June Kitchen Garden Update...

onions co-planted with okra, on the left and peppers on the right...

tomatoes and summer squash

squash is growing...

squash also planted at the end of the greenbean bed...

green beans...

baby tomatoes, there really only about the size of a quarter...

2011 kitchen garden...

Onions planted in January...

April update... also planted peppers; some sweet, hot and jalapenos.

11 tomato plants and will put some summer squash in the end...
the onions in the left corner are from last year.

We (my crew ((Kenneth)) and I) planted 3 fruit trees along the front property line...1 super sweet white peach, one super sweet yellow peach and a super sweet plum, can't hardly wait to see if we get some next year.

well hello there... I went out to weed around the heat pump and discovered
these two little lizards sunning on the hose reel, I can weed later.
Do you see them?

KITCHEN GARDEN...

I am trying this year to be a better gardener, so last week I finally started some of my seed indoors.
I planted some "fish peppers", supposed to be mildly hot also I saved some seeds from some "Italian red peppers" I bought at Sam's Club last year, we'll see if they will grow.
I wanted to start my tomato plants earlier this year and discovered I didn't have any seed left, so I ordered more seeds from Baker Creek Seeds and had my new seeds in 3 days. I ended up ordering 7 different kinds (all RED variety) for canning and making sauces and salsa.
So they have also been started and am hoping for a better yield this year.
The onions I planted are doing well even after the freezing weather we had this winter, Not sure yet if the lemon and lime trees survived, they were too big for me to bring in this winter, I will trim them back and see what happens.

I was listening to two older farmers/gardeners this week talking about their gardens and learned...

1. plant your potatoes on Valentines Day.
2. Wait until after Easter to set out your tomatoes.

Do you have any further advise for me?

Salsa...

We have made Salsa and some pizza sauce and a basic Italian tomato sauce so far out of the tomatoes we've harvested.

sweet 100's which grew as a volunteer this year.

dill pickles we made while at Amanda and Charles.

I love Fall...

I love this time of year, cool weather is so nice and being able to have the screen doors open to catch the breeze. The only draw back is the amount of sand which four small paws seem to be able to bring in, oh well, you have to take a little extra work for the privilege. I have tried to be more productive this morning, I actually got fully dressed today! I've done a load of laundry which is drying on the line, weeded the garden bed and did some cleaning of the large sticks out of the compost mulch which haven't started decaying yet. I cut the okra and some peppers and picked a handful of cherry tomatoes. I checked on the lemon/lime trees and look what I discovered.

Spikes! they are at least 1" - 1 1/2" long. Who knew?

the asperigus fern are doing well

this is the "volunteer" tomatoe which grew next to Dusty's pool. It ended up about 5' tall at one point it even put on some blooms but it doesn't get any sunshine. It grew in 2" of pebbles, this amazes me.

this is the blueberry plant, it has done well, hoping for blueberries next year.

the "lavender" plant, when does it ever bloom?

this is the bed I cleaned and weeded this morning (the one in the front) and behind is the last of the tomatoes, mostly the cherry ones are the only ones still making, only when I just picked them I noticed the romas are trying to make some more, we'll have to see if they are able to turn red before the first frost.

the sunflowers are long gone...

this was the very last cantaloupe of the season, they were all very good. I'm already planning for next years garden and how to rotate the crops like all the books say from one bed to the other. We know we want more okra plants and have been saving our seed. I also saved some seeds from some of the peppers and I am planning on having more herbs especially cilantro for salsa and some tomatoes which are on the meaty side. Since I'm the only one who eats tomatoes, the cherry were good but I want something we can can to use later.
Just a Note: When logging on today I noticed "I have a follower" I am very excited about this, and their a famous family from a well known movie! I look forward to learning about using coupons from her. Welcome! Life at the Burrow

Sweet 100's...

I planted Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes in the garden this year, on the package it showed them growing in grape-like clusters...well that's exactly how they grow. Are these not the prettiest tomatoes you've ever seen?

what's that brown thing in the tomato plant? Old pantyhose we're using as plant supports! Well they are "support hose".
Gorgeous!

Still allot more to come...
The pick for the day.

Canning more tomatoes...

OK, Coffee's on...

I pealed the tomatoes yesterday and had to put then in the frig when we went to the bank, so I'm reheating them up a little.

I put the jars right in the canning water to get them hot, then pour out and place on a clean towel to fill.

I heat up the lids and caps in another pan and drain.

We need Lemon Juice, Salt, Tablespoons, jar funnel, jar lifter and a clean towel.

Put 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt into each jar, add tomatoes and pack down with plastic spatula.

Place jars in canner of boiling water for 45 minutes. (its hard to get a picture of steam, but its steaming)

When times up pull jars out and let cool 12 - 24 hours before checking for cap seal, if they don't seal use within a couple days or you can reboil them.

Peter Piper...

picked a peck of purple peppers...

some tomatoes, okra, an orange pepper and a baby cantalope

aren't those the prettiest peppers

Carrots, beans, tomatoes, and squash...

Cantalope are blooming and WOW! look at all the cucumbers!

The Marigolds are blooming between the carrots and the tomatoes.

Little tomatoes.

Baby yellow zucchini squash are growing.

We have greenbeans, we'll start picking this weekend.

Its official, Kenneth has been measuring the sunflowers and they are now 6' 2" tall.

It was just an idea....

pictures taken April 18, 2008

All winter I did research on raised bed gardens. See the information at "http://www.squarefootgardening.com/". So we built three raised beds next to the patio for our kitchen garden. I ordered seed and plant catalogs, trying to figure out what to plant. Also, besides what to plant I wanted to make sure we planted things we would eat.

We built the boxes out of pine, they are 4' x 10' and 11" tall. They each have a soaker hose, which we buried, that loops around in the bed and the hose is setup on a timer so they get automatically watered at 6 a.m. each morning for one hour. This is the neatest part because I don't have to worry if everything is getting enough water. Plus when it gets hot outside I don't have to worry about standing outside and watering.

I started Roma tomatoes, Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and hot and sweet pepper seeds in the house, which we then replanted in bed two. They started out so small I was worried they wouldn't be any good, I also planted lettuce and carrots and basil in this bed. We've already been eating on the lettuce a couple of times. You just cut what you want, you can get up to 4 cuttings before having to resow.

I draped the mesh over the beds when everything was little to discourage the cats from thinking we made them a giant litter box!