More plantings and updates

I think our fertilizer and rototiling combination has us off to a promising start. I love watching flowers blooming and the vegetable garden growing. I don't know what it is about it, but it has some kind of therapuetic effect on me.

When I was at BYU, I took an architectural drawing/drafting class with Anna Dance. She was such a fun teacher and she would have us do lettering with fun sayings that we found from talks or other inspirational sayings instead of "the quick brown fox jumped over the fence..." For one such assignment I chose a quote which states:

"God our Father has many names, but there is one that all artists should find eternally inspiring: Creator."

I don't remember who said it, but I have never forgotten that quote. (I'm tying this into my gardening so stick with me here...) We have such a beautiful place that we live in and what I love about my Heavenly Father is that He has given me that power to be like him and create. I ABSOLUTELY love creating.

Here is some documentation of what we have been recently creating.

FRUIT:

Strawberries

Blueberries

Asian Pears and Honeycrisp/Liberty Apples being overtaken by my wildflower seed mix from last year (note to self: Foxglove hates being transplanted so far...)

Raspberries- thank goodness I have kids and I didn't get around to digging these out last year when they looked like they wanted to curl up and die. We might get berries this year. They're atleast blooming.

And VEGIES:

Pumpkins and Zucchini, Corn, Green Beans

Peas, Tomatoes, Potatoes

We have also just planted some Territorial Seed Co. Pacific Pearl Bunching Onions. I planted them on Wednesday. Ryan has started some more corn and squash and beans as well.

Only one empty row

Planted 5/9/09:

Lilly-Miller- Early Sunglow Corn packed 2008
Ed Hume- Howden- Ideal Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin packed 2008
Ed Hume- Connecticut Field Pumpkin packed 2009
Ed Hume- Jackpot Hybrid Bush Zucchini packed 2008
Ed Hume- Jackpot Hybrid Bush Zucchini packed 2009
Ed Hume- Danvers Half Long Carrot packed 2009
Ed Hume- Ingot, Hybrid Long Nantes Type Carrot packed 2008
Ed Hume- Muncher Cucumber packed 2008
Lilly Miller- Homemade Pickles Cucumber packed 2008

And our Snap Peas and Bush Beans are starting to come up. Our lettuce has tiny little two leaf sprouts as well.

Garden 09

I'm declaring planting season. I hope it doesn't snow again...

Planted on April 18th:

Territorial Seed Company LT395 Winter Density Romaine Lettuce- packed for 2008

Territorial Seed Company PE632 Sugar Star Snap Peas (coated in innoculant)

Territorial Seed Company BN020 Bush Bean Venture (coated in innoculant)

We have a bunch of seeds that didn't get planted last year so we will be planting those this year too. Things like carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, broccoli, parsnips, butternut squash, etc. I will hopefully note which seeds aren't fresh in case they don't do as well.

Onions and Jam

Our Sugar Snap Peas are at the end of production so I am now roaming the garden to see what else is ready. I ended up at my Mom's on Monday for some Raspberry picking and came home with enough berries for two and 3/4 batches (darn it). Now I need to head back down for one more cup of berries. Our own raspberries haven't yet decided to yield any fruit (we just transplanted them from Mom and Dad's this year). Our blueberry bushes however have surprised us. Costco gave literature with the bushes that claimed they wouldn't produce for another 2-3 years. Eventhough we only have 10 berries, it's better than nothing.

Anyway, in my roaming of the garden I found this little onion starting to poke out of the ground. I don't remember what kind it is, but it isn't the usual round shape. Maybe I picked it out too early? It doesn't really matter. It smells like an onion and I think that I am going to stick it in the fridge until I decide to use it in something really worthy of the first onion.

The first fruits of the harvest 08

I was talking to a friend about the beautiful blooms on our sugar snap peas and she asked if we had picked any yet. I was confused because I thought that they were atleast a couple of weeks from producing anything, so I decided to take a look. They were ready to be picked. Luckily enough, my kids who are extremely picky eaters were so amazed that they could pick something edible from our yard, that we now have an entire family of sugar snap pea eaters!

Growth

Well, here is the progress. Hopefully this is what it should look like. Had you asked me three days ago how my garden was doing, I would tell you AWESOME. Then I drove by a neighbor's vegetable garden and decided mine was not so hot. The story of keeping up with the Joneses. Those darn Joneses.

We'll start with some of the most impressive to lift my spirits...

tomatoes

Sugar Snap Peas- I wasn't so excited about these taking up room in my garden, but they sure are pretty.

two rows of onions

And one of the sadest...carrots. I know, they blend in with the weeds. Ryan doesn't think they are growing anymore so we are going to watch these closely. My lettuce is another dissapointer. I think I am going to call it quits and see what happens. Just in case nothing happens I have planted two more varieties of lettuce (Territorial Seed Co. LT400 Summertime Crisphead and LT395 Winter Density Romaine). I also planted my pumpkins today. We are going to be pushing it for them to be mature by the monday before Halloween for FHE pumpkin carving.

Firmly Planted

So, we have now planted Parsnips, Muncher cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, onion starts from the grange, and potato starts from the Sjaviks. Things are growing! Everytime something sprouts, I get a little fit of excitement. I feel like a little kid still excited to see that something actually grows from a seed. Maybe that's because usually things don't grow from seeds when I plant them. I have now provided support for my peas and green beans to grow on and my caroots and zucchini have sprouted. YAHOO. Oh, and I guess I did have to replant my Butternut squash. Only one seed decided to sprout. Not very good odds for three mounds that were planted with about 6 seeds each.