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.

How do you plant a three year old?

Well, I had this grand idea to have the kids help me in the garden so they could take some ownership in the growing of vegetables. After finally getting Gracie, Braden and Tanner to start making four different hills to plant Zucchini in (and keeping Gracie from screaming when Braden put dirt outside her circle that she continued to trace in the dirt, and redirecting Tanner when he took dirt from the hill...) we decided to plant. I firmed the dirt around the seeds and started visiting with my neighbor. Then I look and find Braden winding up with a GIANT kick to the mounds of zucchini we had just planted. Dirt flies EVERYWHERE and as I run to give him a little talking to he tries to run away by going through the broccoli and green beans I planted last weekend. ARGH. It will be amazing if anything continues to grow.

I have a green thumb

So it seems anyway. I was really stressing because I planted peas and then they didn't sprout and they didn't sprout, etc. Right as I was ready to call vegetable gardening quits, I walked through the garden and saw little green weeds all in a row! YAHOO. We now have lettuce (Ed Hume Black seeded Simpson) and Super Sugar Snap Edible Pod, pole peas that have sprouted (planted about a month ago) and I have just recently planted butternut squash starts from inside (Ed Hume seeds), tomato starts (bumble bee, steak, and sugar hybrid) as well as two varieties of carrots (Ed Hume Carrot-Imperator and Ed Hume Hybrid), Green Beans- Blue Lake Bush (Ed Hume), and Broccoli Waltham 29 (Ed Hume). Herbs: Garlic starts from Fred Meyer, Peppermint, and Lemon Variegated Thyme. I have to record the varieties so that I don't have to try and remember for next year.These are my two little rows with our homemade markers. Artwork by Braden

I have found this whole gardening thing to be a wonderful experience. Braden loves watering the garden with us and I love working in the dirt and seeing things grow and flourish. I have to also brag about my wildflowers that are coming up around my fruit trees. Ed Hume wildflowers for the Pacific NW also gave me a scare because it took them about 1.5 months before I saw anything coming up.
This will be heads of lettuce sometime (with some slug bait)


Still to plant:

Lilly Miller Cucumber- Homemade Pickles Planted 6/11 ish

Ed Hume Zucchini- Jackpot Hybrid Bush Planted 5/20

Ed Hume Cucumber- Muncher Planted 6/11 ish

Potato starts from the Sjaviks Planted 6/11 ish

Onion starts from the grange (Walla Wallas and sweet onion) Planted 5/27

and if there is still room: Ed Hume Pumpkin- Howden Ideal Jack O Lantern Type Planted 6/30 YIKES!

Also planted Artichokes 6/11 ish

Parsnips 6/11 ish

Cluck Cluck

BEFORE

Last weekend as Ryan and I were spending our date night preparing our garden, I asked Ryan if he ever felt like the Little Red Hen. He quickly gave me the look of confusion. I admit that I can be confusing at times, but as I was preparing the ground and looking at the mound of dirt that still needed to be managed I had a ton of thoughts that flew threw my brain:

1. It will be so great when my family and I can come out and pick fresh vegetables for dinner or snacks, etc.

2. Wow, there is a lot of work to do before this mound of dirt is even ready for seeds.

AFTER (this darn wall alone took about 4 months to build)

3. Once things grow, someone will have to water, weed, fertilize, water more, weed more, fertilize more, etc.

4. When the food is mature, someone will need to pick, clean and can, process, or freeze the food.

All of the sudden I started thinking about the situation and it dawned on me that this was going to pretty much be my second full time job this summer. How helpful can an accountant be who works crazy hours and gets home around 7:30 pm most of the time?


That's when I remembered several Family Home Evenings growing up when a tearful mom would read the story of the Little Red Hen hoping that us kids would understand that she needs help. Now I can relate...


So this blog will be our record of this Summer's work. THE GARDEN.


(NOTE TO SELF: Plant Peas and Lettuce by mid-April next year. Lettuce will be bitter if it matures during hot summer heat. And, use inoculant for legumes before planting to enhance their chances of taking off.)