Garden Update 2

I don't know about your part of the country but here in the heart of the Mid-South it's as hot as H.E.Double hockey sticks. Today's heat index was well over 110 degrees. It's so, SO very hot that we have planted our family in our little air conditioned home and don't intend to leave it's 75 degree heavenliness unless the plans include a pool or ice cream (or Target.)

One interesting thing about this crazy weather we are having is my little garden seems to love the blistering heat! We are already harvesting some wonderful tomatoes and are amazed by the monger cucumbers that we have pulled. As you can remember, our first attempt at a garden last year was quite the learning experience. We got little to nothing from it except knowledge of every disease, mold and predator bug known to tomatoes, cuc.'s and watermelons.

This year has been wonderful so far! I am amazed at my tomato plants and how huge they are! Just so that you understand why this is so exciting for us, I thought I would show you a picture of what our garden looked like in early September of last year when it should have been at it's fullest and most mature stage. Can we say Pit.i.ful?

Saaaaaaaaad. Here is what the tomato plants looked like. Be sure and notice all the empty stems where the hornworms ate all the fruit and foliage. I abhor those horrible, nasty creatures!

In comparison, here is what our garden looks like today. Yeeehaw!!!

It's so much fun to have a thriving garden! Not to say that God might feel the need to humble me and let it become a fun night out for the hornworms again, but for right now I am rejoicing and thankful that it's doing great!

Here's a few pics of what else is growing:

Baby cantaloupes and watermelons.

Tons and tons of Better Bush, Roma Grape, Early Girl, Beef Steak, Better Boy, Jumbo Cherry, and heirloom tomatoes.

This was probably THE best tomato I have ever tasted. We had BLT's with it last night! Yummy!

Our cucumber's are ginormous. Supposedly, they are supposed to be only 6 inches long, but when they were that short they look so skinny and scrawny. We let them stay on the vine for a couple more days to see if they might plump up some and they literally grew 6 inches in two days.

I look forward to seeing what else we can pull! The kids are enjoying watching everything as it grows and then being able to eat it after it has ripened.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Garden Update #1 & Other Stuff Too

Ooooooh, yeah, baby. Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Yes, those are what you think they are. Little tiny mater's! In just two weeks, my little plants have survived all the typhoons and rain and have begun to produce! Can't tell you how happy that makes my green, little heart. I know you are saying to yourself, so what? It's just a tomato.

Well, as you can remember in this post, last year was a umm, a rough year for our little tomato plants. In fact, even though we planted the buggers in April, out of 9 plants we got no tomatoes until October when the first frost came and stole what had started to grow. NONE. Yes, friends, I am ashamed to say that I have been known in the past as a tomato plant killer. Sigh...

Fortunately the tide seems to have changed this year and we have a great start to some healthy looking plants! Keep on keeping on, little babies!! Mama, wants some tomatoes!

Perri also decided she wanted to join the Green Thumb Society and plant a little flower garden of her own. A few weeks back our church gave the kids a packet of Cosmos seeds for the them to plant. We dug up a little corner of our backyard and let her put them there. BTW, the package said they grow 4 to 5 feet! Seriously!?!?! Should be fun to find out. Here she is showing off her little garden.

And here she is again, tolerating the fact that big brother wants to be in the picture, too. Notice her flared nostrils and expressionless eyes. Ya think there is some passive aggressiveness going on in this shot? Hmmm...

Here is my little drama queen sweet princess giving you her best and dramatic "this is my shovel and you can't have it" expression.

The child cracks me up, ya'll! Apparently God thought our family needed some drama when he chose to give her to us. Don't get me wrong, it's not the kind of drama from defiance or rebelliousness, it's the kind you get when you cross a Snow White movie with a Broadway musical. She lives in a totally different world than I do that includes talking to crickets and rescuing fallen leaves from being stepped on.

But, I love it. I love that she loves being a feminine, pink obsessed, stuff animal toting, twirly smocked dress wearing, little girl. She enjoys her childhood. I think all of my kids do. I am grateful for that!

Wow, I totally went off the path there didn't I?

Anyway, I better be off - I have TONS of housework to do. The Balentine Christian Academy officially closes for summer tomorrow and we are having an open house for the family to come see all that the kids have learned this year. I can't wait!

I also have a big surprise! SHHHHH!! It's a secret! But, I can't tell you what it is yet. NO. I am not pregnant you sick, sick person, you! :) You'll have to wait until Monday to find out!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Gardening for Dummies

Yay! Warm weather and sunshine!! Well, at least it sunshined for a day or two, nothing but rain since! But that's OK, at least it's warm outside! I love May for lots of reasons but my FAVORITE reason (with the exception that school gets out) is that I get to plant my garden!

Last year, Da Hubby was so kind to build me a fortress, beautiful garden for our backyard. Dude, this thing ain't movin'! Isn't it loverly?


People have asked us why do we need such a structure for a garden. Garden are supposed to be free and able to spread. Here are our two main reasons:

Who me?

Uhh, yeah. Don't let their adorably, sweet faces fool you. They are Vicious. Cunning. Veggie Killin' Machines. They get into EVERYTHING, hence the electric fenced in garden. (I'm just kidding, people!) However, that's not such a bad idea....

Anywho, we decided what a great educational and frugal way to grow some of our own stuff! This was our little peace of incredibly diseased, pain in the butt, insect infested, non-producing heaven last year. It was, umm, an "experimental" year. Yea. Anyway, amazingly enough we ended up with a few edible items and a desire to try to get it right this year.

We planted three small strawberry plants last year and picked the blossoms off as they came out. Supposedly that makes the plant increase their volume and spread for the next year's crops. We covered them with straw (Covering strawberries with straw - clever, huh?) over the winter and up they sprung with a vengeance this spring. They are TASTY!!!


They are so adorable! I just love them! At least we did one thing right last year!



Here's some of the other things I have planted this year and will hopefully get a harvest by the end of summer.

And then, there are the tomatoes. We planted nine different types. Ahh, our tomatoes. A great source of stress and demise in my life. I have this really beautiful and sweet neighbor I was talking to last year about my tomatoes. I told her that my tomatoes had every disease and bug that is known to kill the plants with the exception of the nastiest bug of all, the hornworm. I will spare you a picture of these grotesque creatures, because they are just that nasty. So literally a week later I go out to water my precious, dying tomatoes and find a family of 12 nasty, nasty and HUGE hornworms had taken over my garden the evening before and eaten most of the baby fruits as well as most of the vegetation. OOOOOOO!!! I HATE those things!

(Side note - I thought I'd also mention that neighbor I was talking about. You know, the sweet and beautiful one? Well, she planted two tomato plants gingerly in her front beds and produced two, 7 foot tall plants that literally were drooping to the ground with all the tomatoes on the branches. No hornworms. No blight. No powder fungus. No aphids. No garden fortress. Just tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes. Humph. I am not jealous. I am not jealous. I am not jealous.) I love you, Lisa!

Again, I will try and maybe after learning from a few mistakes last year, perhaps I will get something to feed my family with! I so enjoy watching the plant progress and grow throughout the summer. I just hope there is something to eat this year. (I really don't think I should have any worries, though. My beautiful and sweet neighbor has planted her tomatoes once again in her front flower beds and I'm sure she won't mind if I come and steal liberate a few from her! After all, what are neighbors for?