Gardening Adventures

We decided to give gardening a go this year. We thought it would be good for the kids to learn about plants and might encourage Timmy to actually eat some vegetables. Patrick built some raised beds and brought home two truckloads of dirt. Timmy liked going with him to watch the loaders fill up our truck bed with dirt. He helped us plant the seeds and seedlings and loved picking cherry tomatoes and eating them. The one beefeater tomato we had was eaten by birds. The corn was the best corn I've ever had. It didn't even need butter or salt on it at all. We planted way too many jalapeno plants. Timmy likes the jalapeno poppers though. The cucumbers were usually bitter, even when they weren't too big, and I didn't really like having to eat one to find out. We had one really good yellow squash. We should have planted more. The watermelon and cantaloupe are still growing in October. The watermelon don't grow much bigger than baseball size. The okra plants are huge have taken over. We also planted strawberries(there was one, I hear) and grapes. I planted several blackberry bushes. I have fond memories of picking blackberries in my grandmother's garden.

Patrick also made a flower bed for me along the porch. Timmy helped me plant marigolds, snap dragons, blue salvia and lantana. Lexa liked eating the marigolds. (I read that you can put them in salads, so I wasn't too worried.)

The flowers were so pretty all spring and summer. I thought I was buying ground cover lantana, but it was lantana bushes and they've taken over. It's still pretty and blooming, but it's all only lantana now. So now I want another flower bed!