May Garden

Hi.  How's it going?  It no fun to post without pictures and I was lousy about taking pictures of our adventures this summer.  Lousy.  I also didn't really think people check my blog anymore but the more family and friends I saw the last few months the more I realized that you are checking- or should I say lurking.  I have really loved having photo books sitting on my coffee table made out of this blog so I best be shaping up.

Perennial gardening has been the biggest surprise for me this year.  Last year I had almost no interest in pretty plants and flowers- only things I could eat, the bulbs that came up in spring and composting.  After spending my spring planting fruit bushes and vines and getting my veggies on their way I became obsessed with making my home beautiful for as much of the year as possible.  I devoured perennial books like they were novels and read them over and over.  My mind was a new sponge after years of having pregnant mushy brain.  I needed to know everything about every plant there is.  I made a spreadsheet to keep track of the needs of everything I already had growing and everything I planted.  My favorite place to be was a garden store.  This became my new hobby and I LOVE it.

These are the last pictures of my garden and the yard changed dramatically since then.  I have since planted 100s of perennials and the vegetable garden grew beautifully.  My camera has been a pain and my plants were puny since I bought them cheap and small.  They will be gorgeous next year and then I will show them off.

On one of the last snows I threw out hundred of poppy seeds and enjoyed their beauty.

I consider my vegetable and fruit to have gone moderately well this year.  I would have loved to bring in more raspberries, strawberries, watermelon, pumpkins, corn and tomatoes than I did but other things went really well. 

I bagged loads of spinach

I watched watermelons hang from the vine

I decided I detest cress and arugula

We ate a ton of peas and carrots and I pressure canned many pints of carrots and green beans

My kids love eating right from the garden 

I also canned grape juice, dill and sweet pickles, pickled beets, pickled green bean, pickled peppers, tomato soup and tomato sauce.  We ate pesto all summer and have a little bit frozen.  We ate fresh pico de gallo, salads, broccoli, radishes, sweet and hot peppers, My yellow, and green zucchini were not too overbearing. We had a few dozen cherries and a handful of peaches that were amazing from the trees we planted last year.  I really enjoyed eating fresh and experimenting with veggies we picked.

I have learned plenty and was sad when the first frost hit.  I look forward to an even better year next year.