Last night’s dinner was all leftovers, a veritable smorgasbord of American, Italian, and Mexican delights from this week.  Since I have nothing new to say about what I have cooked I thought I would show what is going on with our backyard produce.

First, here is an overall look at what we have to work with, almost no space and no sun to speak of.

No space and no sun for growing much

So we can only grow plants which are happy in the shade or spend the day moving plants around trying to find a patch of sun. I have an Early Girl tomato plant and a pot of basil and one of parsley that get the move-around treatment. I have another tomato plant which is planted in the ground. You can see the difference.

Tomato plant on wheels

Sad tomato plant that doesn’t get much sun (also bumper crop of oregano)

Some of my Early Girl tomatoes are beginning to ripen which is very exciting. Most of the tomatoes we will get this summer will come from our daughter’s plot in the Community Garden.

Ripening Early Girl tomato

Daughter’s Community Garden plot – tomato plants in the cages, fava beans along the left side, some peppers in the middle, and clumps of poppies, the California state flower

Another view of her garden – amazing what good soil and sun will do! All her plants were started from seeds.

Other things we grow in our little backyard are chives, thyme, mint, basil, parsley, and oranges.

Chives, mint, and thyme

Basil in a pot keeps the slugs away

Tiny oranges, the most we have ever had is two

Around the corner in the backyard I have a 25 year old rose bush which we cannot see from the house or when we are in the backyard, unfortunately. But it makes it easier to cut the flowers and bring them into the house.

Rose bush, Don Juan

So that is a tour of our little backyard, nice to sit in but hard to grow anything in. Our front yard is in the shade as well with just a little sun first thing in the morning. It is a joy, though, to go outside and pick fresh herbs and I cannot wait to taste my first tomato!