Potatoes! Onions! (And peonies too!) More and more of our yard is being taken over by edible plants. This back bed was filled with random perennials, some scraggly yews and weeds when we bought the house back in 2004. Today most of that was been ripped out to make way for our newest farming project -- potatoes. They seem to be taking well to this old planting bed, although the ones growing in the shade of the fence are taking longer to get established.
The strawberries are producing well this spring and I think I found the secret to keeping the squirrels from eating/damaging them -- different birdseed in the feeders. The safflower and thistle are safe because the squirrels don't like them and stay away from our yard.
And in the other end of the main raised bed, peppers and tomatoes. I bought them from several different sources this year (and didn't even attempt starting seeds), so things were planted pretty randomly. I did discover that the best place to purchase veggie plants in our area is Keller's Farmstand. We went to their location in Naperville, but they also sell plants at their Oswego location. That beautiful, hearty looking pepper you see in the corner is from Keller's. They grow them locally, so I don't think they suffer from shock like some of the other things I've purchased.
The raspberries are coming along nicely -- you can see the new bed in the photo above -- it's to the east of the main bed. And the secondary strawberry patch, although a weedy mess, is also producing quite well this year.
I'm really enjoying gardening this year and looking forward to harvesting lots of veggies, and hopefully some raspberries, this summer.
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