Spring has sprung, and I am as happy as a whelk in its shell. Springtime means so many good things — my birthday, warmer weather, longer days, blooming flowers, and gardening. Over the weekend, I planted herbs and tomatoes in my little backyard garden, and I could not be more excited to watch them grow. This will be my sixth year gardening, and it’s a hobby I’ve never regretted starting.

In 2019, we upgraded our garden from individual terracotta pots to a container garden fashioned from a 4-foot horse trough set on cinder blocks. After drilling some holes for drainage, layering gravel and a mixture of professional potting soil and fertilizer, the scene was set for a successful growing environment. 

Over the weekend, we got the garden ready for growing season, and relocated it from the side of the yard to a more prominent place right next to the patio. My husband Kurt dug up a big rose bush that we inherited when we bought the house, which never really bloomed, and when it did, it was just spindly and not that pretty. In its place sits my garden, and I can see it from the kitchen window every time I stand at the sink. It’s beautiful and full of hope, and brings me so much joy.

We planted two varieties of thyme — English and lemon, and three towering sweet basil plants. My rosemary and flat leaf parsley survived the winter and a few serious bouts with caterpillars, so thankfully they were still standing tall. For the first time this year, I’ve planted my tomatoes directly in the ground, and I’m probably most excited to see how they turn out. I typically plant them inside the trough with my herbs, but I think they’ll be happier this way, with more room to spread out and really plant roots. 

I’m growing three different varieties of tomatoes, plus a little bing cherry tomato plant that is a serious producer. It will be fun to see which one grows faster, or produces the largest and most flavorful tomato. I even put down landscape fabric this year, a textile material used to control weeds by inhibiting their exposure to sunlight, and I felt extra fancy.

If you’ve never planted a garden, I highly encourage it. Start small with an indoor herb pot — you can even use a 5-gallon bucket! Learning how to grow food and nurture plants is important and helps us understand where our food comes from and how it’s produced. It’s so rewarding to reap the fruits of your labor too, not to mention Some Kinda Good.

With all of our garden fresh goodness, we’ve made everything from jalapeno margaritas, fried

green tomatoes and Georgia peanut pesto to charred salsa and homemade tomato sauce. On

social media, I share live garden check-ins from my backyard and often feature these recipes

from my kitchen. Be sure to like Some Kinda Good on Facebook and follow @SKGFoodBlog on

Instagram to come along! You can also get all of these recipes on my food blog, along with practical ideas for cooking with fresh herbs, at SomeKindaGood.com.

“The love of gardening is a seed once sown that never dies.” - Gertrude Jekyll, British horticulturist

Rebekah Faulk Lingenfelser is a private chef and the author of the best-selling memoir “Some Kinda Good.” Featured in Forbes, on Food Network and ABC, she writes about Southern, coastal cuisine, locally sourced and in season. 

Connect with her on social media by liking Some Kinda Good on Facebook, or follow @SKGFoodBlog on Instagram and Twitter. To learn more, visit RebekahLingenfelser.com.