First, the giveaway winners for the Welcome vinyls are: Lethea Benson and my longtime friend and reader, Kathy. Congrats ladies, you’ll both be getting a Welcome for your front doors. I’ve already emailed you and will put you in touch with Jodi. Those of you who would like to order one for yourselves, we have a 10% off code which will be good for one week from today: VINYL10. I hope you’ll take advantage and get one for yourselves. The Welcome and As for Me and My House vinyls will be added to the shop in the next couple of days in case you want those too, in time to use the coupon code. Thanks so much for signing up!
Really, I don’t mind all that much that my hubby is growing beans in the front yard. I mean, isn’t that what people expect from those of us living in this great state of Alabama. 🙂 I’m sure it won’t surprise a lot of folks at all and really, that’s where the best sun is in our yard. So, we do what we gotta do.
It worked so well last year, that he’s doing it again. Now, just a disclaimer. After those pole bean vines climb the fence, he will remove the wood and cover the plastic weed block with some mulch, so that will make it look a little better at least. 🙂
Just for me, he planted some Blue Lake beans. My favorite and what I grew up on from my daddy’s garden.
Our 6 blueberry bushes in the front yard are coming along and we’ll have a few berries this year.
He made sure he planted LOTS of tomatoes this year and they are looking good, since he bought more mature plants to start with on these.
Our Kiowa variety of blackberries that we planted last year are really taking off on a growth spurt and are loaded with berries. They’re just beginning to get ripe. Yippee!! 
I have such fond memories of growing up and picking blackberries in the woods. Lot of chiggers later, we would have plenty to bring home. 
With this method of growing, chiggers should not be a problem. It’s like having our own blackberry patch trained on posts and wire. 
And the fruit is hanging there, ready for the pickin’.
These are going to be SO good. Click over to this post for a look at how they grow them at Petals from the Past, which is where we got our plants. They are HUGE, as big as a thimble.
More tomatoes in another area. These have further to grow. Hubby plants wherever he can find a spot that gets enough sun. We don’t have the best backyard for growing veggies, but he is making do.
This year, the hubs got really industrious and added some concrete blocks to the lower part of our backyard to catch even more sun. These beans should climb the fence just right back here too.
He planted all these from seeds and they’re all really growing towards the sun.
More pole beans under a tree and going up the fencing. At this rate, we’ll be covered in beans in a very short while. Beans and cornbread, it’s a great combo down South. 
I’ll keep you posted on our veggie harvesting this year. I’m really glad that my hubby has taken such an interest in gardening. It goes way back for him and he enjoyed growing things when he was little, following his Pappy around looking at all the things that were growing at his house here in Birmingham.
And it sure is nice to get home-grown food right from the backyard.
How about you? Are ya’ll growing things this year? I think more and more people are getting interested in growing food at home, to save money and to grow organically too.
Tell me what YOU are growing, I’d love to hear!
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Sharing an email I got from Glidden (and nope, I’m not getting paid for this, just passing on some good info):
With a brush attached to the lid and enough paint to cover 3 square feet, Glidden ready-to-go paint testers make it easy to get going on your next paint project. And we’re now giving you the chance to paint it forward with our Get Color Give Color giveaway. Starting June 1, log on to Glidden.com for your chance to get 2 free testers for yourself and give 2 free testers to a friend. June 1 – 7 while supplies last.
Now, that’s a great way to promote paint!
The tomatoes and zucchini and yellow squash are planted. Still need to make room for cucumbers, green beans and I ‘d like to try a few pumpkins. Love the garden…hate the weeding. 🙂 Love that you are growing green beans in the front yard! You’ve got to go where the sun is!
Your plants all look great! Before we cut down a huge privet to make room for a garden, we grew tomatoes in our front flower bed. They actually looked nice. Our garden spot is looking a little shadier this year and I may need to put some tomatoes out front again. Almost everything else is looking good – except for the corn that the bunnies ate!
I am so jealous of your garden, especially the berries. We have a sweet black lab that affectionatley tears up everything put into the ground! Here is hoping that next year will be different! When you wrote about chiggers I had a flood of memories from my summers in N.C.! No chiggers in Fl, just loads of mosquitos!
I will be here dreaming of blueberry cobbler!
LOVE seeing all of your growing plants! Those blackberries look AMAZING! I decided yesterday that we absolutely need strawberry plants next year – I think you may have just added blackberries to the list, too;) We have two blueberry bushes, but one was stripped completely bare by the bunnies/squirrels in the backyard:( We’ve done mostly square foot gardens this year and I’m so amazed by how they’re growing. I thought I was being too ambitious with the variety of things we have planted, but so far it hasn’t been too bad – the raised beds are controlling a ton and seem to keep it tame for me, for now;) In the boxes we have sugar peas, 4 tomato plants, arugula and mixed greens, chili peppers, sweet peppers, poblano peppers, leeks, green onions, beets, carrots, kale, swiss chard, potatoes, blue lake beans, spearmint, chamomille, balm lemon, rosemary, sage, lavender, tarragon, dill and a whole bunch of zinnias! Plus 6 other tomato plants that may or may not make it:) We’ve already started eating tons of the lettuce and I just saw a few of the tomato plants flowering, so now I’m getting so excited to be closer and closer to all of the goodness out there:)
wow! your plants look just amazing. i’d LOVE a garden like that but simply don’t have the space. best of luck (even though it looks like you don’t need it!!)
Okay now, I live in the South too (TN), but will have to admit, I’ve not seen beans grown in the front yard! How funny!!
Luckily, we have good sun on most of our yard, and a little bit of land to work with. We have two plots plowed up in the back, away from the house. One bed is just okra and in the other bed we have tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Several tomato plants. We don’t do corn and beans, although we love them, but a little more time and work than we want. Hubby loves gardening too. We are lucky for the farmers’ markets in our area, we can purchase good, fresh produce for cheap, so what we don’t plant, we buy there. I love silver queen corn and the only beans for me are white half runners.
My family has always gardened also.
tina
Wow…looks like you will be having a feast of delicious homegrown goodies this harvest! We have the same issue w/sun and have to sneak the veggies in all over the place, too!
Look great!
xoxo Beth
Wow! I’ve never seen concrete blocks used to plant in, but what a great idea!
We’re growing tomatoes, beans, okra, tomatoes, and mint.
Hi, Rhoda
I love all your little gardens,, those blackberries are gorgeous,, Where we live now I didnt really think i had room to plant a garden but if i get creative the way your husband is doing I could certainly do it. . We do have a few tomatoes planted in buckets but thats about all,, however, my dad has a garden that my sister, my mom and I have been helping with this year,, He planted peas, beans, potatoes, onions(not sure if these are gonna make it), okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, radishes and squash.. I think thats all,, we’re already getting more squash than we can eat and we’re anxiously waiting for the tomatoes and cucumbers to start coming in.. I posted a few pics of my daddy’s beautiful garden on my blog.
Good Morning Rhoda…..and how nice to see my name up in lights LOL I am so happy….thanks and thank you to Jodi you two made my day !!!
We planted lettuce for the first time…Boston Lettuce, planted it from seed in April….it is looking great, can’t wait to pick it, we have one little bunny that hops around our yard and she’s not touched it !!! We will plant some tomatoes…..I love the idea of your pole beans and blueberries… your garden looks fantastic…..great idea using those cinder blocks Peter…..
I grew up with an Italian Grandfather living nextdoor and we had an amazing garden HUGE….as a kid I thought everyone had one and now wish I had paid more attention….we had asparagus that my Great-Grandfather planted….beans, lettuce, rhubarb, collared greens, carrots, every couple years corn to name a few…..and tons of toms…..we had a pear tree, apple trees, and grapes vines….before my time my Grandfathers Father made wine…. instead of watching Mum (my grandmother) put up tomatoes in jars I wish I had listened to her and learned how to do it…..they ate from their garden and lived to be 91 in their own home…much like your Eleanor 🙂
Good luck with your garden…..and thanks again for all the work you put into your blog and your WONDERFUL giveaways….
All the best,
xo Kathy 🙂
We planted only 4 tomato plants this year. (Just the two of us)
We would love to try our hand at those berries. They look delicious!
We’ve been too busy redoing front landscaping.
Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
We are growing heirloom tomatoes in our front garden. I just hid them behind mounds of zinnias! You can’t even see them from the road, which is a good thing, since my hubby came up with the bright idea of using our kids left-over arrows (as in bow and arrow) as tomato stakes! We look like we’ve been attacked by a tribe of Apaches!
Oh, I just love all your gardens!! I would love to grow berries of some soft 🙂 This year, I’m growing tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, bell pepper, banana pepper, jalapeno and I think that’s it. I’m beginning to get blooms on most of them, which is super exciting! I’m only a second year gardner, but I think I’m getting a green thumb already 🙂
Hi Rhoda 🙂
I guess you already know the answer to what’s growing in my garden, since you beat me on commenting LOL Your garden looks amazing! I can only hope mine will look that good 🙂
xo,
rue
I am sitting here drooling over your plants. No I can’t plant yet. Believe it or not, it snowed on Sunday with 3 1/2″!!! It is almost Memorial Day!!! I have the raised boxes ready to go, in fact when I get home to Big Bear from Vegas I will take pictures and post on my blog. Good thing my brother in law is growing a couple of things, that way I have my fix! But it is unbelievable!!!
PS love the concrete blocks, I may have to borrow that idea!
Definitely very lovely. I actually love that you have veggies out front!
Love the concrete blocks idea!
you have quite the variety of items growing. those berries look dee-lish! next year i would like to build some raised beds for veggies b/c our soil is very claylike. i am growing strawberries in a pot (just tasted the first one yesterday! last year the squirrels and bunnies got to them before i did), yellow peppers, and eggplant in a container. i didn’t know you could do eggplant in a container, but that’s what its tag says. it seems to be doing well, there is already a flower blooming. and the peppers look good too. happy gardening!
No fruit or veggies in my yard…just snakes! Have you seen my recent post? Grrrrrrrrrrr
I’d love to have some tomatoes. I grew up picking them right off the vines and eating them while sitting in the sunshine. Wonderful!
And oh how I love a good ole tomato sandwich…and BLTs too.
Hugs!
Kat
I make a delicious simple buttermilk cake recipe that I top with berries, I just love fresh berries and can’t wait to try your recipes too. I’m clearing out a spot today for hubby to garden, isn’t it great when they get involved? Yours has some great sized plants already! Happy healthy eating. Mary