Challenge

So tell me I can't or won't do something and it motivates me to do it.
I think I've just learned that about myself.
I've been wanting garden again for a while now but time has gotten away from me; so this afternoon when I told my family I was wanting to get my gardening again, their joking comments have spurred me on.

So now I need to:
#1. weed and prep my garden, this may and most likely will require having soil delivered
#2. decide what I am going to plant and start the seeds

Prelim list of what I want to plant, I used this guide:
eggplant
carrots (in the ground by March)
cucumbers
tomatoes
pumpkins (March-April)
pole beans (I seem to always plant bush)

update

I've been gardening still.

Harvest of zucchini, cucumbers, squash and beans.

Having the worst bug problem ever over in my new large garden and not really making the time to spend out there as I should.

Pictures to come.

Squash Update

I picked my first harvest of 3 squash.

Here is where I gutted a small part of one of them to save the seeds. I am going to try my hand at preserving the seeds year to year--- we'll see how this one goes.
Here's the best part....
I used my squash to make my mom's yummy squash muffin recipe, go here to get the recipe and make it for yourself-- it's yummy.

Garden Update

Garden March 29th:

And 13 days later:
Some close-ups:

Yellow squash- I can't wait to make my mom's yellow squash muffins with these.

Cucumbers. Pickles coming as soon as we have enough and with 9 plants I'm sure to have enough!
I've also started a bunch more seeds.

More onion, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers... this year my goal is to have a continual supply of veggies.

Spacing out the plants start time should allow for a longer harvest season.

I am also hoping to kill a large area on the side lawn and plant several rows of corn.

Justin has proven to be my son.

Yesterday he informed me he wanted to eat healthier, more fruits and veggies and he asked that they be natural, homegrown- no pesticides :)

Bloomin' Broccoli and Hidden Cauliflower

I really can't remember if I ever showed you guys what a broccoli plant looks like it your let it go to flower.
We do afterall, eat the flower buds when we eat a head of broccoli.
Each time I grow this green yumminess I just can't help but let 1 or 2 plants go to bloom.
These beautiful flowers attract the bees and are oh so pretty.
closer view.

And then there is cauliflower. When I buy cauliflower and broccoli at the store I just group them together as "heads" and expected them to grow on a plant the same way.

Well, they do...

and they don't.

Broccoli grows straighter up on a stalk while cauliflower stays a little more hidden and covered up.

Kind of like us as Christ followers.

A beautiful end product yet the end product doesn't always take the same path getting there- may we never forget that.

May we love one another as we grow in the way God planned for us each to grow.

Now the cauliflower....

hidden...

digging deeper.....

finally a close-up.

So there you have it- my broccoli and cauliflower section of the garden as it sits today- well until about 5 minutes from now when I go cut the cauliflower plant.

Toddles!

Large Garden- New Soil

My large garden has certainly been around the longest, sat empty the longest and been the biggest weed mess to control.
I have always dreamed of having a few yards of grade A topsoil delivered into it's bed but finances have never allowed...
until this year.
What a joy it was to spread this dirt around, I just love the smell of fresh soil.

I first laid out my planting, yellow squash (for muffins), zucchini, cucumbers and cantaloupe. The plan it for all these viney plants to grow outside the bed on trellises, still to be made, to free up the inside of the bed for tomatoes, onions and beans.

I've been watering daily and planted seeds last week with hopes of their peaking through the dirt soon. I may buy some tomato plants at the farmers market this weekend.

Until then have a happy day!

FYI: Corn Stalk Root System