How does your garden grow?

It has been so long since I have posted anything on here, but I am very excited to say that we have another wonderful garden this year!  My boys have been very excited about the garden and actually enjoy going our with me to check on our fruits and veggies and to help me pick them.  We always are amazed at how big some or our zucchini get.  My zucchini and yellow squash have exploded even more so than last year.  I realized this year that they don't need much water and I definitely don't water at night or on top of the leaves. This was a big mistake last year.  I have already harvested at least 4 dozen and have given many away.  We have made several loaves of bread, 4 dozen muffins, over fried zucchini, and Poor Man's Crab Cakes (I posted about these last year...they are delicious and very easy).  I have also shredded some and froze it for future use in breads and muffins.

My tomatoes and peppers are doing well too.  Last year, my peppers never made it, so I am happy that all four of my plants are doing fabulous.  New this year...cantaloupe...and we have one that should be ready by the weekend!  My boys are very excited about it.  I planted a small strawberry plant that was on clearance for only $2 at Lowes.  I got a couple strawberries from it, but look forward to it doing better next year.

And I am super excited to report that my raspberries are AMAZING!!!!  I have probably triple the plants I had last year (they spread like crazy and I must give some away) and half of them have already started harvesting.  I have picked a small container of raspberries everyday for about the past two weeks already....and we still have the rest of the summer and fall to enjoy them!

This year's garden was very simple to put in since I did all the prep work last year when we started.  My neighbor picked up all my plants for me (except the raspberries since they were already there) for only $7!  Another friend gave me her left over manure, so I used that along with the soil from last year.  All in all, everything is going well.  I just need to make sure the tomatoes and peppers stay watered since they seem the most sensitive to all this heat.  How is your garden growing?  What are you most excited about?  If any of my local friends would like to swap crops I would be very up for that!

TOMATOES and my homemade sauce experience.

Oh, my....my garden is doing fabulous!  I have harvested over 100 Roma and regular tomatoes in the last week and there are loads and loads more to come!  I can't believe it!  And you know the really funny thing? My husband and I don't even like them very much.  We better start liking them right?!?  Don't get me wrong, I love them in sauces and salsas and they like, but not raw in a salad or on a sandwich.  I made my first batch (well more like 2-3 times the recipe) of my own sauce on Saturday. It turned out quite tasty, but it was really labor intensive.  Peeling and seeding 40-50 little tomatoes took quite some time.  For a mom of three young boys I can't make that a regular thing on my "To-do" list.  I used some last night and have frozen the rest.  This is the basic recipe I used, but I didn't have the Burgundy wine.  I will try to add it next time.  I realIy enjoyed all the different types of veggies in it.   I may try to post more pictures and details at another time (haven't uploaded them yet).  I would love to learn how to do some canning so I could make some more sauce and also can some salsa for the winter months.  Tonight, I am going to make some homemade salsa that a friend made on Sunday (with some of our tomatoes).  I just got her recipe.  Itw as delicious and I have been craving it all day.  I'll let you know how that goes!  How's your garden?  Any ideas of what I can do with all these?  And I will pass them along to any of you local gals if interested. I'm still up for that veggie swap!   I have found so much joy blessing others with them!


Here's some pictures from the sauce making:

                     Placing the tomatoes in boiling water to be able to peel and seed them easily.

The ice bath to cool the tomatoes prior to peeling and seeding.

All the other veggies used for the sauce, diced and ready to go in the food processor.

The pureed veggies starting to simmer in the pot.

The finished sauce after 4 hours of simmering.  Yummy!

How does your garden grow?

I just had to do a quick post and show you all what I picked in my garden today. I had not checked on it since Friday afternoon and I went out today and found all this:

Isn't that quite amazing! 10 zucchini and 6 squash! Zucchini bread, Poor Man's Crab Cakes (new recipe that I will be trying tomorrow), oven fried zucchini, and grilled veggies here we come!! I love it! My $30 investment has definitely been worth it! Oh, and we have a few red raspberries already!

How does your garden grow?

I have been meaning for several weeks now to post an update about our garden. You can see the beginnings of our garden here from late April. It is now doing fantastic! Way better than I ever imagined! I really think a lot of our success has to do with the heat we have had and all the tips from my neighbors, like using the organic manure. Just last week we got home from vacation to see all this:

The yellow squash and zucchini are exploding...literally! And my pumpkins and butternut squash, that I started from seeds, are doing so well too. The peppers are holding on and look like they may bloom in the next week or so. The tomatoes are blooming and our first ones have started. I added some mulch around the raspberries and I think it gives an overall cleaner, nicer look to my garden. Watering is key. Hopefully our well won't dry up this summer with how hot it is already. My boys loves checking out the plants each day and seeing how much everything has grown. I am looking forward to being able to bless our friends and neighbors with some of these veggies as well this summer.

Our peppers:

Pumpkins or Butternut Squash--I'm not sure? I mixed them up!

One of my proud gardeners admiring the tomatoes!

I was so excited to pick these today and I look forward to making some oven fried zucchini tonight with our pulled pork!

I love gardening! Anybody want to have a veggie swap this summer with me?

DIY: Our Fruit and Vegetable Garden!

I am so excited to report that my fruit and vegetable garden is in! Some of you may know that are new home came with a garden, but it was very overgrown. Last summer, it was so overgrown and disgusting that I couldn't even bear to look at it. It was embarrassing to me for others to see it. I was very pregnant last summer and very busy with other house things, that we never got around to planting a garden. But, finally, this year, with the help of my wonderful neighbors (who have quite the green thumbs) and our lawn guy who tilled the soil for me after I removed 3 loads of weeds, we have our plants in. My boys were great helpers last week too. I probably put in about 5 hours of labor over a few days and I am so pleased with the results. I wish I had a before picture-but unfortunately, I don't.

Here are my little helpers ready to work (or watch)!

My boys were excited about their new gardening gloves. I bought a nice pair too. (They were mis-marked, so I got $11 gloves for only $3.39!)

Total cost for gloves: $9.77

My neighbors recommended I buy this stuff, "organic hummus and manure," and work it into the soil that was already there. When I opened the first bag, and poured it over the area, my middle son said "that's horse poop!" I had to laugh! Its actually cow poop, but close enough!

Cost for 8 bags: $11.68 (after MIR)

My neighbor picked me up 8 tomato plants, 4 green peppers, 2 yellow squash and 2 zucchini. He also got me this black stuff, a very heavy duty, weed preventer cover. I am told this stuff "will last a lifetime." Cost for all this: $13.

We rolled out the black stuff and I used a box cutter to make an "X" in each spot where we would put the plants. I followed the directions for each plant on how far apart they should be.

The raspberry bushes!!! I was so excited that there were two raspberry bushes already in my pre-existing garden and then my neighbors were so kind to give me 10 more! I couldn't believe it. Last summer, we enjoyed picking their berries, daily, now we will have our own!

The completed garden! I did buy 5 packs of seeds for about $5 that included watermelon, cantaloupe, some pumpkins, and winter squash, but I am still deciding whether I should go ahead and plant those or not. I don't have that much space. I am hoping to make this garden even bigger next year if all goes well.

Total cost breakdown:

Gloves: $9.77

Manure: $11.68

Plants/cover: $13

Extra seeds: about $5

Raspberry bushes: FREE

Total: $39.45

(possibly less if I take the seeds back)

I am participating in DIY Tuesdays here.