Memorial Day weekend is the weekend for planting warm weather loving plants in the garden. So we did, and what do you know, 2 days later, the low temperature at night is 34 degrees, and it's blistering windy and a cool 55 during the day. My plants were NOT happy. I was sure everything was going to die... and several things did not make it. But the strong survived. Now it is the middle of June and the temperatures are finally warming up enough to allow the plants to grow. They are getting taller and more robust looking.
Here is our list of garden goodies this year-
Vegetables:
Onions- 100 of them!!
Potatoes
Tomatoes - several different varieties this year - 6 that will be used to make spaghetti sauce with because they are more of a paste tomato, and 8 eatin' tomato plants, and 4 cherry tomato plants. (I know, why would I plant so many? Well, the last 2 years I killed half of the tomato plants I planted, so I wanted to make sure I had enough this year... and maybe we went overboard. I think we'll be sharing a lot with our neighbors.)
Lettuce- we're eating a lot of lettuce right now, it is lush and perfect!
Green beans
Squash- butternut, yellow, and patty-pan
Pumpkins - little and big ones
Zucchini
Watermelon- not so sure it's going to make it... it looks sick
Sugar snap peas
Carrots
Bell Peppers
Okra- we hope they make it! They like the heat and it's not been hot!
Herbs: (most to be used for drying)
Parsley- about 10 plants all started from seed! I can't believe how well it did
Cilantro
Basil
Thyme
Oregano
Chamomile
Hyssop
Lavender
Fruits:
Strawberries- 10 plants- stinkin' birds have eaten most of the ripe strawberries!
Blueberries- new plants
Grapes- new also
Blackberries- also newly planted this year
I really only label these pictures for myself, to reference back to for next year's garden planting. It's good to know what was planted where.
This is the back of our house. It used to be a big mess with weeds and dirt. Now it finally looks nice with our edible landscaping! The low to the ground plants are the strawberries, and in the middle are blueberries, and grapes that will grow up the trellis. In the pots are extra potatoes.
This is a San Marzano tomato. Specifically a paste tomato, it has less water content so it's easier to use when making sauces because less simmering is needed to get the sauce to the right consistency. These plants have not looked so well, I hope they survive.
Sick looking watermelon plant.
Will these be blueberries soon? We don't know! Maybe if they were pollinated!
More plants on the deck.
Craziness.
Flowers, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, oh my!
It's out of control.
These are tomato plants I started from seed. I am in utter disbelief that they survived because they did not look well at all a few weeks ago. Actually, since I took this picture, one was planted in the garden (a smaller tomato plant was pelted to death by a tiny hail storm), and the other I gave to a friend. It is truly amazing watching something start as a very tiny seed and grow in to a big plant.
Wow, God is so creative!!
The reason I have more tomato plants and they are in pots is because of one thing...
HAIL!
Since we can get freak hail storms anytime in the summer, with all sorts of sizes of hail ranging from pea size, to softball size; I wanted to have two tomato plants I could bring inside to save them from demolition.
We really went crazy this year with the gardening. Justin was my sweetheart and built me the 3 raised beds to appease my desire to plant more vegetables. We could really have a community garden back there. haha! Someone once told me when the gardening bug bites you, you will always be looking for ways to plant more and more. And yes, this is true. I wish we had a bigger backyard for the shear reason to have more space to plant fruit trees, and more vegetables to share with others!
When Justin and I were in our first few years of marriage he always told me I needed a hobby. He had several- fishing and golfing. Well now I do. Gardening has become something I truly love. It is fun to learn new things, with trial and error; to get dirt under my fingernails; to pick something out of my backyard and eat it for dinner. It brings me joy to go outside and look at the garden and pull the weeds and teach Josiah about plants, bugs, bees, and how things grow. I also love pulling worms out of the ground and scaring the heebie jeebies out of Josiah when I put it near his face. He is so scared of bugs. ha! And Paul, well, he just loves to play in the dirt and rub it in his hair, and bugs don't bother him at all.
Hooray for fresh vegetables soon!
WOW!
ReplyDeleteHi, long-time lurker here! I'm a friend of the Dixons and have enjoyed your posts about family, church/missions and now gardening! I wondered if you read any beginners gardening books before starting. Can you recommend something? I'm wanting to start gardening, although we live in West Texas and this may not be the year to start! We'll see...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the nice comment!! :) Yes I have one gardening book that helped me immensely in the beginning and even now I refer to it. It's called Miracle-Gro: Complete Guide to Vegetable, Fruits, and Herbs. It tells you how to plant things, take care of them and harvest them. Very very helpful!! You can probably find the book at your local hardware store in the gardening section. I got mine at Lowes. Also, I recommend doing raised beds, much easier to do than digging out a plot of grass (we learned that the hard way). Another great reading resource is Square Foot Gardening, you can google that. They tell you how to make raised beds and what to put in for the soil and is a great way to start when you are a beginner gardener.
ReplyDeleteIf I were you I would work on making your beds this summer and plant some seeds. You can do a fall garden in West Texas with lettuce, carrots, winter squashes, pumpkins, cabbage, and even onions! You might be able to find onion sets at a nursery and even some already started lettuce too. Carrots, squash and pumpkins are easy to grow, just stick the seeds in the ground. (but soak the carrots seeds overnight in water, this helps them germinate faster, I learned that this year).
Just start with a few plants, learn about those plants, and then each year expand your list of things to plant. It gets easier as you slowly learn about each plant. Trial and error have taught me the most... along with google. My first year of gardening I only planted tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and some herbs. I killed 4 out of 6 tomato plants that year! haha!
Good luck!! I miss having a long growing season like Texas does, you can grow something nearly all year round if you wanted to!
Wow, thank you! I can tell you've really learned a lot. That's fantastic! We are at least starting with herbs. Have a great place for them and can build a planter box high enough that our dog will stay out of it without extra fencing. Will definitely check these sources out and hope to get started soon! Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteyay! i love to see two of my friends from two different cities meet through blogs! :) jennifer, you are a rock star gardener. and mom. and wife. and friend!
ReplyDeletemy mom gardens now and uses toy pinwheels in the garden to keep the birds away. they are scared of the metallic wheel as it turns in the wind. Also plastic toy snakes moved every day or so near your strawberries should keep the birds away too.
ReplyDelete