Progress

This is the time of year when you reap the rewards of hard work in the garden!

We used our first two bell peppers for fajitas last week.
 

The strawberries are taking off! We find lots of big juicy ones every day now.

Spiderman and Ella helped me plant some greens for fall harvest--spinach, lettuce mix, and swiss chard.

We ate our first garden carrot--there is nothing like a garden carrot. Well maybe a garden tomato.

We started harvesting our red potatoes. The kids think it is so cool to dig down and find them, and pop them out. They're like hidden treasure! I am sold on making room for them every year... they are so easy!

One of my favorite garden meals is fresh green beans and potatoes, boiled till tender, and mixed with white sauce and seasonings.

The corn is doing fine... just fine. Half of it was under watered so I pulled it up. It's so frustrating when things don't go as well as they did previous years. 

We picked all of our apples this week. They are a little tart, so I was waiting to see if they would ripen, and then all of a sudden they were dropping and getting soft, so I picked the rest. It's amazing that our tiny tree could make so many huge apples!

Speaking of fruit trees, we just acquired a cherry tree (Utah Giant) from a neighbor who was taking it out. It didn't much like getting transplanted, so we'll have to watch and see if it perks up. And we may need to buy a pollinator for it, but I figure it's worth a try to plant a free tree!

The pumpkins are struggling. The giant ones both died from squash bugs. This one is hanging on and developing a few fruits, but I am losing the war. I have killed thousands of squash bugs, not even kidding. Time for a new plan of attack.

So far the butternut squash hasn't been infested as much. They show signs of stress, and yet they are still growing huge vines and developing lots of fruit.

The first sunflower bloomed this morning! The kids have been watching anxiously and were so excited to spot it after swimming lessons. They are such happy flowers. 

Lastly, the tomatoes are taking off. The cherry tomato is sprawling and taking over the world, and the climbers are really progressing. I still don't have any red ones, but soon!

July Posies

Despite the sweltering heat, July is sure a pretty time for flowers.

These pretty snapdragons volunteered here, I assume from last year's pot. I said make yourself welcome!

The daylilies are blooming now. 

The grasses are getting pretty, and my hanging basket is filled out.

The zinnias have been my best bloomers! I am pleasantly surprised to say I love them.

I only have one coleus, but I sure love it.

The pin wheel verbena is gorgeous.

I was so worried about caterpillars eating my petunias to death again that I did verbena instead, but look what came up on their own?

 I'm not complaining! And even if the caterpillars to come back, I didn't pay for them.

The hostas are in bloom too. They are more subtle but so graceful.

Garden Growth

This was actually a week ago now that I'm finally getting to these pictures. The green is exploding-- I swear everything grows so fast you could probably watch it. It would be interesting to take a photo from the same spot every day and see the changes.

Here's a little garden tour, left to right. 

The pumpkin patch is filling out. Unfortunately, it's also dwindling. I noticed a few leaves turning yellow last week and thought it was lack of water, but no, it's the dreaded squash bugs!!! I have since killed handfuls of the parent bugs, nymphs, and eggs, but I'm still losing the battle. I am so sad. Dang those ornery bugs! I had such high hopes for great big pumpkins this year, but we'll be lucky to get a few small ones.

The giant sunflowers are getting tall, passing up the garden posts they grow between. A few are setting flowers.

The butternut squash is spreading, but again, they have grown so much since I took this picture! I might have to pull out a grouping of zucchini to give them room, which I won't cry about because I have 8 medium zucchini on my counter right now and I already made bread and cookies with it!
 

The tomatoes are setting fruit, finally. I am a bit behind since I grew them from seed, but I'm proud they've turned out so well. A few days after this picture I thinned and staked the indeterminate variety on the right, and this is what it looks like now:

My neighbor taught me this technique, and I'm excited to see how it goes! We put in three metal stakes, and then ran metal wire between on both sides to make a trellis. I am pinching the side sprouts off as they develop, so each will only grow one long central stalk. As they get taller I will run more wire to trellis them. This way they won't be a matted jungle, and hopefully I can harvest them easier.
 

 

The greens beans are prolific and we are eating them about every other day.

Same with the broccoli. This variety was supposed to develop 6-8 inch heads, but the biggest I've seen was maybe 5 inches. We have enough plants though that harvesting even all the little side shoots has kept us eating broccoli a few times a week.

Sadly the carrots (left of the broccoli) have been picked too young by lots of children. About a third of the row is gone. It's so hard to explain to kids that if they just wait, things will get bigger and better! 

The spinach and lettuce are done, but I am already looking forward to replanting a fall crop. The kale is going strong and I've been harvesting bagfuls for freezing--and not made a dent!

The peppers and potatoes are doing well, although I don't know when to harvest the potatoes. I need to look that one up, since I've never grown them! The melons are going crazy and we've spotted about 5 mini watermelons!

The corn is a huge disappointment. I learned my lesson--don't underwater!! I have been trying to water the garden less this year because I naturally tend to overwater, but the corn is on the end of the drip system and gets less pressure anyway, and it is suffering! After our first year of corn being a bumper crop (hundreds of ears!) I am so sad with my lost crop. Hopefully the last few rows that weren't stressed yet will prosper and make up for it a little. Failure is so hard to swallow!

Lastly, here's a picture from the same spot I took one a month ago.. the change is amazing!

Garden to Table

The garden produce is on! We are loving the fresh food on our table!

My friend told me a yummy way to prepare broccoli, and I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before! I spread about a tbsp of coconut oil on top, and some S&P, then roasted it at 325 for about 30 minutes. Delish!

I tried it with beets too, and it was way better than boiling. In the past I have roasted beets whole with skins on, but it makes a mess to peel and cut when they're cooked. This time, I peeled and quartered them first, and they were ready to eat when they came out. Oh they were good.

The green beans are the family favorite right now. No complaints about these tender, buttery boys!

The zucchini is already out of hand! It had been awhile since I made zucchini bread, and no better time than the present. I have healthified my recipe, and in my humble opinion, it's tastier than ever! 

Healthy Zucchini Bread

1 cup succanat or coconut palm sugar
1/2 cup raw honey
1 cup coconut oil
3 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 package chocolate chips, optional

Cream sweeteners and oil. Add eggs, zucchini, and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and add to wet. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Makes 2 loaves.