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!

Reaping a Gardener's Rewards

August is the best time in the garden. Everything is at it's peak and we eat from the garden everyday!

We've been enjoying our corn immensely. Ella is our resident corn shuck-er. We only have enough to eat fresh this year, not enough to freeze (which I will miss!) because of my uneven watering.

Everyone but Daddy loves beets.

One of our favorite meals is just cooking tons of garden veggies, and maybe some rice. The only additions I made to this meal were butter, salt, and pepper!

We are finally starting to harvest some tomatoes. That's what I get for planting so late, and I knew that but I'm still impatient! The carrots are about ready too.

We have had so much broccoli! I harvest it once or twice a week by the bowl full. It's definitely something I am doing again next year. 

I missed a week of harvesting when we were really busy (camping, cousins in town, end of summer bbqs, etc.) and when I finally got back out there I was overwhelmed! In one day we picked a watermelon, and cantaloupe, a bunch of beets, two bowls of beans, tons of green and aneheim peppers, a large bag of broccoli, two bags of kale (this is endless), loads of zucchini, and three butternut squash. I froze some kale and gave some peppers and zucchini away, but most of it we ate fresh!

Last Sunday I made a classic meal that is 100x better from sratch... burgers and fries! We don't buy grass-fed beef very often, so it's a real treat. We added tomatoes from the garden and baked fries from our own potatoes! It was delish.

It's About Time...

I need to do better tracking the garden progress! I always look back to previous years and wonder why I didn't take more pictures. It's helpful to look back and see how big things were and what to expect year to year.

I am tickled to say this is the best luck I've ever had with broccoli and spinach! Both are producing bumper crops. It about broke my heart to thin the broccoli, and it's still about twice as thick as it should be. I have been picking gallon ziplocs of spinach and washing and freezing them for smoothies. And I can't keep up!

The rainbow carrots, beets and two rows of bush beans are on their way.
 

My indoor planting of tomato seeds wasn't very fruitful, and I talked to a lady who just plants seeds in the ground in May, so I thought I'd try it! Tomatoes grow so fast anyway, what's a couple weeks head start? The left row is an indeterminate variety that I hope to stake, and the right row varies more, with two cherry tomatoes and a Roma I got from my neighbor, and a bush variety from seed. 

We planted three types of pumpkins this year, and I'm always amazed that the plant itself is an indicator of fruit size--small, medium, and large! The far mound is an heirloom carving variety, the middle a 200 pounder, and the close a 1000 pounder! We planted them outside the garden in a large flower bed area, and we'll let them just go wherever they want. Should be interesting to watch and see!

We put our giant sunflowers on the opposite side of the garden this, closer to the front of our house. It will be fun to see them more as we come and go. Behind them you can kind of see the zucchini mounds (I have 5 growing right now and I need to pull a few or I'll be kicking myself!) and a whole row of butternut squash.

The peas are flowering and turning to pods. We squealed with delight when we spotted all those sweet peas growing!

The kale is out of control, and I love it! We have used it in smoothies, salads, and today we made a batch of kale chips that got scarfed in a matter of minutes. Requests are in for more tomorrow.

At the top of this picture are the 6 red potato plants that are doing fabulously well! In the same row are four bell peppers and an Anaheim from Peggy. Down the middle of the picture is the melon row, with watermelons at the top and cantaloupes at the bottom. This is the best start to melons we've ever had, so we're excited!

Not everything is doing well, though. My cucumbers never came up from seed, and I almost gave up on the onions, but now I see about 7 or 8 that might make it. I'll need to separate them soon so they can start to bulb out, so we'll see how that goes.  
 

The corn experiment is on! I planted each row a week apart to extend our harvest. Hopefully it helps!

The view of the whole thing from the corn side. I'm pretty happy with it overall this year. Let the fun begin! As I've been writing this, I've realized just how much produce I'm going to have on my hands in a few months!

My favorite thing is when my kids stay nearby and help. Ella takes the most interest right now and knows what everything is and how it's doing. Tonight she caught a butterfly and a ladybug. Jake pulled some lettuce for me (so helpful) and they all gathered strawberries and helped me eat them. Yum!

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!

Keepin' Up!

Is it really the end of summer already?

I am in that stage of gardening when I feel like I just can't keep up! Everything is in full swing and the harvest is plentiful! (I recently told my sister and friends I was excited for harvest time, and they laughed at me and called me "Farmer Lauren".) It's a rewarding time, but I also feel overwhelmed. A gardening neighbor of mine agreed, sometimes you just get tired!

Ty ate a whole tomato yesterday and I celebrated! My girls don't eat them very well. I picked six yesterday, and then 21 today!

My second planting of green beans is in full production. It was nice to have two crops this year (I planted a second row in July after my spinach died). We usually have some every couple of nights with dinner, but this yield called for desperate measures!

My favorite way to prepare green beans is simple--just butter and salt. I get a pot of water to a rolling boil, then dump them in and boil uncovered for about 10 minutes.

Last night, however, I broke out a recipe that's a Thanksgiving staple in our house. It's green bean casserole like you've never had it before.... especially if you have fresh herbs. It was to die for!

Herbed Green Bean Casserole

2 (14 oz) cans green beans, drained (or a colander full of fresh beans!)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs, divided (I often put fresh bread in my food processor and pulse it into crumbs)
2 teaspoons dried basil (or a handful of fresh)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons parsley
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 9I tried to cloves of fresh garlic last night and loved it!)
1 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil

1.  Preheat the oven to 350.

2.  Drain the beans and place in a bowl.

3.  Mix all of the dry ingredients and the oil into the green beans, reserving 2 tablespoons of crumb mixture.

4.  Place in a baking dish and sprinkle reserved breadcrumb/herb mixture over the top.

5.  Bake 30 minutes or until the top is golden and crispy.

Another quick recipe... My neighbor just gave me a bunch of kale and recommended I try kale chips, and I was not sorry! In fact, they were so good I ate them for a bedtime snack (which is usually more like ice cream... a treat I can get away with after the kids are in bed!). It was so easy and so yummy.

1 bunch kale, rinsed and dried well
2 Tbsp olive oil
Fresh Parmesan
salt

Simply tear the kale into bite size pieces, coat pan and kale with oil, and sprinkle with cheese and salt. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, or until crunchy. Enjoy!