Garden Tour

This is our little garden. As I mentioned previously, we use the square foot gardening method and it works really well for us. As you may notice by the cars, we do garden in the front yard. Our back yard is seriously shaded and has totally clay soil. We can't even keep grass growing in the back. The fact that the garden is in the front forces us to keep it looking neat and trim, lest the neighbors complain. JoAn, Paul (aka Mr. Boots) and I do the planning and most of the gardening. The above picture is our cucumbers. They seem to have developed a problem lately and are dying off. But, in the meantime they are being VERY productive. They do grow well vertically

We have two varieties, an eating variety and a pickling variety. So far, we have been eating both. We haven't gotten around to making pickles.

This year we went to pole beans, rather than bush beans. Our bush beans never seem to do that great. We do move our crops around every year, and the spot where we often have cukes was available we decided to go with the pole beans. Mr. Boots selected the fencing and he and T-Bob put it up. We had spinach growing in the spring where the shorter set of beans is, so they got a later start. We try and do several crops and keep the soil in use.

The pole beans are producing wonderfully. Mr. Boots reports that it is so much easier to pick off the pole beans rather than the bush varieties.

Can you guess what this plant is? It is in the cabbage family. This is the first year that we have tried to grow 'baby cabbages', otherwise known as brussel sprouts. This is one of those things that you cannot pick until after frost. They seem to be doing well.

Yes, more green tomatoes. Silly things are taking SOOOO long to ripen.

A lot of people think that this is beets. It is not. It is swiss chard that has bright red stems. It is a crop that you keep picking and it will grow back again and again until you have a hard frost. It tastes like spinach.

We are also trying red cabbage this year. We try and grow things that are not as economical to buy. I can buy a case of green peppers for $2 or $3 dollars. What is the point of growing them? Plus, We don't like them. So Red cabbage it is. Green cabbage is cheap. The empty dirt you see around them is where our broccoli used to be. It is done and was delicious. We just haven't gotten anything planted there yet.

Can you tell these are turnips? We have been enjoying them this summer.

Michelle is picking some of our zucchini here. We only have 2 plants. That is enough, as we can always count on lots of donations of free zucchini on our expeditions to Amish country. Incidentally, Dallas loves raw zucchini. It is a regular part of his summer diet.

Our eggplant is starting to form up. It is looking great. It is one of Michelle's favorite garden things. We make Baba Ghannouj with it or bake it breaded and sliced with cheese on it. Yummy.

Even Ratatouille is delicious, although the children don't seem to share this opinion as strongly. They do like the movie though.

For those wanting a different post today, please keep praying. There is still a glimmer of hope. Thanks!

~Mom