Beans

The beans are done! In fact, they are more then done. I've filled my freezer and my only option now is canning. It's a little hard because I have no idea how many beans I really get in the grand scheme of things, so i will take what I need and see if anyone else ever comes to pick any beans.

The tomatoes are getting ripe. The ones that are now are huge but as soon as they get red the bugs start in on them, so I've begun picking them at a light red color. Most of the tomatoes are hitting the ground.

We've been eating the cucumbers and they taste so good. What a nice refreshing snack. We don't eat pickles so I won't be pickling them but I will pick some and take them to the neighbor to tell him he can pick some and also to talk about his plans for the beans and potatoes. I don't know if he is waiting or hoping I will pick the beans or what, which I will I don't mind, but I just don't know what he wants at this point. This experience has given me some ideas for next year and I will hopefully have things under better control as I gain more experience. This was my first 'real' gardening experience and so next year will come more and then the year after that even more.

Harvest Time

I am not, after all, the only weeder for the garden. Someone did bring a rototiller and got in between the rows. So, now the garden looks nice. I went to do some close to the plant weeding and saw the plants bore their flesh. So, I've switched projects. I am now in harvest mode. I will keep up the weeds for the beans as I pick along the row but weeding the potatoes is no longer. They are done and ready to be dug, I just need a shovel.

I froze the first small batch of beans last night to see how it would work and will freeze more today, seeing as I have a large bowl full picked already. This was the first time blanching anything and I think it went well. Of course, I freeze differently. I lay everything out in a layer on a cookie sheet and once frozen transfer them to another container. Freezing this way helps prevent them from sticking together. I will do it this way with the blueberries I get this afternoon. It is as close to IQF(individually quick frozen) that I can get, minus the "Q" part.

Weeds

I had no idea how big weeds could get. There are so many tall weeds, ones I couldn't get to or that were at the edge of the garden so I didn't bother since I did the more important ones. So, I took my hoe and pushed down the large weeds so I could at least see the ever-growing sea of tomato plants.

I had no idea I was going to be farming not gardening. The beans coming in and the zucchini have flowers. I anxiously await the harvest.

Radishes

The garden is looking, well, it's just looking.

I've tried to be good about weeding but anytime the weather is perfect it usually begins to rain, so I don't get out nearly as often as I would like. I think the garden would also look better if I had a little help from everyone else that is involved, although when I did go out the other day to finish weeding the beans I noticed someone had made a bit of an effort to pull some. However, they didn't do much.

This is a big garden, there is a lot to do. I'm the only one whose picked any lettuce to far. The potatoes are, or rather were, growing nicely but there are so many potato bugs to count. Some plants have no leaves left. I've tried to control them the best I can but I'm still pretty new at all this, and it would take me all day to really get them under control. So, I try not to make things perfect out there and just enjoy what progress I make.

On a good note, when I showed my husband where the zucchinis were along with a few other things I had planted he pointed out the carrots popping up through some weeds. I will admit, I had them for lost along with some other plants that didn't come up so I just let the weeds take over. So, I have carrots, or will....I also decided to pretty up around the zucchini plants and while pulling some weeds I notice a non-weed. By golly we have the radishes. I had handed them to my daughter to plant. I didn't realize she had planted them in the same place as the zucchini.

Weeding

I have spent hours weeding this garden. There never seems to be an end to the weeding! I don't mind it, really. It is nice when I can spend some time getting exercise and feeling good about things in the cool evening breeze. It is too hot to weed in the day time, and rightly so. I also can't take the kids out because they don't have patience to wait for me or watch me. They want me close and they want to be held. My daughter will help periodically, but she gets bored with it.

It's a big garden, and there is lots to do. I have been focusing on the weeds closer to the plants rather than in between rows. I would do more other weeding but as it is I really am the only one (there are a few in together with the garden) who does anything and so I will do the most important weeding.

Today I tried to rid some of the potato plants of bugs but it was too hot to stay out for long. I will go out tonight and weed the second row of beans. It takes about an hour to get the row done and it gives me a good sense of accomplishment. If I had the money and resources I would also stake up the plants, including the tomato plants, but I do not have things available yet. Building up tools and resources for gardening will take time and I will just have to get things as they come, in time.

By the way, did I mention I can't eat the strawberries. They are wild. They weren't deliberately planted but probably came by way of mulch and the mower just doesn't get that close to the house. Oh well, they were pretty anyway.

Groundhogs

When I left to go on vacation a few weeks ago, appro. 3 weeks now, there were peas and lettuce coming up in the garden. When I arrived home my neighbors had finished planting the rest of the garden, I still have no idea yet of what they planted but it just broke ground, and the potato plants were thriving well. My lettuce, or at least a little less than half, looks great. The rest of the lettuce has been chewed down by groundhogs. My peas, well, I am assuming they disappeared to some sort of critter as well, or they didn't grow beyond what I saw them at. There are so many weeds I can barely see the lettuce.

In retrospect, I should've waited to plant everything until after I got home. It would not have been too late. Since the rest of the garden space had been utilized by the neighbor, and I don't want to not plant any of my own stuff, I took the rest of my seeds to the area I dedicated for blueberries and raspberries. There was still a lot of cleared 'garden' area so I planted what I had. I also wanted my daughter to learn how to garden and have the experience so I let her plant whatever she wanted. I did the most important.

The place I planted this stuff is good soil and a good location. I think I will plant more there next year, although there is rye growing there now. My daughters seed have already broken ground, that took less than a week, and I am already weeding like crazy. It's like the weeds didn't want to come until real stuff was planted. If everything works out we will have a small crop of food from this section of land. If I work on the larger garden, the neighbor will share the crop with me since I will be doing work on it.

Strawberries

When I get back in June from a family reunion it will be the right time to go picking strawberries. I am very excited and better have the money. I plan to make some strawberry jam and can it for my storage and own enjoyment. We'll see, I may just end up freezing it or making freezer jam for now. It all depends on what the budget is like.

I love strawberries. I love berries! I planted blueberry and raspberry bushes and really wanted to plant strawberries. I was told they are hard to do around here so I just decided not to go with it and just keep up with everything else.

Well, today while clearing the weeds from the side of the house I noticed a bunch of red things. Upon closer examination, I didn't have to get that close though, I realized they were strawberries. There was a whole lot of strawberries stretching across the side of the house. I promptly got down to clear the weeds away and give these strawberries some room. I don't know when they were planted or by whom but am very glad they are there. The poor things were forgotten and its probably been years since someone last looked at them and saw them as strawberries. I think the only reason they are still there is because the mower can't get them.

There aren't enough plants to give me a good harvest of strawberries, but they will be fun to pick and eat.



Now if only there were raspberry bushes hiding somewhere I would really be in Heaven.