Gardening Skills

 We learned a few more things about our gardening skills this year.

1. Compost is important and very beneficial!
2. The back of our house makes things nice and hot for bell peppers and jalapenos.
3. Egg shells to keep slugs out does not work!
4. We cannot grow lettuce because of the slugs!
5. Onions are easy to grow!

We are going to extend the garden section on the back of our house next year. We are also going to try some garden boxes on the fence to grow lettuce so the slugs can't get to them (hopefully). We had a pretty good yield but we learn more each year and apply it to the next year.

 

I really love growing my own food and canning it or eating it.

Truly Random

I am kind of liking random photos with a quick story underneath versus individual blogs. What do you think? I know this only works for truly "Random" photos when I don't have a lot of story to share.

I love those little baby hands!

Elizabeth's smile is just wonderful! I can't even express how I feel when she smiles like this with her eyes and mouth. (September 18th, 2012)

While Olga was here I moved the easel for Benjamin into the laundry room. I needed him to be distracted and not cry at me for a few minutes so I grabbed the crayons and set up the paper. He went to town! (September 19th, 2012)

Don't you love crayons!

The next morning Benjamin had fun coloring again. I caught him in the act this time! (September 20th, 2012)

Benjamin's laughter is infectious! I can't help but smiling or giggling. If I'm feeling blue he can perk me right up! (September 21st, 2012)

We grew a cantaloupe! It fell off it's vine this week so we brought it inside. The smell was amazing! Benjamin enjoyed picking it up and carrying it around. We ate it today after church with our lunch! Yum!!! (September 21st, 2012)

Elizabeth is all dressed up in a cute outfit from being showed off. I went into the office for my review (which went awesome) and it worked out for Jared and the kids to go with. So Jared picked out a super cute outfit. She has her Jeggings on that you can't see here. She was a great girl and slept through the whole trip. (September 21st, 2012)

The Theme Is...

We went to church today. I was feeling okay and felt there was no reason to stay home. I only went for first hour though as I don't feel up to three hours out with Elizabeth just yet. We had a theme today with Elizabeth's outfit/ensemble. The theme was "Do not mistake our little girl for a boy!" Lots and lots of pink.

Benjamin decided to crawl into his old car seat. He obviously way too big for it now.

I had been wanting to take some pictures of Elizabeth like they did at the hospital and today I finally pulled it off.

Since the sun was out for a bit we decided to hang out in the backyard for a little bit as a family. Benjamin had fun throwing rocks and grass down the drain. Elizabeth eventually fell asleep and laid under the big umbrella to keep her protected from the sun.

I was able to harvest a few more strawberries (I am thinking I need to get 3-4 more strawberry plants and then I can harvest enough to make my own jam from my garden).

Jared got some good pictures of Benjamin hanging out with Elizabeth. He is really starting to come around to enjoying her more and more. When he wants his mommy though he still doesn't hesitate trying to get her away from me.

Tomato's That Didn't Die

Two Friday's ago was a beautiful day. We could not help ourselves but to play outside as much as possible and hang out as a family. We decided to plant the few tomato plants left that didn't look totally dead after the weather dropped to freezing temperatures. We put walls of water around the tomatoes as well to help them grow. They are actually doing pretty well and bouncing back nicely!

Benjamin loves to run around the yard and do his thing and help us with whatever it is we are doing.

We decided to put Benjamin in the shorts since it was such a nice day. The thing though is that he didn't seem to care for them. At times I would find him pulling at his shorts trying to pull them down to his ankles. When his pants get stuck pulled up he has to pull them down and he seemed to think that was the issue with the shorts. Too funny! 

Time to Garden!

It's that time of year again where you can start to work outside and get the earth prepared for a new garden! I love this time of year! When I look at the earth all freshly tilled up and ready it just makes me giddy for some reason. It's like I am working with mother nature to help her do her job and helping to create new life. I know weird...I don't think I am even explaining it correctly.

But I love to work in the yard. I enjoy mowing the yard, pulling weeds, pruning bushes, planting and harvesting a garden, planting flowers and cutting flowers. It's all wonderful to me! I can remember working on my green thumb as a child. I thought the rhododendrons in the front yard needed some pruning. Yea, that went a little too far. I almost killed them. My sister Cathy got me a mix of wild flowers one year for my birthday. I couldn't wait to dig up the ground and make myself a flowerbed. My favorite flowers to see each year are the Crocus and Daffodils. The reason is because they are a sign that spring is coming.

So last Saturday (March 24th) Jared and I took Benjamin outside and got to work on the garden. We even made a new garden bed!! We realized last year how much bell peppers and jalapenos really love the heat and on the back of the house is the perfect spot that gets really hot. We have a few more things we need to do but we are getting there.

Garden 2011

So of course after Flower World I had to plant my garden. Jared went to school Wednesday morning like normal and around 9am after breakfast and getting dressed Benjamin and I went outside and started to work.

I mixed all of the dirt together which was fun. Good hard work! Benjamin loves the little shovel and so he was trying to imitate me. He would put his shovel in the dirt and try and move it. Melted my heart!

At one point I was watching him touch the dirt and told him not to eat it. I turned away and turned back and saw him shoving dirt in his mouth. I quickly extracted what I could and then decided to grab the camera.

After taking a few pictures I gave him some water to wash his mouth out. MMMmmmmm dirt!

Benjamin eventually went down for his morning nap and I got everything planted. It felt great. I then proceeded to work on weeding the back of the house. I am almost done weeding everywhere (well for the first initial weeding).

Bless you!

My goal this year for my garden is to harvest! Harvest early and often! Don't forget to water and fertilize (especially the tomatoes). I don't want it to go to waste!

Flower World

Last Tuesday the 3rd we drove to Flower World to get some starts and take Benjamin to enjoy the wonders of Flower World. The weather wasn't the greatest so we didn't spend as much time as we could have but it didn't rain and Benjamin had fun.

We picked out some tomato, broccoli and jalapeno starts. Benjamin had fun walking around and kept wanting to push his stroller.

After Flower World we stopped at Lowe's and bought seeds for everything else we wanted to plant in our garden. We got pumpkin, corn, green beans, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers, green onion and some herbs for inside the house.

We are doing our garden on a budget this year. We decided we would use the change saved up that I rolled up and took to the bank. It was $75.50. That is our budget for all things outside in the yard. So we are hopeful things go well.

Yard Work Together

After the Easter Egg Hunt we went home and had some breakfast and then went to work outside. We did weeding, trimmed bushes and trees, and Benjamin played. It was actually day two of yard work since the weather was just wonderful!

It was so much fun hanging out together outside and working. Benjamin just played with a shovel and some other tools and walked back and forth between Jared and I. Sometimes we had to monitor a little more closely as he decided to climb the stairs or go out into the street.

On Friday Benjamin played with his stroller but on Saturday he sat in it when he got tired. He just chilled while we cleaned things up. Our yard looks so nice and open now in the front. Love it!

Flowers

I love flowers. I love watching them grow and bloom. I love having fresh flowers in my house. I love how they look and smell (most at least). I honestly can't plant enough flowers even in my small yard to satisfy me.

Here are some flowers from my backyard.

Garden 2010 Ready To Go!

We worked in the garden last Saturday as it was a beautiful day!!! I cannot express how much I love the area where we live. When you have these gorgeous day's like last Saturday and today it just can't compare.

Anyways I did some weeding and cleaned up the flower bed and then we went shopping. We stopped at Lowe's to get a few things and figure out what we wanted/needed. We got some compost to add to the garden and a few flowers and weed killers.

After Lowe's we ventured out to Flower World!!! I love Flower World! If you haven't gone there you must. It's gorgeous and a great trip for kids. There's flowers and animals to look at by this pond. It really is a must! We picked up several more flowers for my front yard and some more starters. Like Broccoli and Tomatoes...

We stopped back at Lowe's to get Bell Peppers since we couldn't find any really at Flower World. And then we went home...eventually.

When we got home we added the compost to the garden and mixed it all up. We planted what we could and then went inside to get the seeds ready for planting.

It feels so good to have my garden done and out of the way now. I won't have to worry about it down the road. All I have to do now is water it. :)

Let's see we planted...oregano, green onions, cilantro, chives, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, potatoes, corn, lettuce, melon, cantaloupe, spinach, tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, and green beans. I'm excited to eat delicious vegetables again from our yard. Hopefully I can keep up with the production this year seeing how I won't be working this summer but I will have an infant. Still not sure how things will go but I am very excited.

My Own Garden

I've wanted to have my own garden for years now. Our church leaders have counseled to have your own garden and to eat from it and put food away for food storage. You never know what the future holds so having a 3 month (or more) supply of food storage is always a good thing.

Over the past few years I have been learning to can jams, corn and a roasted red pepper spread. My Aunt Cindy got me a book all about canning filled with recipes for canning when I got married. I've used it every single time I've done any canning and have marked several things I want to try. I'm still waiting to get my mom up here with me while I am doing some canning to learn from her. According to Aunt Cindy my mom is a renowned canner (she's got enough jars, I was blessed to take from her abundance).

This summer I get to try some of the recipes I've been wanting to try. Over Memorial Day Weekend Jared and I worked on building a box for our new garden. My mom had introduced me to Square Foot Gardening (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/) and I wanted to try it. So I did some research online and ordered the creator of Square Foot Gardening's book for more information so we could build our garden. We have a small backyard and so this appealed to me greatly to be able to grow tons of different things in such small places.

We made a 2 and a half foot by 10 foot box and put it in the corner of our backyard by our patio. We made several trips to Lowe's that day for lumber, the soil parts and seeds. It was a lot of work but we enjoyed ourselves, had fun and felt a great accomplishment once it was built and put together.

I soaked the seeds we got to give them a jump start and got them planted. I made a grid of everything we planted so I would know what I was growing. It is also helpful for the section that failed. I still need to plant something in that space.

It has been a lot of fun watching my garden grow. We also have tomato plants on the side in big planters of their own. I can't wait to harvest and make salsa, spaghetti sauce, eat fresh salads, and cook with fresh ingredients from my own yard. For those who know me really well my taste buds have usually rejected the thought of vegetables but they have been changing and I am excited to eat more veggies. The most surprising thing is my craving for tomato's (I can't tease Ashley and Sam anymore...I'm not quite to eating them like an apple yet but time will tell).

We are growing tomatoes in planters, strawberries in a hanging basket and basil, chives, cilantro, corn, broccoli, cucumber, squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, melon, green beans, green onions, lettuce, spinach, hot peppers and bell peppers. I had oregano planted but it never grew. So I will try it again...I just need to grab the seeds and go plant them.

Gardening can be a lot of work, but I feel like I am doing something that will benefit my family and friends. Each week as things get bigger and start to produce I get more and more excited. Jared checked out the hot peppers tonight and there is tiny baby starting. We will have a ton of tomatoes. Jared even ate a leaf of spinach fresh from the garden and had me taste the cilantro. I love the smell of cilantro.

Happy Gardening!