Mr. Green Thumb

When William was born we received some radish and "sweet William" seed packets from our close friend, Colleen, and Steve decided that starting a small garden would be a great project to do with Caroline. Steve's parents came to meet William for the first time in April; since we like to keep them busy while they are here (we don't really let any visitors rest!), John built us two raised garden beds. Steve and Caroline got busy right away planting radishes, tomatoes (two kinds!), blueberries, lettuce, spinach, beans, leeks, pumpkins, sunflowers, and carrots. Those of you who know us well know that Steve has been really, really busy on his current work project, but tending his garden during his few free minutes has been a real source of joy for him this summer. And a source of lots of teasing from me. I mean, the man asked for a pickling kit for his birthday. :)

Here is Steve in his "happy place:"

We've been enjoying lots of fresh spinach and lettuce at dinner, and many of his other crops will be ready to pick soon. By coincidence, Steve's two best friends from Colorado, Brent and Rich, have also been gardening this summer. I'm not trying to start a fight or anything, but let's just say that when we started this blog, Steve suggested "my garden is better than your garden" for

a title.

Speaking of gardening, do you have an herb garden? Steve's mom got me started last summer, and I'm totally hooked. I don't know why I didn't think of this years ago. Here's mine, with chives, parsley, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and dill. I have seperate pots for basil, because I use so much of that, and mint, because it would take over the whole pot if mixed with the others.