Garden Update

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Jon and I have started a garden every year since we got married. Some years starting it was as far as we got and nothing came of the plants we used. Some years we were able to get a ton of tomatoes and nothing else. One year we only got green tomatoes because it was a cooler summer, unlike this year. But last year was a good year. We had our first really successful year. We harvested tons of zucchinis, cucumbers, carrots, peppers, beans and tomatoes. We gave some to friends and family because we had so much. The idea of canning and freezing didn't really occur to me until I started reading how other bloggers were doing that. So this year we doubled the size of the garden. We planted seeds and started our tomatoes and peppers indoors. The rest of the seeds we planted outside. Everything we planted outside did really well. My tomatoes and peppers failed miserably. So we bought tomato and pepper plants and they are now thriving. Our corn is as tall as me currently. We have lots of lettuces (Jon made a salad from it the other night), the zucchinis and cucumbers are flowering. I have several green tomatoes growing and even a few peppers. Our beans are doing great as well and I hope I can pull some for our dinner tomorrow night.

It took several years to learn from my mistakes in gardening. We made some important changes to our approach to gardening and things have improved. The real reason our garden is doing better is that we moved the location from the side of our house, where we never go, to the back of our house, where we spend most of our time. Because the garden is in a place where we spend time it helps me to remember to water and weed it. It is amazing what 30 minutes a week of time spent in the garden can do.

I am planning on canning my tomatoes this year, something I have never tried before. Jon hates when I buy diced tomatoes, he says he can taste the can they came in. We rarely buy canned vegetables for that reason. But I have never found frozen diced tomatoes, so when a recipe calls for diced tomatoes I often buy a can. I want to can my own this year to avoid the taste issue. And by the way, why is it called canning when they are in jars?

Our garden cost very little to start, less than $20. This is a great way to help your vegetable budget. My garden is not large, and I will still be able to reduce my grocery budget because of it. And this year I am getting smarter about canning and freezing so that my garden will be helpful not only in the summer, but in the fall, winter and spring as well.

If you have any advice about canning or freezing my vegetables please tell me! This is our first year canning and we will take all the help and advice we can get!

Spaghetti Sauce

I LOVE my crockpot.

I LOVE my garden this year.

Right now I am cooking a batch of spaghetti suace (for the first time ever) that is made of tomatoes and peppers from my garden, and is simmering in the crockpot and I don't need to do anythig but stir it once in awhile.

My house smells so yummy.

And since the major ingredients are from my garden it is very inexpensive!

I am making a double batch of sauce to freeze. And I still have enough tomatoes in the fridge (to say nothing of the ones still growing on my vines) to make another double batch tomorrow.

I am so excited!!!!

Garden Update

Okay, this should have been posted a few days ago but the garden is almost in. My seedlings are doing well and so far it is looking like the entire garden will consist of plants big rugrat and I started from seeds. In the past things always started this way, but never ended this way.
So far we have eight tomato plants in, eight bean plants, six cantoloupe plants and two cucumbers. The peppers are not ready to be planted yet, but they are coming along. I will be thinning the tomato plants down to four since we always end up with an overabundance of tomatos. The cantaloups I have never tried before, but they have started out okay.
Big rugrat helped me to put the plants into holes that we dug together. She is also VERY helpful with watering the plants.
With any luck most of our salads will come from our own garden this summer. That will even make them organic. How great is that? To top it off the garden only cost about $30, including the seeds and dirt and fencing. Not too bad.

Unplugged Project-Science

So this has nothing to do with living on 1 income, but I have been wanting to follow the unplugged projects since I found the site about a month ago, but I haven't yet. Well this week we did without meaning too!
Last week big rugrat and I started our garden inside. We planted green beans, tomatos, peppers, cucumbers, canteloupe, morning glories and impatients. I bought an indoor greenhouse setup that was prefilled with soil. Big rugrat and I put seeds into each container and she helped me mark the rows and then water the seeds. She put a lot of seeds in each container. I will be thinning them a lot, but at least this way we have a greater chance of getting some seedlings. And then we wait.
And wait.
Now at a week we already can see our beans and cucumbers are just beginning to poke through.

We also planted a few bean seeds in a plastic bag which I had fillled with a damp paper towel. I taped it in the window and now big rugrat can see when the roots begin. They started growing yesterday. I did this with my first graders (pre-sahm days) with pumpkin seeds and they loved watching their plants grow. Big rugrat is MUCH more interested in the seeds in the soil, but is getting very impatient waiting for them to grow. When I showed her the seeds in the baggie she wanted to take them out and play with them.

When the plants are bigger and the weather is good we will transplant them into our garden. In the five years we have lived here I have tried several different methods and places for my garden. This year we are trying a new spot with plenty of light, but it is on a hill so husband will be building a large (think sandbox sized) box and filling it with soil before we move the plants outside. The impatients are for my flower boxes and the morning glories are for my mailbox and lamp post. Big rugrat is mostly excited about the flowers.

Sorry for no pictures, we have dial up and I just don't have the patience to load the pictures on here!