Gardening Monday is Back

Technically this is sunday. But I wont have time to do this tomorrow, so although it is gardening monday, I am posting it a day early and calling it monday...

Yay. I love to garden and I have missed it this entire winter.


But it is back. A few weeks ago Charles and I planted everything and have been working hard.We tested our soil (average pH where it needs to be, but SORELY lacking in Nitrogen and a few other elements you test for. So we had to get some special compost and fertilizer to help the garden soil get back to normal.)

This year we cut out the squash. We have had nothing but trouble with them. We would get one or two and then the plant would die and we just couldnt figure it out. So although I love summer squash and zucchini, it just wasnt worth the heartache. I would see these plants grow all big and beautiful and be full of flowers and get a dinky fruit here and there. Or they would start to grow and then the fruit for some reason would just mush up and die and fall off.



We decided to only plant jalapenos this year. Last year we planted jalapenos, anaheims and poblanos and had so many peppers that many went to waste.
So this year our garden consists of the following:

• sweet 100 cherry tomatoes(really sweet round red cherry tomatoes)
• yellow cherry tomatoes(sweet yellow cherry tomatoes)
• roma tomatoes(perfect for bruschetta)
• Juliet grape tomatoes(perfect for salads and snacking. SUPER SWEET)
• celebrity tomatoes(larger red slicing tomato)
• Texas white Sweet onions
• Green Bell Peppers
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans
• Jalapenos
• Basil
• Blueberries(we bought two bushes, but wont see anything for at least 2 years)

I LOVE tomatoes.(can you tell, 1/3 of our garden is tomatoes.) I make salsa by the gallon practically. And believe it or not the sweet 100s and grape tomatoes grow like crazy and make a fantastic salsa. Just mix them in with the other tomatoes of your choosing.





But this morning I went out and took pictures of everything and made this little montage of the plants.

I also included a picture of the honeysuckle along the back fence, just because I like it(top center)

so yay to gardening, yay to perfect garden weather and the lots of rain we have gotten!

Gardening Monday

It is Memorial Weekend, so we have been out and about as a family doing fun things etc, so I will post some of those later this week.

In the Meantime, here are some pictures from my garden. It is coming along nicely.

These are some tomatoes from my Roma plants. I love these little guys. Grow my pretties, for you shall soon be salsa!! I dont have a set Salsa recipe. I just throw in whatever looks good.

I have 5 varieies of tomatoes growing, so I use a mixture. Then I chop an onion (sweet usually, but have used yellow and purple before), add peppers (jalapeno or the garden salsa pepper), cilantro, and lots of garlic. I add salt and pepper to taste and I pour half of it into the food processor to get "creamy" and leave the other half chunky. I add them together for a perfect blend. I made about 6 quarts os Salsa last year before the drought took my tomatoes. So this year I plan on eating salsa ALL SUMMER LONG!

I am currently growing jalapenos, Anaheim peppers and Poblano peppers. The poblanos are VERY mild and used for stuffing and making rellenos. I already have a penny sized peppers growing my one of my poblano plants! The Anaheim peppers have a great flavor and are a fairly mild pepper, spicier than a Poblano but milder than a jalapeno. Great for kids salsa! I dont have any pictures of my peppers right now though. I need to get back out there with my camera.

This is my Bean Garden.

In the center with the wierd looking hillbilly trellises I made, are Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. I made those trellises out of tomato cages, stakes and garden twine. I LOVE Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans. They are the perfect green bean for fresh, cooked,frozen or canned beans. I have grown them for the past 3 seasons. Season One I had more beans than I knew what to do with. I was harvesting and eating beans daily. Season two I harvested a little, then the drought came and everything burned up. I have about 8 of these plants, which will give me a bountiful harvest.

On the outer row along each edge I planted Blue Lake Bush Beans. These are beans that need no staking or trellising. These Stringless hearty beans are so sweet and have such a great flavor. I am looking forward to canning this season. I have never grown these before, so it will be a new experience for me. Everything in my bean plot has been started from seed, so these are really my babies. I have 10 of the bush beans planted.

I also have zucchini and yellow summer squash. They are both blossoming and looking great as well. I even have little teeny weenie babies on each plant! This is actually one of my zucchini plants but both zucchini and the yellow squash look exactly like this, so you get the idea. They all have blossoms and have fruits starting. Zucchini and squash are so easy to grow. I have grown zucchini for the past 3 years. They are pretty much a love em and leave em plant. Dont have to do much work and they reward you with squash. We stir fry zucchini and summer squash. I cut into coins and sautee them in a little bit of olive oil and garlic. Then when they start to get soft I add a bit of terriyaki sauce. I top them with grated parmesan cheese. If you dont have terriyaki sauce you can use soy sauce with a bit of sugar mixed in. Squash is so versatile. Bread, soups, stews, stirfry. You cant go wrong with squash.

I will update with more pictures as my gardening season progresses. Hope you enjoyed my garden pictures and I will update throughout the summer. I hope you have enjoyed this holiday edition of Sarah's Garden!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!