This is a partial view of my backyard. In the foreground is one of my gardens. We call it our trellis garden. This photo was taken on October 19th, so the garden is winding down. Remaining in this garden are turnips, peas, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, basil and parsley.

It was our first big year with sweet potatoes and we got 118 pounds – not bad for a drought. The pasture is beyond the garden.  It’s pretty brown because of the drought. 

This is another garden area. We call it our square foot garden. In it are carrots, strawberries (we’re still getting a few in October!), kale, turnips, lettuce, onions, jalapeno peppers, spinach, and asparagus.

You can also see part of our barn. The sliding door opens to my garden shed. You can see some of the greenhouse on the right. In the greenhouse we’ll harvest spinach, kale, lettuce, carrots, radishes, parsley, broccoli, cabbage and rosemary throughout the winter. We’ll also get some peas this winter. The building beyond is our neighbor’s garage.

I took both photos while standing in the kids’ playground area. It is 32′ x 32′ and has two swingsets and a playhouse in it.

We grow almost all of our vegetables year round. I buy some extra carrots occasionally, and I had to buy some more potatoes (the drought) but that is about all. I even grew enough onions for the first time to last us the whole year. And we just ate our last watermelon the first week of November!

Fortunately I love to garden, and so do the kids. All the children have their own garden beds. But Emery has the greenest thumb. Gardening in Indiana has been a challenge, but I’m finally getting the hang of it!

I love my backyard!