BLUE RIBBON ZUCCHINI BABY!

would you look at this thing? no, this picture doesn't really do it justice. let's see...

yep. check that sucker out. hallie took to rocking it like a baby.

and burping it.

all the while sporting some serious post-bath-didn't-dried-before-she-brushed-it hair.

this thing is a beast. a beast, i say! i can't decide what to do with it. bread? relish? fritters?

maybe put it to sleep with a bottle and a pat on the rump?

MAH GARDEN. YEAH BUDDY.

sweet corn, zucchini, cucumber, basil and a beast of a sunflower.



zucchini (with a blossom!)



Cukes!

my teeny tomatoes. remind me next year to buy them bigger. i bought the smallest and won't have tomatoes until sometime next year.



lettuce! romaine! remind me to plant lettuce every summer for the rest of my life. also, who needs lettuce?



again, the beast. hallie brought home a planted seed from kindergarten and this is what is has become. holy smokes.

it was a slooooow start for my garden this year. i planted late and the soil was already so warm, so things like my FOUR ROWS OF SPINACH never even came up. my tomatoes took forever to grow, my bell peppers are still...working on it. and last minute i decided to plant sweet corn.

but things are finally, FINALLY looking good. except for my strawberries, and what is up with that? i think i am going to transplant them back into rows (they are currently willy nilly) to make for easier weeding and also will straw the crap out of them this winter.

note for next year: lettuce, yes. plant spinach early. sweet corn, yes. peppers, no. tomatoes, cherry only and buy bigger plants. zukes and cukes, yes.

WELL, WELL, WELL.

guess who got her garden in!

ME!

well, most of it. but still - finally!

i have had the seeds in my car for approximately one million years, so it was time. but every other time i wanted to do it, it was either too windy, raining or got cold!

so last night, i put pete (new nickname) in the stroller with some puffs, and hallie and i planted spinach (four rows!!! yippee!!), lettuce (three rows!) and aparagus. very exciting.

we still have tomatoes, onions (too late?), peppers, cukes/zukes (later) and...radishes. and maybe carrots?  exciting!

strawberries are already blooming, but i have 18 million weeds to pick from them.

we also planted her sunflower and bean plants that she planted at school and have been thriving in our window with VERY little dirty. So we'll see how those go!

now, random pictures.

kids in the bath - hen's first BIG BOY bath (ie: no baby bathtub):

and my father-in-law's latest business venture:

Fly By Night Coaches aka - a big bus.

Fruit Trees.

Thanks to Dylan, I now have two fruit trees - cherry and apple. I am very excited.

And Dave was more than willing to plant them for me, with the help of our little Hillbilly Hallie.

I love when she rocks her cowgirl boots. Especially paired with some short shorts and a t-shirt tied in the back.

We are real classy.

 

 

 

How My Garden Grows.

(pics to come)

Dave and Hallie planted my garden for me last night. I purchased the plants that I wanted and simply pointed where I wanted them planted.

I really liked that arrangement. I wonder if I could get away with that next year too. Probably not.

This year I kept things super simple, but added a couple of surprises.

Strawberries, of course - already have some precious green (and big ones too!) berries ready to ripen. They are plants from last year that we pinched off to give them more time to grow. I think it's going to pay off, because they look fabulous. Our biology teacher at LLCC also gave me a few Dunlap strawberries to plant, but those won't produce much until next year.

Green Beans - new this year! I bought a bush variety - Kentucky Blue. I think Hallie will have fun picking them for me. We're going to stagger plant them a bit and plant some more in a few weeks. Then we'll have a longer harvest season.

Tomatoes - lots of them. Roma for saucing, celebrity and better boy for eating, and sweet million, lemon cherry and cherry tomatoes to eat fresh off the vine.

Basil - I love basil so much. And it's so easy. And it just keeps growing and growing, as long as you keep cutting and cutting.

Peppers - red, green and orange. Hallie loves her some peppers.

Cukes & Zukes - cucumbers and zucchini, just two of each. They were gigantic last year and we had gobs to share.

And finally, the most exciting new plant of all - Kohlrabi. Oh, just google it. It's for Barb. And Hallie. The only two people I know that will eat it. You're supposed to plant it earlier in the spring, but I hope it will still grow okay. We'll find out!

I did companion planting again this year. It worked really well last year. I had zero pest problems and no rot or blight or anything like that. Plus, it makes me happy to know that I'm planting veggie friends together and keeping enemies apart.

For example, did you know that tomatoes and kohlrabi do not get along? And that tomatoes and basils are best friends?

Now, it needs to hurry up and rain. I haven't watered the plants and they need a good watering. It's supposed to rain this afternoon, so I think i'm good.

I Love Lists - Garden Edition.

Forget the onions. I missed that boat. I'm actually really sad about that boat, but that's okay.

Dad is bringing the compost this weekend, Dave will be home to till and I'll have them both to help. Suckers.

Here is my Garden Plan 2011:

Strawberries (done and looking nice and bushy!) - need to be weeded, desperately.
Onions - crap. Too bad, so sad. I might plant them anyway for green onions.
Tomatoes
Basil
Cilantro
Peppers
Zukes & Cukes

AND THAT IS IT.

Simple. Easy. No potatoes this year. And I'm mulching the crap out of everything.

A Good Reminder.

It's days like today that I need a good reminder of just how good life can be.

This helps.

So does this.

Aaaannnd, this (although that poor tomato almost became sauce).

Who cares if things aren't happening as quickly as I would like? No biggie, right? Right.

I'm happy where I'm at. Right.

Birthday Prep.

I am such a loser.

I made an excel spreadsheet titled, "party plan." I have it broken down by days, and then what needs to be accomplished on said day, and then a place to check when it is complete.

I love lists.

My dad and grandma Chronister are coming Friday night and you can bet that I have updated my list to include any activities they can assist with - such as cooking, cleaning, and just doing everything for me. I wish.

I moved my schedule up a little, so I can have ample time to get the guest rooms ready and clean the bathrooms. The rest of the cleaning will be done either Friday (pending the schedule) or for sure by Saturday.

Today is Tuesday. I have nothing planned except to visit Lucille and hopefully weed my garden. It is over-run with weeds! Look at this!

That is a giant zucchini plant that has only gotten bigger since this picture was taken.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Awesome, thanks for asking!

This is why I grew a garden.

So that Hal can eat tomatoes right off the vine, as she pleases.

And she certainly pleases.

Cucumbers, zucchini...makes me so happy!

I Spy.

Hoof prints.

Lots and lots of hoof prints.

So long, parsley.

Why isn't my guard dog guarding?

She certainly looks attentive.

For Abbie and Jess.

Get excited.

Onions.