Monday Gardening Club

It's been a while since I posted for the Monday Gardening Club. I have learned a few things this year about gardening. My yard has a lot of shade trees and although the things I planted grew like crazy, they didn't produce like crazy.

I have four huge tomato plants. This is my first harvest. There are a few more that will be ready today.

I have 8 squash plants and have harvested...hmmm, maybe a dozen or so squash. I have 4 jalapenos and may have harvested 10 so far, but there are more growing. I've got a few peppers growing, but I'm still waiting for them to finish and ripen. Lettuce did well, but it's done now. Chard did well and it's still growing strong.

Next year, if we're still in this house, I need to rethink what we plant. This has been a great first garden and learning experience. If the Lizard King was here, I would probably try a winter garden. Perhaps another winter.

Monday Gardening Club

What the heck? First my brussel sprouts have aphids now my squash has some bizarre disease!

The whole plant looks like this. All of them look like this!

This is a leaf close up.
This is what happens over time and eventually the leaf is gone.It's happening to the pumpkins as well. Everything is still producing.

But seriously, what the heck is it?! And more importantly, how do I make it stop?

Head on over to see the woman who started it all. Aliceson at Feet Off the Table. I bet she's not having these problems in her garden.

Monday Gardening Club

What?! It's not Monday? No way! Really? Oh fine! Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but Monday just got away from me. I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me.

Here it is! I've posted lots of photos, close up, of the things that are growing, but I don't think I've shared what it all really looks like. I'm pretty excited about how it's taken off. In a yard where I questioned whether I could grown anything to this:

This isn't even all of it, but it is most of it. I think it's awesome if I do say so myself. This from the gal who never had a garden before. Yippee!!

Monday Gardening Club

The garden is still going crazy! We've got some lohohohong cucumbers. They're yummy, too.

The aphids have attacked the brussel sprouts. I really need to get some ladybugs...NOW.

I just discovered that the jalapenos are growing like crazy. There are bunches of them!

The tomato plants look like a dense forest. I have learned a lot about gardening this year. Next year, tomatoes will get A LOT more room. Even with being all crowded in tomatoes are growing like crazy. I can't wait till they ripen.

Unfortunately, I planted the pole beans and peas in the same bed as the tomatoes. This seems to have had a very bad effect on them. : (

The squash are very happy since we moved them. They are growing like crazy. I have been eating squash almost every day. It is scrumptious!

Lettuce is still doing well.

As is the chard.

I love eating food that I've grown myself. It is so cool!

Be sure to check out Feet Off the Table, the woman who started the Monday Gardening Club!

Monday Gardening Club

It's been a while since I've posted for Gardening Monday and a lot has happened in the garden. Thanks to Aliceson at Feet Off The Table for starting this whole gardening extravaganza!

Before leaving for South Carolina, the Lizard King did all he could to make my life a little easier while he was gone. This is a self winding hose. I'm not exactly sure how it works, but it used water power from the water in the hose. I simply pull it out when I'm ready to water the garden and slide that yellow lever back when I am done. It is so awesome!!




My garden that was this has grown to this:

I love eating the food from my garden and I am still amazed that I actually grew food. I was certain this was going to be a gardening disaster. One of my favorite things is walking out to the garden in the morning and cutting chard for my breakfast.

That's the chard, to the left of the lettuce.

I saute' the chard in coconut oil (expeller pressed)...

and good butter.

Then plate it and top it with some Celtic sea salt and more good butter.

I scramble up some eggs with diced, roasted red pepper and shred some cheese on top...
so yummy!

What's happening in your garden?

Monday Gardening Club

Last week I learned some things about gardening. I planted the onions the way they came. I just loosened the roots a bit and plopped them in the garden. Apparently, you are supposed to separate them into individual onion plants so they actually have room to turn into an onion. Oops!

I also learned that my lettuce was ready.





I also learned that it is yummy!

Monday Gardening Club

I really love the idea of posting a garden update every week. Thanks to Aliceson over at Feet Off the Table for starting this.

I have to say I'm in a much better place than I was a couple days ago. I went out to water the garden and found these little blue balls in the garden beds around the deck.

I was furious! Our rent includes lawn maintenance which I unfortunately assumed meant simple lawn mowing. I bent over and picked out every little blue ball, all the while expressing some not so child friendly language. Fortunately, the child had gone inside by this point. Ironically, the landscaper stopped by on Saturday and I talked to him. I found out what he used and it seems it isn't so bad, but it's definitely not organic. *sigh* Anyway, I told him that I only want them to cut the back lawn. No chemicals...nothing else, just cut.

On a better note, things are growing!

Chard


Carrots


Snap Peas

Strawberries

Spinach

Everything is getting bigger. I'm not the most patient person in the world (okay, that's a big understatement) but having a garden is definitely a practice in patience.

Happy Gardening!

Can we just pretend it's Monday?

I meant to post my Gardening Monday Club yesterday, it being Monday and all. Oops! I got a lot of laundry done, though!

A day late, but here's my update.

My seeds are beginning to sprout! Here we have the beginnings of spinach. It looks like grass, right? I'm told it's spinach.

The cucumbers are getting new leaves.

Lettuce is getting bigger. I cannot wait to eat lettuce out of my very own garden.

Okay, it's really hard to see (with all the yard debris - we have an insane amount of yard debris) but the chard seeds are sprouting. If this grows I'll save so much money. I eat a ton of chard.

We also have one snap pea sprouting and some chamomile, but they're really small. This gardening stuff is pretty cool!