Our Vegetable Garden

Every Memorial Day weekend, for the past 4 years, we've planted our vegetable garden at my mom's house, usually in the sweltering heat!  This year was a little different. We had to wait until late morning to get started because the temperatures were so low (40's here...). Once it was about 50* we started digging in the dirt.

Last Fall, after we removed our old plants, Jeff tilled the garden down, and added in a few big tractor scoops of horse manure to add nutrients to the soil for this year. Then a few weeks ago he added more manure, and tilled it in again. It was such beautiful dirt! Don't you agree?

After turning it over one last time, we were ready to start planting. Some of our favorite crops to grow are roma tomatoes, sugar snap peas, green beans and bell peppers. A couple of years ago we grew brussels sprouts and potatoes, too, but I don't think we were patient enough for them. We'll have to try again next year. This year we have our staples, plus broccoli, zucchini & summer squash (which we're planting in boxes this year so that they don't take over the garden, as in years past). The girls started with marigolds on the border of the garden to keep the rabbits out, and luckily we had a little boy helpful enough to transport them to the garden in his gator.

 Then we worked our way from left to right planning and planting, starting with the bush beans on the outside. Next came the peas, with a fence about 4' tall to climb up. Two years ago we planted seeds on one side, but last year we planted seeds on both. This worked out great, since we usually snack on fresh peas while weeding the garden! :)

We had a few feet left in front of the pea fence, so we filled it in with more bean seeds. You can never have enough beans, especially since they're so easy to freeze... not that we've ever had enough to freeze. Maybe this year we will, since we don't have any babies to make baby food for.

 

Next came the tomato plants. My mom bought these new containers to grow them in, as opposed to just using a cage. They supposedly keep the bugs out, or something... It's too early to tell which method is better. We planted 6 Roma Tomato plants, a couple of Early Girls, and a couple of Big Boys. Last year we canned a TON of Romas from the garden. I can't wait to do it again!

Next we have our Bell Peppers and Hot Peppers. Both of my boys love to snack on bell peppers, and they're always great in salads, homemade pizzas, or kebabs on the grill.

We still have to plant the broccoli close to the path. Luckily for the garden it's supposed to rain all week here, but that means we'll be stuck inside... Soon enough we'll be out in the garden every other night weeding after dinner in the sun, right?

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