Garden paradise

Once again, I am a bad, bad blogger.... I apologize but it's been a crazy few months... new job, new apartment, GOT ENGAGED!!!!

Anywho...... for the one or two of you who have stayed loyal, I'm back. And I am in garden heaven. My new apartment is the first floor of a duplex, which means we have a front porch all to ourselves and full use of the backyard. (It also helps that we've got an in with the landlord)

So... being in my first grownup home with room for planting, I went a little crazy... It started with a few filler perennials along the driveway (Queen Anne's Lace and Lily of the Valley). Next came the vegetable garden. I definitely went a little overboard there. I discovered the seed savers exchange, where I found all kinds of heirloom varieties of veggies... omg... not even kidding I'm in love. I planted about 8 different types of tomatoes, jalapenos, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, broccoli, pumpkins, and some type of melon I've never heard of but it looked in the picture kinda like a cantaloupe.

Then came herbs in pots on the front porch... we tried lavender, applemint, basil, garlic chives, Italian parsley, cilantro, rosemary, tricolor sage and silver-edged thyme.

Next, I went for some pretty annuals for the front yard... a flowering cabbage plant, marigolds and celosia. And finally, hanging baskets on the front porch. A few we just bought, Ivy and some stuff I don't know what it is... but some I planted myself with zinnias, appleblossoms, celosia and something else I can't remember the name...

but the point is, now, everything is exploding! I've already frozen up my first batch of pesto and I'm about to start drying some sage and thyme... still figuring out what to do with the chives... I'm thinking potpourri with the lavender... I tried mint ice cream but I wasn't crazy about the results. Could try it again, but I'm on the hunt for other things to do with it too. I think I can make a homemade mint extract with some vodka.... might be something to try.

On the veggie garden front, I believe a day of tomato sauce and canning is in my near future... and I've already decided the jalapenos will make some kickass poppers... other than that, I'm open to suggestions....
Anyway, here's some awesome garden porn for ya...




Oh yeah, one last thing..... I should warn you... for about the next 11 months or so, this blog will probably be pretty wedding centered... I warned you early, this blog would be about whatever I feel like crafting... and we're doing the wedding DIY style... that's right, this crafty bitch is crafting a wedding... so there ya have it. Starting with my next post, we'll get going on all the DIY projects I've planned for the wedding (which, by the way, is scheduled for June 11, 2011)