The Garden Issue

I believe I neglected to post anything this summer about our garden. Being that this blog is a family journal, of sorts, it seems like something worth mentioning - if for no other reason than to remember what worked this year and what didn't. So, while hurricane Irene is brewing and blowing outside, it is with gratefulness that I post about a bountiful summer.

The peonies never disappoint!

We planted both a raspberry and blueberry bush. Michael did a lot to prepare the soil for the blueberry bush - our neighbor Todd (whom you'll meet in a minute) helped us figure out what to do. Michael gathered up pine needles from the park to help acidify the soil.

While we tried to start several plants from seed - most of them didn't really work out. The only ones that worked were parsley and a few string bean plants. Todd gave us his leftover tomato, pepper, dill, lettuce, eggplant, onions, beet, and spinach plants which all produced beautifully. I believe we bought cilantro, sage, and the basil plants from the farmer's market.

Dill - and lots of it!

Our first blueberries! (end of June)

We got several green/red bell peppers!

And beans! but I generally had to add them to a bunch from the store to have enough for a meal.

This is "Farmer" Todd, harvesting turnips from one of the community gardens that he helps run. We had the awesome opportunity to see him at work a couple times this summer! He let us help out in the garden for a couple hours and then we got to enjoy what was harvested that week on "market day." We feel that we owe a great deal of thanks to Todd for not only helping us, beginning gardeners to have a fruitful garden, but because he does a great deal of service for our community - when healthy foods are so expensive.

"Market Day" bounty. Noah and Michael harvested those cucumbers or "cububbers" as Ethan says.

Harvesting onions. We also harvested enough beets for one yummy beet soup. We had enough basil to make pesto sauce to last us through the winter, hopefully.

We had three varieties of tomatoes growing. This year I have skinned them and added them to a couple batches of sauce for the freezer. I'm too intimidated to try canning them. The cherry tomatoes came from a plant that popped up on it's own right next to our compost bin - dozens and dozens have come from it. The other day Michael noticed a pumpkin growing behind the compost bin under some brush! Gotta love those surprise plants!

Here is the latest addition to our garden. Michael's mom came to visit this week to be part of Noah's first day of Kindergarten. She brought me a beautiful blue daze and with it came this little guy! Thanks again for coming, Mom!