Today's harvest

Those are asparagus beans, which are just beginning to produce.  I measured one; it was 19 inches long!  Also pictured are our very first cayenne to turn red yet this year.  There are 30+ long, still-green cayenne in the garden, as we are growing nine of these pepper plants this year. Other peppers pictured include red hot cherry, hot bananas, mammoth jalapenoes, an anaheim chili, and some sweet bells.  Those are also the first ichiban eggplants we have pulled off the plants and the largest onion we have harvested yet.  I had to cut back the basil heavily today, as they are already wanting to flower, after which they will be too strong to eat.

We made salsa last night and so started with an empty bowl this morning; this was harvested today.

We are so thankful for and blessed by our garden, which is not particularly large (our 2 vegetable beds encompass approximately 250 square feet).  We didn't have a lot of experience when we started our first garden together, and we have never used any chemicals in growing our food.  We love gardening and know that it is easy and so much fun and we really encourage everyone to grow pure, clean, healthy and organic food.

Here is a great reference to get you started:

We have learned a lot from this author, use a lot of his methods, and refer to his book regarding spacing requirements and organic fertilizers and other things.  We do not adhere strictly to the square foot method, nor is it necessary in order to learn lots from this book.  This is definitely the first book I recommend to anyone interested in beginning vegetable gardening.

We are going to make our special garden recipe "Irish Flag Chicken Chili" with much of today's harvest tonight.  I will be posting the recipe later.