Our Garden 2013

Our garden this year is finally in full swing. We lost our first round of plants due to a freak frost that wiped everything out. So we waited a few weeks to make sure the freak storm was over and planted everything all over again. Since then it has been a little slow going and not just for us but our neighbors too. However I think with the latest heat wave last month and then into a cool down with rain everything is finally on track.

These ginormous zucchini we picked after the nasty humid heat wave we had. Obviously the zucchini loved it because look how big they are!

The girls love to help in the garden. While I was out mowing they collected the cut grass and put it around the plants. A little trick our neighbors taught us last season...cuts down on weeding and adds extra goodness to the soil as it brakes down.

We also have apples this season on all three trees! Last year we had no apples due to the long frost. Looks like this year I will be canning and filling the winter pantry with homemade applesauce and pie filling!

Our Garden 2012

This year I was behind on planting our garden. I sprouted the seeds in a min greenhouse and then transplanted them to the new garden. Last year I realized that the ground is just too rocky for growing anything below ground. It will take many years of tilling and removing slate and rocks before we can grow carrots, beets, potatoes, ect.. 

So this year I chose to grow tomatoes, habinero's, snap pea's, cantaloupes, and watermelons. Hubby and the girls decided to plant pumpkins outside the garden fence. 

Our cantaloupe's are growing strong, a dozen so far! 

Now this was a surprise! I've been waiting and waiting to see the watermelons. I go out to check on them and bam, I find these odd oblong shaped things. What in the world did I plant?

The answer, Ali Baba watermelons! I had no idea. Never even heard of an Ali Baba before. I sure do not remember plating them, but obviously I must have right? So thanks to Google, I found out what they are and how to tell when they are ready to harvest. From what I counted today I have 14 growing strong!

This is the girls pumpkin patch. I told hubby it would spread, he didn't believe me.

This is a few of the largest so far. Currently we have 16!

The pumpkins have invaded the garden. As you can see, the fence line has been breached and pumpkins are now growing in the garden as well.

So far, so good. The girls have really enjoyed running out to the garden an eating the snap peas right off the vines. I can not wait for the melons and how fun with Halloween be with our own pumpkin patch!

Fresh Produce From The Neighbors

I received a call from my neighbors asking if I wanted some fresh zucchini and squash they had just harvested this morning. Yummm YAH! They have such an amazing beautiful garden (I will have to get pics to post later). I am always envious when I drive past their house and hope that next year mine will look just a quarter as wonderful as theirs.

So the girls and I wander over to find Linda sitting on the covered porch that over looks their property. The breeze was blowing, tree's are swaying and she is cleaning today's harvest. It was just so picture perfect and peaceful.

We chatted for awhile about everything and anything including the family of woodchucks that have been getting into their garden. YAHA! Now I know who has been eating the leaves off my carrots and cucumber plants, although I still do not know how they are getting in, but apparently they are pretty resourceful.

Just then Lee, her husband, walks up with a bushel of garlic that he had just taken off the drying racks. They were beautiful and proceeds to add it to a bag full of goodies just for us. Zucchini, squash, green beans, yellow wax beans, garlic and homemade zucchini brownies (which of course the girls snatched up quickly), all for us.

I felt loved and grateful. We really could not have asked for better neighbors than them for so many reasons. They are loving, friendly, and just all around good people. You can only hope to raise your children around people and a community like we have found here and I never want to leave. I am happy here and even though we have only been here but a few months, I can only see my love for North Eastern PA and the people growing. However like hubby says, "let's see how we feel after the snow comes"...lol

My head is already spinning with what to do with this produce. I think I will hang the garlic in the basement, maybe mince and can some for the freezer. The smaller bulbs I will save and plant in our garden on Columbus Day.

Automatically I thought about fresh zucchini bread in different varieties...some with mini chocolate chips, some with walnuts, ect. I love crook neck squash steamed and added to pasta with EVOO and garlic salt..... and the beans? Well C and M are already eating them raw as a snack so we will see what I have left once they are done...lol

Fresh Strawberries From The Garden!

We have our first yummy treat from the garden. Today is a much cooler day then the past few so I decided to go out and do some weeding. P.S. not a fan of weeding, already thinking of next years garden...maybe an elevated box, laying down that no weed tarp thing, hmmm? Anyways, I noticed one of the three strawberry plants actually had red, ripe berries on them, but I was confused. They didn't look like the the big berries I buy in the store, they were wicked small. Now when I say small, I mean small. The largest was as big as a quarter and the smallest was the size of a dime! The hands holding the berries is my youngest M whom is almost 4 yrs old. So you can see in her tiny hands they actually look large..lol

Regardless of size, the girls and I enjoyed the little morsel's which were both sweet and tangy. We enjoyed them most of all because they came from our backyard and when we were done C turns to me and says "mommy you grow the best garden ever" and M quickly agreed. Gotta love those girls. I can not wait to see what we harvest next. I see a few tomatoes are becoming nice and red and the jalapenos are pretty close....I envision fresh salsa very soon :)

Our Country Garden - 1 Month Check In

It has been month since I first posted pictures of our lets see if we can do this garden! The girls are having a blast watching everything grow, seeing new blooms, and are anxiously waiting until they can start harvesting. Here is the update!

Tomatoes from C's Topsy Turvy........

Hubby's pepper plants.....

Jalapeno

Cayenne 

From the garden......

Snacking Bell Peppers

Lots of blossoms on the Crook Neck Squash plants

And guess what! We have horseradish growing wild out side the garden and today I found another plant had just sprung from the ground. I LOVE horseradish so I am very excited!!!

Country Living - I Can Garden, Who Knew?

When I first found out the house we would be moving into in PA had 3 acres the first thing I said was "we need a garden". I then wondered if I would be able to be a gardener. I mean really, I haven't had much success in the past keeping plants alive...a green thumb I have not.

I was determined though. I will have a garden, it will be awesome and I will not kill it off I hope. So after the move and after most boxes were unpacked we headed to Home Depot. The girls had a blast picking out packets of veggie and fruit seeds. I, still not really sure what to do with the seeds, looked around for some help. I found this cool little greenhouse seed sprouter thingy. I read the directions...okay, add water to the soil pellets, add seeds, fill bottom with water and cover. Seems easy enough, we can so do this!

And we did! Only a week earlier the girls and I had planted the seeds in each individual well and look what happened. We created life! Well actually it's not my first time doing that, I have done it twice before...*wink wink*....lol

This was plant life though and it was so cool. The girls were so surprised to see how those little tiny seeds transformed into this. Stage 1 complete. We planted sweet orange carrots, purple and yellow carrots, broccoli, watermelon, and English cucumbers.

During this time we had also planted a Topsy Turvy. Funny thing, the morning we went to Home Depot my daughter C had seen the commercial for the Topsy Turvy. She comes running over and says "mom, we can grow 6 different kinds of tomatoes!". She was so excited and so amazed by this product and being the big tomato eater she is I knew she would love to have it. So we bought a Topsy Turvy, 6 different tomatoes plants and even some herb plants. Did you know you could also plant herbs with your tomatoes in your Topsy Turvy? I didn't but C did....lol

Cilantro growing strong..

After 2 weeks C's has her first tomato buds...

Sweet Mint for my iced tea...

Basil growing out of control...

It smells awesome!

So the Topsy Turvy is going strong, the seeds have popped, now what do I do? I went out with hubby and scouted a piece of the property for a garden. Lucky for me my neighbors Lee and Linda told us that the previous owner had a garden there before, so at least I knew the soil was good. 

Next thing I knew my neighbor Lee was bringing over his rototiller and started tearing up the ground. Such a sweet man! He knew we didn't own which means me errrrr, hubby would be turning the ground by hand, so he came and helped us out. I love country folk! After that it was all up to me. I framed our first garden plot and transplanted all the veggies....that's right, all by my self! I have to say I feel pretty good every time I go out to water.

Garden and compost bin...that's right I am composting too. It must be something about the fresh air that makes me feel all farmy (is that a word?)

Our transplanted veggies and fruit

Not too shabby for a first timer I think. Recently we just added 4 strawberry and 2 crook neck squash plants. I still have a little room left so who knows what I will find next. Can't wait to see the finished products!

Oh and how is C's tomatoes doing? She now has a few growing. She was so excited to actually see them, what a great learning experience for the girls. Living out here, planting our garden, buying milk from the local dairy, fresh eggs from the farm...they are really learning where these things we eat come from and learning about sustainable ingredients. Fabulous!