The garden

My garden is coming along pretty good this year.You may remember that I couldn't do a garden last year because of the ridiculously insane baseball schedules that the boys had. And I missed it SO much. I really find it relaxing to till and plant and watch things grow. And I find it incredibly satisfying to be able to grow, cook, and prepare fresh food for my family.


In the picture below, you can see tomatoes, 2 rows of green beans, and squash and zucchini. Just outside of the picture are 4 small blueberry bushes that I planted this year. The pressure is really on these little bushes, as we are all going out at different times of the day to check on the 6-8 ripening berries on each little shrub. Almost ripe!!

You can see the potatoes on the far left....(some of which have started to bloom), onions planted up really close to a row of green peppers, and then the same tomatoes, and green beans. In between the poles, I planted cucumbers. I have some gardening twine that I will stretch between the poles and make a sort of trellis for the cucumbers to grow up. This has worked well in the past, and it really saves space! For mulching, I use fresh grass clippings which are applied by our work crew in thick layers. This is good for the soil, and also keeps the weeds to a manageable level.
For those of you who see the size of this garden and think "small"......I'm with you. It is small. But then THIS is the size garden that I grew up with. My parents' garden hasn't changed in size, ONE INCH. They will be feeding half the county this year.

I was about 4 when I was walking in the garden with dad and he reached down and pulled up a huge turnip from the ground. He took out his pocket knife, peeled it and cut 2 thin slices. He handed one to me. At 4 I wasn't really a huge turnip fan. But I tried it, and couldn't believe how good it was! And I remember thinking how amazing to go out an pull delicious food right from the ground and eat it!!

And below, is part of the work crew we use around here.

They can be difficult to motivate, bbut they are cheap, do a good job, and they don't use foul language in my presence. SO I keep 'em. ;-)



So, how's your garden doing? What have you planted? Is it in the ground, or maybe just a couple of containers on the deck? What are you watching grow this year?

G'night!

Melissa