Lynn's Kitchen Adventures » Garden

My Garden

Lynn — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:52:20 +0000

This is the time of year when all the work in the garden is finally paying off.

We have lots of tomatoes

and more peppers than we can possible eat.

We should have both watermelon and cantaloupe ready in the next few weeks.

I am also very excited that the blueberry bushes,

and the apple tree we planted five years ago, are finally giving us a good crop.

With berries and fruit trees you have to be patient. It takes a few years for them to produce, but once they do it is so worth it.

What is growing in your garden this year?

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Garden Update

Lynn — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:11:17 +0000

I don’t have a picture of my garden, but it looks pretty good considering the July heat here in Oklahoma. But here is what we have picked from our garden the last few days.

My peppers and cantaloupe are doing really good. I have at least five nine cantaloupes, we picked four last night, in the fridge right now. My tomatoes are really doing well, but the cucumbers and zucchini are almost done. The tomatoes and peppers love heat, but cucumbers and zucchini do not.

I did not really want to plant the cantaloupe this year. They take a lot of room to grow and I did not think it was worth it. My husband really wanted to grow them, so we did. I am so glad, he was right, they are so worth the space they take up. Once you have had a home grown cantaloupe it is hard to eat a store bought one again.

While we are on the subject of cantaloupe, here is a neat link that I watched last summer. Meridith at Like Merchant Ships linked to it and I love the tip. It is a great tip on peeling or cutting the skin off a cantaloupe. I have been cutting them this way ever since.

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Pickled Green Beans

Lynn — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:02:58 +0000

Last week I tried something new. I have been picking a lot of green beans from our garden. I was not sure what to do with all of them. After hearing several people talk about pickled or dilly beans, I decided to give them a try. I hope we like them because I now have 10 pints.

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My Garden or My Garden Full Of Weeds

Lynn — Mon, 25 May 2009 01:29:00 +0000

We have had rain and more rain here in Oklahoma. We had 21 days of rain. Now, it did not rain all day, everyday, but it rained at least some each day, and some days it was heavy rain. What does that much rain do to a garden. It makes it grow, but the problem is the weeds go also.

See how many weeds I have. I think I have more weeds then plants.

We have had a few nice days, or at least days where we got very little rain. I am glad because the garden has dried out and is not as muddy. So, guess how we are spending the weekend. Yes, working in the garden, pulling weeds.

The good news though is that all the rain was good for my plants. My zucchini is growing well, and I have already picked a few small ones.

My tomatoes are also doing well. They are growing rapidly and I hope we will have tomatoes by the end of June.

Now that you have seen my garden full of weeds, please tell me your garden looks just as bad.

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Garden Fresh Lettuce

Lynn — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:28:00 +0000

I picked our first lettuce of the year last week. Lettuce is one of my favorite things to grow in the garden. It is so easy to grow. It is one of the quickest things to grow, you get fast results compared to most other things in the garden. It also does not take up a lot of space. Even in a small space you can grow a little lettuce. And it is so much better than store bought lettuce. It is crisp, yet tender, and oh so flavorful.

And doesn’t it just look so pretty compared to store bought lettuce?

You should try growing lettuce. It will help you understand why people garden.

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Why I Garden

Lynn — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:43:00 +0000

I keep hearing that more people are gardening this year due to the economy and I believe it. I usually go to two places to get my plants and seeds, usually a garden center and Lowe’s or Wal-Mart. This year I had to go to four stores to find all the things I wanted to plant. I had trouble finding what I needed.

When I would ask the workers about something I wanted, they stated that they were having trouble keeping things in stock. They also said that they were having trouble even getting some things in. When I heard this I was glad that I was able to find everything I wanted, even if I did have to go to four stores.

Since gardening is becoming so popular I thought I would give some of my thoughts about why I garden.

I have had some sort of a garden since I got married. Some years it was only a few tomato plants and other years it was quite a bit larger. If you read my posts about gardening you might think I like to garden. Well, do you know what? I really do not like to garden. In fact I actually dislike it.

I have severe allergies and asthma and have since I was a child. If I spend more than thirty minutes outside this time of year I am miserable with congestion and a sinus headache. I am very allergic to grass and anywhere it touches me I break out in a rash. But I continue to garden. I know the benefits of a garden far out-weigh the inconveniences I suffer.

Gardening is also a lot of work, hard work. The work is good for me, but not necessarily fun. When people first start gardening I don’t think they realize how much work it really is. But in my opinion it is worth it.

Here are a few reasons why gardening works for me.

I know what I can grow is better then what I can buy. It is so much better. It tastes so much better and is so much fresher.

I can also grow things so much cheaper. A package of lettuce seeds costs less than $2, usually around $1. I can get a whole row of lettuce for this. I can’t buy very much lettuce in the store for that. I can also buy one tomato plant for around $1.50. That one plant gives me way more than a $1.50 worth of tomatoes.

Produce from my garden is healthier. I control what I use on it. I know what does or doesn’t get sprayed on it. I know what goes into the soil. I know where it comes from.

I also love the lessons gardening teaches my family. My kids have a pretty easy life. A little work is good for them. I learned so much watching and working in my parent’s garden. It teaches you patience, diligence, and the rewards of hard work. You spend months planting, weeding, watering, more weeding and more watering. But then after a few months you can go pick a fresh juicy tomato and eat it with some fresh tender lettuce. You reap the rewards of all your hard work. I want my kids to learn these lessons.

Gardening is also great exercise.

So those are just some of the reasons why I garden. In my opinion the benefits of a garden are well worth it.

So do you garden? Do you love to garden or do you garden just because you like the results?

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My Weekend

Lynn — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:42:00 +0000

Any guesses on how I am spending my weekend.

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Garden Update

Lynn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:55:00 +0000

I thought I would post some garden pictures. We are currently picking lots of zucchini and cucumbers. We have also picked a few tomatoes and carrots. We are also now getting green peppers and jalapeno peppers. Our lettuce is gone because it does not like all the hot weather. It became very bitter and tough so we pulled it up and let the pigs enjoy it.

Please forgive all the weeds in the pictures. We have had the wettest year on record. Two years ago we were in the middle of a severe drought and now we have too much rain. But at least it is not as bad here as it has been in some parts of the country. The garden is doing pretty well with all the rain. One good thing is that I have not had to water at all this year. But the weeds are liking the rain a little too much. I am having trouble keeping up on it. I hope the kids and I can tackle the weeds this week.

I will label the pictures for you non gardeners.

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Heirloom Variety Tomatoes

Cherry Tomatoes

Zucchini

Cucumbers

I wish we would have trellised these. The plants are growing wild and I think they would be easier to deal with if they were growing up. Maybe next year.

Green Peppers

Jalapeno Peppers

Our First Carrots This Year

We planted blackberries four years ago. My dad thought we were a little crazy. If you have ever been to western OR you know that blackberries grow wild everywhere. But here in OK the wild ones are very small and not nearly as tasty. So, yes I planted blackberries. This is the first year we have really had many from the bushes. We are only getting a few handfuls here and there but we have enjoyed eating them. I am also freezing a few each day hoping that I will have enough for a pie or two by the end of the season.

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First Lettuce of theYear

Lynn — Mon, 12 May 2008 21:09:00 +0000

For my first Gratituesday I wanted to post about lettuce and gardening. We picked our first lettuce from our garden this week. It was actually the first thing we have gotten from our garden this year. So I am thankful for homegrown lettuce and our garden. I am so glad that we have the space for a big garden, but I am also thankful for the knowledge of how to garden. That is because my parents showed me how.

I spent a lot of time during my summers as a kid in the garden or in the berry fields picking berries. We helped plant and then helped weed all summer long. Then we got to enjoy the fresh from the garden food. As a kid I hated working in the garden. I thought it was terrible that I had to help. I also hated working in the berry fields. I made a whole $2 a flat picking strawberries. I thought it was horrible that I had to do it. Now as an adult I am glad my parents made it part of our chores and responsibilities. It taught me so much about what goes into gardening and growing your own food. I wish I had paid more attention.

Now as I garden with my children I hope they will take the knowledge they are learning by helping in the garden and put it to use one day in a garden of their own. After my daughter ate some of the fresh lettuce she said “things we make always taste better then the stores”. This gave me hope that she is already learning to be thankful for all the work you put into growing your own food.

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Cooking, Baking, and Gardening

Lynn — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:55:00 +0000

I actually quite a bit of cooking today but did not have time to post the recipes. I will try to post them in the next few days.

I made two loaves of banana bread. I am going to send a plate full of it to my husband’s office tomorrow. I also made brownies. It was a recipe my sister told me about and it was very good. Then for dinner I made chili and cornbread.

I also went to the nursery to get some plants for our garden. A couple of weeks ago we planted onions and lettuce. Today I bought some tomatoes. I think I got nine different varieties. I also got several different kinds of peppers both hot and mild. We also picked out some watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, and cucumbers. This evening we got them all planted.

We plant a garden every year and each year it seems to get bigger. We have not had much success with watermelon and cantaloupe but decided to try it again. One of the things I love about living in the country is having a large garden. We are not experts at it. In fact we have a lot to learn but we really enjoy it. I think the trial and error and experimenting with different plants is what makes it fun.

I will try to continue to post pictures of the garden through out the season.

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