| Leslie and I want to grow so many things in our garden but since we are rookies we decided to go for some of the “easier” things to grow this season. Once we get some experience, we will diversify our produce portfolio! So here our list of plants: | Leslie y yo queremos plantar tantas cosas en nuestro jardinpero como somos novatos decidimos plantar los vegetales que son mas “faciles” de cuidar. Una vez que ganemos experiencia, diversificaremos nuestro portafolio de vegetales! Asi que aqui va la lista de lo que tenemos hasta ahora: |
| Tomatoes! We wanted tomatoes – of course! I eat about 10 each week so we got 4 tomatoes plants: 2 Beefsteak plants, a Mr. Stripey plant and a Cherry plant. I also got 4 cages to help the tomato plants grow and stay fairly contained. | Tomates! Queremos tomates – por supuesto! Como mas o menos 10 tomates cada semana, asi que tenemos 4 plantas: 2 del tipo Beefsteak, 1 del tipo Mr. Stripey y una de tomates cherry. Tambine compre unas jaulas que proven soporte cuando las plantas crezcan y las mantiene mas bajo control y facil de cosechar. |
| Asparagus! This is a long term investment since we have to take care of the plant for about 3 years to be able to harvest decent size asparagus. The plant is beautiful, like a fern, so for now it will decorate our garden. | Esparragos! Esta es una inversion a largo plazo ya que tenemos que cuidar la planta por mas o menos 3 anos para poder tener un cosecha decente. La planta es muy linda, como un helecho, asi que por mientras decorara nuestro jardin. |
| Butternut squash! We have 4 plants so if everything goes well, we will have butternut squash for a whole army! Or, at least enough for friends who might be interested… | Zapallo Butternut! Tenemos 4 plantas asi que si todo sale bien, tendremos zapallo para un regimiento! O, por lo menos extra para amigos que esten interesados… |
| Spaghetti squash! Annie made this delicious type of squash for us one Sunday and we really like the flavor and the texture. We have 1 plant so hopefully we will have something to harvest! | Zapallo Spaghetti! Annie preparo este delicioso zapallo un domingo y nos gusto mucho el sabor y la textura. Tenemos una planta asi que ojala nos de algunos frutos para cosechar. |
| Thai Chili! We have to grow some hot peppers and this was the hottest kind they had at Gardens of Babylon. | Aji Tailandes! Tenemos que plantar algunos ajies picantes y este era el mas picante que tenian en Garden of Babylon. |
| Cayenne pepper! Another hot pepper plant but a little less so than the Thai Chili. | Aji Cayenne! Otro aji picante pero no tanto como el Tailandes. |
| Bell pepper! We love bell peppers – they are one of my favorite veggies so hopefully this plant will yield generously. | Pimientos! Nos encantan los pimientos – es uan de mis ensaladas favoritas asi que ojala la planta nos de frutos generosamente. |
| Zucchini squash! This is Leslie’s favorite – she is so pumped to have some zucchini. When we started dating she would always cook zucchini as a snack. | Zapallo italiano! Este es el favorito de Leslie – esta muy emoiconada por cosechar zapallo italiano. Cuando empezamos a salir ella siempre cocinaba zapallo italiano como un snack. |
| Cucumber! Another one of my favorite veggies. | Pepinos! Otra de mis ensaladas favoritas. |
| Sweet potatoes! These little guys will take a while to grow. We have to wait until the fall to start harvesting. I don’t know if Leslie will be able to wait that long!!! | Papa dulce! Estas demoraran en crecr. Tenemos que esperar hasta el otono para empezar a cosechar. No se si Leslie puede esperar tanto tiempo!!! |
| Herbs! We needed herbs to complement some of our plates and for making tea. I am so excited to get Lemon Verbena. It’s the best herb in the whole world. In Chile, the herb is known as Cedrón and I didn’t think I’d ever find it here. I’ve been here for 8 years and I’ve never seen it. It has an amazing aroma and I use it for tea – mmmm….delicious. I can’t wait to see it grow big and enjoy some nice tea in the evenings! SO EXCITING! The other herbs we planted are cilantro, mint, and Italian basil. All so good and so aromatic. Please – if you haven’t tried Lemon Verbena and you love tea, go out and buy a little plant and plant it outside or take care of it inside – it’s SO delicious. You won’t regret it! We’ll post about the tea someday soon. | Hierbas! Necesitamos hierbas para complementar nuestros platos y hacer te. Estoy muy content de haber encotnrado Cedron. Es la mejor hierba del mundo. No pense que la encontraria aqui. He estado aca por 8 anos y nunca la habia visto. Tiene un aroma increible y lo uso para hacer te…mmmm delicioso. No puedo esperar mas para verlo crecer grande y disfrutar un tecito en las tardes! MUY EMOCIONANTE! Las otras hierbas que plantamos son cilantro, menta, y albahaca. Todas son muy ricas y aromaticas. Por favor – si nunca han probado el Cedron y les gusta tomar te de hierbas, vayan y compren una plantita y plantenla afuera o ponganla en un masetero adentro. – es muy delicioso. No se arrepentiran! Postearemos sobre el te la proxima vez que lo prepare. |
| We still have space for more plants and an entire bed waiting to be filled up. So now we just need to figure out what we want to grow. Maybe we’ll add some fall vegetables – broccoli, lettuce, spinach…or maybe…strawberries?? | Todavia tenemos espacio para mas plantas y una cama entera esperando para ser llenada con tierra. Asi que ahora tenemos que ver que queremos plantar. Tal vez algunos vegetales de otono – broccoli, lechuga, espinaca…o tal vez…frutillas?? |
Los Rodriguez Life 
5 responses to “We are growing our own food – The plants”
So funny side-note: We’ve had cedrón tea in our cabinet since we got to Ecuador 10 months ago and nobody knew what the English translation was… we even asked one of our agriculture partners who speaks a little bit of English, and she didn’t even know. Needless to say, I just blew everybody’s minds. Thanks for that!
hahaha glad we could help! It’s funny you say that – over here Javi’s been bummed ever since he got to the U.S. because he didn’t know the English translation so that’s why it took him so long to find it!
I just love the spring when the dirt is so black, the plants are so green, everything is fresh and new. Nice pics. What kind of camera? Happy harvesting the fruits of your labor in about 3-4 months.
thank you! I know we love spring everything is so beautiful! Great for pictures 🙂 It’s a Nikon D700.
[…] with the gardening theme (see previous posts on starting the garden here and what we planted here), one evening last week we saw a tower of seeds at the grocery store and decided to try growing a […]