2010: The Year of Our Garden

This year we decided to grow as many of our fruits and veggies as possible. Here is the story of turning 750 square feet of unused land into delicious food throughout the summer.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Strawberry Fields Forever

Went Strawberry picking today. So much more fun than I would have thought.
They were $1.20/lb. The girls were a big help. We picked 13 lbs and I purchased an additional 10 lbs. We will be eating strawberries all year!






The Strawberry Fields



The girls helping out




Thursday, June 3, 2010

I Spy a Pepper!!!

Okay, it is starting to look more like a garden. I was getting nervous for a bit.

We've got:

Onions

Peas

Peppers



And my most successful Basil plant ever!


Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Flowers are blooming

After some nice long, hot days, the flowers are starting to bloom.








Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Hello Kitty Cake Pops

Hello Kitty Cake Pops-My daughter's favorite!

A little more difficult than just dipping in melted candy. Did turn out pretty cute though!



Had to form the balls into ovals for her head and attach white chocolate chips for her ears.


Ugh Oh! The black cookie pen we had would not write on this candy.
Husband saves the day by running to Target for some Wilton icing in a tube.
Worked like a charm!





Monday, May 17, 2010

Chocolate Cake Pops-Love Them!

Took a break from gardening to make snack for preschool. We made Cake Pops from Bakerella.
They were FABULOUS. Easy enough for the kids to help and so much fun choosing sprinkles.



You can get the full recipe here but here are my highlights. So here's how we did it.
Baked a cake from a mix (gasp!) in a 13 x 9 pan. Let it cool
and then crumble into a bowl.
Added a can of chocolate frosting. Hey, these are for kids, they
do not appreciate my "made from scratch" cakes.



Continue to stir until thoroughly combined. Mine started to
look like truffles.


Roll in balls on wax paper. I got 46 out of this batch.


Melt some candies. Dip the stick the lolli stick into the candy and then
stick into the balls. Freeze for an hour (this made it so easy for me to dip and shake without the ball falling off of the stick).


Dip ball into melted chocolate and decorate. Stick in styrofoam block
to dry. We chose pink, white and lavender candy melts and then colored some
white melts sky blue.




As you can see, the kids loved them.















Sunday, May 16, 2010

Week 1-Something is Growing

Some of the seeds have germinated and are peaking through.
Oh this is so exciting! It has been 7 days and very little sunshine and yet
stuff is still growing!
Parsley, arugula, turnips...

Parsley


Arugula

A whole row of radishes

A beautiful raspberry plant from the market.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

We have Visitors

Found these prints today dried up in the mud. The kids were
very excited. I am sure a raccoon visiting the bird feeders.
Stay out of my Garden!!!







Friday, May 14, 2010

Sunny and 70-Looking like Spring

Starting to dry up a bit. Looking okay. Rosemary seems to have grown a foot!
Blueberries starting to flower. Flowers blooming.

I feel so impatient. Only 5 days in and I want to see something grow!!!


Rosemary is looking good.


Blueberries


Strawberries are turning red


A little yellow blooming


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

More rain

Had rain and thunderstorms through the night. Only puddling in certain areas so may have to avoid those next year if fruit is ruined.

The drainage puddle on the right is drying up.

Tomatoes and peppers seem to be surviving the excess water.






Monday, May 10, 2010

Rain

Wow, did it rain. Don't know if some of the tomato or pepper plants will make it. Tried to walk in the garden and my boot got stuck in the mud. We'll see...


Sunflowers are growing