Several of you have requested to see how our garden is growing this year. Therefore, I braved the millions of mosquitoes and took several shots of our glorious soil with green things growing out of it.
I can take absolutely NO credit this year for how the garden looks. Matt has worked VERY hard and keeping the weeds under control and everything looks so, so pretty.
I basically started on one end of the house and went all the way around the back to the other side taking pictures. Yes, we have more than one garden spot. If it has the capability to grow things (and it isn’t an area used regularly to kick soccer balls), it has been tilled and it shall bear fruit. Well, vegetables as the case may be.
Here we have several tomato plants and some pepper plants.
Looks like the beginnings of salsa, wouldn’t you think?
Ah, more tomato plants. Yes, there will be many tomatoes. We are not afraid.
Ooh, the first fruits. Vegetables. Wait. Tomatoes are a fruit.
We planted the corn in two stages so that it would be ready at two different times.
The first round is just a bit taller than me. We’re so proud.
Here are more pepper plants growing in the raised garden bed Matt made last year.
Our yard is really not crooked. I just took a crooked picture.
Here’s our little garden of potatoes. See all the blossoms?
That means there are lots of french fries growing underground.
Beside the potato plot grows our beloved peach tree.
There are only a few peaches on it, so this year we will be mooching peaches off of others if possible.
The tree sure looks pretty though.
And last but not least, the green beans. Four long rows of green beans. And look:
I picked a whole bowlful on Tuesday!!
When I steamed some that night, I thought perhaps I was in heaven.
And then we may or may not have steamed more of them for breakfast this morning. Who could resist?
I long for a garden.
Wow, I just found this blog after googling making butter. What a fun life you live. I can’t wait to have a garden like that. I also homeschool my kids. We are also heading in a more whole food eating direction. But it is getting hard and expensive. I dont’ feel like I have enough time in a day to do all that I want. We just started buying raw milk and eggs, and are trying to find meat! I can’t wait to move into an actual home that we don’t rent one day and have all that. Hopefully sooner than later. I love your site and am excited to keep reading!!
The green beans look great . . . have you tried roasting them? Drizzle with a tiny bit of EVOO (to keep them from sticking, too much oil makes them greasy), dust with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, pop in a 450 oven or even just in the broiler until they just start to brown. Better than french fries!!!!! My little girls eat these by the pound and I don’t feel guilty stuffing my gut with them either! ‘Cause they are heaven this way.
Just made these (yes, green beans for breakfast again) and they ARE heaven this way!!! Thanks so much for passing on this idea…hope you don’t mind if I share it with EVERYONE here in a few days (giving credit to YOU of course for the recipe)!
So glad that you liked it! I haven’t come across a veggie yet that I don’t love prepared this way.
Yummy! You should also try roasting them with garlic and rosemary! Yummy! What is evoo? Oh wait duh!!! Lol. Nevermind, blonde moment.
One day! Not this year, but one day I’ll have a garden — or at least a few tomatoes and peppers.
Your corn makes me jealous. Ours had not been growing for weeks from when we originally planted and it had a big spurt. I finally was able to get it to grow more. We have a ton of tomatos too. Just planted more today, we have beefsteak, romas, cherries, purple and perhaps more that I am forgetting. Had to till more land today to plant them. Plans to make more space next year too. Making a wish list for next year so I can buy organic seeds over fall-spring so that I am ready to start them for next year. And btw, we rent a house with a big yard, my parent’s rental house infact, and they don’t mind us tilling up the back yard weeds to plant. If you are renting a house, never hurts to ask.
Love the garden pictures! Yes, we’re working towards many areas of vegetable garden around our home balanced with areas of play for the five kiddoes. I think our season is a little ahead of yours, except for the beans. I didn’t plant as many beans as I should have and we had a dry spring and now a dry summer. But, I’m harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, and corn right now.
Our garden is growing beautifully this year too. We do the same thing, with several areas for veggies scattered around. We have long beds lining our fences with climbing things like cucumbers, beans and tomatoes. This year I have a patch of sweet peas (flowers) that grew from seed I planted two years ago and thought were duds! It is nice to see a patch of pink and white among the green. We have had a few cucumbers and squash so far, but I am really anticipating TOMATOES! Bring on the salsa!
We’ve been eating peas and lettuce from our garden for a few weeks now and earlier this week had our first zucchini!!! It was sooooo goood! The green beans should be ready to pick today or tomorrow too, yummm! We did a bit of what you’ve done and planted in various spots around our house, even exchanging the evergreen bushes out front for blueberry bushes. It’s been an exciting gardening year for us too. So glad yours is going well!
Do you have any recommendation for peach trees? i cannot get mine to get good fruit. I don’t want to spray it but nothing organic is working for us. What do you do?
Our peaches are usually a little bit buggy, but not too bad. I was just sent a “earth friendly” spray product to review. I’ll be sharing more about that next week. It may be something you can use?
I would love any info. on natural ways to help with bugs/diseases.
Have you found any products or solutions that work? We want to
grow the food organically, but really seem to have a smaller yield
since we are not powdering the plants.
I love to see and hear about people excited to grow a garden! It’s such a simple step to good eating and getting back to some of the basics of life, home and family!
We, too, are anxiously waiting for our bounty of blessings from the ground. God is good year after year! I have been picking the broccoli as quickly as it comes and freeze it. It’s become two-meals worth for our family of 6 and so treasured. I don’t want to break into the digs until the middle of winter, when it will taste the most rewarding! Ha!
I love reading your site, Laura, but I have one question I may have missed…where do you live that you can grow peaches!? I am so jealous! Even though I live in northern Minnesota, I am tempted to try the contender variety and see what will come despite the climate. Will you send some of your peaches to me when you have more than you can process or stand to look at?! (lol)
I live in Nebraska…we do pretty well here with peach, pear, apple and cherry trees.
As long as we don’t have early or late freezes!!
I love that you have green beans planted right next to the street! Awesome job using up all the space you have! :)
Love your garden! Ours is growing weeds…wait I mean like weeds, oh I meant both….lol…yours is so weed free I am jealous.
I have a question for you, have you ever had problems with your tomatoes? Our plants are all wilting and we have no idea why. They are getting enough water, our weather is warm, enough that we have our air on and they are planted in a spot that gets tons of sun. They grow so big, get green tomatoes and then wilt and we get like 3 tomatoes…it is so disappointing. I have added organic fertilizer, we use compost and till the ground.
Any ideas or suggestions anyone has are welcome…oh if it matters we live in southeast WI.
Thanks much
~Jolene
Our tomatoes did that last year and we have NO idea why. It was so frustrating! I had like 20 tomato plants and had VERY few tomatoes. :( All we could figure is that our soil was depleted, so we really worked it this year with horse manure and compost. But it sounds like you did all the right things this year. I wish I had an answer. It’s so sad when that happens. :(
I love the pictures!! Hopefully, next year, we’ll have a big variety like that!
Looks beautiful Laura! I envy anyone who can grow beautiful plants! :) I can smell the Salsa now!! Do you have a recipe posted here on your site for homemade salsa??? I’d love to try it, if you do!
Salsa is the one and only recipe I can’t share…it was my mama’s recipe and it’s a long story (one that I REALLY need to share sometime). But anyway, the salsa recipe is a well protected secret. I’ll try to work in the story of her salsa sometime.
We are having a catterpiller problem they are eating evrything how do I get rid of them! Thanks Amber
Nothing quite as wonderful as fresh-from-the-garden produce.
I love your irrigation system at the end of the beans….quite clever. Oh wait, um, does the city allow you use of the fire hydrant? Anyway…..great garden.
Making me want to garden looking at all this again. I have made a complete 360, from the girl that couldn’t keep plants to save her life, to loving my garden and checking it daily, sometimes multiple times a day…seriously. Everything is growing well now and a huge thanks to my husband for that. Thank goodness for his background with growing things, or I would still be a little lost. Seeing the pictures make me want to get out there right now, but I am sitting with a garage sale this weekend, so I can’t…oh pooo.
I really need to get photos taken and posted of my garden/greenhouse on my blog. The only harvest that I’ve had to date is lettuce but it sure was nice to be able to take a very fresh salad to my friend’s family, posted about this on my blog today, that couldn’t have been any fresher than picked a couple hours before eating!!! Knowing that I was able to share my bounty with friends in need felt soooooo good and so worth the work that went into the garden.
Your garden looks fabulous! Are your green beans really close to the road?