Gardening success

We have had a bit of fun in our backyard this year. I planted onions. Phoebe planted strawberries. Our compost grew decorative gourds.

These gourds are the coolest! They have thin necks and fluted sides. I bought them at the grocery store last year for Halloween. This year, the compost gave us a new batch! If you look by Phoebe's knee, you will see a little yellow thing. That is a baby gourd. The little ones are so cute! There are like 30 growing on this vine that we have done nothing to! No water. No weeding. No nothing. Next year, I want to try loofas and see if they just grow like this.

Some underground critter got to a section of my onions and ate the roots and pushed them up. So, we got an early tiny onion harvest. They were delicious in our chili and chicken meals. Phoebe even ate them!

In addition to the ground critter, some insect laid eggs on them. These are very cool looking. I have no clue what did it, but I like it!

Here is a strawberry plant. They aren't huge, but Phoebe has gotten a couple of good ones. The dogs also got one, to Phoebe's chagrin.

Next year, I am adding green onions, garlic, artichokes, and loofa. I am hoping to do some square foot gardening, too. If I do that, I want tomatoes and bell peppers. We go through peppers and onions something fierce and to have those in our garden would be sublime!