Reluctant Entertainer

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

I love this time of year! If I can’t find the vegetables I’m looking for in our garden, I head up to the Farmer’s Market or trade with a friend.

Here’s what’s happening in our garden this week.

And I’d love to hear what’s happening in yours?

We planted butter crunch lettuce in our Herb Trough.

Beautiful tomatoes just now coming on – strong! Getting excited to roast and freeze!

Purple basil in the Herb Trough.

Green beans.

Yummy zucchini and squash.

Even on a city lot we’ve taken advantage of the beds in our backyard, converting them to garden beds.

It sure makes cooking easy in the summertime. And affordable, too. My husband went shopping with me this past weekend and he couldn’t believe the price of produce. More incentive to garden!

So, if you garden, how does your garden grow?

If you remember my $5 compost bin post when we picked up free pallets from the local Grange Co-op, my husband also picked up a different kind of wood pallet that was free.

We brought them home and painted them the color of the fence, putting them side by side, making our own trellises. (We have 2 sets in the backyard, too!)

Replanted some climbing roses that were in the front (and not thriving) to the side of the house.

And turned what was not very pretty on the side, to pretty and happy roses.

I’m pretty sure that our roses are from Jackson & Perkins (if you want to read up on them, you can here.) You can also get a close-up view on page 35 in my new book, The Reluctant Entertainer.

They make a beautiful, simple centerpiece for entertaining!

Are you creative with free or discounted items? I’d love to hear about or see some of your frugal gardening projects?