Tuesday, July 30

Behind the Scenes: My Garden

crystalstine.me So, I may be cheating just a little bit in today's Behind the Scenes, but I just have to add more than one photo... Please take note: these are the garden items that are producing, because I can't "SHOW" you the failures, I just have to tell you about them! :)

I am a first year gardener! This is a big deal because I am a girly girl and don't like getting my hands dirty. The biggest thing that has held me back from having a garden is dirt... and weeds! I don't want to have to deal with them. Enter my garden gloves (I used them profusely for the one year we had chickens). I also am kinda lazy, not really a fan of hard work... but when you have four kids, work is a given, so God's working on me in this area.

But back to my garden... some of my successful items are tomatoes and zucchini... but can't just about anybody grow those?  I told my husband the other day that zucchini were a best bet when starting a garden because you just can't kill them, they just keep multiplying! To which he replied, "Doesn't that make them a WEED?" ... isn't he funny?

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And tomatoes, I have soo many, but not many red ones!

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But in reality, I have no idea what I'm doing. My dear husband bought me the book Square Foot Gardening, and I have been trying to follow that method for the most part. It was a huge investment in dirt and set up, but the good news is there is hardly any weeds!! Even when the garden went unattended during the first 2 weeks of July when my life followed God's plan instead of my plan.

Another tiny success in my garden is the strawberries... they are supposed to be "ever-producing" or something like that! My daughter, who has been begging for a garden for some time now (years) also begged for strawberries, so these were planted for her.  But the behind the scenes is the birds that I love so much were caught picking at them the other day! I'm not sure how much fruit WE will enjoy from this plant, but it was still fun... and I *think* they come back every year, so who knows!

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And then, Watermelon... also one of those, "I doubt they will work, but we will try it" plants! and they are growing and there are at least 4 of them already and lots more flowers, so I might even have some to give away!!

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What I'm not showing you are the pea plants that never happened, the green beans that have maybe THREE beans hanging, the lettuce that bolted, and the pepper plant that is being crowded by the weeds... I mean, zucchini! I also have some pathetic looking grape tomato plants that I'm still holding out hope for!!

By the way, since I took these photos last week, the watermelon has almost tripled in size, I found 2 tomatoes actually turning red and fresh strawberries that have NOT been pecked... yet!

Community Conversation: Do you have a garden? What are your favorite plants? Any gardening advice for this newbie? 



15 comments:

  1. I am in awe! I have tried gardening every summer but usually stuck with tomatoes. (I can send you those..lots), but this year, I tried other things and I have really enjoyed it. Besides forgetting to water sometimes, they seem to be doing well and the kids can be a huge part of it!

    It also makes for great conversation starters on responsibility, discipline, roots in Jesus!

    I have never tried watermelon and I am putting that on the list for next year.

    Such a fun post!

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    1. I need to let my kids do more in the garden... I'm a bit of a control freak! But I love the conversation starters! Thanks for sharing them!

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  2. I wish I had some gardening advice to give you, but I know NOTHING about gardening! If it wasn't for my husband's green thumb, our indoor plants would have died years ago! Love that little watermelon!!

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    1. Thanks... I always forget to water my indoor plants, too!

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  3. I am not a green thumb. My father is, but I didn't inherit his skill. I wish. Your watermelon is so cute!!!
    I love your pictures! I don't think it's cheating to add more than one. If so, I cheated today too! LOL

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    1. hurray for bending the rules! :) I'm going to Instagram an updated watermelon picture soon!

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  4. Oh, this makes me want to start my own little garden as well! I have tomatoes that just how all by themselves, but we are strawberry world and I love cooking strawberry jam!
    Blessings XX
    Mia

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    1. a little garden is a good place to start... and I'm not sure we will ever have enough strawberries to make jam, but it was fun to try!

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  5. I have no gardening talent whatsoever, so I admire anyone who can get anything to grow. ;) (I killed the tomato plants two summers ago and gave up after that.) Though my friend/neighbor is amazing with flowers/plants/making her backyard look awesome, and she keeps telling me that she's itching to help me out with my yard. So maybe soon. :) Love this...fun post! Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I killed tomato plants one year... when we still lived in the trailer! And if you have someone to help, go for it! It's always more fun with friends!!

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  6. I had to laugh as you wrote that you cannot kill a zucchini plant. Umm, maybe not but our veteran woodchuck gnawed them to a stub when he got under our fence :( Your garden is looking so much better than mine this year. Happy harvesting! I visited from Behind The Scenes. Such a fun link up!
    Blessings,
    Joanne

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  7. I tried Square Foot Gardening for the first time this year but I'm not going to show you my pitiful garden! I've had a couple of tomatoes and my beans have done well, but I'll have to tweak things for next year. And I've had a crazy amount of weeds! I'm a bit jealous of your 'maters. :-)

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  8. I just love this - I love gardening - I've been doing it off and on for about five years. And I can still remember the first year I did zucchini (having never done it before). They were ginaormous and overtook a huge third of the garden. If you pick them while they're smaller, they tend to be better - and they freeze well (like for bread) if you shred them. American Tomato by Robert Hendrickson is one of my favorite books on growing that lovely fruit. If you can move things around when you garden from year to year, that's great for the soil. And try some radishes - they're easy, fast, and very rewarding!

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  9. I am so impressed. I like to think I would be a good gardener but I have never really tried it. My hubby plants corn in his hunting fields every year but that is the most gardening we have done.

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  10. Way to go, Julie!!! This is awesome. We have such a short growing season here that I have probably missed my chance to garden this year. But my hubby still planted raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, tomatoes, and some others. Way to go - can't wait to see pictures of the ripe veggies :)

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