I love spending time outside.
I love spending time in the garden.
I love getting dirt under my fingernails. Somehow it’s therapeutic.
I love growing food.
I love feeding my family food that I’ve grown in the backyard.
I love that my kiddos get to watch the garden grow, and will ask during dinner if “this food came from the garden.”
Makes my heart smile.
Around here, we’re in to Square Foot Gardening. And do some container gardening as well. I love cooking with food from the garden…and being creative with what we’ve grown!
Also, I’ve introduced the Grow. Eat. Save. feature here on $5 Dinners. Head on over and learn more about Grow. Eat. Save. and check out the schedule for this summer.
The photo above is my garden in its fullest glory in 2009. And below a few of the many gems that we harvested.
Happy Growing, Eating and Saving with your Garden!
Wendy says
Hi,
Just to let you know, it’s a toad not a frog and they will eat A LOT of bugs.
Christine B. says
I live in Western Washington and I just planted peas for the 5th time two weeks ago. They are finally growing. AND I saw my first flower on the pumpkins. I have no idea why things aren’t growing right this year but Late July and Early August are great times to plant to get crops in before the first winter frost. Put out more peas, carrots, radishes, green onions like I have and you might be surprised by their growth.
Celia says
@Christine B., I came across this post while looking up recipes for my summer squash! Christine, don’t worry about your garden. EVERY ONE had a late start. My husband and I run an online local foods marketplace, and all the farmers have had problems. We had a late summer, unfortunately.
Brandi says
What all do you grow in your garden? I’d love to start one next year !!
jo says
i found this website http://www.motherearthnews.com and wished I had before I started my first patch this year we spent about 100 dollars just on the garden soil and landscapeing timbers and rebarb poles. I think his bag idea might have been cheaper for me to start
Bonnie says
Hello i would love to grow a vegie garden but i dont have a backyard and im renting a flat but i have a courtyard, does anyone have any tips for beginners who wants to start their own vegie garden? I have no idea how to begin!
P.S
Your garden looks lovley!
Annalisa says
Bonnie- Trial and error is the best way. After 3 years gardening, I feel like I’ve finally started to become “A Gardener.” Also, Join a community gardening club or the like, where you can pick up on thousands of tips from wise gardeners. Other than that, here’s my “garden” tips:
#1 – observe sun exposure of the potential garden site. Does it get morning or afternoon sun? How long? Research what plants do well in the type of sun you have. (ie lettuce does not live in strong afternoon sun unless shaded, but hardier plants can love it.)
#2 – Plant what you love to eat. No use planting radish if you hate it 🙂 My fav are tomatoes, corn, parsley, basil, chilli’s, and flowers (not to eat, but to enjoy 🙂
#3 – Feed it. I like to sprinkle mushroom compost (or any compost) at least once a month, and liquid seaweed fertiliser every 2 weeks. Couldn’t be easier to get a healthy garden!
Connie says
I planted my first spring crop of spinach and swiss chard tod ay. Love both of these crops as they taste good, can be used in a number of ways, and freeze well when there is an abundance.
Connie says
Bonnie here is a great ste for all gardeners but it is specific to container gardening. When I lived in the city many years ago I had to do containers. I used everything from coffee cans to 5 gal buckets as well as asking the local school to save me any large containers they had for the lunch menus (ie: large tomatoe sauce cans like 3 gal. size)
Iplanted everything I could such as tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, herbs of all nature. It looked kind of cool and the other tenants had a ball as they got to pick and eat too. I planted on the shared front porch and on the driveway sides. nywhere a container could safely go I found one to put there.
Connie says
oops sorry here is the site
http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/ContainerVeggie.htm
Melissa says
Hi, I love to garden but extremely petrified of snakes. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this?
MissFifi says
Melissa – You should not have any problems with snakes bothering you while you are working in the garden unless you have set up woodpiles or rock walls, which they love to hang out in. I had worked in my rock garden and then a minute later a garter snake was sunning itself on my pea gravel. It waited for me to leave of course because they have no interest in hanging out with humans.
You should research the snakes in your area so you can recognize venomous and non-venomous. Here is a link that might help you as well
http://www.extension.colostate.edu/4DMG/Pests/snakesin.htm
Tina says
hello do you have way to freeze zucchini and receipts. I don’t want my squash to go to waste. I just pulled 5 off the vine today.
Carol says
Hi… just go online and look up recipes for whatever veggie you have and you will find quite a bit from which to choose. I made soup out of my summer squash and it was delicious. Also, you can freeze veggies without blanching for 3 months or less.
Andy Gorman says
Please check out the “Gardening Retractable Tool Tether” on the web site above. I invented this, and ladies love this to help hang on to their gardening pruners and other small electronics and tools. This prevents the accident of getting interupted while out playing in the yard, and laying your pruners down and forgetting to put them away. It breaks the heart when they are left out in the rain getting rusty or ran over by a lawn mower. Two styles to choose from:
1. Light Duty – holds 1/4 lbs. before extracting
2. Heavy Duty holds 5/8ths lbs. before extracting.
I’d like to talk to you about reviewing my products.
木下 春奈 says
Sounds good –sign me up – [email protected] (Betsy Brack). I’m excited about finding lots of NC stuff to send somewhere!!! Thanks for organizing.
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