Beans and Flowers

061709 Garden Random 003, originally uploaded by themissiah.

Well, the garden is doing absolutely fantastic. The squash are now adding little blooms and the cucumbers are blooming and growing as well. The bell peppers have some *fruit* on the plants, but I'm waiting for them to get bigger and turn. The tomatoes have fruit as well and well, I'm just waiting for them to turn, too.

You can see a batch of beans above, which is our second batch. At this point I've put up 2 batches in the freezer and we've eaten one batch, which I made into the best Greek beans I've tasted. It was my first at making them, so I wasn't sure how they'd turn out. I'm quite picky about green beans and how they are cooked, but I could eat that recipe every week. I'll share the very quick and simple recipe on Noshed Up! at some point.

Our sunflowers are also doing beautifully...





Well, off to do some chores. Check you later.

Herb bunches

It was time to cut back some of the herbs last week, so I did and I tied them in bunches for drying. Part of our house looks like a jungle.



Included are...


2 types of oregano - Greek and Italian


Lavender


Catnip


Catmint


Lemon Balm

Now I just have to wait for them to dry and then I can store them. I'm going to have tons of catnip if anyone wants.

Strawberries!

I picked a small batch of strawberries, today, but it is more than we've had. The chipmunks have been eating them and I saw the opportunity to grab as many as I could, today. So pretty.

2009 Season Beginnings

So, here we are... 2009. Another day, another garden. I've been neglectful about posting about our gardens, but here I am with a long intro. post.

Last year, down here in Northwest Georgia, we had a major drought. We had water use limitations and what-not. We had planned to put in rain barrels regardless, but did not get them in until this year. Now, we are about back up to normal as far as rain and moisture is concerned. We've had major rain lately... for the past two weeks... without much relief. It's good for the garden and water supply in general, but not good for getting things done. Our grass is growing like crazy and it is difficult to get out in the yard to do anything about it. However, our garden is doing well and flowers that didn't bloom last year (roses, hydrangeas, etc.) are blooming wildly this year. We did put in a rain barrel (and we are waiting for another's seal to be finished), which will be helpful in our water bill, at least.

As far as our vegetable garden is concerned, we are only using two out of the four beds we created last year. We lined two of them with bricks and planted tomatoes (Brandywine and Cherokee Purple), bell peppers, bush beans, onions, and cuces. I planted some squash, too, but the fire ants decided to set up shop. Now I have to replant those this week.



This above picture was taken before I even put in the cuces and the squash, but now the cucumbers are sprouting. I don't think the beans were even up, but now they are doing great and have already been thinned.



The herb/kitchen garden was weeded a few weekends back and it is doing well. We also have some pots of jalapenos for some pico de gallo. Our strawberries are taking over and we have many, but they are getting eaten before we can really get to them. Our rubber snake is helping with the birds, but not the chipmunks.





More picture of the garden are here, if interested. This includes our dahlias that I put in and other great shots as well.

Now, I must be off to do some cleaning. More updating to come.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes... and MORE Tomatoes.

We have so many tomatoes!

I almost cannot keep up with the harvest.

Since we've had so much rain, some of them are splitting, so I have resorted to picking them a bit turned and letting them ripen in the carport.

I think it is time for some making of tomato sauce and freezing it.









I also picked some beans, cayenne peppers, and cucumbers.

It's that time of year!

So much has happened...

since last post.

We're losing most of our squash to squash vine borers and squash bugs. Grrrr. At least we got a good harvest out of them before the bugs hit. We're getting TONS of rain, which for this area is a great thing. It's just not good for our tomatoes, which are splitting. I think they'll be fine, though. The beans have sprouted and are doing great. The peppers, cayenne and bell, are doing well, too. The cucumbers might be on their way out with the squash, but who knows. We'll see. The herbs and everything are doing wonderful. Oh, and the muskmelons are doing pretty well, too. I hope the squash bugs don't decide to migrate to them, next. It's our first year and we got started a bit late, so we didn't get to do everything we wanted. Overall, with the exception of the bugs, it has been good. Now we know what we are up against on this property. At least this rain will pull us a little further from the drought level. Here's to hoping. It could be horribly dry like last year.

Cucumbers, squash bugs, and "Grrrrr!"

So, the good news is that we have had a harvest and a half of cucumbers so far. Too many vegetables is a great problem to have. We purchased a Foodsaver© Vacuum Sealer the other day and I've frozen a couple of batches of yellow squash. We've been eating it fresh, too, as well as giving it away. Like I said - great problem to have.



I will be making some freezer pickles, soon, too.



In worse news... we have squash bugs. Not a good problem to have. I've been spraying them with coffee like crazy and picking off the eggs, so we will see how it goes. The plants are still fruiting well and developing new leaves, so the bugs haven't won the battle, yet.

We also have muskmelons growing everywhere and the gourd plants that a couple of friends gave me are doing well, too. Yay! Luffa sponges in the fall!