Turns out I can grow a garden after all!

I realized today that I have not added a gardening post since spring when my baby plants were stuck in the windowsill.  Since then, my husband has built me three magnificent raised beds and the produce has gone wild.

• Radishes:  We have planted twice and eaten them up the moment they were ready.
• Lettuce:  Had plenty the first time around.  They were supposed to be the cut and comeback variety, however, they did not come back so well.  Perhaps because of the heat.
• Carrots:  Simply amazing
• Onions:  Still growing, but we are using them already.

• Peas:  They were awesome and we enjoyed them with homemade ranch dip.

• Green Beans:  They are ready now and we cannot seem to pick and eat them fast enough.  May need the neighbors to help in eating them.

• Squash:  So far we have harvested one and it was delicious.  Waiting for more.
• Zucchini:  What can I say except WOW!  It is doing what zucchini does best....producing lots of zucchini.  May need more creative ideas for zucchini recipes.  
• Tomatoes:  My poor poor maters.  I babied them and nurtured them along and all of the sudden when they went outside they got blight!  They are still producing tomatoes but the plants are pretty scary looking.  Need to figure out how to keep them in better shape next year. 
• Strawberries:  We started out with 36 little strawberry plants and they have flourished and are spreading throughout the bed.  No berries this year, but should get a good crop next year.

I have loved everything about my garden.  The planning, planting, weeding, watering, and of course the harvesting.   The fact that it not only survived, but flourished makes me exceedingly happy. 

Happy Memorial Day....enjoy a yummy and healthy bbq!

Happy Memorial Day!  It has been a great weekend and we even had a little bit of sunshine.  We took advantage of that and worked out in the yard.  My husband made me another raised garden....for a total of three now.  As you can see my seedlings are still alive and well :)

And....our apple trees are blossoming out!

More importantly though...I am still on track with my anti-inflammatory eating.  I want to share with you a perfect and easy breakfast cereal that I had this morning. It is Organic Flax Plus cereal and I highly recommend it since it has anti-inflammatory Omega 3's and lots of fiber.   

For dinner I will be making Summer Salmon Barbecue.  It is super easy and full of Omega 3's and inflammation fighting ingredients.  So enjoy your Memorial Day without giving up on delicious food!  

Tomatoes....stuck in the window



I began my gardening adventure excited and ready to completely throw myself into the project....and I did.   My tomatoes took off like nothing I have ever grown before.  Now though, we seem to be stuck in a rain...snow...wind...rain...snow pattern here in the NW.  My tomatoes are still in the quart mason jars and are about a foot high in my kitchen window sills.  Still the best looking thing I have ever been able to grow with this brown thumb of mine.  So all of this is bringing me to my point...or question I guess.  What do I do now with these tomatoes?  I cannot put them outside in this weather and I don't want to lose the one and only thriving crop that I have ever had.  My husband worked so hard building my raised bed that I have to save these tomatoes to put into the awesome garden.  For now I am leaving them in the window.  Please feel free to give me your input on this matter if you have an opinion or advice.  Help me save my tomatoes!

Gardening is exercise

The past few days were sunny and gorgeous.  The temperature got up to around 50 plus degrees so I headed outside and stayed there for most of Friday and Saturday.  My husband is talented and has been busy making me a 4' X 10' raised garden so that I can plant my veggies (they are still alive and doing well in the windowsill).  This is the first of three.

He finished the project yesterday so I went to the local nursery and purchased garden soil. I shoveled two pickup loads of soil. Out of that I was able to fill the raised garden and also make a pea patch.   I have some space behind my lilac bushes up against the south wall of our house that will be perfect this year to grow peas. They are so pretty as they grow and partnered with the lilac bushes, I am hoping it will be beautiful.   I used a couple of cherry landscaping beams to border off the pea patch and separate the peas from the lilacs.

After pulling weeds, raking bark out of the way, shoveling two loads of soil from the pickup bed into the garden and pea patch, planting the peas, and watering them I am worn out. Now maybe I am stretching it a bit, but I feel that I got an awesome workout and enjoyed every second of it.  Plus we have made something beautiful and useful in our yard.

My baby tomatoes are growing

My tomato plants have been in my kitchen windowsill for a couple of weeks now. They are looking so good and healthy. I have both Roma and Beefsteak tomatoes planted.  Read more...