My Edible garden n Simple caprese salad!
“Where you have a plot of land, however small, plant a garden. Staying close to the soil is good for the soul.” – Spencer W. Kimball
So true! This is my second year of gardening and I am totally enjoying every bit of it. It gives me a satisfaction and of course it is pure joy to watch your plants grow closely. You get to see every bit of progress closely. Whether you plant the seeds or buy that tiny plant from Lowes, it is interesting to see how it grows from seed to sprout, sprout to blossom and from blossom to fruit.
Oh how about me giving you a short tour of my pretty little garden? Interesting? Bring a cuppa coffee or smoothie (whatever the weather demands) and please join me 🙂 In the end I will also share a recipe of simple Caprese salad, that I made using fresh ingredients right from my garden! Come on in 🙂
This year we are growing variety of Tomatoes, Eggplant, Bell pepper, Thai chili pepper, Serrano, Strawberry, Okra, Basil, Thai basil, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Chives, Roses n some other flowers!
“Roses n other flowers”
“Herbs”
Herb plants – Herbs can make any dish flavorful. And little bit goes long way.
Beautiful Mint and Oregano
Tip: Mint can takeover your garden easily so it is advisible to plant it in a pot.
Chives: It has mild onion flavor so kind of green onion but with less sharp flavors.
“beautiful Rosemary n Thyme”
Rosemary, thyme, oregano or any herb : Use to make flavored oil, add a bit of it to any dish that will make it way flavorful. Herbs are like magic ingredient.
“Trying to grow Tulsi – Holy plant form India”
Now let’s go to vegetable section:
At first:
“Okra”
Beautiful eggplant blossom n tiny Japanese Eggplant!
“Bell pepper flower”
“Beautiful tiny bell peppers”
Bell peppers: Use it in salad, make a curry or fill it with quinoa or couscous.
“Hot chili”
Chili pepper: It’s hot! 🙂
“First harvest of the season”
“Second harvest”
Now some fruits:
Strawberry
More Strawberries!
Strawberris: Our all time favorite fruit. Make smoothies, pies, crumble or just munch on it.
Oh yes- Tomato is a fruit 🙂
Gorgeous tomato flower and tiny little tomatoes.
“Tomatoes ready to harvest n ready for some simple delicious Caprese salad”
I even wanted to try root vegetables, but I think my patio will not be able to handle the weight of huge containers. Yes, I am growing all the above mentioned vegetables in my patio. Some of you might be surprised, but yes, it is absolutely possible.
All you need to grow beautiful garden is care, love and passion. Then it is absolutely FUN. Oh and in this HOT weather, it definitely needs lottttss of water.
But all this hard work is absolutely worth when you harvest your first batch of strawberries or tomatoes or bell peppers or anything that you are growing. It’s PURE JOY!
So now what do you do when you harvest lots of tomatoes? Make ice-ceam, or thai chutney or this easy Caprese salad!
Simple Caprese salad:
Ingredients:
Tomatoes, Fresh mozzarella, Basil, Salt, Pepper, EVOO and Balsamic vinegar
Method:
Slice tomatoes and fresh mozzarella in a bowl/plate. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle some EVOO and Balsamic vinegar. Garnish with juliened basil leaves and serve.
That’s all!
I hope you enjoyed the tour 🙂
Question: Are you growing anything in your garden? If Yes, I would love to hear about it and if you have a link of your garden post or pictres, would love to see it.
Thanks!
Totally inspired… i have just planted coriander and bitterguard. I hope they grow :))
nicee Sandhya! Corriande n Bittergourd hmmmm?? Looking forward to the pictures 🙂
Lovely, lovely photos and that salad!!! Beautiful to look at, refreshing to contemplate!
Beautiful! Gardening is so much fun!
This post if filled with inspiration, specially for someone like me who misses a backyard and wishes to learn how to grow a plant successful, by the window if possible. I am failing all the time but sill has hope. Hubby asked me to start with cactus 😀 😀
Kankana, thanks dear! I also do not have a backyard but I do have a large patio. You can also grow almost anything in your patio if you have some place to hang the planters.
http://www.topsygardening.com/ You can not go wrong with it. Good luck 🙂
Okay, that’s it!l Next year I am going to do my garden plot in pots…your veggies look so good and healthy. My veggies in my garden look sad…no matter how much I water. Did you do everything in pots? What kind of soil? From seeds or plants? Gardening is always a learning process.
Also thanks for the wonderful Beanilla! I am planning on something wonderful with it. T
Thank you very much Teresa 🙂
Yes, gardening is a learning process. And I am really enjoying every bit of it.
I grow everything in pot because I do not have proper backyard. I bought tiny plants of almost everything (that actually helps) and I even grow some from seeds (for that I first use tiny greenhouses – makes them sprout faster).
And I do not use normal pots – I use upside down planters. http://www.topsygardening.com/
I can grow almost anything in this cute planters. And so far it is working wonderfully.
About soil, I use miracle grow’s moisture control soil.
BTW, looking forward to your recipe with Beanilla beans 🙂
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