Thumb Check 2012

I Corinthians 3:6 I planted the seeds... But God makes them grow. . The garden has been more full of drama than veggies this year. I planted about half the seeds I planted last year to prevent the overcrowding. I also planned to thin the seedlings like I should in order to maximize the size and quality of the fruit. Barely did this last year and my garden looked like an overgrown jungle in a matter of weeks.
But before I could even get a picture this year... something (I blame opossums but lets be honest that's just because I am prejudice) ate almost all of my seedlings. Those little guys burst through the dirt reaching for the sun's nurturing light only to be plucked up and swallowed by a nasty little garden villain. Something ate every green bean, okra and zucchini plant. And they ate my bell peppers and jalepenos. Not once but twice! After they ate all my peppers the first time I replaced the plants thinking surely nothing would eat hot pepper plants twice! Looking back that wasn't a smart move...
I was left with 2 squash plants and a couple of cucumber and melon vines that have yet to bear any fruit.
We were still excited by our first fruits of the year... As pitiful as it seems. This was our first harvest: 1 yellow squash and 2 cherry tomatoes.




But the tomato plants are loving the weather and thriving in their Earth Box again this year. I planted 2 small plants and they began sprawling like crazy.




One day I counted 60+ cherry tomatoes on this plant alone!




The other plant is heirloom and they are delish!




For a few weeks it was frustrating to pick 1 ripe cherry tomato every 2 days. I was lucky to make a side salad by the end of the week. But now we are cooking with gas! Every 2-3 days I pluck about this many fresh tomatoes out of my backyard!




Next year I may just skip everything else and be a tomato farmer!
I have learned a lot about myself because of this garden. Each time I plant or water or pull weeds God reminds me of the work He is doing in my life and in the world around me. Lately he has been planting this deep within me: I make things grow, not you. Don't try to force everything. Don't try to control every one around you. Just do what I have taught you. Just plant. Just water. Just weed. Just wait.

RIP... my sweet

See the big one? This particular melon vine in my garden had several of these little melons sprouting, but only the biggest one continued to grow as the other ones shriveled in the heat this summer. I didn't photograph her after this date, but she was more than half the size of a full grown cantaloupe melon, when her vine of origin met an untimely end... She made it through the hottest summer on record in Texas... only to be weed-whacked to death. :( Kevin was sorry, though he didn't come right out and confess UNTIL I found the lifeless melon and began blaming the neighborhood rabbits for the death of my little fruit. Sad.

Garden gone wild

It's what happens to an overly-excited novice gardener... I knew I was planting way too many things and way too close together... But I did it anyway!


We are still getting lots of tomatoes...


And I have a couple of bell peppers growing too!


Beans decided to make a walking path right along the green beans so most of those plants are trampled. Everything else is still coming along, though a little crowded.





Posted from my iPhone

You say tomato...

This is a tomato plant on steroids. Less than a month after the tiny tomato plant was transplanted... Every day it is bigger and bigger.




The day Leah harvested our first fruit there were 11 total tomatos growing on the vine. But only one was ready to be picked... This one!!!

She was only pretending in that picture but when we got inside and washed it she really wanted a bite.

After every bite she said "mmmmm... this is yummy" while making this face...




I think she had heard me go on and on about how yummy they were going to be that she had made her mind up to like them...




She gave it a good try...




And here are tomatoes 2,3 and 4! They were sooooooooooo yummy!




I lost tomato #5... It exploded right there on the vine... I let it get just a tad over-ripe... lesson learned.

sowing with leah

Several weeks ago, Leah and her daddy went to the home improvement store to pick up a few things... and came back with a little project...

A Lightning McQueen planting kit. (Leah loves all things Cars and can spot the logo from a mile away!)

The kit came with some marigold seeds and soil, so she and dad got to work. I think they planted on 4/3.

I told her that her flower seeds would probably grow even faster if we put a nice worm in there to help the soil. She agreed and we dug up a "nice wormy" and Leah put him in the pot too.

In about 10 days the seeds had sprouted... and within 3 weeks we had a small plant.

4/27

Leah's main job was watering and making sure it was still growing taller.

...on 5/9...

In the meantime, she decided she wanted to plant something else, so she filled 2 more Leah-sized pots with dirt and we planted green beans and Swiss chard.

The day her first marigold bloom opened up, her green beans erupted the soil as well!

The Swiss chard was a fail.... I'm pretty sure we drowned it... so I transplanted some of my extra okra plants to that pot.

Leah with her marigolds, green beans and okra plants

Beans could have 40 dog bowls of fresh water, but she prefers to drink from puddles or straight from the watering can. She's just waiting for the pour...

Thumb Check

We know what color my neck is, thanks to my dear husband's influence. Let's see what color my thumb is!

The garden plot was just a grass-covered part of our yard. I dug up the grass (the hardest part of the whole thing) and then turned in a little added top soil after I laid the stones down.

We are outside ALOT lately, but Leah's record has been speding 4 straight hours in the garden with me while we planted. I was impressed with her stamina.

Leah helped me plant all the seeds... which will explain some of the funny places things are sprouting up, and why there are about 27 okra plants bunched up together. But we had a ball!

5/4/11 - after our marathon of planting

We planted yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, okra, carrots, green beans, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. Our garden plot isn't quite large enough for all this... but I got carried away. We'll see what happens!

5/9/11 - less than 5 days later... we have SPROUTS!!!
Pointing at an okra sprout...

Green bean sprouts (I think)

Only the cantaloupes, carrots and bell peppers hadn't sprouted that day... we had a GREAT sense of satisfaction. Look at my little smiling sprout. :)
5/12/11 - And only 8 days after the seeds were planted..... It looks like a real garden!! Only everything is way too close together.

Leah would rather be outside than just about anywhere. She LOVES the garden and is always saying "I want to go work in the garden" or "I want to go check on my beggibles." When it rains she says "Thank you God for giving my beggibels a niiiiiiice drink."

I'll post a current pic soon. These look like such babies compared to what they look like now! The only thing that still hasn't sprouted is carrots... so maybe those won't happen. Stay tuned!