Garden Photo of the Day

Erin’s Garden in Maryland

Veggies and more grown by a busy mom

By GPOD Contributor
big green tomatoes

Today we’re off to Baltimore to visit with Erin! Erin is a busy mother of three but somehow manages to grow a beautiful garden and share lots of photos of her successes (and sometimes failures) on her instagram @aterinshouse

tomato seedlingA perfectly grown tomato seedling! Starting your own tomatoes from seed can be tricky, but Erin has clearly mastered it. She gives all the credit to good grow lights. Lots of light makes for healthy seedlings and happy plants.

tomato flower budThe next stage of a tomato: a flower bud about to open.

tomato just beginning to form
After the tomato flower fades, the new tomato is just beginning to form.

big green tomatoes
These big green tomatoes will shortly be turning ripe and delicious.

new celery growing from old stump
The stump of a bunch of celery is taking on new life! After Erin placed the stump in a little water and gave it plenty of sun, it put up new leaves and is growing new roots. Has anyone in the GPOD audience tried this?

binder holding seed packets
A brilliant idea—old photo binders repurposed to hold seed packets! This is such a great way to keep seed packets organized.

Dutch irises
Dutch irises (Iris × hollandica, Zones 5–9). These hybrid forms of bulbous irises are planted in the fall, the same as daffodils or tulips, and they reward you with these gorgeous graceful blooms in the spring.

deep pink English rose
Erin says that her lovely English roses can be a lot of work to keep healthy and happy but that they are worth it for the beautiful flowers.

vegetable garden bed labeled
All the plants in this photo are carefully labeled—including the “mystery plant”! I think every gardener has had a mystery plant when we have forgotten that we planted something or have lost a label. I know there are a lot in my garden. It looks to me like the mystery plant might be a marigold (Tagetes species, annual), but time will tell for sure. Taking pictures and labeling them like this is a great way to minimize the number of mystery plants in the garden, since these labels won’t fade or get carried off by squirrels the way physical tags in the garden will.

handful of kale
And finally, a handful of health in the form of kale fresh from the garden.

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.

Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!

You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!

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Comments

  1. sohappygardening 05/07/2021

    Nice! Lots of work!

  2. blondie3 05/07/2021

    I love that you grew the tomatoe seedling from seed, it looked perfect...I’ve got the flowers down pat, but I need to work at growing food. Love the binder. My first attempt at growing seeds this year started out great, but then they all died...I have a grow light, they kinda dried up...your success makes me want to try again...thank you,

  3. User avater
    treasuresmom 05/07/2021

    Lovely.

  4. User avater
    simplesue 05/07/2021

    You are such an organized vegetable gardener, love the photo labeling and the binder of seed packets.
    Interesting to learn about the celery stump growing a new plant!

  5. btucker9675 05/07/2021

    Excellent garden! I am going to try the celery trick. How about fried green tomatoes for everyone?! Thank you for sharing all of your hard work and great organizational ideas.

  6. User avater
    vanhatalosuomi 05/07/2021

    Thanks for sharing your passion Erin. Lots of continued success your way!

  7. User avater
    bdowen 05/12/2021

    Please let us know how your celery experiment works out! I've grown carrot tops that way just for fun.

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