One of the best thing about living in San Jose, California is that we have the perfect weather to grow veggies and fruits. I love the summer because that means that it is time of Farmer's market, cherry picking, fresh and sweet peaches and nectarines, and picking ripe tomatoes off of the vine.
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| My daughters helping with the garden and showcasing the harvest. These cauliflower from the garden taste so much better than your store brought. They are sweeter and crunchier. |
When my husband and I were searching for a home years ago, our hope was to find a home that has a decent size yard. Now if you do not live in the Bay Area, you may not be aware that finding a home with a decent yard for a reasonable price is pretty hard to do unless you are willing to either spend about $1.5 million and up or have a really long commute because you live in Gilroy. We found an old fixer upper with a small 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom, but what made me say yes to this home is that it has a small, but decent enough size yard that I could envision hosting summer BBQs and planting a bountiful garden. Of course, when we brought the home the yard was completely in my head because all this yard had was weeds up to my chest. Over the course of many years, I have plow, compost, weed, and finally grow the yard into what it is now.
So what is it that I love about gardening. I love that it is alive and breathing. I love that plants not only provide us with beauty and flowers, but also oxygen and food. The majority of my plants in my yard are edible, with a few exception of flowering plants that I have placed in to draw the bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. I also love that when you have a garden at home, you have the choice of having so much more variety that is lacking when you go to the grocery stores or markets.
Some of the sites that I have used in the past to buy my herbs and plants from:
http://ediblelandscaping.com/
http://botanicalgrowers.com/
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| One of our planter box. Filled with arugula, broccoli, cabbage, butter lettuce, and brussels sprouts. A small space can be converted to a lot of harvest. |
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| One of our chickens. Living in San Jose, especially next door to Downtown, people are amazed to hear that I have chickens. They are actually very easy to care for. We let them loose during the day to pick at bugs and roam and close the coop at night. One of the main benefit, fresh eggs on a daily basis. |
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| One of my favorite type of peaches, Donut! We have many variety of peaches and nectarines in our little yard, but I have to say this is my favorite. It's not too crunchy, but still very sweet. An excellent option if you like white peaches. |
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| This is our first year growing Kolrabi. I always see them being sold at the Farmer's Market, but rarely see them in the supermarket. They are incredibly easy to grow. Like the crucifer family, eg broccoli and cabbage, plant these after the first frost. |
Now, you wanna hear the kicker. As I grow all these wonderful veggies and fruit this year, we will be moving to New York City for the summer and I will not get to enjoy the majority of my harvest. Hopefully there will still be some fruits and tomatoes waiting for me when I return in August.
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