Garden Update 8-12-13

Yes, I know that I am late with our garden update this week, but it has been a busy crazy week, and I am just glad that I had the time now to prepare this post.  I climbed up on a ladder to take the photograph below.  Click on the photo to view our garden better!

We are still continuing to battle with the critters in our garden.  Now, we are dealing with ground hogs.  I noticed two large ground hogs last week behind our fence chasing each other around in the neighbors yard, and all I kept saying to myself is “just keep your butts over there”.  Well, they didn’t listen.

Ground Hog Ate the Cucumbers

 

A ground hog got into the garden over the weekend and chewed down a section of our cucumber patch.  He just dug a huge hole under the fence and walked right in.  I am determined to “win” this battle as I have been screwing in long pieces of pallet onto our fence at the bottom to keep them out.  I first hammered the pieces of pallet deep into the dirt as good as I can, then screwed the pallet piece to the fence.  So far, it has kept them out, until yesterday when they found another little spot to dig under.  I fixed that spot too.  I am to the point where I wish I had some barbed wire to place all around the garden, or perhaps make a “dome” over the entire garden to keep all of these critters out.

Both of us are just so tired of battling with all of these critters this gardening season and are close to just throwing in the towel, but I still have a little fight left in me.  Our tomato plants are steadily starting to produce more frequently, and we’re now picking red peppers and cucumbers too from the garden.  It is just such a wonderful feeling to be able to eat what you grew yourself.

To date, this is the total number of veggies we have picked from our garden:  (Note:  Don’t forget that our garden had a deer jump our fence and it took down a good portion of our garden, so it had to re-grow most of the plants – – that’s why we are a little behind in what our garden has produced)

• Juliet Tomatoes – 55
• Big Boy Tomatoes – 15
• Cucumbers – 3
• Red Peppers – 2

The sunflowers that Auntie Rene gave us are doing great, but the ground hog ate two of them.  I climbed up on the ladder to take a pic of the top of the tallest sunflower just to see what it looked like.  It’s been awhile since I grew a sunflower, so I was curious.  The tallest one is about 18-19 slats high next to the garage.

The pumpkins are slowly growing and we are only crossing our fingers that we can actually get some grown before Halloween.  Man, what else can go wrong for us this year?

Cucumbers are producing nicely and there are tons of little cucs on the vines.  We just hope that no more ground hogs attack our garden.

Our Flat Dutch Cabbage is doing well, but the ground hog got a few of them too.

Since our weather has changed quite a bit to a more cooler Fall like temps, we are curious as to how the garden is going to react.  All we do is just keep watering and keep our fingers crossed that we can survive this garden season.  It has been a tough season, and just like last year, we learned a lot and will go into the next season with more experience.  What did not work this year, we will correct it for next year.

 

Yikes! There’s Veggies Growing in the Basement!

It is every gardeners dream to grow their own veggies.  The pride that comes from walking out to your garden and picking a fresh veggie is so rewarding.  We started about half of our garden from seeds and have probably more than 40 plants in the basement under the warmth of grow lights.  They are ready to head outside, but we are just waiting for our last frost date in our zone.  Since we had frost over the weekend, we feel that the end is near for cold temps here and gardening season will soon be full speed ahead!  We will also be planting cucumbers, leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, and celery too!

I am amazed on how well our plants have been doing and just had to share with you some of our progression photographs.  What’s amazing is that in just a few days, the plants get bigger and I have to move the grow lights up again on the chains they are attached to.  Progression.  Growth.  Smiles.

3-29-13

4-28-13

5-12-13

But what is more amazing is that we noticed a few days ago that we already have small peppers growing on a few of our pepper plants!  Amazing is what I call that!  What I would love to try over the winter, is to start some plants and see if we can produce fresh veggies during the winter.  Now that would be amazing!

Small peppers are already growing on our plants!

Awhile ago, when I was transplanting the seedlings out of the seed tray and into bigger pots, there was one Big Boy Tomato plant that kinda did not make it.  All of its leaves fell off, and all that was left was a “little stick”.  When I say little stick, it was about an inch high and looked like nothing could save this little tomato plant.  But…. I decided to try to nurture this “stick” back to health.  I carefully transplanted it into a bigger pot with a spoon as not to disturb any roots (if there were any at that point).  I watered it, and gave it a nice spot under the grow light.  To my amazement, after all of my love and affection for this little stick, it has now grown into a beautiful tomato plant!  I am going to tie something onto this tomato plant when it heads out to the garden, and will cherish each and every tomato I pick from my little stick as I have grown quite attached to it!  (NOTE:  My little stick is the tomato plant below with the binder clip on it)

I almost threw this “stick” out, but saved it! Now, look at it!

Our new rain barrel is filling up nicely with rain water and getting well stocked with what we need to keep our plants well watered this season.  This will surely keep the water bill to a minimum this summer!  Keep checking back for more progression photographs, and soon we will be taking all of our plants outside and into the garden.  It’s time to grow up and move out of the house!

It All Started From A Little Seed

With the unusual crazy weather we have been having, it is hard to think about gardening.  But, with all gardeners, the thought of gardening is always on your mind. When we get to the end of a gardening season, it is like a huge let down, that we have to say goodbye to our gardens, kinda like saying goodbye to an old friend.  We have grown so close over the months, we have babied you from a little seed, watered you, gave you light, watched you grow, and like all parents do at one time – – we kick you out.  Yep, we kick you outdoors and into the nice garden soil we have prepared for you.  Ah, your new home, rich soil with the right amounts of nutrients to grow big and strong.

But it all starts with one little seed.  Some of our seeds we carefully saved from our harvest from last year, but others, we ordered and impatiently waited for them to arrive in the mail.  Not sure why we were so impatient for their arrival, because when we ordered them, it was not even close to the time to start those little suckers indoors.  Or was it something else?  Was it our impatience to start gardening again? Just seeing and holding a seed pack in your hands made you drool.  You start dreaming.  You start dreaming of the day when you pick your first tomato.  Tomato & cucumber salads.  I gorge on these in the summer and can’t get enough of them.  Oh wait, then there’s those awesome tomato sandwiches, and by far the best – salsa & chips!  Man, I can’t wait for the day when I can walk outside and pick a handful of tomatoes and enjoy the fruits of our labor.

We started lots of red pepper plants this year, as last year we did not have enough. We use red peppers in almost all of our meals, so we planned accordingly this year to be ready for a great harvest.  Right now, I think we have about 18 red pepper plants getting bigger every day, getting ready for the day when they head outside and into the garden soil.  And if you missed our post last year on our World’s Famous Rolled Chicken Recipe, you’ve got to check it out and make some for yourself!

I can taste those stuffed cabbage rolls now!

Our little babies are growing up and soon will be leaving the nest.  They will have to be strong to survive the elements, be able to withstand torrential downpours, stand tall in heat waves, and survive the small critter attacks.  It is what happens in the day in the life of a gardener.  We learn, we make mistakes, we fix them for next year, and we harvest what we sow.

What is Happiness?

What is Happiness?

Happiness can be related to many things.  Happiness starts in your heart and grows.   Happiness keeps you young.  Happiness can be found in locating the last bag of your favorite candy on the shelf, finding that spare dollar in your coat pocket, finding a lost button, getting the best parking spot, picking out the cart at the grocery store that does not squeak, a clean car, your favorite song on the radio, finding lower gas prices, a winning lottery ticket (even if it’s for a buck), or finding that perfect person to spend your life with.  That is what I have done, found the perfect person for me.  He is a hard worker, the most generous person I have ever met, a great provider, loves animals, and above all, he loves me.  I am the luckiest person in the whole world to have found him because he means the world to me and I wish I could give him everything that he has ever wished for in life, because he deserves it, but all I can give him is my love and devotion and show it by all of the things that I do for him every day.  I am not one for material things, and I am a true believer that it’s the little things in life that makes us happy, like a new colored highlighter or sticky note pad, or waking up next to the one you love every day.  That is the best feeling in the whole world and I would be lost without him.  I just hope that he knows just how much I love him and think the world of him.

Happiness also comes from working on projects together.  For us, for example, by creating our new garden this year.  We have worked on this from the start together, and have done the research and know what we need, went out and bought all the material to make it happen, and now, we’re at the next phase of our project, the planting of our sprouts.  We got our dirt delivered and got it in our raised garden bed, and now we just have to wait out our weather for a little longer for the last frost, and everything can head out to the garden to find their spot of glory in the garden.  Ah, togetherness, there is nothing like it, whether it is a plant meeting Mother Nature in the garden, or being with the one you love & sharing life together.

So here’s to the one I love – the person who means the world to me, as he’s like the sugar in my coffee, and the peanut butter in my Reeces Cup, the person who I owe everything to, and the one who I could never live without.  Love you Sweetie!  Thanks for everything that you do for me! 

 

Happiness, pleasure, joy, exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, delight, enjoyment,  satisfaction. Happiness,  bliss,  contentment,  felicity  imply an active or passive state of pleasure or pleasurable satisfaction.  Happiness  results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good:  the happiness of visiting one’s family.  Bliss  is unalloyed happiness or supreme delight: the bliss of perfect companionship.  Contentment  is a peaceful kind of happiness in which one rests without desires, even though every wish may not have been gratified:  contentment in one’s surroundings.