Garden Delight

I haven't been doing much crafting lately- we did get the garden planted.... no we are not growing milk jugs- those are covering some of the more tender plants.  My husband put in a drip irrigation system this year so we'll see how that works.  I still prefer the foot by foot gardening in grow boxes (less weeding)- but the garden is my sweeties domain, and since he does 99% of the work he gets to do it his way.

Have you ever had home grown strawberries?  They taste so much better than store bought- DELICIOUS!!! 

The raspberries are back and looking healthy- which reminds me I need to do some research to see what I need to fertilize them with- last year they were too tart.

We have the funniest little black birds in our yard.  They think they are chickens.  They generally stay right with the bigger birds, waddling and pecking just like a chicken.  Makes me smile.

On the Back Forty

We don't really have forty acres- closer to 1  but here is the latest:

The chickens are almost full grown.  When we purchased the chickens the seller said to plan on a few dying- umm, we must be really good at raising poultry because all 25 (they sent ten extra as a "bonus") survived!!!  Gratefully we were able to give away 10.  And don't even mention eating a few because chickens are "friends (pets) not food".  Eggs you can eat.

The asparagus is growing like crazy- we are now in the "give a bunch to the neighbors" mode- not because fresh sweet asparagus isn't a family favorite, it's just that, well, you can only eat so much.  Besides, it's a great way to earn brownie points.

I'm getting ready to plant some honeysuckle and white jasmine (maybe my favorite smelling plant ever- mmm, I also really love the smell of lilacs.... and of course roses ...and gardenias, and .... hasn't our Heavenly Father given us an amazingly beautiful world?)!!!

Container Gardening

We are beginning to get the garden ready for another season.  You may remember this picture from my garden last year.  I love container gardening!  I think I had three weeds in this box during the entire growing season!  I found a new online booklet teaching how to successfully build, fill and grow container gardens.  It is a 21 page online booklet from the Benson Institute.  Check it out here.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Here's my garden. I've literally only pulled four weeds this entire summer. We have had a nasty battle with the bugs though!

The family garden has been much more work. I helped plant part of it- other than that my wonderful hubby has done it all. I'd say he is working part time as a vegetable farmer! We've had some problems with more foliage than produce- so, we've (he's) been cutting back on the greenery and hoping for more food.



Let's see if I can remember what is planted out there; watermelon, cantaloupe, asparagus, potatoes, onions, bell peppers (three colors), tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, dill, pumpkins, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, and peas. Some things are definitely growing better then others but sure is nice to eat garden fresh produce!