Our First Carrots

I harvested my first batch of carrots yesterday.  Carrots are a favorite in this house.  The kids thought it was really cool to eat them straight out of the garden.  I found the key to getting the carrots out of the ground is to have the ground very water logged. If the ground is too dry the carrots will break at the stem or break further down in the ground. 


I have also started harvesting squash, zucchini, onions and green beans.  It has been a busy week in the garden. 

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Garden Harvest

The above picture is what I harvested out of the garden yesterday.  This was my first bean picking.  It was also the most raspberries I have picked at once.  We have been getting a handful or 2 of raspberries everyday but they get gobbled up quickly between the 3 younger children before they even make it into the house.  Last evening I went out by myself and was able to get half a bowl!

Tonight I picked another large bowl of peas and green beans.  It's a good thing I have such good helpers when it comes to getting the peas out of their shells.

Official 2012 Garden Outline

Thanks to my awesome mother-in-law I have my garden plans down on paper. I will put this into a clear plastic sheet and add it to my household binder. I love having my ideas on paper and using it as a reference. I have my garden sheet from last year as well. I can double check where things were planted, that way I can make sure my crops get rotated properly.

I am anxious to get in the dirt and start planting. I just finished cleaning out the garden bed this week. Now I just need to get the dirt tilled up. I am thinking of going ahead and getting some lettuce and spinach planted in the window boxes that we keep on our deck.

Here is my garden plant list for 2012:
Snap Peas
Regular Peas
Kale (new for us this year)
Variety of Lettuce
Spinach
Carrots
Onions
Jalapeno Peppers
Bell Peppers
Tomatoes
Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Cucumbers

This last couple weeks have been busy ones for gardening. My garden is doing great this year and producing an abundance of fruits and veggies. I am picking something every day. Here was our pickings today. I was shocked to see how many green beans I had. I picked an entire basket full. Looks like I will be doing some more canning this weekend! So far I have been able to put up 10 pints of beans.

The zucchini went crazy too. I haven't gotten much so far this year so I didn't check for a few days. Wrong move because I found some huge ones hiding. I will be shredding and freezing those for use in bread and brownies later.

Our cantaloupe is doing great. So far we have picked 7. I still have a few out on the vines waiting to ripen. They are wonderful! Sweet and juicy.I still have a few tomatoes coming on. The major crop is over and I was able to put up quite a few quarts of tomatoes as well as salsa. Here was a picture I snapped a couple weeks ago before my canning session. These are all from my garden.I fell into some really cheap sweet corn and was able to put up 17 quart size bags into the freezer. After posting about canning sweet corn I read lots of replies about freezing it so thought I would give it a whirl. I don't have a lot of freezer space to spare but the corn did stack nicely and didn't seem to take up much room.Along with everything that is being produced in my garden I fell onto some free apples from a tree in my neighborhood. I have already picked one batch and plan to make another trip here soon. Applesauce, frozen apple pie and turnover packets, dehydrated apples, as well as fruit leather is on the list of things to make with those.

I also was given permission to pick a few grapes from my neighbors vines. Looking forward to possibly making some jelly with those if we don't eat them all first!

Blueberry Picking

The kids and I spent a morning at the berry patch a few weeks ago. We picked about 10 lbs of blueberries. The kids love blueberries. I am not a huge fan of store bought blueberries but these berries are wonderful! You can definitely tell the difference when you buy them fresh and local.The boys of course ate way more than they picked. In fact I think Drew's bucket was completely empty the entire time. Anything he did pick went straight to his mouth. Tony and Brodie did a little better and did contribute some.
When we got home I bagged some up for the freezer to add to smoothies and muffins later on. I also made Emily a large batch of baby food with them.

Garden Tour in Pictures

I finally finished planting my garden. Well, except for a few more tomato and pepper plants. Here is a tour of all that is growing in my yard.

My apple tree is getting big, no fruit this year though. It is only 2 years old. The peaches look so terrible I didn't even take a picture. I have a few blooms but they are scarce. I am afraid these trees may come down this fall and we will have to plant new ones in the Spring.

The cherry tree. Lots of blooms this year!
Here is what is planted.

So far I have 6 tomato plants
6 jalepenos
4 green peppers
2 red peppers
2 zucchini
1 butternut squash
2 cucumbers
4 cantaloupe
onions
carrots
lettuce
spinach
green beans
sugar snap peas
russet potatoes

The back fence is also lined with more green pole beans. Under the hay is my potatoes.
Zucchini just starting to sprout.
Front quarter from left to right is strawberry bed, snap peas on both sides of fence, onions and 4 hills of cantaloupe.
Here is looking at the back quarter of the garden. Starting on the left and making our way right we have carrots, spinach and lettuce, onions, green beans on both sides of the fence and then the strawberry bed.
My strawberries are a little crazy. I didn't thin them out last year and now they are taking over!
They look really really good though. I already have some little berries starting to grow. I am SO excited!
Lots stop and look for eggs.

Yay! 3!
Thanks girls!
My first signs of potatoes. I have about 8 sets of leaves coming up.
I planted 2 Japanese climbing cucumber hills. I made this trellis with some posts and chicken wire I had in the shed.
Here are my raspberry plants. This is my second year with them. I had a few random shoots that started growing so I dug them up and planted them along the back of our shed. Hoping those will grow into healthy bushes as well.
Next to the 3 new raspberry plants I planted my watermelon.Here is my herb garden. Staring behind the stump and going clockwise I have sage, 2 basil plants, an area for garlic in the fall, cilantro, parsley, oregano and dill.

Hi little ladies!

Pot of mint.
Pot of chives.
I was running out of space for everything I wanted to plant. Here is the east side of my house. I have Iris here. I didn't really want to dig them up so I decided to just plant my sugar pumpkins in hills in front of them. We will see how this works.
So there is the tour. Pretty excited about this years season. I had no major expenses (like the fence last year) and I planted alot of things from seed this year so my total amount invested in the garden is around $65 ($30 of it was the cost to rent a tiller). I should be able to feed my family for the summer and have enough to put up for the winter (crossing fingers).

Waiting for Spring

Just when you are feeling like Spring is around it snows again. Sigh. At least it wasn't alot and it should melt off fast. I am so ready for Spring. Playing outside, trips to the park, hikes and gardening!

I am planning a big garden again this year. This year I am adding green beans and carrots. Something we eat of lot of but have never planted. I am excited to see how my raspberries and strawberries do. I would love to plant blueberries but I heard our soil is not good for them and they are difficult to plant so I am sticking with the local berry patch for these this year.

I am crossing my fingers I get peaches this year. If I don't then I am pretty sure the trees are done for. I don't know much about peaches, but I heard the trees that are planted here only last about 12 years. I haven't gotten peaches in 2 years. I should in theory get them this year.

The apple tree I planted almost 2 years ago is growing well. Not sure if it will produce anything or not. The deer munched on it a bit last year so I will have to watch that closely. If I can find room somewhere I would like to plant a plum or pear tree. I have to do some research, not sure if they have to cross pollinate or not.

Hoping to get the final outlines done on planting this week so I can get my seeds ordered. Then all I will have to do is wait for warmer weather!

Mini Pumpkins

Here is my pumpkin patch! A few years ago I grew carving pumpkins and they did great. So great that we didn't need to visit the pumpkin patch that year to pick pumpkins. I was not the favorite mother. I had no idea going to the pumpkin patch and picking pumpkins was something the kids looked forward to each Fall. I vowed to never again grow carving pumpkins.

So this year I grew mini pumpkins. Jack-be-littles. Aren't they cute? I have gotten a lot already and still have more growing on the vines. These make for great decorations.I have them scattered all over the house.

Preserving for Winter

I am getting a good stash of winter produce. I used my new pressure canner last week to can 25 pints of corn. I bought 4 dozen ears and the kids helped me shuck it all. Then Will helped me cut it all off the cob. Add this 25 to my 30 I did a few weeks ago and that gives me a grand total of 55 pints. This should last me till next year. I am thinking I can officially stop buying canned corn from the store.I have been harvesting lots of tomatoes, onions, peppers and zucchini from the garden. I froze 10 cups of onions, 6 cups of shredded zucchini, 6 cups of cubed zucchini, and a few bags of green peppers. Looks like I will be making lots of stew and stir fry this winter.Today I canned 9 quarts and 1 pint of tomatoes. I picked another large bowl of tomatoes this afternoon. Hoping to make salsa out of this batch. I really want to can some greenbeans. We are not fans of fresh greenbeans, we actually prefer them from a can. I know, weird right? So I am hoping that if I can some beans they will taste like the store bought ones. Now I just need to find some.

Gardening News

With all the rain and hot weather the garden has been growing at amazing speeds. So far I have harvested about 20lbs of strawberries, tons of lettuce, onions, spinach, cherries and some snap peas.

Before we left for vacation most of my plants were still in the beginning phases. Now I have huge leafy plants with blossoms! Here is a picture of my zucchini plant. I already have a few little zucchinis forming. This is my first year with this veggie.My watermelon and cantaloupe vines have really taken off.Here is a look at some of the tomato and pepper plants.Here are my sugar snap peas. They are dying and I don't know why. I am so bummed. They looked so good and now they are all turning yellow and dying before the peas are ripe. Any ideas?? My herb garden really took off. Now I have to figure out what to do with all of it. We planted a few types of basil (pesto...yum), oregano (will dry this), dill, parsley (need to dry this too), cilantro (wanted for salsa, didn't realize it would grow so quickly) and garlic.My cherries did pretty well this year. I have harvested 6 cups so far with another big bowl to clean and freeze today.The raspberries are growing and show hope of a few berries to maybe pick this year. This is my first year having these as well.My mini pumpkin vines are spreading! I think I need to till up some more ground around them and then maybe lay some mulch. Not sure about that yet.