Garden 3.0

Kory is determined to have a garden to be coveted some day, and after 2 attempts over the last two years, we have yet to find a good weed solution. Fortunately and unfortunately, we use irrigation water, which means cheap water use but also a weeds' favorite hangout joint.

This year, Kory did some research and asked around and heard about using cardboard and straw to control weed problems.  He found a farmer in Spanish Fork (off ksl.com) who was selling straw for $3/bail and we pulled out a bunch of our cardboard boxes from our basement as well.  After planting, we spread the cardboard around each plant.  Kory then soaked the cardboard. After, we stacked blocks of straw on top.  We'll see if it works! ;)

Kory bought 12 bails of straw and we used 10 of them with approximately a 1 ft layer.  

This year, we planted (using starts):

• 4 Tomatoes plants (2 types: Roma and Early Girl)
• 2 Green Peppers 
• 2 Jalapenos (Macho Nacho)
• 1 Watermelon (seedless)
• 1 Cantaloupe
• 1 Pumpkin (Prize Winner)
• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Butternut Squash
• 4 Broccoli (NEW)
• 2 Potatoes (NEW)
• Green Beans (from seeds) 

 

 

 And this is what happens when we don't let her help...

 But luckily, Auntie Shelby played with her on the grass. :)

She hated crawling on it so she tried crawling without her knees touching the ground. Haha. It was pretty darn cute.

Really is our Ainsley-bug.

Peaches

We had a wonderful opportunity fall in our laps. A lady in our ward announced that the orchard her husband worked for was offering us (her ward) an amazing deal on peaches. I had already been looking at prices at other orchards here in Alpine, and the best I saw was $0.99/lb. So when our neighbor said that we could get a 20 lbs box of peaches for $10 (HALF the price, $0.50/lb), we jumped on it!  I grew up on homemade canned peaches made by my Grandma Carol Flanary. Sadly, she is getting older and it is very hard for her to skin and can peaches. Therefore, we immediately canned our 40 lbs of peaches.  I love canned peaches and our first try turned out great. 

 

Gorgeous orchards!

 

Two 20 lbs boxes

SO PRETTY! ;)

Gardening Update!

The artichokes are done!  Our garden just keeps growing; it is doing so well. Also, this isn't even a 1/10 of the amount of green beans we've grown so far.  Last night we indulged in a wonderful mean of grilled garlic and olive oil artichokes with sauteed green beans and bacon. Delicious! :) If only we had a cow to put milk on our table...hmmm... ;)  

Artichoke plants are so cool! This picture doesn't show the top big ones from the middle that we already cut off for dinner. 

The fruits of our labors. (Anybody want some??) ;)

Kory, Kory quite contrary, how does your Garden Grow?

It's growing!!!!! We feel so good about our little garden. It has been producing beautifully! We have a crazy amount of zucchini and green beans, but they are so yummy! :) It's fun to try different recipes and make a plethora of dishes using the same main ingredient. I can't wait for our other plants to start producing as well! I took pictures of our plants' progress, hope you enjoy them.

Lettuce

Onions

Tomatoes (see the little green ones?)

Green Beans (can you see them?)

Watermelon

Cilantro

Squash plants

Corn

Green Peppers (they are there!)

Jalepenos (see the little guy in the middle?)

Artichokes (there's actually 3 in that picture, can you see?)

Strawberries

And distracted by cars. :)