We finally got around in mid May this year to planting a few veggies in our veggie patch on our hill. I know it’s rather late to be planting veggies but better late than never. Here’s the thing, one of the main reasons I was dillydallying in planting veggies  is because farmer’s markets abound in our area, with farmer’s market in every neighborhood offering farm fresh veggies all year round. Within a few miles of my home alone I can count five farmer’s markets that pop up on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Not only do we get farm fresh veggies all year round we can buy them at extremely reasonable prices. A bunch of carrots for $2, leeks and beets for $1.50, huge head of cauliflower for $3 – $2.50, giant cabbage for $1.50, 3 bunches of greens for a dollar each, oranges, grapes, peaches, apricots, plums, etc. With prices like these many times I come home with way too many vegetables.

So this year I told Hitesh “I am thinking of not planting veggies this year, why bother when we can get such cheap veggies at the farmer’s market?”  To which his response was “What! No way! We have to plant veggies! We do it for the fun and the joy of growing our own vegetables. 🍆🌶🍎 We have to plant some veggies.”  Okay, I get it, most of the joy of gardening is the happy feeling one gets from being outdoors, planting a few flower and veggie plants and watching them grow and produce a harvest – all this has a pleasure and gratification of it’s own that has a wonderful optimistic and cheerful effect on our emotions. I decided veggie gardening is worth the effort just to get these warm happy feelings and finally made it out to the nursery last weekend to pick up a few veggie plants, and we got busy planting.

In previous years we have not been successful with cucumber, zucchini, melons, eggplants, or pumpkins, so this year we decided to stick with what we know will do well  – tomatoes and peppers 🍅🌶.

Tomato and pepper plants planted and ready for some sunshine 🌞.

In this bed I planted a few squash seeds that my friend Padmini’s Father sent with her all the way from Dallas, Texas. Most of his seeds are for Indian squash vegetables that are hard to find here locally. I hope these seeds take!

I love flowers and I mean I LOVE flowers! So I made sure my veggie patch had space for lots of flowers, that way while we are waiting for the vegetables plants to produce their bounty, I have a bounty of flowers to tend to and cut for the home. Here is a look at my flower garden in our veggie patch.

Planted a few pansies into my raised beds when I planted kale and cabbage in late winter. The pansies and kale are still going strong, cabbage not so much.

Harvested a good amount of kale leaves to cook with.

Veggie planting is done 😊.  Now we water, fertilize and wait for our bounty 🍅🌶.