They say you can take the boy out of the farm but you can not take the farm out of the boy. Such is true with me. I am having the time of my life raising a garden. I still have some bugs to work out but things are going great. I have grown this year watermelon, cantelope, yellow squash, carrots, white onions, purple onions, green onions, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, broclii, hot peppers, bell peppers (Green, Red, and Orange), and I have some peaches on the peach tree.
I have three Cantaloupe plants and this weekend I went out and counted the melons on the vines. There were 21 of them! I could not believe it. That was 21 big ones. I have lots of them that are the size of a baseball and hordes that are budding out the size of a marble. I will give it about 2 weeks and then they should be ready to pick. The kids are far more excited about the cantaloupe then they are the squash.
My tomatoes are doing great. I planted 10 but 0nly 8 made it. I was a little worried about them but they are now impressive. I have a few plants that are over 6 feet. It is amazing to see these things grow. I have picked a few tomatoes but most of them are still green. I have dozens and dozens of tomatoes that are just starting to get a yellowish tent to them. I can not wait to start using tomatoes in everything. If anyone has a really good tomato soup or spaghetti sauce recipe please let me know.
I am looking for all kinds of things to do with tomatoes.
The Squash has been unbelievable. I have picked dozens of large, and I do mean large, squash off of my 3 squash plants. The boys are sick of squash and even Lisa admitted to being sick of it (We had it for almost every meal for 2 weeks). We blanched a bunch of them and froze them so we could eat them this winter. There are 6 of them in the fridge right now and about 5 more on the vine waiting to be picked. I have never seen so many squash in all my life. Lisa said we only need one or two squash plants next year. So the same thing goes with squash, if you have a recipe just let me know and I will put it to use.
Watermelon are hard to grow in Utah. What happens is you end up with these nice looking melons and then the frost comes about 2 or 3 weeks before they are ready to eat. I just might get to eat some this year. I have about 5 melons that I think will make it. As long as I can cover them up and beat the first few frosts I will be spitting seeds while eating watermelon on the deck. I picked my biggest melon over labor day only to discover that I was about 2 or 3 weeks early. I was totally bummed.
The only one of my fruit trees that has produced is my peach tree. It has about 15 peaches that are within a week or two of being ready to eat. This is one of my greatest excitements with all the stuff I am growing. There is no fruit, in my opinion, that is better then a peach. Next year I expect I may have some apples and cherries in addition to the peaches.
So there you have it. Not a very exciting post to those who do not have a farm boy trapped inside them. After all the practice this year next year I hope to have an even better production. It is always exciting for me to grow things and I look forward to it each year. Next year I may even be able to get Lisa to let me grow some potatoes in the flower bed. (Put in a good word for me if any of you get a chance :-)
I have three Cantaloupe plants and this weekend I went out and counted the melons on the vines. There were 21 of them! I could not believe it. That was 21 big ones. I have lots of them that are the size of a baseball and hordes that are budding out the size of a marble. I will give it about 2 weeks and then they should be ready to pick. The kids are far more excited about the cantaloupe then they are the squash.
My tomatoes are doing great. I planted 10 but 0nly 8 made it. I was a little worried about them but they are now impressive. I have a few plants that are over 6 feet. It is amazing to see these things grow. I have picked a few tomatoes but most of them are still green. I have dozens and dozens of tomatoes that are just starting to get a yellowish tent to them. I can not wait to start using tomatoes in everything. If anyone has a really good tomato soup or spaghetti sauce recipe please let me know.I am looking for all kinds of things to do with tomatoes.
The Squash has been unbelievable. I have picked dozens of large, and I do mean large, squash off of my 3 squash plants. The boys are sick of squash and even Lisa admitted to being sick of it (We had it for almost every meal for 2 weeks). We blanched a bunch of them and froze them so we could eat them this winter. There are 6 of them in the fridge right now and about 5 more on the vine waiting to be picked. I have never seen so many squash in all my life. Lisa said we only need one or two squash plants next year. So the same thing goes with squash, if you have a recipe just let me know and I will put it to use.
Watermelon are hard to grow in Utah. What happens is you end up with these nice looking melons and then the frost comes about 2 or 3 weeks before they are ready to eat. I just might get to eat some this year. I have about 5 melons that I think will make it. As long as I can cover them up and beat the first few frosts I will be spitting seeds while eating watermelon on the deck. I picked my biggest melon over labor day only to discover that I was about 2 or 3 weeks early. I was totally bummed.
The only one of my fruit trees that has produced is my peach tree. It has about 15 peaches that are within a week or two of being ready to eat. This is one of my greatest excitements with all the stuff I am growing. There is no fruit, in my opinion, that is better then a peach. Next year I expect I may have some apples and cherries in addition to the peaches.So there you have it. Not a very exciting post to those who do not have a farm boy trapped inside them. After all the practice this year next year I hope to have an even better production. It is always exciting for me to grow things and I look forward to it each year. Next year I may even be able to get Lisa to let me grow some potatoes in the flower bed. (Put in a good word for me if any of you get a chance :-)
11 comments:
Good for you, very impressive.
I am excited for those cantelope! And yes, I am sick of squash!
I love peaches too! Our peach tree died. :<( We have been getting ripe tomatoes since the middle of July - yours are way behind ours. Next year start a few plants early, in Walls of Water. I have a great salsa recipe, and also a county fair winning zucchini brownie recipe. I will email them to you. Good work - Farmer James!
You and Kenny are two peas in a pod. He is soooo excited about our garden this year. I don't know that we did as well as you, but technically this is the first year we've ever grown anything, so Kenny's pretty proud of himself. You'll have to share all your little secrets. As for peaches, we've already eaten a bushel full this year. They're our fruit of choice too! (but only if you get them from the fruit stands...not the grocery store)
Wow, that looks great. You can always make homemade salsa with the tomatoes. The squash looks yummy--we love it around our house. Good luck
Potatoes in the flower bed? Noooo!! This year your Uncle Dave grew potatoes in whiskey barrels. You could try that out. His reason for doing that is because his soil is full of rocks and you can't grow potatoes in rocky soil.
I'm totally jealous of your garden! Thanks for bragging :o)
You know what you can do with extra produce... take it to the Bishop's Storehouse. Around here they ask people to plant an extra row for the storehouse. So an extra row of beans, an extra tomato plant, an extra squash, etc!
Holy Cantalopie!!! That's good soil! Does Lisa like to do canning?
LUV the BUG! What a great project! Being a retro fan~ maybe Herbie racing stripes or sky blue!
You have nice melons!
James your garden look so nice! I'm going to try and plant one this weekened. We'll see... I'll post. Tell Lisa to check out my blog so we can keep in touch with her too.
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