Weekend in Pics

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.

Garden

We used to (before kids) plant a small garden just on the outside of our backyard fence. Aside from it being on a hill and surrounded by wildflowers, the soil was awesome and always resulted in a wonderful garden.

Then we had kids and well the garden area was quickly invaded by the wild stuff. Each winter, as we near the end of the cold season, we talk about clearing that area out and making room for a garden again. But we have yet to do that. It feels like such a daunting task and somehow we always go from spring to summer before we know it.

This spring the girls' were really interested and excited about planting some plants. So we found an okay place to plant a few plants of their choice.

Yesterday I arrive home from work and the girls greet me with much excitement. During the day they had spotted some red cherry tomatoes on one of their plants. Carie had asked them to wait until I get home to pick them, and they did. When I arrived home they had a basket all ready to go, because "you need a basket to pick tomatoes". They quickly hauled me outside to show me their tomatoes and together we decided which one's were ready for picking, all six of them.

Together they took the six cherry tomatoes inside, washed them, put them in a bowl, and set them on the table for dinner. During dinner they shared the tomatoes between the three of them.

I kept waiting and waiting. The thing is, just like their Mommy, the girls' don't actually like tomatoes! They've been great about trying them in the past, but they have strict orders for "no tomatoes, no cheese, no sour cream" when it comes to their food. Yeah we just don’t point out that melted cheese, or cheese pizza, IS cheese.

They did comment about not really liking tomatoes - but they ate them and I didn't ask them to or make them.

It will be interesting to see what happens once the tomatoes are bountiful and the newness has worn off!