Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

Aside from my husband and two houseplants, I've never had many living things to care for day in and day out. There's a long line of pets from my childhood, but those were a family affair.

Except for the tadpoles. I kept those in my room. They didn't make it to frog stage. But that's another story for another time.

We grew a tomato plant the first summer in our old place. It produced one little tomato. The poor thing didn't get much sun; however, everyday I'd come home for work, wave at Justin and run to the porch to check on it.

Now we have more than one measly little plant to watch and rear into responsible, productive adults leafy plants. I get up in the morning to give them all a drink and to check out their blossoms & buds. I get home from work and, instead of running by Justin and to the backyard, I run through the house to the backyard where I find Justin also checking on the garden...well...either that or he's rearranging his beloved shed once more.

Because we love them so, we'd like to introduce you to our plants, too: These pictures were taken July 2nd, and they've already grown much.

 Artichokes and Watermelon. We inherited the artichokes from one of Justin's co-workers. Let's hope we can keep them going...so far they're having a hard time with the adjustment. I think I've over-watered them.

 Basil and Thyme. I've already used some of the basil :)

 Yellow bell peppers (left) and Blue Lake beans. While I can't eat the bells, I know Justin is keeping a close watch on the little buds because he loves them so.

 Chives and Cilantro. The chives are growing like a weed! We've used it already for a few baked potatoes, so I'm glad it regrows quickly. The cilantro, on the other hand, doesn't like us, so I gave him a trim and am waiting for him to regrow again.

 Spicy Spanish Pepper...hoping it's like a jalapeno. The store was fresh out of jalapenos and I didn't want to wait to get something in the ground. The pepper pictured on the right has grown and grown, and the plant produced three more baby peppers in just this last week. 

 Parsley and Rosemary. I purchased two rosemary plants because I know they can also be ornamental... If you have any great recipes featuring rosemary, please send them along.

Roma tomatoes (a.k.a. plum tomatoes). Since this pic was taken, the plant produced another baby tomato and they're getting to be more pear shaped. I love watching these grow the most.

 I also planted seeds for red leaf lettuce (left) and Brussels sprouts (right). I think the rain washed away my second line of lettuce because the first sprouted while the second is showing no signs of green.

Two more types of tomatoes: Sunny Boy (left) and Granny Smith (right). We got these after we purchased the others, so they're a little behind in production. Granny came with that little tomato, but the plant didn't look so hot, so I've since removed the tomato so the plant can feed its other leaves and stalk to get healthy again. 

 

Our neighbors gave us some geraniums they'd torn out, so we replanted them. They're finally starting to look healthy again. (Mags - these are what I was planting while I was on the phone with you and fighting with the snails!)

 Bougainvillea. I hope it gets bigger and bigger. It's so pretty against the blue of our outside wall.

 More rescued geraniums.

 A front yard tree that suddenly burst with purple flowers.

 Marigolds.

Chocolate sunflower popping up from a seed that Justin's mom sent us. They're growing!!

Some of this was covered in a previous post, but here are garden bed progression shots, for good measure: