What I’m Growing: Strawberries, Fennel, Potatoes & Meyer Lemons

I am pretty proud of my garden so far this year. Kate and I planted a bunch of stuff back in January: lettuce, thyme, mint, dandelion, shallots, garlic, onion, peas, dill, and fennel.

I had a number of things still growing from last year: potatoes, rosemary, oregano, sage, lemon balm, strawberries, Meyer lemons, limes, blood oranges, and sorrel.

The roses are starting to bloom, I have buds on my azaleas, and the jasmine smells so wonderful.

I got my first Meyer lemons the other day, and a couple tiny blood oranges. Everything else is doing great. The only thing that didn’t make it was the dill. Not sure why but I can never seem to keep dill alive.

My grapevine came back from last year (I thought I killed it.) I use the grape leaves when I make dill pickles in summertime (it makes them crunchy). The garlic and shallots I started from stuff that grew in the compost.

And I have a bunch of volunteer tomato seedlings popping up all over.

So far, my vegetable garden this year has been a walk in the park. I have literally only spent a few hours on it — planting that one day back in January. Already I have all this food!

I always say I’m the laziest gardener ever. I guess I’m lucky living in Los Angeles. You throw it in the ground and it grows.  (Some good compost helps, not to mention lots of worms and an automatic sprinkler system.)

I’ll have to do some soil amending (adding compost and manure) and plant a few more things soon… some more varieties of tomato (organic/heirloom) and lots of basil. I plan to make lots and lots of pesto pizza and Caprese salads this summer.

Click on a photo below to enlarge.