One of my favorite parts of this season has been stepping outside each morning to check on the garden. After months of planting, watering, and waiting, we’re finally harvesting vegetables from our raised beds.
This year the garden has been a mix of flowers, herbs, and vegetables. In one bed I’m growing bush beans, yellow squash, zucchini, kale, basil, marigolds, and nasturtiums. In the other bed I have strawberries, cucumbers, dill, and sage.
The yellow squash and green beans have been the stars of the garden so far. One night I made a simple stir fry using fresh squash and green beans from the garden. The next day I finely chopped yellow squash and added it to a beef bolognese sauce. It’s such a satisfying feeling to bring vegetables from the garden straight to the dinner table.
One thing I’ve really appreciated this year is how simple the watering routine has been. I installed a soaker hose in the bed, and now I simply connect the hose, turn on the water, and let it run. Most days I water once a day, although during hotter weather I water twice.
I also added a simple bee and butterfly watering station using a terracotta saucer, a small terracotta pot, and a few stones. It’s a small addition, but I love knowing the pollinators have a place to stop for water during the heat of summer.
Not everything has been perfect. The strawberries haven’t produced as much as I hoped, although we have picked a few incredibly sweet berries. The dill has grown huge and gone to seed, and the cucumbers are still getting established. Gardening always feels like a mix of successes, experiments, and lessons learned.
What makes this harvest feel especially rewarding is that nearly everything in these beds was started from seed. Months ago, the squash, beans, basil, marigolds, and nasturtiums were tiny seedlings sitting in trays. Watching them grow from seeds into healthy plants producing food for our family has been one of the most satisfying parts of gardening.
For now, I’m simply enjoying the first harvests of the season and looking forward to seeing what the garden produces next. There is something special about stepping outside, gathering a basket of food, and turning it into dinner for your family.
