Planting the Early Crop

Saturday March 28th was our planting day, a little late but better late than never. It took a little longer than I expected to fix the irrigation and prepare my rows, but we were finally ready! 

Pea planting is such a fun kid job. The "seeds" are just the dried peas so they are recognizable, and kids fingers are just the right length to push them to the desired planting depth.

We also did a row each of lettuce, chard, broccoli, spinach, and kale. I already can't wait for the garden fresh produce back in my kitchen!

Using My Produce

My tomatoes were slow to ripen this year because I started them a little later than usual, from seed. Last week I finally had enough to make some fresh salsa and it was delish!

Our rainbow carrots are ready for the eating. There aren't very many red ones and the kids fight over the. They sure are pretty.

 

The swiss chard that I planted at the end of July is prolific. I harvested the largest leaves and froze most of it for smoothies. I put one large leaf in my daily smoothie and I love it because the taste is so mild you don't even know it's there. 

It's easy at this time of year to get tired of harvesting the garden. It's just so overwhelming and time consuming! One trick I've taught myself it to set days (mine are Wednesday and Saturday) to go out and pick as much as I can. Once it's washed and packed, it's so much easier to use what I have easily available throughout the week.