Final Harvest - '08

So about a week and a half ago, we were watching the temperature forecasts here in the area so we could get our last harvest in before the first big freeze here. So it looked like the temps were getting a little iffy so we decided we had better get in everything that we were still leaving on the vine for freshness and in the hopes that it all might get a little bigger. So, Mary had picked a lot of the stuff earlier in the day and it was up to Sarah, Nathan and I to get the stuff inside. The kids had a lot of fun using their wagon to get the butternut squash to the door where I would bring it inside and wash it.



Here is our butternut squash harvest (something I like a lot more then I thought I would... it's pretty good!
Here is our final pepper harvest, though this wasn't the first and only harvest of fruits for us. We hope to be more successful with these next year as they got a late start and struggled for a while before they got going. So none of them turned red and only some of them turned yellowish. But they were a good size and their were plenty of them.

Boy, we were really glad that we picked what we did. The next morning it did freeze and the plants just completely shut-down, as can be observed above. If you look at the first pic on this post you'll see how full and alive the garden was just 14 hours earlier. I couldn't believe how quickly they died as a result of the freezing temps.
Anyway, we were pretty happy and fortunate with our first garden. We look forward to doing it next year with some tweaks. We now have a freezer full of zuchini (yellow and green), peppers, and some butternut squash. And we also have a whole bunch of spaghetti and butternut squash in our cooler pantry (there's no heat in there so the stuff should last a good part of the winter). It was fun for our whole family and provided some good lessons for the kiddos.

First Harvest from the Garden

So, we planted stuff in our garden about 2 months ago and we started picking our first vegetables (one yellow squash and one green zuchini) about a week ago. We have since pulled about ten or so more of these goodies out of our garden. It's fun to go look at it each evening and see the growth going on out there. There were some times where we didn't ever think we were going to get anything out of this garden as it was slow to get going and we weren't sure if the stuff was getting enough water (as we were both unfamiliar with the needs of plants in this climate). Mary had a great couple from our ward come over during the day and give us some great tips and ideas, and since then things have gone pretty well. Our beans are growing slowly and the butternut and spaghetti squash should be appearing in the next month or so. We have little canteloupes about the size of a softball right now, our tomatoes are struggling and we're hoping to have some peppers to pick in a month or so. Anyway, we're enjoying this part of the gardening process: picking the vegetables! Here are some pictures

Our first picks from our first garden at our first house

More Garden Prep

So last week I finally finished removing all of the grass out of our designated garden area. It was a lot of good, hard work. The next night we rented a rototiller with some friends of ours for a day. They used it first and whirred through their garden areas and some other areas in their yard. They then brought it over and I did some work on it that evening and then finished it up the next morning. It was one of the bigger rototiller's that they had but it was fun to operate and see it churn up our soil. The dirt seems pretty good and it was not very rocky, which was nice.

Garden Beginning...

As fairly new homeowners experiencing our first spring in the area and in our new home we're plenty ambitious... no it hasn't warn off yet... completely. So, we've decided to start a garden in our little backyard. Thankfully, unlike many new builds around here, our soil seems like it's pretty good and not too rocky. We still need to pull the grass section out but the other day we pulled out the weedy area and the soil looks pretty nice (like I would know!). The garden will be about 18 x 18 feet, a decent chunk of our back yard, but it'll be nice to have some fresh, cheaper, home-grown veggies. We're planning on planting cucumber, tomatoes, zuchini, squash, carrots (maybe) and I think Mary wants to do some strawberries. Once we remove the grass we're planning on renting a rototiller next week to churn up the soil before planting. We'll probably be planting about the time Jane is born, so we'll see how that goes. We're optimistic about the results but we'll see if the daily effort ends up being worth it. I'm sure the kids will be excited about watching it grow and will be anxious to help in the watering process! Below are some pics of our work. Oh and Sarah wanted me to mention that our neighbor's dog's name is Chico.