Lisa's Awesome Garden Blog

Everything is Coming Up....Everywhere

2010-05-17T08:41:00.002-05:00

Well, as we thought, we have green beans and corn coming up EVERYWHERE! I made a row of corn to give them a chance. I planted them in the same row as the sunflowers in hopes to add protection from the wind. I may even be able to make another row with the little ones coming up!

I was able to add a few orange peppers. I got my sunflowers after all, YAY! And let's see....oh, I see the potatoes coming up. This is very exciting. Everything is coming up that we planted.

This month May 2010 is the rainiest month in TN history. Hopefully things will become a little more balanced as the summer approaches. I'd be quite frustrated if the tomatoes got blight again this year.

Every year I manage to find a yard sale that is selling potted plants. This year I got some miniature hollyhocks, and two other plants (I don't know the name). I can't wait to see them come up!

and Re-Planted

2010-05-05T08:34:00.005-05:00

For those who don't live in middle-TN, you may or may not have heard of the horrible flood that has come through the region. Not only did it destroy my precious little garden (a small loss compared to most) but also temporary shelters are at capacity, missing people are unaccounted for, many homes are under water, we're in a water conservation emergency, much of Nashville's economic base is threatened by flood damage, etc, etc. Please contact the Red Cross to Help.

So, my mother planted three rows of tomatoes that survived the flood, they were planted outside of the water path. I managed to save 5 plants (one sweet pepper, one jalapeno and three tomatoes). Just yesterday, we found many bean sprouts that washed away to another part of the property. I expect to see corn, potatoes, pumpkins and who knows what else cropping up. Or perhaps you may see my seeds cropping up where you live....

So, the flood washed away a lot of topsoil, so much so that we aren't going to plant the whole garden this season. Therefore, I was able to get 2 rows, but they are long because they are plowed horizontally rather than vertically. I replanted most everything except corn and sunflowers. There just wasn't enough room. That will be next year.

Our plan for this year is to get a load of topsoil for parts of the garden that lost it. We hope after harvest to plow and plant clover.

Even though it was washed out and we had double work, I have hopes that it will mean good things for the garden. More nutrients perhaps? We'll see....keep in touch for more.

Planted

2010-05-05T08:19:00.006-05:00

The garden is planted, let the blog begin.

Mother and I planted our garden on April 29th. Beautiful. The soil, ohhhh the soil, was so spectacular it made me want to go back to my childhood and make mudpies. I planted:

Potatoes (new for me)
Sunflowers
Pumpkins
Corn (again, new for me)
Jalapeno Peppers
Sweet Bell Peppers
Tomatoes (Beefmasters and Bradley's)

2009 Recap, what I learned:

I tried to tame it down this year. Last years crop was such a disappointment with all the rain and the blight. Last year the poor tomatoes. It grieves me so to even talk about my poor tomatoes. Let's just say I harvested 2 tomatoes and had a couple ROWS of them. Darn BLIGHT!

Also, I enjoyed Pumpkins in 2008 that I thought I MUST plant many, many in 2009. Sometimes more is not better. Live and learn.

It was a spectacular jalapeno season last year...almost too much so. We had so many that 100s died on the plants. We just couldn't keep up. I tried the Sweet Peppers in planters last year. A place where they got PLENTY of sun, and that was successful. For what ever reason, sweet peppers don't do exceptionally well in the garden. I know this but I can't resist peppers, I just LOVE them, so I try year after year.

The Sunflowers were beautiful last year. Also, the little Baby Boo Pumpkins were adorable...I needed to plant those later in the year, though. The were ready too soon in the season.

NEW THIS YEAR:
Corn. I am so excited to try this. I understand that I must plant at least three rows to prevent the wind from knocking them down. I think I will put sunflowers on either side of them additionally for extra protection. BUT, I do know it grows. My grandfather grew it all the time.

Potatoes. I watched a Reading Rainbow episode a couple years ago about growing potatoes. I have been curious ever since. (Reading Rainbow? Yes, I have children.) This is the year to try out potatoes. I have started it late in the season, but I am trying to plant them in a shadier area, so we'll see.

Peppers are being planted in a different part of the garden, in hopes of finding the RIGHT place for peppers.

2010 Garden Season fast approaching.

2010-02-02T19:31:00.003-06:00

So I guess my last post was my unofficial end post for the 2009 garden season. I have written a list of plants to try this year. They are as follows:

Sunflowers...they are just too easy and so pretty. I also hope to feed them to the birds this year.

Orange Peppers, I will be growing these in pots at my house rather than in the garden. The sun just isn't quite right in the garden. Additionally green and red peppers.

I am going to try carrots this year. I will probably have to container grow these since our soil is quite rocky. My granny told me that when my brother tried carrots they were very crooked.

I want to try potatoes. This may also take some new soil that isn't so rocky, but I am most eager about this gardening endeavor. I MAY grow some sweet potatoes, too. We'll see.

I will do pumpkins this year, but just one basic Jack O Lantern variety and not very many.

I may grow some corn.

And tomatoes. I will not start these from seeds, however. I will buy hardy, blight-resistant plants.

Talk to you again in a few months when we get this baby started.

Has it been three weeks???

2009-08-12T14:55:00.010-05:00

I am heartbroken to show you the sad pictures of the tomatoes. I personally harvested two ripe tomatoes. That is horrible since I planted a row and a half. Mother got more tomatoes, but she planted her plants earlier than I so they had more time to produce. As I drive by other folks gardens to see the same, it just frustrates me. It would seem that a nice wet summer would be wonderful, but it goes to show that even though hot dry summers are sometimes miserable to endure, there are good things that come of it.

I was so proud of myself. This year I actually canned something. My husband and I had a great time doing this together, too. I felt like a true gardener. Sure it's fun to plant and harvest the fruit, but to preserve it and use it during non-summer months is exciting. I canned the False Alarm Hybrid Jalapenos. My husband says they aren't hot at all. I was hoping for a slight bit of heat, but non at all? So, I canned a hot jalapeno in each of the jars in hopes of adding some spice. We'll see. They should be just about ready to try.

So I as so excited about preserving my peppers, I wanted to get a start on my pumpkins. BAD idea. Although they looked like they were ready, they were not. I am eager to try and can some of the pumpkins for pies and muffins. Looks like I need to hold off until at least the end of August early September. We'll see.

Though my orange pumpkins weren't ready, my Baby Boos were ready. Lesson learned, DONT plant these until mid-to-late June. I now have all those adorable pumpkins sitting in a shoe box on my table. Hopefully they'll hold out until fall so I can decorate with them.

This is my volunteer gourd/pumpkin/squash mystery plant. It decided to grow right up onto our porch. It is thriving, hopefully the yard guy won't hit the plant with his weed-eater tomorrow. I don't know where this came from, but I am going with it. Who knows what we'll do with these oddities.

Rain Rain Go Away...

2009-07-22T09:11:00.004-05:00

Check out this article on the Late Blight Crisis affecting our tomatoes. The main cause is all the rain and humidity. Our crop has never fully dried out. We have hardly watered the garden at all. This is very unusual for mid-July!

Blight

2009-07-15T08:41:00.006-05:00

Our poor tomatoes have blight. Last year our garden was perfect. So perfect that we canned a ton of tomatoes and even gave bushels away. This year, we don't know what happened. Mother says that she didn't try so hard last year and maybe there is something to that. This year she stepped it up and fertilized and spent more time on them. I on the other hand stuck my tomatoes in the ground and hoped they'd make it. Both ways, the tomatoes are dying. HUGE BUMMER! It rained a lot this year, I don't know if they plays into it or not, but either way we're just hoping the tomato plants we have will live long enough to allow the fruit to ripen.

On the other hand our blackberries and pumpkins are growing very well!

My children and their buddies picking blackberries!

And here are the pumpkins:

Pollination in its true form.

Cinderella Pumpkins hanging from the trellis.

Pretty little fancy gourd!

We also have loads of green beans. Mother and Granny have canned over 100 jars of beans.

This is my tiger lily. I bought a box full of plants from a yard sale for $5. I think I got my money's worth for this shot alone.

Bringing the Abundance to Friends

2009-07-08T08:42:00.004-05:00

I picked 32oz of blackberries last night. We have so many left over from last year that I brought them in to work. In addition to the blackberries, mother picked loads of squash, zucchini and cucumbers. My father and I both took the extras to our office to share.

Mother and Granny have canned over 50 cans of green beans....and that was from the last count a week ago. I saw at least six jars sitting on her counter freshly canned yesterday. Mother had an enormous basket yet to be canned and four more rows to pick. It seems like a lot of cans for one year, but we go through the green beans.

The pumpkins are taking over. I have to go a few times a week and move the vines away from the peppers and tomatoes. I have also trellised them. I am always amazed by how big the pumpkins plants get.

The peppers I am growing at my house in pots are bearing fruit now. These are the false alarm hybrids. I can't wait to taste them!

It Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger!

2009-07-02T08:59:00.007-05:00

"That's a Baby Boo"

My son is taking his over-ripe squash to school for show-and-tell.

These pumpkin plants (above and below) are volunteer pumpkins. The above plant is growing in our flower garden. I am not expecting too much from that plant because it is in a mostly shaded area. The growth has been minimal.

The below plant is growing beside my porch railing. The sun is just right. There is poison ivy growing beside it, so the weed killer may get it.

A couple of the first ripe tomatoes!

We found a ripe one!

Look how tall the tomato plants are! They have barely begun producing. We're going to have tomatoes coming out of our ears!

The pumpkin patch continues to grow. Mother and I were talking and agree that they are probably going to double or triple yet!

Here is a gourd. This one looks different than the last couple we've seen! It'll be fun checking out the different varieties we planted.

This is my Cinderella Pumpkin. It's growing on a trellis in hopes of saving the peppers and tomatoes from suffocation!

Here is our Cinderella Pumpkin. We have some others but this one is currently changing colors, so I featured it. It was a cream color and is now quite golden. This pumpkin will turn dark orange, almost red when ripe.

Here is our first Sweet Sugar Pie pumpkin. We hope to can these and use them for muffins and pies.

Our sunflowers are in full swing. Isn't the above sunflower lovely and unique?

My son is picking and eating blackberries. Next week we're going to have more than we can eat!

Zucchini-Squash Casserole

2009-06-24T14:56:00.005-05:00

Every month at church we have a pot-luck. For all of my southern friends, this is the norm for church fellowship....perhaps this is the norm all over the country, but it is especially prevalent in the south. So our church always has the same people bring the same type of food For example, because my last name starts with 'A' I get to bring vegetables. To be clear this does not include salad nor does it include potatoes. Usually I have difficulty coming up with a vegetable, but not during the summer.

So, since squash and zucchini are in season, I am going to make a squash and zucchini casserole. I asked my mother and granny what they do to create a great Squash/Zucchini casserole (because to be honest, I don't make a lot of Squash and Zucchini). They gave me some good southern cooking ideas, and I am adding some of my favorite casserole dish techniques to spice it up a little. I tried to be ingenious and come up with a clever recipe name, but since it's for a church pot-luck it would be wrong to call it something other than Zucchini-Squash Casserole (though I'd rename it if I were in MN to Zucchini-Squash Hotdish). One day maybe it'll be Mrs. Ask's famous Zucchini-Squash Casserole, but for now it is simply an attempt to make an excellent casserole.

ZUCCHINI-SQUASH CASSEROLE
From Lisa Ask's Kitchen
with secrets from Mom & Granny

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Chop 3 Zucchini, 3 Squash into one inch cubes. Finely chop small onion.

Saute Vegetables in 1/2 Stick Butter until soft but not mushy.

Season vegetables to taste with the following ingredients:
Sugar
Garlic Salt
Black Pepper

Pour sauteed vegetables into a 9x13" casserole. Add a cup of shredded cheese and combine. I use Colby/Jack.

Combine one stick of melted butter, one sleeve crushed Ritz Cracker and 1/2-1 cup Italian Bread Crumbs (enough to top the casserole)

Bake 20 minutes or until bubbly!

Salad Day at Pre-school and More.

2009-06-24T09:12:00.007-05:00

My son took cucumber and squash to his school today for "salad day." He was proud to say that he picked them from his garden. My favorite kid interpretation is calling Zucchini a Bikini.

I have mentioned how our peppers aren't our best crop? I am serious. These peppers have been in the ground for a LONG time. AND now finally we see some jalapenos. The plants are nearly three feet tall. They are beautiful plants, but I wish they'd spend their beauty on the peppers.

These are my small, fancy gourds. I have been training them on the trellis this week. I am hoping this will allow more garden space, but also, I am hoping that the fruit will be nice and round since they are off the ground.

Here are a couple, beautiful gourds. So far, so round.

This is my tallest sunflower. I like how this sunflower is about six inches in diameter rather than twenty inches. This year I am growing it for beauty rather than for the seeds. You can see a little sunflower underneath. It's even smaller.

My Baby Boos are doing so well. They are growing quickly. I wonder when I will have to harvest them. They are only supposed to be about three inches. I will have to do more research on this. I also trained the Baby Boos to grow on a trellis. This made a huge difference. See below.

And this is the largest of my Cinderella Pumpkins to date. I can't wait to see what they turn into. I built a make-shift trellis to prevent them from growing over the tomatoes and peppers, but I am concerned that the tellis will fall with the weight if pumpkins grow on my trellis creation.

A couple weeks ago I thought my garden was looking bare. I was thinking that maybe I over spaced them. By my memory of last years pumpkins proved accurate. This plant has more than tripled in size in the last couple weeks. I am now starting to think about pruning.

This is our guard dog, Caleb. We keep him chained in the garden at night (with food, water and shelter, of course) to scare off the deer. So far it is really working!

Change of location. We're at my house checking out my False Alarm Hybrid Peppers. They are growing well in the pots...this pot particularly well as it holds water the best. I think I even see the beginnings of some pepper buds. Please disregard the awful weeds. It's on my to do list.

This is also an experiment. I am growing birdhouse gourds in a whiskey barrel. I bet by the time summer is over my whole house will be covered in vines!

These are the squash. Fabulous, huh?

And the harvesting has begun!

2009-06-18T18:08:00.006-05:00

Here are the first of the squash! My son is excited to take his squash to school for salad day. I know, right, salad day? Well, that's the plan. We anticipate a couple weeks or so of plenty of squash. I'll get some recipes up next blog.

GOURDS & PUMPKINS

I am quite excited about this little guy. This is a picture of my "small, fancy" gourd. It took everything for my son to not pull it off the vine.

And check out this little pumpkin. This is a miniature Lumina pumpkin. It'll get around 3 inches and will be white. I think it'll be fun to play with these things come fall. But at the rate it is growing now, we might be enjoying them early!

SUNFLOWERS

I was way off in thinking that the sunflower was about as tall as my daughter. It towers over her! Isn't she cute? Oh, right, the sunflowers, yes...I was excited to see that some of the stalks have several buds for flowers. I am so excited to see how these turn out.

GREEN BEANS

Green beans are so much fun. My granny is sitting in her chair breaking green beans. I remember as a wee lassie breaking beans with my Granny. But the process only starts here. She will can all of these beans. I THINK we got about fifty cans last year...and the deer ate half the crop. Who knows how many we'll get this year. Good thing we are all green bean fans. And Granny makes the BEST southern style green beans. These beans are Italian green beans. They are different because they are flat. My family prefers these, but Granny likes the round ones....If she makes them I eat those, too.

Major Growth!

2009-06-17T08:58:00.006-05:00

Check out this beautiful leaf! I love squash plants, they are large, lush and beautiful. These plants have my favorite foliage...at least during their prime!

Check out this little squash. Within the next couple weeks we'll have more squash than we'll know what to do with!

Green beans, too. I took this picture on June 12th, so this green bean is probably pickin' size. Last week, the Italian beans weren't even growing. When I looked at them yesterday, they were a good 5 inches. BTW, the green bean is in the very center sitting horizontally!

This plant is my Cinderella Pumpkin plant. These are by far the most beautiful and prolific of my pumpkin plants. In fact, there are little pumpkins about the size of a marbles already there.

My daughter is over two feet tall and these sunflowers are taller than she. These sunflowers won't grow very tall. I did that deliberately since they were much too tall to enjoy last year. Not to mention, the flowers were quite large and heavy.

You can already see the flower bud on the sunflowers.

These are small, fancy gourds. They are crawling up the trellis nicely. Yesterday I noticed two golf ball sized gourds hanging there!

Here are the pumpkin blooms. I am excited!!!!

So, I finally got around to planting my burpee tomato plants that I grew from seed. They look great. Additionally, I found some volunteer tomatoes from last years crop. I have transplanted those to a row and am excited to see what kind of tomatoes they are! They could be cherry, heirloom, ice tomatoes...who knows! I love a good surprise! And yes, this past weekend, I weeded. YUCK!

Lookie what I see....tomatoes. We're going to have tomatoes coming out of our ears!

See how beautiful. We got a huge rain yesterday. I 'll be they are even more incredible now!

Blackberries!

2009-06-11T08:44:00.005-05:00

So it's blackberry season. By the end of June we should have loads and loads of blackberries. Now I can't lie, blackberries are not my favorite fruit. I don't like biting into seeds, but my Granny can make a fierce blackberry cobbler. My son on the other hand can eat the berries right off the vine in mass proportion.

My sons ability to walk right up to a blackberry vine is a direct result of my "Pop paw's" plan to grow thornless, thumb-sized berries. Now I have heard that the thornless berries are better for pies and cobblers since they are not as sweet as wild blackberries...BUT there is certainly a price to pay to get those delicious, wild blackberries. The wild berries are just that WILD. They are brutal and their thorns show no mercy.

This past spring my mother and cleared the brush near the garden to allow for easy lawn mowing. We scratched our skin up trying to battle through loads on thorn bushes. After a painful battle, we felt that we saved the person on the mower from brutal scarring and pain. Little did we know, only a few months later, those vicious vines popped right back up....it was then we realized we were fighting wild blackberries.

Regardless, scratches or not, we'll be picking all those berries both domestic and wild.

French Dressing Recipe & More

2009-06-03T08:28:00.007-05:00

Tonight I will be eating the delicious lettuce from the garden again! I am so excited! A salad for me usually consists of a little lettuce and loads of toppings; however, the fresh, tender lettuce from the garden needs nothing but some french dressing.

Here's the recipe:

French Dressing

3/4c vegetable Oil
1/4c white vinegar
1/4c Ketchup
1 pressed garlic clove
2T Sugar
1t Worcestershire

Normally, I wouldn't use anything but ranch and honey mustard, but that would be much too heavy for such a tender leaf.

(above)
This view of the garden is mother's. Gorgeous, huh?

(above)
And if you look past the two rows of green beans, row of cucumbers, row of okra, row of peppers You'll see my garden area. The picture doesn't do it justice, really...but you'll be amazed how in the coming month's my little area will become massive. The nature of the pumpkin. I forgot to mention that I planted a row and a half of tomatoes. Lots of fun.

(above)
If you look closely you will see some green bean flowers. It's about that time!

Rapid Growth

2009-05-28T08:38:00.007-05:00

Ahhhh, the sweet smell of Honeysuckle is out in full force. The smell is so fragrant that it simply draws me out to the garden. It's been a while since I've added some pictures. So there are many to show.

I must mention that my folks ate a salad of our freshly picked lettuce. Of course I had to try it and YUMMMM! Success.

I'll start with the strawberries. Honestly, if I get one strawberry I will consider this endeavor a success. So, I spotted a nice little flower yesterday, WAHOO. The strawberries have done much better since I have changed the location to a sunnier spot. We'll see, like I said, one strawberry will be a success for me.

And, here is my second attempt to grow peppers. Mother and I were talking last night and thought it was possible that our pepper plants are not getting enough hours of full sun in the garden, so my attempt to both put them in a different soil and to give them full sun will hopefully bear a lot of fruit. These are my False Alarm Hybrid Peppers. They are supposed to taste like Jalapenos but not have the burn.

Ahhh, blackberries. My dear son likes fruit, true....but never in my wildest did I think he'd love blackberries the way he does. When they are ripe, he goes and picks them right off the vine and eats them. As you can see, the berries are in the ripening stage. I can't wait. These are thornless and taste better in cobblers because they are quite tart. Thankfully, we have our fair share of wild blackberries...so we'll have the best of the best of both worlds.

The second attempt to growing green beans. Mother planted a row beside the original (predator eaten) green beans and they are thriving. It is still a mystery as to what really happened, but I think deer and rabbit are the cause, but that doesn't explain why the second row is thriving.

The sunflowers are awesome this year. Though, last year they were too. Our soil must be just right for them and of course the sun must be hot enough for them. They are already about a foot high. I can't wait to see what they turn out like. I have several varieties and colors. Oh the anticipation!!!

Cherries! To my surprise I noticed these little guys last night. They are turning quickly. These are my mother's cherries, and I think it will be quite difficult to pick them as this tree is VERY old and most of the branches are very high up. Mother says she gets a ladder and climbs up to get them. Hopefully we'll get them picked before the birds do.

Okay, so it appears that tomatoes are on the way. We have spotted several yellow flowers. This plants was purchased as a plant. This weekend we'll plant the seedlings we started a couple months back. We have Big Mama Tomatoes, Seedless Tomatoes and Salsa Tomatoes. By the end of summer we'll have more than we'll know what to do with. VERY exciting.

Here are my Cinderella Pumpkins. So far they are winning as the most beautiful of my pumpkin plants. I am eager to see how the look. These Pumpkins are shaped like Cinderella's Carriage to the Ball. They are also a bit redder than the typical Jack O Lantern.

And here is mother's broccoli. It always amazes me how one day it's just a plant and the next it's the fruit. After the broccoli has been harvested we'll till the row and begin watching the tomatoes that are going to be planted between the broccoli rows. Our ridiculously large family garden is too small. Who knew?

Back from vacation

2009-05-20T10:54:00.003-05:00

I have been on vacation for the past five days. Mother has managed the garden for me. I got home last night and was too tired to remember the camera and take pictures. So therefore, I plan to do this by the end of the week.

I am planning on planting my salsa tomatoes by the end of the week.

Also, I moved my strawberry plants to a sunnier location and they appear to be doing better.

I may do another blog this week since this blog does not offer much on excitement. Otherwise, have an awesome Memorial Day and I'll catch up with you next Wednesday.

Meet our Snakes!

2009-05-13T08:29:00.004-05:00

We finally got some photos and even a video of our dear snake friends. I have been calling them Big & Bigger, but my mother gave them proper names, Sasha & Guillermo. I personally believe them to be Rat Snakes a.k.a. Chicken Snakes. They look a lot like Black Racers and King snakes, but we believe them to be much to large to be that variety.

Check out this awesome video. It will give you a great idea of how large they are.

Although safe snakes, they give me the creeps. They live in the rafters of my mother's house and they are at least 5 feet tall. I am shivering as we speak. I suppose we'll keep them. I won't like they creep me out, but they do a good service.
As far as our plants and whatnot we're just watching them grow. My father and husband tilled the weeds out the other night. Our tomato plants are just about ready to plant. Our peppers probably lack a week or so. My strawberries are quite unimpressive. I have changed their location in hopes more sun will increase their growth. Our blackberries, however, are very impressive. Until next week.

Wow, talk about RAIN!

2009-05-06T09:40:00.012-05:00

Okay, so it has rained and rained and rained and rained. WOW. Thankfully the garden was not flooded, so we're good, but wow, talk about the rain.

And we're excited to see actual flowers on the blackberry vines!

Most all of our seeds have poked their way through the ground. Everything looks good except some of our green beans. I don't know what is going on there, but I think we'll probably plant a few more for the weirdo plants. If it turns out to be be a rabbit problem, I don't suppose there is much to do there, but if it is a seed problem we'll just plant some more.

The tomatoes and broccoli have shot up a few inches and quite frankly the onions look about ready to pull up and eat. And in the next couple weeks we'll be ready to plant our seedlings. They, too, have grown.Check out some of the other beauties that have popped up since last week.

New Growth and Rain

2009-04-29T08:45:00.006-05:00

The weather shows rain all week....so far I've only seen a couple drops. I am eager for a downpour, otherwise, I will be forced to get out and water...which is fine, but I don't know, there is something about rain water that is different from using a sprinkler.

My seedlings are growing rapidly. We're hoping by May 27th to have these guys in the ground. The Salsa Tomatoes are doing very well and the peppers are coming along. I am hopeful!

We have had lots of sprouts come up since last week. This is the fun part, waiting and watching the new growth. If fact, I took these pictures yesterday morning and I went back out in the evening and my one of my Baby Boo Pumpkins sprouted since the morning. This blog will be heavy on the photos.Mother's Blue Lake Green Beans Mother's Broccoli and Green Onions My Lettuce and Mother's BroccoliMy Sunflower VarietiesMother's Zucchini

My Cinderella Pumpkins!

My Gourds.

We planted our nearly 250 square feet of annuals on Monday. Some are from last year's flowers. Last year mother saved zinnias and marigolds. This year we added aster, baby's breath, cosmos and a mix of annual flowers. We planted all of this on Monday the 27th.
I haven't spoken about our fruit trees and vines in a while. Here are the blackberries. They are budding!

Below are some peach buds. We also have cherries and pears budding.

The photos below are some flowers in my mother and grandmother's yard. Mom has an amazing green thumb. I am trying to learn all I can so I will be able to grow beautiful and delicious plants. I do pretty well, but I have a LONG way to go.Lily of the ValleyClematis

Garden Blog Gone Public...sort of.

2009-04-22T17:41:00.009-05:00

My awesome company Hammock Inc. mentioned my blog on its website. This triggered a lot of questions; therefore, I will attempt to answer some of the main questions now that I have had time to think about some of them.

1. Is your garden about five acres?

Uh, no. A rough estimate is it is about 5,000 square feet. I don't know how to translate that into acres. AND of that 5,000 square feet, I personally cultivate about 1,200 square feet...details on that to follow.

2. Have I always had a large garden?

Me personally, no. Last year was my first year to have a "non-back yard" garden. My grandfather; however, has always had a garden. He passed away three years ago and since then my folks and I have started carrying on the tradition of gardening.

3. How do your parents fit into this gardening situation?

After my precious grandfather passed away, my parents moved into his house with my grandmother. That story is a long, but it makes perfect sense. Once they moved into my grandfather's place, Husband and I bought their twelve acres from them. Our properties border each other. And all these properties were once owned by my grandfather and coincidentally is where my childhood home is. The garden area is technically their property, but when you deal with mom's and dad's it's all fair game and they are more than delighted to share the garden space.

4. How do I preserve my plants once harvested?

I learned to can tomatoes from my grandmother, but I haven't practiced that. My Granny and my mother can or freeze or make jam out of everything. I like to be cool at my office and church and share the produce....but if you know how much was canned and eaten fresh, you'd realize there was nothing to do but give it away; thus the appearance of coolness!!! BUT if I get peppers, I will probably freeze them or pickle them. I am also interested in preserving my sugar pumpkins for muffins and pies this year, so that will be something new I learn. If I was up to all the work of picking, breaking and canning green beans, I so totally would, because they are delicious....Frankly, we're still eating 2004 beans.

5. What is your favorite thing to grow?

Last year I had a blast with pumpkins. This year, I went WAY overboard with them. I hope they are as much fun this year as last. We'll see. I am excited about my strawberries and I am experimenting with Peppers....that is the fun part. I like playing around and seeing what happens.

6. What pests eat our garden?

Primarily deer. My grandfather tried everything he could but to no avail. We've got a large dog we hope will scare away the deer this year, but that, too, may be wishful thinking. This past year they particularly enjoyed the green beans, squash and cucumbers.

Seeds in the Ground!

2009-04-22T08:44:00.008-05:00

Last Friday my sweet husband tilled the garden so we could plant!

Although my motivation was growing wary from cool weather and stubborn seeds, tilling the garden sparked my interest yet again.

I finally got my strawberry plants planted....twenty-three plants in all! This pot looks a little funny, but it took the best picture. The other two pots are terra cotta and hold nine plants each. My only worry about having pots like this is not being able to hang them up high. I am worried that Tom, our cat, will destroy them. We'll see.

So my mother decided that she wanted more space in the garden and I decided I wanted more space in the garden; therefore, mother got more space. I managed, however, to get everything planted, though not according to my chart.

Everything is now sprouting. Great story...my mother was watering all our little sprouts in the greenhouse when our friendly 5'+ black snake pokes his head down in from of my mother's face. After catching her breath, she watches him stretch out all the way across the width of the greenhouse. As she looks up she finds his MUCH larger friend coiled around the rafter. At that point she thought she'd better give the snakes some space. Thankfully black snakes mean that Rattlers and Copperheads are not around, so we'll keep them after all, but naturally they give us the heeby jeebies. I personally met one of them a couple days later. I hope to catch a picture of them at some point, but perhaps it'll only be their skin as they shed it.

I don't know how much longer before I can plant my pepper and tomato plants, probably at least three more weeks, but they are looking good so far.

So it's really hard to take nice pictures of piles of dirt to reflect the hours spent planting seeds and plants so these next couple pics will be just that...piles of dirt and a couple little plants. I am always amazed by how one little seeds can quickly turn into a jungle of plants and fruit. Amazing....I am a devout Christian, but I can't understand how someone wouldn't believe in God after watching nature do it's thing.

Sprouts!

2009-04-14T08:34:00.009-05:00

So finally on day 14, we began seeing sprouts. Come on warm weather! I have no idea if the peppers are ever going to get going....I may be out buying pepper plants after all. That is a bummer! We'll see. There is still time.

We planted our broccoli, green onions and lettuce on Easter Sunday. The goal this weekend is to get everything else planted! My sweet husband tilled the garden rows for the broccoli, onions and lettuce, and he enjoyed it.

What else is growing right now....oh yes, Daughter's Zinnia has sprouted. I thought we'd lost that one. The spouts pop up so fast, I can't wait to see what has happened today.

My goal before this weekend is to get my strawberries transplanted into the strawberry pots that I found. I had them tucked away at the house the whole time. I think that a bloom is starting to form on one of the plants...strawberries so soon....I can't wait!

The Waiting Game

2009-04-08T09:16:00.003-05:00

Spring teases me every year. I get so eager to get planting the very minute we get a warm day. Thankfully the rule "NEVER PLANT BEFORE APRIL 15" stuck. I am still quite impatient and irritated by the last few frosts of the season.

I am still waiting to see sprouts emerge from our pots, but the cold weather is making them reluctant to pop their heads through...even in a greenhouse. Perhaps this weekend?

Gardening Layout

2009-04-02T13:37:00.005-05:00

So, the space I need is a little larger than I had planned, but I am not totally surprised. What can I say pumpkins take up a lot of room! And, I had not planned on having nearly 200 pepper seeds. Even if we get 60% of the plants, that is still a load of peppers. This also makes me nervous as peppers are difficult to grow in our garden. So we'll see.

This image is a little hard to read, but it is my garden map. How fun...I know a bit much, but I am so excited..I am going to show it to my folks tonight to see if my plans are reasonable or over the top. We'll see.

The storms that are expected tonight sort of ruin our tilling plans. Hopefully our little broccoli plants will hang in there for better conditions. We bought them early because we were warned that there may be a shortage.

As for my strawberries, I have decided to use a coconut/wire planter and grow them in a hanging plant. I am hopeful. I will also be experimenting with peppers in a planter. And we nixed the idea of having thorn-less raspberries near the blackberries. I forgot the whole reason why.

And so it has begun!

2009-04-01T08:25:00.012-05:00

The seeds finally arrived. I am so excited. It's funny, I am happy just to hold the packages and look at them. So fun! Not only that, but a friend of mine gave me 25 strawberry plants. I am going to grow the strawberries in a hanging planter. I read online how to go about that. I'll blog and make pictures of the hanging planters when I get that going!

So on Monday, mom and I started all of our seeds. Ideally, I should have started these earlier in the month. But it is what it is. I started Salsa Tomatoes, I believe they are like Roma's. Husband and I love salsa, so we look forward to seeing how these taste. Mother started, Big Mama's and hybrid seedless tomatoes. In addition to the tomatoes, I started TONS of peppers. I am nervous about the peppers because they don't grow well in our gardens for whatever reason. We'll see. I am going to try to plant some of the peppers in planters to see if the growth improves. All in all, we started over 100 plants. YIKES! Currently, all of the seeds are hanging out in the greenhouse. I look forward to seeing sprouts next week! How exciting!

Hopefully by the weekend Husband will till the rows. Mother needs to get the broccoli plants into the ground. I am also going to plant the lettuce seeds. In the meantime, I am trying to figure out the best places for starting my pumpkins. Pumpkins spread so much, I have to be very thoughtful of this. I have a couple trellis' that will hold the Baby Boo pumpkins and the small gourds.

And what kind of mom would I be if I didn't get my kids interested in gardening.? Last year they loved watching their pumpkins and sunflowers grow. They already love the "farm life," so I am anticipating they will be little gardeners as toddlers! Here are some pictures of them at our local library planting zinnias. Also, Publix has a toddler program you can sign up for coupons and whatnot, so of course I signed up. But they did something so cool this spring. They send out little flower seed strips. We got these planted on Saturday and already we have a sprout! So fun!

WAITING WAITING WAITING

2009-03-26T11:54:00.001-05:00

I am waiting for my seeds to arrive. Burpee said that they mailed them a couple days ago, but the tracking isn't showing when they are to arrive. I hope to be surprised this evening with a package. We'll see!

It's Gardening Season

2009-03-23T08:48:00.001-05:00

So, on Friday, March 20th, we began our garden. We meaning, myself and my parents. My parents property and my property border each other, so we share the gardening space. The garden is much larger than your average backyard garden, but we aren't going to be feeding the masses.

This past Friday we had the garden plowed. Mr. Bruce did a great job. My son, Parker, even got to ride on the tractor. Yes, he was in heaven. Parker also thinks this is his personal mud hole and has had a blast digging and swimming in the dirt.

In addition to our vegetable garden, we have pear, apple, cherry and peach trees. Hopefully we had a cold enough winter to make a great production this year. Last year, we had A LOT of fruit. In addition to our trees, we have our blackberries. They are thorn-less, thumb-size blackberries. They are a little sour for me, but my dear chicken-nugget eating son LOVES them. He goes right up to the vine and eats them. They also make AWESOME cobblers. This year we have a couple holes to add new vines. We are discussing thorn-less raspberries. That is still under debate.

So, what am I planning on growing this year? Good question.

Lettuce
Salsa Tomatoes
A variety of Peppers, both sweet and hot.
My favorite, Pumpkins...several varieties.
Sunflowers
and Gourds

My folks are going to grow, seedless, Big Mama & celebrity tomatoes.
Broccoli
Okra
Two varieties of green beans
Peppers
Squash
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Greens

We have to wait until after Tax Day to really start gardening...but we may get a jump start on the broccoli and lettuce. Not to mention, I am starting a lot of these plants by seed; therefore, I will be getting on the ball about that ASAP.

Today, Mr. Bruce, is coming back to till the garden.

'til then,

Lisa