Weed it and Reap!

"A garden is a work of heart"




Ahh gardening, one of my favorite past times! Truth be told, I didn't like our garden when I was a kid. It felt like we were always out there weeding or working in it. Somewhere along the line when I became married and we bought our first house, I actually wanted to give gardening a try. I discovered I actually enjoyed it! I think the difference was that now as an adult, I was in charge of the full process, from planting to harvesting and everything in between.

sweet 100 cherry tomatoes

9 1/2 years ago, we moved to our current place and I knew I would finally have space to have an even larger garden to keep up with our growing family. With each year that I plant, I have learned things both through reading as well as trial and error. A few of those gems are:

-scattering radish seeds in a large area rather than intentionally planting the seeds will produce a mammoth size crop leaving you to google 101 ways to use radishes (I discovered you can roast them & pickle them, neither of which I would've known had I not had an over-abundance. I've done both and they are both tasty ways to enjoy radishes).

-laying newspaper between rows, then wetting them down really well works great at keeping weeds from coming up. It then composts right into the soil.

-laying hair around the garden repels rabbits. (granted with my size garden I'd need to shave the heads of all my kids to have enough hair which isn't going to happen lol). Some salons will give you hair if you request it ahead of time.

-using 1 gallon milk or water jugs with the bottom cut off and placed over early plantings protects them from frost and acts like a mini greenhouse giving your plants a boost in growth.

cucumbers

Those are just a few things that come to mind that I use most frequently. I rotate my garden each year so the same plants are switched around. I do this as different veggies require different nutrients from the ground. So putting them in a different spot every other year ensures that my soil won't be depleted of what they need.

Things like onions, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and green beans have a quicker growing season so I plant in stages to stagger my harvesting. You will see occasional empty places in my garden, that is only because I am waiting a week or 2 to plant the next crop.

look to the bottom you can see a radish peeking up out of the ground

The produce I have this year in my garden:
-tomatoes
     -sweet 100 cherry
     -early girl
     -amish paste
     -big boy
-peppers  
     -orange
     -red
     -green
     -yellow
     -jalapeno 
-cucumbers
-zucchini (these are so versatile and you can make lots of goodies with them!)
-lettuce
-spinach
-onions
-celery
-radishes
-green beans
-eggplant
-strawberries
-blueberries
-herbs (oregano, cilantro, basil, parsley) 

I do a lot of canning and freezing as well as making salsa, pickles, jam, etc. I truly find it therapeutic to get up early in the morning, when everyone else is sleeping and go out to work in the garden. It gives me the rare "me time" as well as time to pray and just simply "be".


In just 3 weeks time, you can see the growth spurt my garden had

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy."
Psalm 126:5


9 comments

  1. Oh I love gardens and hope to have a small one next year. Yours sounds amazing! How I miss canning freezing and jam making I grew up with.

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  2. Jenn, Beautiful garden! I love all the beds you have. We are off to a smaller start, but, oh, Someday!

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  3. Wow! Love your garden. This is our first year gardening. Any idea on how to prevent squash bugs? What part of the country do you live in? From what I understand we can't plant lettuce, spinach or broccoli until fall or winter here.

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  4. The same scattering seeds principal you used with radishes seems to work for baby carrots too! Mine turned out pretty and yummy! :)

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  5. Beautiful garden. Stopping by to say hi. I am also a newbie! Our garden has done very well this year. Lots of canning and freezing going on around our little homestead.

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  6. What great tips- I'll have to try them, thanks.

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  7. As always, love your garden pictures and posts. Thanks for sharing. Your garden inspires me to weed mine. :)

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  8. That milk jug idea is genius!! We had a late frost this year and it got several of my plants when my carefully placed sheets just blew off. So sad...womp womp. But maybe next year I'll collect some milk cartons so that I'm better prepared!

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I enjoy hearing from each & every one of you! Thanks for taking the time to comment. :)