Filed under Gardening …

May 24 2012
14 Comments
Gardening

How is My Garden Growing…Now?

We are having such a wonderful time tending to our garden. This journey has been a great learning experience for us and has taught us to further appreciate the food that ends up on our table. It is amazing to watch tiny seeds evolve into edible plants with sunlight, water and a little TLC. Nature continues to boggle my mind.

It is hard to believe how far we have come since my first post…

Things has been going quite well. We have successfully harvested lettuce, celery and most recently, carrots. They came up in some pretty interesting shapes…but still tasted great!

The rest of our original crops are still going strong. The Brussels are finally getting little sprouts! I am counting down the days until I can throw them into the oven and give them a good roast :) Practicing my patience on this one.

It’s definitely strawberry season. Juicy red fruit is popping up all over the place. And we aren’t the only ones who are excited about it. The birds have been attempting to raid our stash. So Freddie built a cage over our goods to protect them from unwanted visitors. Now our lovely luscious gems are safe and sound…at least until they hit our tummies!

I am most impressed by the corn. It sprouted so quickly! At this rate we will be enjoying sweet summer corn in no time…yum :)

The sugar snap peas are flourishing as well. Almost time to recreate this dish…

And just when you thought we had enough stuff growing…Freddie surprised me by planting more! A few weeks ago, Harper and Freddie disappeared for a few hours to do some undercover planting. On my most recent visit to the garden I noticed that my two gardening fairies had planted some of my favorite fruits and veggies…watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers. And so far, everything is looking fabulous!

So, as you can tell, our garden is growing pretty well! I am so grateful to my wonderful husband for supporting me in this venture. To be honest, he has done most of the work…with some help from Harper of course! She is turning out to be quite the little gardener. I continue to help out here and there but Freddie is the ultimate garden master. So, thanks babe! Couldn’t do it without you :)

Your turn: Have you ever started a garden? What were some of your most successful crops? Any secret tips you care to share? Looking forward to hearing your responses :)

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Mar 06 2012
4 Comments
Gardening

How is My Garden Growing?: The Next Chapter

The weather on Sunday was warm and sunny.  It was a perfect day to play in the garden.

Even the critters were getting into the action.

But there was a lot of work to be done.  It is time to plant a new batch of crops.  We were excited to harvest some of our winter crops and make room for the vegetables of spring and summer.

We started by digging up our lettuce so we could share them with our friends and neighbors.  We decided to plant rows of corn in it’s place.  We also added a few asparagus plants in the same section as well.  Two of our favorite vegetables!

In the back of our plot we planted a few potatoes, green beans, sweet peas and cucumbers.

We still haven’t seen a huge harvest from our initial strawberry planting, so we decided to add a few more plants to see if it would spark some action.

Finally, we added some shallots and chives to the mix as well.  We are still tending to our carrots, celery, onions, Brussels, and parsley which are all thriving.  We had to say goodbye to our broccoli plant as the weather has been a little too warm and as a result it decided to bloom flowers instead of a head.  Oh well, 8 out of 9 ain’t bad :).

We introduced some worms to our compost bin and are looking forward to the benefits of their hard work.

This experience continues to be enjoyable.  A LOT of hard work, but very fun.  Harper is having a blast too.  Her favorite part is hanging out in the wheel barrel.  She also digs a mean hole with that orange shovel.  Don’t let those little hands fool you.  She takes her job very seriously :)

And even after all of that, we are still not done.  Stay tuned for the next installment.  I see some more delicious veggies in our future :)

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Jan 16 2012
18 Comments
Gardening

How Is My Garden Growing?

Back in November, I posted pictures of our new venture, a garden plot in the community gardens.

And I am happy to report, our garden is growing quite nicely!

Lookin’ pretty good right?

But really, I can’t take much credit for this wonderful masterpiece.  Like I mentioned when we started this new hobby, my husband has been a HUGE help!  And he continues to do all of the hard labor (love you baby!).  We do take turns watering, although Freddie ends up doing most of it since he is the expert.  But I have to say, my watering skills are steadily improving :)

Since planting our garden, we have taken up composting as well.  It is a great way to improve your soil as well as recycle your food scraps.  And now, composting is one of my favorite things!  It has taken my passion for not wasting to a whole new level.  I feel good about putting whatever parts of our produce that we don’t use back into the ground from which it came.

And really, it’s super simple.  Each time I prepare food and have any leftover food scraps from my produce, I throw it in my compost pail.  We picked up this really cool one from Bed Bath and Beyond (with a trusty 20% off coupon of course!).

It looks great on our countertop and has a carbon filter to control the food scrap odors, so it never gets stinky.  Once our pail gets full, which is almost every day with all the produce we eat around here, we empty it into our compost bin at our garden.  There are lots of different compost bins you can use.  We happen to like one similar to this.

To be honest, the whole “transfer the food scraps into the bin filled with worms and bugs” thing isn’t the part I look forward to the most.  Actually, Freddie usually does it for me because it’s way to “ewwie” for me.  It’s totally a boys job, cause it can get pretty gross.  But the result is definitely worth it.

So without further ado, let’s look at all the cool stuff that’s growing in our garden!

We have officially grown our first strawberry!  This is my most exciting achievement.  I eat strawberries all the time.  So to be able to pick them fresh daily will be a real treat.  Can’t wait until more start popping up!

Are these gorgeous or what!  They almost don’t even look real to me.  I have had some yummy salads in my life but I have the feeling I am graduating to a new level of deliciousness.  And paired with the strawberries…my favorite salad just got better!  PS:  I am currently looking for homes for our overabundance of fresh lettuce…any takers?

Ladies and gentlemen…we got broccoli!  And as one of the green veggies we enjoy eating the most, these are going to make a nightly appearance on our plates.  We still have some time before they are ready to harvest, but the good news is, we are on the right track!

And look who happened to show up uninvited?

A stowaway, leftover from the previous gardener.  But, being my favorite herb, I am not at all disappointed.  The only trouble with mint is that it tends to try to take over the garden.  It grows like a weed, literally.  So we are going to have to watch it to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.  But I see lots more Lemon Iced Tea in my near future…yum!

Everything else is coming along nicely as well.  Or should I say, everything except the spinach.  Although, we haven’t given up hope…yet.  We still have our fingers crossed that something might sprout up soon.  But really, 9 out of 10 on our first gardening experience ain’t bad!

I am so glad we decided to take on this new hobby.  I have learned so much and feel more accountable for the food that I eat.  I enjoy watching our crops grow, change and flourish.  Mother nature is sure a marvel for which I am extremely grateful!

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Nov 09 2011
2 Comments
Gardening

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I have always wanted to grow a garden.  There is nothing fresher than harvesting your own fruits and vegetables for a lovely home cooked meal.  However, I have never had the space to do so.  And to be honest I don’t have a green thumb.  In fact, I have a hard time keeping the flowers my husband brings me alive!

When we moved to our new town I was told about the community gardens. It is a collection of individual garden plots that can be rented annually to grow organic produce, flowers and herbs.  Now that I am a stay at home mom, I thought this would be a great activity for Harper and I to do during the day, especially since we can walk to the garden from our house.

I had no idea how much work this would entail.  I thought I would just have to water it every so often and possibly pick some weeds.  Well, after our first day in the garden, I have a whole new appreciation for my new venture.

My husband knows a lot about gardening.  Growing up, his father maintained a nice size garden in his backyard.  He was always harvesting delicious fruits and vegetables from season to season.  So even though this garden was supposed to be my project, I had to recruit Freddie for some much needed help.

When we inherited the garden from the previous owners, it was full of kale, tomatoes, melons, squash, herbs and peppers.  But it had not been tended to in a while, so it was a bit of a mess.  It was also very disorganized and we didn’t know what was what.  So we decided to tear it all up and start from scratch.  Boy, was that a tough job!  I did as much as I could, but I have to admit, Freddie did most of it.

Once we excavated the plot, we went to the nursery to pick out our winter crops.  Since we were planting late in the season, they suggested we buy starters instead of seeds.  This way, we would have a better chance at possibly harvesting crops at the end of the season.  We decided to plant broccoli, romaine and butter lettuce, strawberries, onions, spinach, parsley, Brussel sprouts, carrots and celery.  Freddie has been going down to the garden every day to water it.  I am more than willing to help but I still require supervision.  So I go down to the garden on the weekends when Freddie can come with me.

This is going to be one huge adventure.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  I am hoping for the best.  And if all goes well, I will have delicious fruits and vegetables to share with everyone in a few months :)

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