Hello. It’s me.

OK, sorry for the rip off, Adele. I’ve missed you, my friends! I apologize for my absence, but for the past month, my poor blog has been broken. Literally. Thanks to the wonderful David from Ghost.org tech support who cured my ailing site, I’m finally back! Yay!

While I spent an inordinate amount of time stressing over my lack of technical prowess, I’ve also been quite busy. There’s so much to share with you.

When we last chatted, I told you about my quest to grow all the plants for a beautiful edible garden from seed, tubers, or cuttings—and I do mean, ALL.

The project consumed my life these past months. It’s an incredible experience, to look at my garden and know that everything in it started from a tiny seed, propagated, nurtured, and planted by me. Wow. Today, I finally finished planting the last bit of the big kitchen garden. I still need to plant some seedling perennial Echinacea throughout the gardens and find homes for begonias grown from seed, probably adding them to the front beds. I also need to add a few more herbs to the small herb gardens on the side of the house—but I’m almost done.

It’s been a crazy spring. We’ve added several new growing spaces throughout the garden.

A fabulous elevated planter from CedarCraft, that now serves as a chef’s dream herb garden on our balcony. (More about this next time, as I’m excited to report that I’m serving as an ambassador for CedarCraft now.)

A crazy cool keyhole garden that I won last year from Vita Gardens—but never installed due to the need to remove a dead tree first—which finally happened last winter. (More on the keyhole garden soon, too!)

Plus, I’ve been playing with growing edibles in small spaces. Hanging baskets, planters, large containers, window boxes, small baskets, ornamental metal tubs—I’m trialing all kinds of methods to grow edibles for every gardener’s situation: urban farm, suburban backyard, or apartment dweller. No matter the space, there’s a way to grow edibles beautifully.

It’s become a bit of an obsession: how can I create beautiful edible gardens everywhere?

Then, as I was so close to finishing planting all of my carefully tended babies, reality hit.

As I harvested the garlic Sunday, clearing the bed to plant melons, I felt a searing pain on my left wrist—and darn if a stinking yellow jacket didn’t find me! Grrr! I’ve been out of commission until today. One sting made my entire arm swell up, requiring a cortisone shot and antibiotics. As Mikey said, “You look like the aunt Harry Potter accidentally blew up when he got mad.” Thanks, Mikey. In reality, I was lucky—I didn’t need my EpiPen. I also didn’t encounter the entire nest that Peter dug out—it was large! So, I whined about my useless arm for a few days and covertly scratched while Mikey wasn’t looking (that boy is merciless in his “no scratching” rules.) Today, with my arm almost back to normal size, I ventured back out to the big kitchen garden, looking everywhere to make sure the yellow jackets were truly gone, and then I finally, finally finished planting for the summer.

And I got two ant bites on my right hand. Seriously.

Still, although the creatures are out to terrorize me, the time in the garden rejuvenates my energy. A friend asked me recently if I meditate. I laughed—with the constant shuttling of kids to activities, writing projects, and garden work, when would I meditate? Then, as I weeded the garden Saturday prior to the yellow jacket incident, I realized I do meditate, just not traditionally. Gardening soothes my soul. The repetitiveness in sowing seeds, the therapeutic pulling of weeds, the pleasure in tying up enormous tomato plants that I started from tiny seeds—it’s my form of meditation. After a session in the garden, my mind clears, my attitude improves, and I find a burst of creative energy mingled with all the sweat.

(Of course, my meditation was short lived on Sunday, my Zen-like state interrupted by some rude words and pain.)

So, now that both my blog and arm are back in action, let’s catch up, shall we? My “beautiful edible project” kicked off this spring with...

...gorgeous heirloom peas...

...containers filled with flowers and herbs...

...a rainbow of radishes...

...companion planting combinations to add beauty and pest control.

There’s so much to share with you—I’m trialing lots of new plants that look great (so far) for small spaces, plus I’ve selected new-to-me heirlooms that will add a gorgeous show to the garden—and yumminess to the dinner plate. I’m also excited to share some of our upcoming travels with you—we’re heading to Malta and Switzerland soon to visit family but with garden touring on the itinerary, and the Garden Bloggers Fling will be coming up in July. So much happening!!

I’m also excited to share that I’m writing for TravelingMom.com. So, if you’re looking for vacation ideas, check out this fabulous website. The writers all travel throughout the world and share their best tips and destinations. I shared my favorite secluded beaches for the best snorkeling in Turks and Caicos here.

Gardens, kids, travel, and hopefully some new exciting projects (fingers crossed!) are keeping me hopping. What’s new with you? Catch me up! I’d love to know what you’re growing this year. Anything new to you? Are you adding anything to create your own beautiful edible garden? If you’d like to share, post a photo on my Garden Delights Facebook page or on Instagram and tag it #beautifulediblegardenproject so we can see!

I’ve missed you, friends. I hope you’ve been enjoying a lovely spring.

XOXO ~

Julie