Wordless Wednesday: 7/20/11

Our Garden

We were late in planting our garden this year . . . but not this late. I'm just getting around to posting it.

We used mostly yogurt cups to plant the seeds.

It was a race to see who could fill up the cups with seeds faster.

Adding more seed starting mix on top.

Jake wrote the labels.

Phonetically correct spelling. I love it!

Seeds need water.

It was our plan to use only these newspaper cups for the seeds. You can plant them directly into the garden without disturbing the delicate roots of your plants. The newspaper becomes biodegradable compost. Plus, you save money on buying the special planting cups from the store (or from eating all that yogurt!) The only problem is that it is so time-consuming to make them. Leighton made about ten of them. I made one. Then we decided to remember this idea for next year . . . and start making them early.

The kids love oranges, especially clementines. They like being able to peel them themselves. They like the tiny segments and the sweet flavor. I like the wooden boxes them come in. We used them to hold some of our cups while the seeds germinate. They stack nicely on a shelf in the back porch until the plants sprout.

We've never gotten a huge crop from our backyard garden. All the rich compost that my grandfather makes has not been enough to overcome all the clay we have. This year, we are determined to conquer the clay. Leighton has been working on making a raised garden bed. He made a wooden frame and will surround it with the chicken wire that we've been using for the garden. There will also be a gate in the middle for easy access. We filled it with 24 bags of top soil and 24 bags of garden soil. And we need more. This garden is becoming quite expensive, but hopefully we'll get a crop that will make it worth it.

We're can't wait until we can walk in the back and eat a fresh tomato or cucumber. Or pepper or beans or corn or carrots or peas or squash or . . . There is nothing like fresh, homegrown produce.

What do you have growing in your garden?

Sweet, Buttery Corn!

We enjoy having a garden. The whole family loves vegetables, and that’s putting it mildly. All summer long last year, the kids raced to the garden every day to see what they could pick and eat. No produce ever made it into the house. Needless to say, we’re expanding the garden this year. We also decided to start from seeds rather than buying young plants.

The shopping trip alone was an excursion. Jacob ran around the aisle asking to buy everything in sight, and trying to grab each packet to put it into the cart. Since we wouldn’t let Alyssa out of the cart, she bided her time by first taking off her shoes and eventually her socks. Zachary apparently wasn’t impressed because he sat in his seat sucking on his fingers. Leighton and I were a little overwhelmed with all the seed choices. Thirty-minutes later, we decided on a disposable “greenhouse” with individual pellets for the seeds and 50 million seed packets, or so it seemed. Here is everything that we planted: corn, banana peppers, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, pepperocini, 2 different types of green beans, colorful bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, peas, dill, coriander, chives, sunflowers, and marigolds (to keep the rodents away). We still need to buy tomatoes and berry bushes, and we already have strawberries. All of this for our little backyard garden. We’re a little ambitious to say the least.

The kids and I planted the seeds the next day. They had fun watering the pellets and watching them expand. Alyssa helped count out the seeds, and Jake planted them, most of them anyway. Of course, it’s going to take a while until we see the fruits of our labor (no pun intended), but we’re already anticipating it. While licking his lips, Jacob said, “I can’t wait to try that sweet, buttery corn on the cob!”