocery store. I think that my focus should be on growing plants that yield higher priced produce instead. Right now I’ll enjoy the herbs and peppers that are growing, but I’ll start laying the groundwork for the new additions to our garden for next year.

When we first started our herb garden this year, we decided to plant the whole thing in the ground rather than in planters. Plants tend to like the ground more than being in planters for some reason and we have really seen it this year. We have more herbs and peppers than we know what to do with.

On this particular night, we had about a fourth of a pork tenderloin left over from a dinner a few nights ago and of course a ton of fresh herbs just waiting to be picked. On the spot, we improvised this recipe. We used a can of crushed tomatoes, some of our frozen diced onions, salt and pepper, garlic, and the pork tenderloin which we diced up. The last things we threw in were olive oil, fresh basil, and fresh rosemary. We simmered this mix for about 20 minutes while our pasta’s water was coming to a boil and then while the pasta was cooking. You could use any type of pasta. I chose classic Da Vinci Seashells to give the kids some variety. I made a great meal worthy of a restaurant in approximately 25 minutes and fed the 5 of us for about $5.00. I chose the rosemary to compliment the pork and threw some basil in because it’s so Italian tasting.

The nice thing about having the herb garden is that I can just go out in my backyard and trim the plants and make something delicious. Although fresh herbs can be bought at the grocery store, they are packed up in a plastic container and they’re expensive. My basil plants cost around $7.00 and they will produce all summer and into the fall. Our children see us doing something as well and there is an important value in children learning from us. It’s not just about saving money. Growing a garden enhances your quality of life.

I will go ahead and talk a little about the peppers even though I didn’t use them in this particular meal. Our peppers were placed in planters mainly because we are in the suburbs and don’t have a huge space for multiple gardens. According to Mexican food expert, pepper plants like planters and it allows you to move them to avoid cross pollination (green peppers that cross with habaneros, etc).

A new Habanero pepper

Anaheim peppers almost ready

We were late planting our herb garden, but after it started doing well we knew we would have a huge amount of herbs. Our first big harvest was a week ago and we decided to make a classic Margherita pizza. We got the equivalent of a small grocery bag full of basil so we had to do quite a bit of cooking if we wanted to use it in fresh form. We decided we’d do some Italian dishes like the above captioned Margherita Pizza, some fresh Pesto in the food processor, and of course some Marinara sauce.

I made the Margherita Pizza using our fresh basil, some tomatoes from the local farmer’s market, garlic, olive oil, and the dough recipe I’ve written about before. I used a Pampered Chef pizza stone.

My Margherita pizza was made using this recipe:

Pizza Dough (recipe link)

4 cloves of garlic

1 large heirloom tomato

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

12 oz. Mozzerella cheese

Place a tiny amount of olive oil on your pizza stone or if you’re using a plain pizza pan, use a little cornmeal and flour. Spread your dough out using a roller. Put the olive oil on the dough and spread it out equally. Mince the garlic cloves and distribute them evenly on the dough. Spread the cheese out over the dough. Then, place your tomatoes and basil on the cheese. Cook this on 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

It’s very satisfying to grow your own herbs. It’s very cost effective as well. Fresh basil is expensive. 1/8 of a cup of fresh basil at any of the grocery stores in my area would cost around $3.00. One batch of pesto calls for 2 cups of fresh basil (packed!). We have all sorts of other herbs, vegetables, and peppers growing. We live in a suburb and have a small backyard. Our herb garden is in a bed approximately 8′ x 4′ and the tomatoes and peppers are all in planters around the backyard. Stay tuned for more fresh herbs!

Margherita pizza!