Garden 2012...thoughts on 2013

I've been meaning to write down my thoughts on our first garden where we didn't have to drive to it, for a while now, and, well... Life just gets in the way...

This was the first year since we started gardening 7 years ago, that we were able to have our garden in our backyard. Up until now, we've always driven to someone else's home that had so graciously allowed us the opportunity to dig up their land.  We perhaps we were a bit overzealous in our expectations for what that meant, but we plugged ahead, and planted a ton. We were also privileged to pass on the "sharing of the garden" with some good friends of ours, which just makes gardening more fun. We even named our garden. "Jean Skirt Farms" If you want to know, just ask. :)

It was a oddly strange summer, weather wise, where we continuously fought drought and high heat. Mike was beyond a trooper and faithfully watered the garden for about 3-4 hours every. single. night.   We fought weeds the best we could, but honestly, lets face it, the weeds always win.  Part of our learning curve this year was where things would grow best in the garden. We have trees to the east, and we don't get sun until around 11:30-12 during the summer, but then after that, it's full on sun and heat, until the last rays of the day.

So the recap:

Peppers----- meh. We ate some fresh, and I chopped and froze maybe 20 bags of them.  (not awful, not great)
4 rows of onions---- I froze what we couldn't eat, and we've already blazed through them this winter. We will plant more next year.
Zucchini and Yellow Squash--both did great, and we froze a ton!
Beans, Broccoli, Cabbage, Spinach, Lettuce and Kohlrabi---they were eaten by the pesky deer and other vermin that we battled all summer.. we saw a little return, but not much, sadly.
Our vine plants, cucumbers, and melons------ failed miserably.  We saw no return on them, minus a handful of cucumbers. I think it was just. too. hot. for them to survive without massive massive amounts of water. Eggplant-------it did well, and I was begging people to take it from me.
Pumpkins----- fun, and we enjoyed having them around come September and October.
Potatoes------- fun, and I think we will plant more of them this next spring.

We seriously had a banner year on tomatoes. I'm not sure if it was that we were there to pick as they riped, if it was just a good year (we've heard that), or we just lucked out.. but man alive. We were blessed to can, freeze, store, and "put up" right at 100 quarts of tomato product, whether that was stewed tomatoes, soup, pasta sauce etc. We are reaping and enjoying the benefits of those tomatoes now, and I'm hopeful to get through at least the spring with what we have left.  We were even blessed to have friends come and pick by the bushel full to their hearts content.

Overall, I would say that we were satisfied with our first year of our own actual garden. It was so nice to go out to the garden with the kids, and let Levi learn about what's ripe to pick, and what we need to leave be and let grow a little bit more. We've already begun talking about and making plans for Garden 2013.  We are thankful for the people who have taught us to love to garden, to respect what the Lord has blessed us with, and to be good stewards of that.  I have so enjoyed learning the process of saving and preserving what we can, to help feed our family. It's a blessing.

Garden 2012

We've become a lil' bit country since moving, well, to the country. 

My friend, Ingrid, keeps asking when I'm getting the cow. 

Don't jest, someday maybe we will. We'll probably try chickens first, though ;)

One of the biggest blessings in moving to our new home is the ability to have a garden in our 

BACKYARD!

My dad orchestrated a whole chain of events for this tractor to show up at our house 

(Thanks, Daddy!)

Thursday night, he and a friend drove the tractor out on a trailer. Then, yesterday, after work, my dad picked up that plow from a rental place (who knew, you could rent that, huh?) and plowed away last night... 

Coming soon..... 

Tons of fresh produce and veggies from our backyard! 

We love gardening, and are so thankful for friends who showed 

us the ropes when we first started gardening.

 (Thanks, Russ and Murt!)

Now, 6 years later, we actually get to have a garden in our own backyard

What a blessing! 

first fruits

we picked our first yield.

3 yummy cucumbers. we've downed 2 of them since yesterday.

SO SO good!

growing....

the garden is finally planted!
we planted somewhere new this year. a piano student of mine owns a dairy farm and obviously quite a bit of land. we are planting with them, and they only live 10 minutes from us, as opposed to the 25 minute drive we've previously had.

24 tomato plants
12 green pepper
4 banana pepper
8 cabbage
4 broccoli
4 eggplant
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
4 cucumber
4 rows of onions
and a stab at sweet potatoes.

can't wait for harvest season!

in the midst...

just enjoying summer, enjoying our new home, enjoying sunshine, and enjoying the bountiful harvest we have been getting from our garden. we are up to our eyeballs in veggies from our garden, and i'm trying really hard to not complain, but rather, enjoy, the bounty that God has provided for us for the long winter months ahead. Every year, around this time, I think so much about the pioneer women, the load they carried of feeding their families through the winter, by preserving the harvest they had in the late summer. I can't imagine doing that, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment, of satisfaction, looking in my cupboards, knowing that we've been good stewards of what we've been given.. and that always feels like a job well done.

magically delicious

mmmmm. lunch.

for lunch today, i had freshly made coleslaw with cabbage from our garden, as well as our first BIG tomato from the garden, sliced with some salt and oregano...

it's magically delicious!

planted

we finally got our garden planted tonight.

final tally is as follows

30 tomato plants--- 4 varieties.
12 pepper plants---8 green, 4 banana
4 eggplant
8 cabbage
3 rows of onions
3 rows of swiss chard
2 zuchinni
2 yellow squash

i still can't be convinced on beans :)
we decided to forgo the broccoli this year, we never seem to have good luck with it

mmmm... i can taste that garden fresh tomato now :)

progress

we tilled our garden last night.

well, mike tilled, and i entertained levi. we're hoping to plant tomorrow before we head north for the weekend. i'm calling around today to get prices on stuff to plant. we'll buy plants that are already going strong. it's easiest for us right now, being that we "commute" to our garden. we can't drive to the garden every day, and it's just easier to have them going strong... but mike scored a small greenhouse at a garage sale this last weekend. He's been wanting one for a while, thinking about making one. It was selling for $20, and typically these sized ones sell for $150-200. He asked if they'd take $15 and they did, so next year, we'll start everything from seedling in the greenhouse. WAY excited about that. :)

anyway..

our dear friends russ and murt own about 80 acres in a small town north of where we live. they graciously plow up a huge section, and allow 3 families to farm on it. we're blessed to be one of them. the only problem with it, is that's is about a 25 minute drive for us to get there, but in the end it's totally worth it.

so currently the plan is as follows

28 tomato plants (mostly romas, some beefy kind, and some grape)
8 green pepper
4 banana pepper
4 cabbage
4 eggplant
3 sets of onions
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
4 swiss chard

that's our pre-list. i'm calling around today and we'll see what we actually end up with. :)
we're thinking about maybe some beans...

maybe.

i have bad memories of being forced to pick and snap rows and rows of beans as a child.
(thanks, mom) :)


mmmm. garden. i can taste those yummy tomatoes already! :)

they're coming

I'm very excited about our first crop of tomatoes from the garden. It's taken forever for them to ripen because of our cool summer, but they are finally here.
It's not too many yet, but I know we'll be swimming in them very soon.

 

Don't they look delectable?

 

I ate grape tomatoes and zuchinni for breakfast this morning, I couldn't help it, it was just too yummy. Today I've put up broccoli and peppers into the freezer. I deydrate most of our zuchinni and summer squash, that way I can use it soups and casseroles in the winter. I'm hoping the tomatoes will hang on until this weekend when I can process and can them.

It reminds me of God's faitfulness and how He will provide for our needs.

first fruits

We picked our first thing from our garden this weekend.

Swiss Chard.

 

Doesn't it look delectable? We put some in our salad yesterday and it was tasty, but I think I'd like to maybe steam it and eat it that way.
Tonight on the dinner menu is Baked Ziti, and Steamed Swiss Chard.
YUM!