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Teresa is here today to share ideas for planting a summer garden and a recipe for .
After Mother’s Day each year, my children know we will plant a garden. Having a back yard garden is a fun, productive activity for my kiddos and me. Each year, we seem to ask my husband to dig out a bigger bed than the previous year and we always manage to fill it up with seeds and plants.
We happen to love fresh summer vegetables and fruit and what a better way to have them all summer long than to plant them in our back yard? Not only do I save a huge bunch of money on my grocery bill over the summer months by supplying my family with fresh organic summer foods; I also give the kids a chance to grow closer to nature. There is nothing more delicious than freshly picked vegetables from your own garden.
We are a family of tomato lovers, so we always plant plenty of tomatoes and manage to have them from August through the end of October as long as we do not get any freezing weather. Tomatoes also happen to be one of the easiest plants to grow in a home garden.
Another favorite in our family is string beans. I recall as a child picking rows upon rows of string beans for my grandmother to can and I had so much fun helping her with this task. My little girls love nothing more than to grab a bowl and check to see how many beans are ready each day. This is another very easy seed to grow and you will have been all summer long, well into the fall.
I also plant peas for my little one, as she will gobble them right up from the pod minutes after she plucks them from the plant. This is another very easy vegetable to grow, in the fall, you would simply need to cut the plant down, and it will come back in the spring the following year.
Some of my favorite summer foods to plant are kale, radishes, and beets. I make a delicious summer salad out of these three vegetables that I could eat every single day. Beets are extremely easy to grow as well and another bonus for our family is our bunny loves the leaves from the beets so I literally do not throw any part of this plant away.
For summer fruits, we only plant melons as other fruits are more difficult to plant in the Midwest. We plant cantaloupe and watermelon and sadly, we usually do not get a great turnout of these fruits. We try hard but always seem to do better with vegetables.
Roasted Beet and Kale Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 4 oz. fresh kale
- ¼ cup Honey Balsamic Dressing
- 3 cups fresh roasted beets
- 2 avocados (diced)
- ¼ cup dried cranberries (or any other dried fruit you may have)
- 10 oz. goat cheese
- 5 oz. walnuts (finely chopped)
Honey Balsamic Dressing
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp. honey
- ½ tsp. salt and pepper (optional)
- 1 cup olive oil (I use grapeseed or coconut oil)
Instructions
- Mix together salad components and place on a plate.
- In a jar, add the dressing ingredients and shake vigorously until all combined and then pour over the salad.
There are a number of vegetables that can be grown in the summer. What are your favorite summer foods to grow in a garden?
Lauren says
I have to get some planting done! I have only planted peas so far, but they are doing well.
Stephanie says
Love the tomato plants! I keep saying that we are going to start a garden.
Tanya says
My son loves to help in the garden. Last year we did tomatoes and he loved that he got to go pick them. This year we didn’t do produce but rose bushes. He goes out once a week and picks me flowers 🙂 Its a great activity to involve our kids in.