I am so excited that our garden actually is producing this year.  Because of the dirt failure of last year, I did have to purchase a large amount of soil.  With that in mind, I decided that I would try to use as many of the seeds as I could to grow to limit the cost.  I have spent around $100 in seeds but should have enough to grow next year as well without purchasing any more seeds.  I do plan to purchase some worms and will be heavily mulching the beds with paper at the end of the growing season.  But now for some exciting and fun news in a different format.

1. Tomatoes- This is the first time ever that I have attempted to start all my tomato plants from seed.  I used just packets that were given to me.  We ended up planting out about 26 tomato plants after leaving in the greenhouse while we were on vacation.  I was able to make one pot of spaghetti sauce prior to our beach trip and was excited to return to find that the tomatoes began to ripen So far this week, I have made 3 double batches of spaghetti sauce (24 lbs. of tomatoes) a batch of salsa (10 cups of tomato approximately 4 lbs) and we have eaten and shared at least another 4 lbs.  Unfortunately, my basil is very limited this year after 2 failed attempts, but I was able to find some frozen basil from several years ago in the freezer as well as dried basil from last year.   I think that this is the most tomatoes we will get in a week but hopefully we can enjoy several pounds a week to eat.  I would also like to make at least one more batch of spaghetti sauce and Matt has requested another batch of salsa so we shall see.
2. Peppers- The pepper plants have not looked as good as the tomatoes. I did end up purchasing about $10 worth of starts from the Farmer’s market. I used all of our Waxman peppers in the salsa and ended up pulling out of the freezer enough green peppers to use as well.  I did notice today that we finally have pepper blooms, so I am hoping to get some to eat and freeze during the month of August and September.
3. Squash- I have actually planted two batches of squash and zucchini. We have been able to harvest and freeze approximately 8 bags for squash casserole and are eating squash at least every other day.  It is not an abundance, but we are enjoying, and we do have enough to use for at least one casserole a month!  So, this is definitely a success.
4. Green Beans- frustrating!  The first set of seeds produced less than 5 beans total. I planted the second batch, and they are now beginning to give a couple of beans a day. I have also planted a third batch which hopefully will produce in the next month or so!
5. Cucumbers- We have struggled with these as well. I have been able to harvest maybe 5 total cucumbers. I did start a second batch and they have flowers so these may turn into a nice harvest…time will tell!

For the record, this spring was extremely dry.  And that trend has continued this summer.  I am honestly glad that we did not lose everything during the week we were on vacation. At this point, we are watering every day unless it rains    We have needed to use water from the county for 3 days, but we also have decided to add an additional rain barrel in hopes that we cannot use county water again.   The goal is to get this tank up and running this weekend but we will need to flush at least once so I am hopefully for the additional water collection to start in August.