Category Archives: Square Food Garden

5 Things Friday

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1. Lily purchased a new car. I was emotional support only!

2. I am trying to start and keep a routine of spending time first thing in the morning, out in the garden. Yesterday, I spent and our harvesting and tying up the tomatoes. This morning I spent another hour, trying to get our volunteer tomato and watermelon bed organized and productive.

3. Our pool is finally open. That means that Kendall and Zach are both working. They both are eager to make money this summer, so they picking up extra shifts. Zach worked every day but Wednesday this week and Kendall worked every day but Thursday. Kendall is also picking up extra shifts at the YMCA as well.

4. My end of school gift to myself was to have the house cleaned on Wednesday. I am so excited and will be trying to keep things clean as we go now.

5. In July we have vacation plans for 2 of the weeks. So I am working to get things prepared ahead for the school year. The garden is also very time consuming at this point as well. I am not going to make official goals for the summer but do plan to try and get meal both frozen and canned every week when we are home.

Sunday Garden Update

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I am declaring it Summer! Why? Because I have a sun burn from the swim meet yesterday and with two days of work left this is close enough! With that being said, it will also signal a change in my Sunday Garden updates. Basically less pictures and more description of what I am actually doing with the things that we are harvest!

But first check out this Sunflower!

almost 8 feet tall and red!

Here is a picture of the harvest we have been getting this week

And last, we decided to go ahead and pull out the flower bed of Cosmos which started out looking like this

The reason is that the squash bugs are winning.  We are at our wits end, even using seven dust to try and stop them. I am fairly certain that within 2 weeks they will have total destroyed our current squash plants. I have not been able to get as much of either squash or zucchini as I wanted so I decided to try and plant these and get some more.

I am using the paper as mulch to suppress the weeds and other cosmos from attempting to grow.  The chickens enjoyed the cosmos plants and if they don’t eat it all it will become a part of future compost for the garden.

This week I was able to get a start on stocking our freezers, I made salsa chicken for dinner which also became 3 pans of chicken enchiladas for future use. I also make a huge breakfast bowl this am and put 8 breakfast burritos in the freezer as well.   A decent start at least!

5 Things Friday

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  1. I have 2 days left before summer vacation! Unfortunately, we are still in limbo with the pool opening. Zach and Kendall have been able to pick up a couple of shifts at other pools but it is stressful trying to get everything arranged. I can’t wait for summer break to start!
  2. I am super excited about the garden this year! We are already getting a harvest and I am planning to continue to plant so that we can continue to get more of what we want. We have gotten peppers, green beans, a couple of cucumbers, dill and a bit of basil, squash and zucchini so far. We will definitely have tomatoes very soon as well!
  3. Matt and I are currently spending around 30 minutes a day in the garden. This is going to increase this weekend for sure.  I am planning to do some replanting and changing this week. First I am going to cut down all the cosmos from this bed.   It is large and pretty but I want to plant another round of squash plants as the squash bugs are winning in the back gardens. When they finally win or when this planting starts to produce, I am going to pull out the squash plants and plant a “row” of cucumbers in the middle of the bed. I really want to harvest and can an abundance of cucumbers this year. On July 1st, I am planning to pull up the spinach and plant pumpkins in the bed in front of the office.  I am also planning on adding a couple of green beans in the empty slots on the greenstalk planters and one additional zucchini in a bed in the back that has not successfully grown anything so far.
  4. I have already started to work on filling up the freezer. This week I was able to get 3 chicken enchilada meals in the freezer. I am also planning to start restocking our breakfast burritos as well. My goal will be to can one item and make ahead at least one item a week. Next week I am hopefully to get chicken, broccoli and rice casseroles made up and frozen for future use.

5. We leave for our “adult cruise in 3 weeks!

Five Things Friday

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  1. Today is Zach and Kendall’s official last day of school.  Neither one has been to school over half a day this week. Nor has either one gone every day this week.  I have 7 days left but really only 6 as I have appointments next Thursday so I am taking that day off.
  2. We have been getting a small harvest from the garden everyday.  I have been able to freeze a couple of bags of shredded zucchini and 4 more bags of squash casserole. Zach was able to pick blueberries but they did not make it inside the house.
  3. The weather continues to be strange and on top of that our pool (community) is currently not functioning and we have yet to have a swim team practice.
  4. We have been able to obtain some wooden platelets with goals to build a garden box to grow potatoes with easy opening/dumping door. Increase the height of the greenhouse by 2 feet to allow Matt to use comfortably and as the structure for a hydroponic growing system.
  5. Lily has decided that she wants to pursue a certification that will allow her to work with immigrants. This is an answer to prayer and exciting and scarey all  at once.

Sunday Garden Post

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I am so excited! We have been able to harvest both squash and zucchini over the past week. I am actually making the first loaf of zucchini bread right now!  I am hopefully that we will be able to enjoy lots more of these fresh and also have enough to preserve.  I did find that we have 6 bags of squash casserole and now 3 bags of shredded zucchini.

Zucchini bed.

I cant decided if the yellowing of the potatoes is due to all the rain we have had (six inches or more in a month) or are they starting to finish?

This is the watermelon bed along with 2 volunteer tomato plants that are HUGE!

This close bed has 2 okra plants, a marigold and a couple of cucumbers. We did not get any. cantaloupe to germinate in the front bed but replanted some cucumbers this weekend. The last plastic bed has banana peppers and marigold.

These peppers are starting to look better!

Waxman peppers are really starting to look great!

This includes green beans, loofa, tomatoes and peppers.

This flower bed is stunning!  The sunflowers are over 6 foot tall in the back!

Several cantaloupe plants  are growing, I removed a very large cosmos plant from this bed!

slicing tomatoes

Amish paste tomatoes behind the sunflowers

We have removed all the snap peas and replaced with green beans. We are still getting spinach and the gum drop tomato is growing!  I am planning to plant pumpkins in this bed in July.

I am currently planning to pull all of the cosmos plants from the greenstalk on the back deck this week and plant a combination of green beans (bush), cucumbers and peppers. I will try to get pictures of this to share.   Honestly after that I am not sure how often I will continue to share these updates but I am still very hopeful and excited to see what we are able to produce this summer!

5 Things Friday

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  1. I have disappeared for a week. We headed to Disney World for a quick 4 day trip last weekend. I am going to share some pictures of course. but we had an awesome time and it was much needed and enjoyed by all!
  2. The weather continues to be so bizarre. We left Florida on Tuesday morning with a temperature of 83 at 9am.  We arrived home at 7pm and the temperature here was 55*  We have had at least 6.5 inches of rain in the month of May.  I am hoping to return to 80 very soon so I can enjoy sitting at the pool.
  3. Before we left for Florida, we decide to try something. We have 2 rain barrels that are filled by rain water. One from the house gutters and the second from a single gutter on the side of a building. Matt had saw and I did some research on adding goldfish to these. We decided that it was worth a try. We headed to Pet Smart and purchased 20 “large” goldfish. My thought was that I wanted the larger fish so they would not accidentally come out a spout.  I am so excited to report that we can see a visible difference in the amount of algae on the sides of both barrels. So for $10 we have a renewable algae control. We have only saw the fish one time but we can see the evidence they are working.
  4. Due to the wet weather we have needed to add both pine shavings and lime to the chicken coop.  Another “upgrade” is that we are planting mint inside of cement blocks around the sides of the coop. The idea is that the mint can be food for the chickens as well as odor control.
  5. The most disappointing thing that happened this week is that our pool has a motor problem so not only can we not enjoy the pool but both the kids were planning on working this summer as lifeguards. We are all hoping it can open soon!

Garden Update

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Although the weather has been really different and weird, but still are having a lot of growth on our plants and we have started to get some small harvest.

These were sautéed to go with dinner. I honestly think that the wind blew off the tails before they could actually reach any size!

I am excited that a couple of sunflowers are keeping up with the cosmos!

All the Amish paste tomatoes are showing above the bed. We have pruned off the bottom leaves but plan to just let them grow at this point.

German Johnson tomatoes (slicing)

This bed will be the most work in the next couple of weeks. Broccli does not like heat and as you can see is starting to wilt. I will also need to pull out the snap peas and plant some green beans in their place.

The zucchini bed with sone lots of blooms this week!

The squash are huge and they taste wonderful!

I am concerned about this bed as it is just not doing as well as the one on the opposite side. I have been using Epsom salt on the peppers to try and help.

My prettiest bed EVER! It is so full and makes me happy!

The tunnel is starting to fill in!

Okra, dill , marigold . it also is staring to expand!

The banana peppers that I purchased are looking great, only one of these cantaloupe plants germinated in the front bed.

Excited that the Waxman peppers are looking much more alive!

Officially 6 watermelon plants I want to see this area full! You can also see a couple of volunteer tomato plants.

Watching for the potato plants to get taller than the sign!

Sunday Garden Update

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The weather has been so crazy, today we had a high temperature of 68* with highs of 90 expected by the end of the week. Lots of things are growing with blooms and there are even some small zucchini and squash!

Zucchini bed

Squash bed

This bed is mostly pepper with green beans and cucumbers on the back side. I did end up using Epsom salt to try and get some healthier looking plants

This side has a true mix with green beans loofa and cucumbers

Waxman peppers for Salsa

The bed in front of my office has broccoli, spinach(we are getting a weekly harvest) along with sugar snap peas

Front view of Roma tomato bed, this is cosmos flowers with sunflowers in the back.Roma tomatos are growing well all are finally visible at the top of the bed. I did tie up most of these this weekend so that should be the key to seeing them grow.

Germain Johnson Tomatoes are what we are going to slice for sandwiches.

Cantaloupe seeds were directed sowed in the bed in front of the German Johnson.

We have another type of Cantaloupe in the first bucket bed and I purchased and planted banana peppers in the beck bed in this picture.

Zach’s okra did manage to thin itself and I am guessing we have 4 of the original 12 left.

I am so excited to have the watermelon growing along with several volunteer tomatoes

Finally our potatoes appear to be doing well

5 Things Friday

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  1. The weather is always or maybe just the Spring weather is crazy. For the first time that I can remember, I caved and turn the air on for a couple of weeks in April. The temps were in the 80s and the house was miserable. Much to my surprise last Sunday, it was cooler outside than inside so I turned the air back off. I am watching the temperature like a hawk.  It appears we have switched two weeks in April for two weeks in May. I will likely be turning the air back on again this Thursday. Middle of May is usual for the air.  Uggh but at least I saved some money.
  2. The weather also effects how the garden is growing. I did not think there was a chance of getting a Spring harvest due to how quickly it turned and stayed warm.  But with the cooler temperatures for the past couple of weeks, We managed a decent harvest of radishes and the broccoli plants out front are huge. I am doubtful we will get a broccoli head but I am willing to give it another couple of weeks before pulling and feeding them to the chickens.
  3. When the kids were younger, before a Disney trip we would start walking a mile a day as a family. This was usually at least 2 or 3 months before going so that no one would complain about walking. Last year, we did this with Braxton as he was too big for a stroller.  Matt and I have started walking because we don’t want to be so sore and tired from our short trip.  We don’t even have a month but my goal is to get 10 miles in as prep.  So far we have managed 2 but at least it is consistent and something to prepare for.
  4. Summer count down is on, Lily is finished with college and the graduation ceremony is this weekend.  Kendall is finished with her Spring semester which means she has finished an entire year of community college. Kendall and Zach have 4 weeks of school left and I have 5 weeks left!
  5. Zach has switched from baseball to football and this past week was our slowest week until Summer. He and Kendall both have meetings and Life Guard training for the next couple of weekends as well.