Garden addition

We have some new additions to the garden. Trey planted some hops for his beer making process. He is very excited! Here are some pics

Growing

We got the garden planted a couple of weekends ago.  I am so excited to have fresh organic veggies of our own again.  The kids love to check on it daily and always want to help water. 

This year we planted

lots of tomatoes

Green beans- hopefully they are successful they have not been in the past.

cucumbers

zucchini and squash

this years new addition: 2 blueberry bushes


I planted plants and seeds so that we would have veggies at different times.  Things are already starting to sprout out of the soil.  YEAH!! Now if I can just keep them alive, we are hoping for a plentiful harvest. Go veggies go!

First fall Harvest

We had a beautiful evening here and now that everyone is starting to feel better we spent some time outside. Trey did some yard work and grilled us some fabulous backstrap for dinner, the kids played and I worked in the garden. Hannah was my Big helper.

We had out first harvest of the season. The lettuce looked absolutely beautiful so Hannah helped me pick some. Salad from our own garden, pretty exciting!

I was even able to use my garden table that Trey had built for me at work. Yeah! Thanks to Better Home and Garden for this great project idea. And Thanks Shnookums for making it happen! We had an old sink that wasn't being used. The plumbing is hooked straight up to a hose. The idea is that you use this as your wash station after you pick so that you don't have to get your kitchen all dirty.

My fabulous garden table

Here are some pictures of the growing garden

carrots and cauiflour

acorn squash that I am afraid will start taking over the garden soon

sweet little garden helpers

Up and Growing

The Fall garden is growing, things are looking GOOD. I found some row markers today at Target in the $1.00 bins, thank you Target, so I will stick them out soon.

(from left to right)

We have a whole row of Long Imperator carrots(which i have already thinned once and need to do again), broccoli and early snowball cauliflower, Table Queen Acorn Squash, half a row of endive(not really sure why it was on sale and it looks like lettuce), and a lettuce mixture that I received from the horticulture teacher at Trey's work.

Also in the back planter box, along the fence, I planted a whole row of Rutger tomatoes. I really hope they do well. We sure do miss our fresh "matoes", as the girls call them.

In one of the pots I have a jalapeno plant. We did not get any peppers all summer. I did not pull it up when I planted fall, even though I wanted to use the planter for some fall flowers, because the plant was so big and pretty. I just thought it would slowly die. Well, now it has peppers. So I may be freezing some Fall salsa.

In the other planter I started my herb pot. They had basil on sale so that is what I got this time. I would like to add rosemary and oregano. We have found that oregano is a very good flavor with all the venison we eat. Trey cuts slits in the back strap, before he throws it on the grill, and pours a few shakes of Oregano in. Then he wraps it in bacon. Mmmm...delicious, seriously my mouth is watering just thinking about it! I would love to have our own fresh herbs for this and other recipes.

*Everything was planted from seed with the exception of the broccoli, and lettuce mixture so generously provided from GCTC

Preparing the soil

Today after nap time Trey took kid duty and I headed out to the garden. Not only to get it ready for this next planting, but also for some much needed stress relief. I was excited to learn that we have two planting seasons here in East Texas, I am a newbie this is my first year gardening. I love the whole process so far, I am a country girl at heart. I love being able to feed my family yummy fresh veggies and not having to pay a fortune for organic at the grocery store. I also love the time outside and the kids being able to help and watch things grow. It is a GREAT learning experience for them and they get so excited when we have fruits and veggies to harvest.

This is what I will be calling our Fall garden, even thought it doesn't feel anything like Fall. Yes, I am running a little behind schedule, but sometimes around here you just have to roll with the punches. I added 3 bags of cow manure and 3 bags of black humus so hopefully our Fall harvest will be better than our spring/summer. So, the garden is ready for planting and hopefully I can get it done in the next couple of days, health willing.