How Does your Garden Grow?

This year my garden is awesome. We decided to go with the raised beds and square foot gardening method. I am blown away with how simple it is and the maintenance is as close to zero as you can get. The only downside is that it can be a little steep money wise to get it going but it will easily be worth it after its first year.

So why did it all start? Last winter, we lost the use of a rototiller and would need to rent on this spring and possibly fall. It would have cost $25 each time and it irritated me to have to do that. So I rented the Square Foot Gardening book from the library and the process totally made sense to me. My parent's had old trusses that they let us cut up and use. We then slowly put the soils together. The special Mel's Mix (named after the guy that started the entire thing decades ago) called for 1/3 part peat moss, 1/3 part vermiculite and 1/3 part compost from at least 5 different sources (chicken, mushroom, cow, etc). I knew that the vermiculite would be the spendiest part. Lots of places were selling it for $50 a bag! Crazy! After my crazy research habit, I ended up finding it for $20 a bag at a farm store down the road from my house. I was so happy. After a lot of work, measuring the squares and planting, we have a super happy garden. I am amazed at how much more I can fit into our garden space. Row gardening wastes so much space. I know several people that used top soil in their mix, and I was about to go that direction because it is cheaper, but I really wanted a perfect soil from the start that didn't need to be continually amended from year to year. The only thing that I will need to do is add a little bit of my extra Mel's mix that we have in a garbage can to replace the stuff that comes up with the plants. Anyone can do this. You only need 6" of soil to plant a garden so this can be done on cement. So cool!

So far we have harvested well over 10 cups of raspberries that don't last long around here and hope to harvest other things soon. I've picked about 5 weeds in the beds total and because the aisles don't see water, the weeds don't really grow.

Probably my favorite bed. It has a lot of pepper plants (green, yellow and chocolate brown), eggplants, celery, basil, oregano and beets. I love that I have squares for pretty flowers too.

I am determined to can lots of tomatoes this year since I didn't get to it last year from having a baby. These are my larger tomato plants.

My cherry tomatoes. With 4 plants I am going to have plenty for probably the entire street. I also attempted to plant radishes in two of the squares. Not one plant grew. So weird. My mom's is doing great and she has the same soil and everything.

These are my yellow squash and zucchini plants. I was reading a blog where the gardener put upside down tomato cages on her squash plants and continued to train her plants up through the cage to save on space. I am excited to try it. I love squash but the squash bug is NASTY! I go out every day and drown at least 4 every single day in soapy water. It is nasty, they are nasty. Eeewww!

I have cucumbers and mini pumpkins growing up this trellis. Thankfully neither have been targets of the squash bug.

All of the plants are so much bigger than these pictures. I took these about 2 or so weeks ago. If you want to garden, but may not have the space or don't want a huge one, you really should consider giving this a try. you can even start with a 4'x4' box and get a lot from it.

Summer Goodness

Freshly grown food is what summer is all about.

June 29th, we were able to get our first raspberries.

We've enjoyed about 20 raspberries every other day ever since.

It also helps to have thornless bushes to make it enjoyable.

Off to a Good Start

Last week I wanted to check back posts of how many garden grew in the past two years. I wanted to know when I started to get vegetables on my plants. And then it occurred to me that I really needed to take pictures and document this year so I could do the same next year. Monday I went out and took the pictures. We planted our garden about a month or so ago and I have been so excited with its progress. We've had a really mild start to summer but when the hotter days started creeping in, the plants just exploded with growth. These pictures were taken 4 days ago and everything has already gotten bigger.

My peas have loved the cooler weather. That is what they grow best in and I think I planted them earlier than I have in the past so this is the best we have ever had. We should have peas soon with all the little blossoms that I see.

We planted to different kinds of squash, the yellow crooked neck (my favorite) and a new variety called One Ball from free seeds that my mom and I picked up at a flower and garden show. It should be interesting.

Ignore all of the grassy weeds. We got a load of manure from an animal auction place in town. I thought that we would be getting steer manure and the people headed to the horse corrals. I knew better but got it anyway. Now we are suffering the never ending task of weeding, hence the grass clippings to hopefully keep them at bay. You always want steer manure because the cows are able to digest it better killing the seeds. Horses don't and so the seeds can easily germinate like you see here.

We also planted zucchini which is doing well and already has a few flowers. I have a feeling that we are going to be overrun with all of our squash but that is okay. It is fun to give it away to others that may not have a garden and want free produce.


We also planted strawberries which I am really excited about. We have a great spot for our patch. We are just waiting for them to grow bigger. We already got a nice red strawberry for the season but a squirrel or bird got to it before I could. I need to devise a plan. Next year I expect a yummy harvest.

Our tomatoes are doing so well. I primarily planted Super Fantastic which is my very favorite medium tomato. I planted them my first year of gardening and they did so well. I also planted Roma and one grape tomato. Jeff will love munching on those. Because my plants are doing so well, I am afraid that I am going to have a huge harvest and a big canning season. Mindy wanted to make salsa this year and her plants aren't doing so well, so she may have to come over and we do it together. We'll see.

On the other trellis we planted cucumbers. I don't know what their problem is but they are off to an incredibly slow start. I see blossoms but the plants are small. It will be interesting to see what happens with these.

In the very back we have our pumpkins that like to sprawl and scale the fence. We planted the jack o lantern kind as well as the itty bitty ones. My mom asked why we do it in such a small space when they have a ward garden just a couple of houses down from her that we can get pumpkins from. I told her that Gunnar just loves it. He talks to the plants and checks on them all of the time. We just have to plant them. Breckin I am sure will get just as excited when he gets older too.

On the south side of the garden, we have our raspberries. They are in their second year and happy as can be. They have gotten so big and I can already see tons of little raspberries forming. Hopefully it is more than about 5 here and there like last year. We'll have lots, I can already tell. They are the Canby variety and thornless. Love that! Mindy told me one time that she would never plant them because she remembers picking the things in thorns growing up. I love them and love them more because they are thornless. I also love them because raspberries are so stinkin spendy in the store I don't buy them but would love to have them around.

So that is my garden this year. I can't wait to see what we get from it. It is already off to a great start. Far better than last year. Last year was by far a neglected year.

The Great Pumpkin Harvest 2009

Our garden was sorely neglected this season. We were hardly home to tend to the thing. I spent one day weeding and that was it. The poor pumpkin patch was consumed by this grass weed. We were still able to get pumpkins from it though. The excitement everywhere to waiting to see what we grew.

Gunnar is also a total wreck. He was dressed so nicely for the dentist Wednesday morning, then he decided he needed his newly cleaned Disney CARS swim trunks and then he sat on one of his outside toys covered in water. He also did not need shoes. What a boy.

Will I ever get a normal picture of both of my guys together. Probably not.

I love fall. I love the change in the weather. I don't necessarily like cold but I like the days that are not hot or cold...like today! It is perfect and gorgeous and the perfect time to get some of the yard cleaned up. I love pumpkins. I decorate with pumpkins every year instead of Halloween. Not a fan of Halloween. Not a fan of dressing up myself, but I get so excited for Gunnar. I love fall leaves. I love the changing colors. I have one of the prettiest fall trees in my yard. The coors are so brilliant and always changing. I do not like raking the leaves if they fall when the weather never gives us a good day to get them up. When the weather is nice, like today, we have to rake fast and furious. Unfortunately the leaves haven't really fallin' yet. The weather better give us a one good day that also works nicely with our schedule. We have TONS of leaves around here. Happy Fall Ya'll!

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas to ME

After I got my large canning pot, I was on fire. I was canning the world or so it felt. I decided for Christmas gifts this year, I would give people apple butter. I had never made the stuff before and thought that I found an easy slow cooker recipe. It called for Grade A maple syrup. After more research, I discovered that this is the EXPENSIVE, organic, not the artificial stuff. This stuff was spendy for not that much. It was also kind of tricky to find. I searched two farmers markets and settled on one. As I was nearing the checkout, I passed by the canning display of things that they had set up. I noticed the Ball Blue Book sitting there with a price tag of $7.99. Let me tell you people, that was cheap. I spotted it in another food storage store a while back for $20! I looked up the apple butter recipe, it looked easier and did not require the maple syrup. So I decided to buy the book instead of the syrup.

So Labor Day approached and I decided that was the day.I was going to do it. On top of that, we just picked a ton of tomatoes from our garden and my mom's so I figured that I would start with that. They looked easier. A good tester of my learned skills (the day before I literally read the entire Ball Blue Book no joke-so interesting). I started getting everything out and realized that I was missing a few things. I was missing a magnet thingamajig to get the lids out of the hot water and a jar lifter. I went EVERYWHERE for that stupid (sorry Gunnar for saying that-he thinks it is a bad word) jar lifter. Nobody had it and I mean nobody. I went to Winco (found the magnet thing there but not the other), Shopko (sold out of everything canning and wasn't getting more), Ride Aid, Albertsons, Walmart, Kmart (this poor lady with 2 kids was also looking for the same thing, I told her to trust me that I searched everywhere, I regret not telling her that I had one more place to try around the corner and to follow me just in case they did). So I remember the farmers market where I got that book around the corner. It was worth a shot on the way home. Sure enough they had baskets full of them. I felt so bad about not telling that lady. She could have followed me and I would have run in to check and tell her so she didn't have to get out. It was heaven find those stupid (there's the word again) things.

So on my search at Shopko, I ran across the best thing ever. We have been wanting a really good set of pots and pans for ever, like 7 years. Our wedding ones were trash a long time ago, this second set was a cheapo new se off of craigslist about 7 years ago. So as I was wondering through Shopko, I happened upon a display model of Kitchenaid hard anodized pots and pans with everything there. They looked brand new, not a scratch on them. They just didn't have the box but the paperwork was there. The price tag on them was $79.99. The original price tag on them was $229.99. The cheap, cheap, cheapo sets are that price to start. I seriously could not pass that up and called Jeff right away. He said that I could get them as long as I understood that they were my birthday and Christmas present. I was fine with that. I scooped them up and hauled off for the registered. I was stoked. Jeff tried to tell me that I needed to wrap them up and wait for my birthday in November. Are you kidding me. We could seriously die from something on the other pots and pan sets. They were bad. So bad that I was too embarrassed to take a picture of them. It was bad. The surface stuff was coming off. It was bad.

So after my excitement I got to work on the tomatoes and then some apple butter. Aren't they beautiful. (Now looking at the pictures I forgot that I never took a picture of the other jars of tomatoes. There were about 7 others besides these 3).

How Did Your Garden Grow This Year

This year our garden was severely neglected. Despite its neglect, it still produced some for us. Each year we are learning what works best and how much of things we need to grow. This year our yellow squash stunk in the producing category. They did not do well at all. We have gotten a few here and there. Our zucchini went WILD. Last year nothing, this year craziness. I have been taking a huge basketful to church each Sunday and it all disappears so I am thankful. Our tomatoes did okay. So far we have gotten the Romas and that is it. We got one ear of corn. Won't be growing that again. Waste of space and time. That bell pepper is from my mom's and we have gotten a few cucumbers. I can't wait to report on our pumpkins later because we can see a few growing and changing colors.

What we are really excited about is the raspberries. I know that this is not much but for one plant, this is its second year. For all of the others it is their first year so some did not get berries. That is okay. Next year should be great. I would love to eventually get to where we are picking lots to freeze. Despite the weeds that I have not been around to pick, our garden did okay.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I am so excited for the season to start. I've officially started a couple of weeks ago with new raspberry starts and getting the peas planted. On Saturday I noticed that the peas are starting to poke through the soil. I am so excited about that. We also planted about 8 raspberry starts that I bought from a person on craigslist. They are thornless Canby and they are second year starts. I can't wait to have raspberries this year and years to come.

I also bought my tomatoes and pepper plants Monday. In a few minutes I plan on planting them while Gunnar is at preschool. I am so excited to get this going. Yesterday Jeff finished trimming our huge pinetree that is next to the garden and then tilled it. We are ready. I also bought lettuce. I want to try growing it. Wish me luck on that one.

This year I am growing:
Roma, Early Girl, Patio and Fantastic tomatoes
Romaine and Buttercrunch lettuce
California Wonder bell peppers

I will keep you posted as I plant more later in the season.

I read a post on craigslist that someone bought their veggie plants at Pauls. I thought that I would check them out. They had awesome plants at the one near me. Their 1 gal. tomatoes were $3.58. They were nice healthy looking plants. They also had one of the tomato varieties that I had trouble finding. They also sold plants in four packs and larger. Most places sell them in the peat cup things and nothing smaller. If you have one near you, give them a try. They are incredibly reasonable for price unlike their food items in the store.

So what variety of tomatoes (or any veggies for that matter) are you planting this year? I am always looking for good recommendations.

Bulbs, Bulbs Everywhere

Gunnar and I were at Walmart last week and happened upon a spring bulb markdown. Bags of 12 tulips and daffodils that are normally $4-5 were marked down to a clearance price of $.25/bag! How could I resist. Every fall I tell myself that I want to plant bulbs. Every year I look at the price and can't bring myself to do it. Every year I justify my actions by saying to myself that I need to see what comes up in the spring (usually not much-I always forget what I have). Every year I also think it is too cold to go outside. I bought nine bags and will split them with my sister. Last Friday it was a super nice day, so we headed out to dig. It was NOT fun. Gunnar would take the top dirt from the hole that I just filled in and move it or throw it against the house. I have all of these little pit marks all over in the flower bed. We had to end our planting session early because of night time and still have lots to plant. As I am writing, I am looking out the window at a foggy day with misty type rain and coldness. I may have lost my opportunity to plant the rest. Uuugh!Regardless what he does, though, he still makes me laugh!Side note though: When I was checking out at Walmart with my finds, a friend at church named Kyla pulls in behind me. I tell her about the bulbs and the screamin' deal. She tells me that maybe she will go back later. I told her that they probably won't be there the next time (they really were selling fast). She decided to leave her cart in line behind me and go check them out. It was the funniest thing. She came running back with a HUGE armful of bags. She had so many! It cracked me up. She intends to share them with her mom. I wonder how her planting is coming along. At $.25/bag you can't feel bad if a few don't make it to dirt.

Big Magical Pumpkin

For Family Home Evening last week, we picked our six pumkins from our garden for the front porch. It was such an exciting time, especially after watching them grow all summer long. There was this one in particular that was easy to get to and appeared to grow the fastest. The entire summer, Gunnar would constantly check on it and talk to it. It is huge and just perfect. I know that Gunnar's continous love helped it get that big. We had one that was a little funky looking but the others were just so perfect. Our pumpkin vine ended up growing up and over the fence so two of the pumpkins had matured hanging. We loaded all of them in the wagon and off we went. Can't wait to do it again next year.

What to do with extras

What do you do with lots of extra things in your garden. I decided to shred a bunch of zucchini and freeze in two cups for future zucchini bread. I was able to shred 12 cups worth. Jeff and I laugh about this picture because at a quick glance it almost looks like I am freezing something illegal.

This is just not normal

Our garden has a mind of its own. The plants are just big and so are some of the vegetables if we don't find them soon enough. This poor squash was growing underneath some of the leaf stalks so it grew into something really big and ugly by the time we found it. The zucchini is really big. You can see the end of a normal sized one near the top. I can't wait to show you our pumpkins. We have one that is just so huge. Gunnar loves to talk to it everytime that we are out there. We need to start calling him the Pumpkin Whisperer because something is working.

Holy Smoly!

Some vegetables just get lost in the garden until they get so big we finally find them. This is what happened to this cucumber. Check out the difference between it and its more normal counterpart.

I love a good garden

Our garden is crazy and out of control. The plants are so BIG and everywhere. We are harvesting zucchini and squash about every other day and eating it about the same. We have given quite a bit already and I can see that it is just the beginning. One of the fun things that we have been able to harvest are the purple peppers. They are the coolest things. They are a dark purple on the outside and the traditional green on the inside. Very cool!

Gunnar gets quite excited to help out in the garden. As you can see, he picked a small green tomato without us really paying attention. He also likes to nibble on the vegetables for some reason. He has been great at eating them. I am so proud of him. He loves the squash and believe it or not, I do too. I still am not a big fan of the zucchini unless it is in the bread.

Our first vegetable

So I harvested our first vegetable out of our garden yesterday. It was a straightnecked squash and I completely forgot to take a picture of it before we cooked it up. It was actually quite tasty and I am not even a fan of these things. Maybe this is the start of a good change for me.

Look at my garden grow!

Wow! I didn't realize that it has been some time since I last posted. Summer has not been too incredibly busy but obviously enough to post something new.

A couple days straight I was out in my garden weeding and started noticing lovely miracles. We are actually getting vegetables on these plants and boy is it exciting. It just makes me so happy. I feel like I actually know what I am doing. I have always loved being with plants, knowing what they are and that includes botanical names. In high school, for a summer, I worked at a local plant nursery. I loved it and I was so good at naming the botanical names of things. Some of that has disappeared. Bummer. Anyway, so it completely helps that our dirt is so good and soft. It has been so easy to work with. Any one that knows me really well will laugh at that. My mom and I used to envy this huge compost pile on the way to Rexburg. It was huge and the compost was a gorgeous black color. A company was selling it. Great dirt is the secret. Anyway, off the topic of dirt and back to the garden...

We have posts that previously lived as a clothesline. We are so genius and turned them into trellises for the climbing vegetables. This greatly helps in maximizing space and just looks cool. I bought a ranch panel last week and Jeff installed these beauties. Don't they look cool? When I read that cucumbers can go up, that is what we did. These plants are actually slightly bigger as I write. They are starting to really take hold of the fencing. And they have little blooms on them too. Yeah!

These are my yellow straight neck squash. And yes the poor plant on the end needs water. It was in the 100's when I took these and I wanted to finish weeding for the day before I turned on the water. They are much better now. These guys are doing so great. I couldn't be more excited.

We will have squash in no time at all for us, my sisters, my mom, my neighbors...

These zhuccini plants are HUGE! And yes they need a little water. I am really excited to make all the bread I can. and yes we will get it, as well as my mom, sisters, friends, neighbors, neighborhood dogs... I will have to stay on top of these guys.

They too have these cute little blossoms.

This spring the weather was hot then would go pretty cold, then hot then cold, etc. My peppers were struggling. We were worried that they would be stunted because of it. I bought 3 more plants (one died before i planted it) to make up the difference and planted them a couple of days ago. I really think that the older plants pulled through and will be fine. They are getting bigger day by day.

We even have a cute little green pepper emerging. Isn't he cute? One of the new plants that I bought is orange. So now I have green, purple and orange bell pepppers. Can't wait to see these guys.

I have 4 tomato plants that are really big. The one on the front left produces the smaller salad tomatoes. He just looks so much smaller in this picture. I wish I could have gotten a picture that really showed their size. They are quite large. I am so proud of these guys. I have tried to grow a tomato plant here and there in the past and they never worked out. We have LOTS of little babies on these plants too. We are really excited.

The trellis on the other end of the garden houses our pea plants. I think that we planted them too late and now it is getting quite hot. Despite the weather they are trying to pull through the best that they know how. We are starting to get lots of peas and I really forgot what they tasted like straight from the vine. They are SO good.

Those straggly things next to the peas are sunflowers. I planted an entire row and 4 measly plants shot up. These are supposed to be the over the top huge ones. Yeah right!

As you can see in the top picture I learned my lesson on garden space. I could have arranged things so much better to maxamize my space. It will be bigger and better next year. Oh yeah, we do have 4 pumpkin plants in the further most part of the garden. I forgot to get a picture of them and boy are they taking off and filling in space. I am super excited about them if they work out.

This has all been normal watering. Can you imagine if I used Miracle Grow!