Promise of Peace Community Garden - grace grits and gardening

photo session with a garden hose

May 29, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I had a photo session in the garden yesterday with my photographer/gardener friend Jerry (Jmac Images). I needed a head shot photo for various blogger events (or so I’m always told), so I bit the bullet and “posed”. Awkward for me. Just ask Jerry.

Until I put on gardening gloves and grabbed the hose. Then it was fun.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

I love the way Jerry captured the garden in the background, the Promise of Peace sign, the blue sky.

Watering my tomatoes…

It was a fun afternoon!

Plus, I discovered another ripe strawberry. Bonus.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Water is the driving force in nature.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

The true story of my garden in May.

May 26, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

This is a true story. Non-fiction. My garden in May is growing exactly like the seed packages promised. This truth shocks me each day. Always before, the idea of a garden filled with a bounty of vegetables, growing according to the seed package instructions, was purely fictional.

Mythical even.

My Serrano, jalapeño and bell peppers all seem to be thriving. Look at this bell pepper. It’s the size of my fist. It will be roasting on John’s Big Green Egg today.

My cucumbers are coming on! I plan to try my hand at canning these.

My first tomato harvest. These are Romas.

And check out my celery. It really looks like celery.

Last week I harvested the last of my onions, a few more radishes, added fertilizer and I’ve been topping off my Ollas every two-three days.

I planted okra seeds and they sprouted in three days. Wow. True story.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

When You’re Smiling – Doris Day

my garden in the lusty month of May

May 13, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I’ve always been a huge fan of strawberries, but today I am celebrating the most glorious strawberry ever. Glorious because I grew it in my garden! My first ever strawberry. I named her Scarlet. Yes I did. She’s plump and lusty and such a vibrant spot of color. Growing strawberries may not seem like a big deal to all you long-time gardeners out there, but Scarlet gives me hope and makes me believe I can do this veggie (and fruit) gardening thing.

Last year I swore I would never again attempt to grow a tomato. I even posted a rant about it on Facebook. That’s how serious I was about the whole tomato debacle. What a difference a year makes, a year with a plot of land in full sun. I have several varieties of tomatoes, and they seem to be doing well (knock on wood). I don’t take full credit. I have rich compost from Promise of Peace, organic fertilizer from Redentas, egg shells from Great Day Farms and Ollas which provide steady irrigation. But still...

All spring I’ve had a bounty of onions and radishes—enough to share with neighbors. And my squash and cucumbers are thriving. So far, so good.