Monday Harvest

I harvested nearly 3 lbs of Yukon Gold Potatoes, 1 lb of carrots, 2 lbs of lettuce and beet greens, and 0.5 lbs of beets.  Sorry they are not all pictured but they were delicious.

Home At Last!

We got to come yesterday!  I have had to catch up on the garden chores and spend time with little man.  There has been nearly three inches of rain this week so a lot of growth has occurred this week.  I counted 50 tomatoes on the vine and have plenty of squash a week away from eating.  We put the pool in the back yard and took a swim today and we also took him to Zootastic a small zoo in Troutman.  I will have an update on Monday for this past weeks harvests and whats been going on with the plants.

Jackson petting a baby kangaroo at Zootastic.

Little Man

Our little man has been sick for the past week, we took him to the ER on Monday and he was admitted.  Thankfully he is recovering well and should be home soon. 

Weed Dragon!

Borrowed a Propane torch to weed the gravel walkways.  It worked quite well and I was surprised at its power.

Little Man's Beans!

During a recent trip to Patterson Farms with MOPS(Mothers of Preschoolers) my son planted his first crop, with the help of my wife of course. 

End of week update.

Thought I would show some pictures of the progress this week.  Earlier this week we had nearly three inches of rain and it has shown in some of the beds.  I have had to tie up the tomatoes twice this week.  All the growth has me excited for summer vegetables

My corn has grown nearly 6 inches in last week I can literally watch it grow.

The three sisters; my beans and corn are starting to come up in amongst the corn.  I haven't had any of my purple beans sprout yet though.

 My first Cherry Peppers are starting out.

My squash bed is getting big, the first blossoms are ready to bloom.

Quack, Quack!

We went to Davidson on Sunday and let Jackson feed the ducks.  He had a blast and these ducks had absolutely no fear.  The ducks stood on the bridge with us until we ran out bread. 

First Harvest and Flowers

 The first small harvest of the year! So Far 5 carrots, 7 beets and 3lbs of beet greens

 Cross Section of one of the beets

 

Tomatoes 

Potatoes

A Walk Through Our Garden.

Here are some pictures of the beds and whats in them.

The first bed has roughly 50 stalks of corn.  Interplanted with the corn is pumpkins in the center and pole beans around the edges, this is my play on the "Three Sisters Planting" guess we will see if it works.

The next bed is squashes, in front there is Yellow Crookneck and Straight Neck, White Patty-Pan and Zucchini.  I also planted nasturtiums among them.

 

 The back of this bed is Marketmore Cucumbers, Mexican Gherkins and Lettuce

 The third bed is the nightshade bed, tomatoes in the back and peppers in the front.  Inbetween is supposed to be RatTail Raddishes, Basil, and Marigolds.

 The fourth bed is so far the only one I have harveted anything from.  It has Carrots, Onions, Beets and Tomatoes interplanted with the tomatoes are more Carrots.  Thanks to the book Carrots Love Tomatoes.

The final bed is potatoes (Yukon Gold and Blue Adirondack) and bush beans.

Evolution of My Family's Garden

Since I originally bought my house I wanted a small garden, however it continued to grow so did the mess.  I found the book Square Foot Gardening, which I could not put down, I nearly read it in one day and continue to refer to it often.  My garden was originally 10'x35' and planted with conventional rows.  The biggest hassle was upkeep; weeding and watering.  After reading this book I decided to try my hand at some construction and built raised beds.  I built five 4'x8' beds and found I should be able to plant everything I need in these.  Below are the pictures of the start of this project to where it is now.  Thanks to my wife, I laid gravel between the boxes to give it a better look.  Once again she was right.  One complaint about the old garden was the mud it always made, the new garden is much cleaner and neater.

Little Man Helping With Construction

The Final Product!

When I got finished I was so excited to see how much neater and orginized our garden had become. 

Here We Go!

Well, here we go. I will start with some background on why I began growing and my views on it.  The Lord gave Adam and Eve a garden to live in and harvest all of their needs from it.  Gardening has been integral to human life from the beginning of time to present.  The first reason I started growing is because I like to eat, and the quality of food is enhanced ten fold when it only travels a few feet versus a few thousand miles.  Second to that I am cheap, growing our own food really does reduce grocery expenses.  Finally my wife and I have been swept into the organic food movement.  We both agree that eating healthy is an important portion of being healthy; this has only been reinforced in parenthood.  Just as we prefer to eat good food we want our son and future children to share that enthusiasm for good food.  For the record good food does not consist of pesticides, added hormones, or genetic modification.  I can ensure good food is available to my family by producing it myself to offset our dependence on the local grocery store.