Take a walk with us.

Our garden.  Our very own garden, right out the back door. 

We debated on where to put it, and decided up against the house really was the sunniest area of our yard.  After moving hundreds of daylillies and irises that were growing in unmanageable clumps, Aaron put together the lumber beds and tilled up the dirt. 

Our youngest cat, Ferb, approves of where I moved the irises.

I have to give him total credit.  Aaron designed the garden.  No, the beds are not raised, but I liked the idea of outlined beds so that we were not having to weed a whole lot of dirt.  This is manageable.  We may keep the grass, or we may put in rubber pavers in the future. This year we'll see how it goes with the grass.

Looking east in the evening.
The tomatoes will boarder the garden.
Onions, herbs, peppers, and cucumbers fill the "fingers."

Aaron ordered a critter fence from critterfence.com.  I liked this option because I can change the size of the garden anytime in the future.  (Goodness knows we won't be making it smaller any time soon!)  I also asked him for a gate and an arbor.  Aaron found a design and a tutorial from lows.com.  Our dirt is good, but we still added some fertilizer to it. 

I never dreamed I would have such a beautiful gate and arbor.
Later this summer I will be staining it a vintage blue.

The plants are happiest when you are with them!

We are here and we are happy.  With Covid-19 causing all of us to be at home more, we are blissfully in love with our vegetable plants.  Each morning, we go down and check on them.  What has changed?!  Are they all still standing.  We're still putting the finishing touches to the garden.  Our drip line we ordered is slowly making it's way to our home, so we are watering by hand--carefully.  This week, Tuesday learned that the best way to water tomato plants is near to the ground so their leaves do not get wet.  Here she is watering one of our new variety--Hungarian Heart.

Tuesday encourages our tomatoes--which makes all the difference.

New Place. New Garden

We took a year off from gardening last summer, which as difficult.  On June 9, 2019 our offer was accepted on a new home, and we closed on July 25th.  All through the winter we planned for a new garden, and in anticipation we started tomatoes in April.  In early May we began clearing away new ground and fencing in a new space right off the back of our house. By June 1st, the garden was in!

Tuesday standing inside the garden.
She is very excited about our new growing space.

Strawberry Time

After an early morning thunderstorm, we traveled to Ter-lee Gardens to pick strawberries.  When we got there, there was only one other picker in the fields.  They only just opened yesterday for picking, so it was as if we had the whole place--all those strawberries--to ourselves!  Here comes the strawberry jam!

Tomato Blossoms!

Tuesday proudly standing by a paste tomato. 
We are seeing blossoms and some small tomatoes.

The Garden is in!

Tomatoes are looking great this year!  Even the cherry tomatoes (jujubes), which struggled to get started, turned around and began to thrive.  Our new, stand-in greenhouse was a great success for the little seedlings.  

Let the planting begin!

These paste tomatoes are ready to get in the garden.

Off to the garden in our plant mobile.
We feel very green here!

Planting the tomatoes was a whole family event.

The garden--officially in on the last day of May.

It will be interesting to see if the weed blocker is a success.

It's That Time of Year

My spring begins before the snow melts.  
It starts as soon as my tomato seeds are sewn. 

Tuesday giving the tomatoes some TLC.

The first week in April I planted five varieties of heirloom tomatoes--two of which are new to me.  I planted my go-to sauce tomatoes which include black vernissage, romas, and Amish paste.  New varieties include a cherry tomato called jujube and a pink slicer named dester.

Tomato seedlings coming up!

I hate thinning my tomatoes because I can't throwing away seedlings that bring me joy.  This year I decided not to throw any extra seedlings, instead transplanting them in their own pot and selling them for $2.00 each.  All 30 of my extra romas sold in about two hours!  I'm excited to pass on these favorite tomatoes to others who will enjoy them.

These romas are thinned, transplanted, and moved into the greenhouse.
They will stay here, bulking up, for another month.

This year I will have 15 Amish Paste, 15 romas, 10 black vernissage, 2 cherry jujubes, and 3 slicer desters.  I will also try some new techniques as I grow them.  Instead of putting straw at the base of the plants, I will be adding a cloth weed barrier.  I will also thin the more nonproductive tomato branches that grow towards the bottom of the plants, and stabilize the branches with soft twist tomato ties as the plants grow in the tomato cages.