Fall Garden

The garden is winding down now, but there are still fun discoveries and plenty to look at!

The pumpkin patch was getting pretty ugly, so we picked the last of the green pumpkins and threw all the vines away.

 

I also threw away half of the sunflowers, but I'll have to wait till next week to fit more in the trash can! They were fun while they lasted but now the seeds are getting everywhere. 

The kids still enjoy finding ladybugs, and there are plenty of them because of the aphids taking over the broccoli. It's time to take the broccoli, kale, and green beans out.  

Luckily the kale is being covered by morning glory flowers now, so it looks pretty! Ella helped me plant them in the early summer and now they are in their glory! (Pun intended.)

For my own memory, I recently planted a sedum start from Doris in the front island.

I also planted an Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) to try again. I had on once but it died of an unknown cause.

Fall in Utah is so beautiful! One evening the sunset was glorious and it looked so pretty with the orange zinnias and grasses. I love where I live!

Planting the Veggie Garden!

We interrupt this recipe mania to say that we planted the garden last Saturday! The kids were great little seed planters, although if spacing is wacky I blame it all on them.

We planted a row each of carrots (a rainbow heirloom variety!), beets, beans (x2), butternut squash, cucumbers, and mammoth sunflowers. We planted two groupings of zucchini, 3 mounds of pumpkins (small, medium, and large varieties!), 8 tomatoes, half a row of cantaloupe, and half a row of watermelon. I am trying interval planting with the corn, just doing one row a week so we can harvest it over a longer period!

A week ago we planted our red potatoes and a row of onions, and we're anxiously waiting for them to sprout! Planting always makes me nervous, but usually those little seeds amaze me!

Garden Outing and Red Potatoes!

IFA is always great for an outing with the kids. We headed there to pick up some more garden seeds and check out what they are selling as spring gears up.

My girls love pansies. They call them "fuzzy flowers" because of their velvety texture.

Of course we had to stop and see the cute chicks and bunny! Perfect timing for Easter.

I found just what I wanted--organic red potatoes. I've never grown potatoes, but there's a first time for everything! I've been told by two gardening friends that red potatoes are the way to go.  My mom always cooked small red garden potatoes with garden peas in a cream sauce... yum, I can already taste it.

The kids enjoyed riding on the wagon and lawn mowers while I admired the plant stock. Spring is such a dreamy time for gardeners... so many possibilities!

Planting the Cool Season Veggies

Last weekend the man of the house got the garden tilled and cultivated furrows along each drip line. What a good guy!

I have to say he is very particular and measures every row with his measuring tape to make them perfectly straight and parallel to each other. I tease him, but I'm secretly happy he makes things exact because it looks so good!

I was pretty antsy to get my seeds in the ground. Ideally I would have planted my peas a few weeks ago, but of course the amending and tilling had to come first! I planted two rows of peas ('Burpeeana Early') 6 inches apart (one on each side of the trellis) and spaced them about 2 inches apart.

Ella Bella was my "pea pusher." Her finger is about 2 inches long (which was the required planting depth) so she just pushed each one into the soil as far as it would go and it was planted! She was a great helper.

I also planted a row each of kale 'Dwarf Blue Curled Vates', spinach 'Space Hybrid', broccoli 'Sun king', and lettuce 'looseleaf blend'. This year I thought I would try something new and I only planted 1/3 of the lettuce row, and in a week I will plant another 1/3, and in another week I will plant another 1/3. I heard this can possibly extend the length of time you can harvest lettuce before it turns bitter. I am not sure if it all goes bitter above a certain temperature, or just according to age... so it's a bit of an experiment. Stay tuned and I'll share the verdict!

Sunflower Seeds

The mammoth sunflowers are hanging heavy and we decided it was time to try roasting some seeds!

You can tell which ones are ready because they are more dried up. I don't know the technical names but the flower above still has all the pollen balls on it, and the one below has lost them and you can see the seeds in concentric lines, ready for harvest!

Ella and Maddie helped me find the four most ready heads and haul them into the garage. We let them dry in the cool dark place for a couple of days.

Then it was time to remove the seeds! Ella's little fingers were better at this than mine, but it still took a good while and a dose of patience!
 

Still going...

Tyler was a good helper too. I finally realized that turning the head over the colander and rubbing the seeds to loosen them was a lot faster than removing them one by one!

We soaked out seeds in a salt solution overnight. The recipe I used said to use 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of salt per 2 quarts of water, and I did the 1/4 cup. I think if I did it again I would try 1/2 cup because I like salty seeds!

I dumped off the water and spread them on a cookie sheet and baked them at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until browned and roasted. They are a little earthier tasting than sunflower seeds from the store, but I feel so accomplished for growing them myself!

Buggy

The end of summer is always full of bugs. The flies are out of control (at least here in Lehi) and myself and my neighbors have contests to see who has the killed the most in a day... the average being around 30! Nasty.

The garden is full of critters too. We saw a katydid on our driveway last week and I wish I had taken a picture. They are so pretty! We've also seen a praying mantis, and wasps have built nests in our playset.

About a month ago I started noticing holes in my petunias, tell tale signs of caterpillars. Within weeks, all the flowers were gone. So frustrating!! 

One day I decided to catch a few culprits.  Sure enough, the plants were full of them!

My squealing assistants helped me catch them and put them in a jar for observation. Well, really it was just to keep them from ever returning to the petunias, but the kids loved watching the crawl and scooch around.

We caught about 20, but it didn't make a dent. Still no petunias. When I think about all those green caterpillars still out there, it gives me the creepy crawlies.

The same day we noticed a wasp and a grasshopper fighting over something. Yep, it was a caterpillar! We tried to tell them no fighting needed, they could take as many as they wanted!

Last night the man of the house decided it was time to get rid of the cat face spider above our porch. They are harmless to humans, but they're huge and creepy looking, and it was pooping on our porch! Who knew that spiders poop?

As we were playing at dusk we caught sight of this weird flying beetle dragging a dead spider. Ewww! As much as I'm not ready for cooler temperatures, they do have the benefit of killing off the bugs for the year!

Tiny Treasures

We all love nice days when we can walk to school to pick Maddie up from kindergarten. The world is waking up and the kids are noticing! Each of them stopped many times along the way and collected treasures along the sidewalks.

Our yard is waking up too! The first hyacinths are blooming and the grass is turning green.

The seeds in the garden are sending up tiny sprouts. Lettuce, spinach, and peas are up and we are still watching for broccoli.

Meanwhile, Mike is working hard on finishing sprinklers in the backyard to prepare for topsoil, grading, curbing, and hydroseeding in the next few weeks!

This is what our evenings have looked like lately... I love the kids' imaginations when they play outside, although I could do without the shoes full of treasures!

Chlorophyll Therapy

I hosted a little baby shower here recently and decided wheat grass was just the thing to bring the sensation of life to the spread.  I know I re-use my wheat grass idea every winter, but I just love having green in the kitchen during the throes of winter!

The best part is giving the grass a haircut. This is the second time we have had to butch it (we've had it for 2 weeks now) and it is still growing strong! The kids love to get out their scissors and plow into it.

 Even my little guy enjoyed playing in the grass.  

 

All neatly trimmed. 

My next indoor display will be the bulbs I just brought in from cold storage in the garage. Remember when I planted them in the fall so they would have a long enough cold period? Well now they are ready so start forcing indoors! I will keep you apprised on their progress.

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