Eating Our Garden

Yes, it's harvest time! We've been amazed at how much our garden has grown in the past 3 weeks. Here it is on June 5th and then today:

You're looking at 3 tomato plants, 2 squash, 1 zucchini, 1 kidney bean and a cucumber plant that is crawling all over the place. It only has one cucumber growing, but we've learned that bees have to pollenate the blossoms to produce a cucumber. Hmmm... maybe I won't freak out next time I see them hanging around the garden. (many of you know of my phobia!) We also have 3 pepper plants just barely making it in a separate planter and tons of basil, rosemary and oregano.

I have to admit that although I enjoy watching it grow, Darrin has been the true green thumb behind the fertilizing and daily nurturing. It's the first thing he does when he walks in the door from work. "How's the garden?" as he's heading towards the back door. The kids follow him out there and investigate the progress.

FUNNY STORY: Preston is mostly fascinated by the tomatoes (which surprises me since he won't touch them on his plate.) We've planted Roma, cherry and some large, juicy hamburger type variety. We FINALLY had one appear on the large tomato plant. Darrin had been showing the kids the growth of our first one for a few days and would tell Preston that it wasn't ready to pick yet. He was so anxious for our first tomato to turn red that after a few days of watching it grow, Preston picked it and said, "Look, Daddy, it wasn't hard to pull off at all!" The look of Darrin's shocked face led Preston to tears and lots of "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm so sorry!" He felt horrible and there was no need to punish him. He now knows that he MUST have mom or dad help him if he thinks it's time to harvest. We now have a few more tomatoes growing on that plant and all is well.


The First Harvest on June 19th~ I discovered that we had some ready to cut off so the kids and I waited for Darrin to come home and we all headed out to watch the first veggies arise in his hands. (Yes, Preston was there to help.) These are the first squash and zucchini:

(I never knew these plants were so prickly! OUCH!)

And what did we do with them, you ask?? Mmmm... grilled them. Darrin is a master griller and he made chicken kabobs that were out of this world!

I've also made two batches of zucchini bread and Italian stir-fry. I'll try Grandma Smith's squash casserole recipe tonight. If you have any favorite recipes involving squash or zucchini, please share!

We're looking forward to the mass of cucumbers and tomatoes to come. And July is blueberry season around here, so we've scheduled a Saturday to pick and make some preserves. We'd like to start our own "patio blueberries" this year because it takes about 3 years before the bushes will produce fruit. Anyone have a suggestion on a good variety?

I've also included this pic of the kid's flower garden in the front planter baskets. They've grown these zinnias, marigolds and sunflowers from seed! I highly recommend this summer project for some hands on nurturing experiences.