Vegetable Garden Update

Everyone has those times in gardening when you wondered, "What was I thinking"?  I had that thought one year with zucchini plants.  (hasn't everyone?)  I'm sure my sister-in-law had that thought last year with the spaghetti squash. She had enough to sell roadside.  Really!! Well...this year I'm asking myself, "What was I thinking planting 24 tomato plants"?  

I have patio tomatoes.  They are larger than cherry tomatoes.  Almost egg sized...  

and patio tomatoes...

and MORE patio tomatoes!

I also have Scotia tomatoes... (thankfully they are ripening more slowly)

AND Lemon Boy tomatoes.  They are such a pretty yellow.  I had one in my sandwich today for lunch...yum!

I made a batch of tomato sauce this week to test the recipe, and it is really good.  It even passed the "hubby test".  ;)  I found the recipe on the blog "Thy Hand Hath Provided".  So I will do more as the tomatoes ripen.  I also plan on canning some plain diced tomatoes to use in Chili and in my Homemade Turkey Soup this fall and winter.  

The pumpkin patch is looking very much like a...pumpkin patch!!

Is it early for them to be turning orange?

I was so excited to see two white pumpkins today.  I don't want to wish my summer away, but I am really looking forward to doing some fall decorating.   This pretty thing will definitely be a part of it!

Hubby dug a few potatoes to bring home.  

This week I harvested our onion crop.  The tops had all fallen over and I've read that is when they are ready to harvest. 

My sister, Lisa, was with me and helped me braid them all for drying in the shed.  This is just a few of the braids.  

Today I brought home more zucchini and patio tomatoes,  (What was I thinking?) a few potatoes, larger tomatoes and the potential for some great cucumber sandwiches!!! ;)  P.S.  The shed smells wonderful.  :)

"Like" Take Six on Facebook to see what else I've been canning this week!  

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This Week In The Garden

We are on vacation this week and just came home from a few days in the country.  Since that is where our vegetable garden is, I am able to putter in it every day while we are there.  I'm the type that feels a bit restricted and "all thumbs" when I'm wearing gardening gloves.  So let's just say, it's probably a good thing you can't see my fingernails right now.    ;)

Most things in our garden are doing great.  Here's what we did this week:

  1.  Picked a truckload of green and yellow beans - still lots to go!

  2.  Picked the remainder of our main row of peas

  3.  Pulled the pea vines out and composted them

  4.  Picked the remainder of the broccoli

  5.  Pulled the broccoli plants and composted them

  6.  Weeded this morning after it rained

  7.  Helped my Handyman build a support for our tomatoes & cucs

       (It's a good thing he enjoys this as much as I do)  ;)

  8.  Fertilized the watermelon, zucchini, pumpkins & squash

  9.  Thinned the beats by picking a bunch to bottle

10.  I also followed the Victory Gardener's advice and picked off the bottom 6" of leaves of our brussel sprout stock.  He says if you do that once you see the little sprouts beginning, then more energy will go into forming the sprouts faster.  Once you pick those bottom sprouts, pick off more leaves up another 6" and your second harvest will mature faster.  Have you tried this before?  I'd love to know.

Here's what some of our garden looked like yesterday. 

Come and take a walk with me!

We have hundreds of tomatoes.  I'm getting a little impatient for some red ones!  Every single one is still green.  Has anyone ever planted some of the different color tomatoes?  I planted some "Lemon Boy" this year.  Looking forward to some yellow tomatoes too!  

I think I'm going to have to pull this turnip before too long.  It's been calling out to me as I walk by.  I love them raw, cut up like carrot sticks as much as I do cooked.

When we planted zucchini seeds this spring, I made a promise to myself.  No baseball bat sized zucchini's.  I brought one home yesterday that is about 10" long.  That's the biggest one yet.  

The squash is blooming!  We planted Buttercup and Acorn!

Lots of onions! 

 We planted some onions from seeds in among the big onions. 

 The perfect size for using as green onion.

The green beans are still blooming!

I bottled some of the beans I picked this week!

  First time to use a pressure cooker!

  My baby sister, Paula, gave me a crash course!

Lest you think everything is wonderful in the garden...

Our cabbages all look like Swiss Cheese.  :(

Beautiful pepper plants...but no blossoms, or peppers!  :(

Some blight on our potatoes.  No blossoms.  No potatoes underneath.  :(

*Sigh*

This is what I picked before we left for home yesterday.  The beets are bottled already, and today my daughter, Jenna, grated the zucchini and we made 2 Zucchini chocolate chip loaves.  The zucchini in the picture yielded 2C of grated flesh.  I guess the Chocolate zucchini cake, and Lemon zucchini loaf will wait for the next zucchini!!

Thanks for walking with me.  Wishing you a great week in your garden!

Tanya

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How Does Your Garden Grow?

One of my favorite things about the summer is getting up early on a Saturday morning and going to our city's Farmer's Market.  This year, I will just get up and go outside for my fresh veggies.  I am so excited.  It has been many years since we have had a vegetable garden.  Last Fall, my hubby and I decided we would plant one again this year.  He spent time in the Fall, preparing the garden spot.  It is in the country, about 45 minutes from our home, at our little weekend getaway.  We had all winter to read up, design our garden, and dream.  Actually he did the reading and designing...I did the dreaming!  

Onions

We had such a beautiful spring in Nova Scotia that we began planting in mid-April.  The first things to go in the ground were onion and garlic sets, spinach, lettuce, peas and radish.

Peas

We are really enjoying reading the blog "Thy Hand Hath Provided".  It is such a great resource.  They are a sweet family that grow veggies, herbs, raspberries and much more.  This year they are trying something new... mushrooms!! She has lots of wonderful recipes for harvest time too.  We took their suggestion and used straw in between our rows.  We did put landscape fabric down first, so we are hoping to keep a lot of the weeds at bay!  I scattered straw on top of the rows to help retain moisture.  You can see how the peas grew up through the straw.  

Green peppers & jalapenos

Spinach

These pictures were taken a little over a week ago.  When we went this past weekend, the patch of spinach shown above was double that size.  I cut quite a bit and brought home for a yummy salad.  I was also able to harvest some lettuce, radish, and green onion.  

Radish

Tomatoes - 4 types

Quick & Easy Garden Signs

I love my garden signs.  I found this idea, done by Susan on her blog, Homeroad.  Of course I pinned it, and one weekend, while in the country, I took my snippers on a walk around the field.  I didn't use a carrot peeler, as she showed.  I used a utility knife.  The end result was the same...free signs for our veggie garden!!


Watch for garden updates!!  :)

The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's Heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth.

                                                               ~Dorothy Frances






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