First Harvest
Last night the kids were able to pick their first harvest of the season. They have been watching the plants grow day to day and reporting any notable growth.
They were so dang excited with their harvest that I suggested they take their 8 green beans and 2 sugar snap peas inside and eat them for a snack, and that they did. We eat both with some regularity and they are forever picking the pea out of the shell and we are forever asking them to try the whole thing. But not last night! It might be the first time they actually ate the entire sugar snap pea… and we didn’t even say anything! Amazing how growing your own vegetables entices you to broaden your horizons!
I anticipate that being the case with tomatoes this year as well. Last year I was reluctant to plant any of the standard garden veggies, well, because I seemed to be the only one in our family that actually liked tomatoes. No need to plant one - or many - plants just for me, thanks. But I was proven wrong and it seemed that tomatoes were okay to eat as long as they grew them and picked them. I'm hoping that will be the case again this year.
So given last year’s semi-success with our half effort in raising a garden, we opted to do it again this year and expand it a bit. Meaning… this required some re-landscaping and moving of stuff to make room for said garden. Prior to kids we had a garden and did fairly well. Then we had twins and it just hadn't happened since. Gee, I don't know why! This year we seem to be making time for a vegetable garden but our flower gardens are screaming for attention.
Ellie was really interested and involved in the garden process and selecting what we were going to plant. Her top requests were strawberries and green peppers. Oddly, she was stuck on green peppers though we did try and persuade her to other pepper varieties. She wasn't having any of it, so green it was.
In the main garden we planted different varieties of tomatoes, a green pepper, cucumbers, cantaloupe, green beans, and sugar snap peas. Unfortunately both cantaloupe plants are gone, thanks in part to bunnies and/or hail. We held out hope that they would survive but that clearly is not going to happen. One of the green bean plants doesn't look so hot but oddly has produced a couple of green beans. I guess we'll see how it holds up and hope that the other two produce nicely. Everything else is growing great.
With Ellie’s top request being strawberries, we also started a strawberry patch. I'm happy to report that they are doing quite well. Surprisingly we are getting strawberries! I know that may sound odd, but I've heard that you don't get much of a crop the first or even second season. The strawberries we have gotten have been enjoyed by the bunnies, but at least they are (mostly) leaving the plants alone. I hope that remains true through this season and the plants are able to come back next year.
They were so dang excited with their harvest that I suggested they take their 8 green beans and 2 sugar snap peas inside and eat them for a snack, and that they did. We eat both with some regularity and they are forever picking the pea out of the shell and we are forever asking them to try the whole thing. But not last night! It might be the first time they actually ate the entire sugar snap pea… and we didn’t even say anything! Amazing how growing your own vegetables entices you to broaden your horizons!
I anticipate that being the case with tomatoes this year as well. Last year I was reluctant to plant any of the standard garden veggies, well, because I seemed to be the only one in our family that actually liked tomatoes. No need to plant one - or many - plants just for me, thanks. But I was proven wrong and it seemed that tomatoes were okay to eat as long as they grew them and picked them. I'm hoping that will be the case again this year.
So given last year’s semi-success with our half effort in raising a garden, we opted to do it again this year and expand it a bit. Meaning… this required some re-landscaping and moving of stuff to make room for said garden. Prior to kids we had a garden and did fairly well. Then we had twins and it just hadn't happened since. Gee, I don't know why! This year we seem to be making time for a vegetable garden but our flower gardens are screaming for attention.
Ellie was really interested and involved in the garden process and selecting what we were going to plant. Her top requests were strawberries and green peppers. Oddly, she was stuck on green peppers though we did try and persuade her to other pepper varieties. She wasn't having any of it, so green it was.
In the main garden we planted different varieties of tomatoes, a green pepper, cucumbers, cantaloupe, green beans, and sugar snap peas. Unfortunately both cantaloupe plants are gone, thanks in part to bunnies and/or hail. We held out hope that they would survive but that clearly is not going to happen. One of the green bean plants doesn't look so hot but oddly has produced a couple of green beans. I guess we'll see how it holds up and hope that the other two produce nicely. Everything else is growing great.
With Ellie’s top request being strawberries, we also started a strawberry patch. I'm happy to report that they are doing quite well. Surprisingly we are getting strawberries! I know that may sound odd, but I've heard that you don't get much of a crop the first or even second season. The strawberries we have gotten have been enjoyed by the bunnies, but at least they are (mostly) leaving the plants alone. I hope that remains true through this season and the plants are able to come back next year.
posted by Sonya at 7:24 AM
1 Comments:
Home grown tomatoes ARE THE GREATEST!
Lois is keeping a veggie garden at her parents' house and we'll continue it every year. Right now, Andrew just likes trying to pull leaves out of things, but he does help water the garden.
How wonderful that the kids get to enjoy the "fruits" of their labor, right?!!? And it's a good way to keep them eating their veggies!
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