Mystery Vine

A few weeks ago, a plant popped up in my garden. I didn't put it there, and I didn't know what it was. But I was intrigued, so I watered it and let it grow. 

After a short time I could tell that it was a vine of some sort. Judging by the leaves and tendrils, I guessed it was some kind of gourd or melon, but I really couldn't tell for sure until the flowers came out. 

Finally, it bloomed!

As much as I liked the flowers, I was really hoping that it produced something that I could eat or use. After a quick internet search I determined that it was a Bottle Gourd vine. Yay! You can eat the gourds, drink the gourd juice, or let them mature and use them as bowls or noise makers (when they are dried up). How fun! I've never grown a gourd before, so I'm really looking forward to watching this one grow. You just never know what's going to pop up in your garden!

(I have not always been successful with my "experiments." Once I let a plant grow that ended up having super poisonous berries! That one gets ripped out as soon as I see it now. And just recently I let one grow that turned out to be a very aggressive weed! I'll be cutting it down today before it goes to seed.)

Blackberry Milkshakes

Blackberry bushes are a real pain. Literally! 

Every time I try to cut them back I am left with scrapes and scratches all over my arms and legs. Ouch!

Living where we do, we've got berry bushes popping up EVERYWHERE. It's a full time job just to keep them from taking over. This year, I noticed a ton of flowers on one set of bushes, so I decided to let them go for the summer before cutting them back. Boy was I rewarded! Every week my kids and I have been able to pick a large tub of big, sweet, juicy berries. For free! (Actually, I've decided that they are probably being watered by the leak in our pool, so I'm really paying to water them...... but it feels like free. Haha!)

 You can't really tell from this picture, but this is more than 5 cups of berries! This would cost about 20 bucks at the store!

We've been eating some of the berries straight off the vine, but I've been freezing most of them to use over the winter. I've also made peach blackberry crisp (SO YUMMY) and blackberry bran muffins (they were a little too dense so I need to tweak the recipe a little). And last night, we made blackberry milkshakes! Wow, were they delicious!

Aren't they a beautiful shade of purple? You'd think I added food coloring to get this color!

They were super easy to make, too. Put a few scoops of vanilla ice cream in your blender. Add a few handfuls of berries and some milk (a little at a time until you get a good consistency). That's it! I don't really like fruity ice cream, so I was surprised at how delicious they were. I will be making these again before blackberry season is over!

So Many Plums!

I don't have any fruit trees..... yet. But I know people that do. And I've always heard that one tree can produce so much fruit that you can't possibly eat it all. And they are all ripe at the same time, forcing you to either give them away to friends and family, or can them. I was one of those lucky recipients this year. My mom gave me more than 20 pounds of plums. What am I going to do with 20 POUNDS of plums!?! 

Here are some of the things I made.

Plum Chipotle Jam 
If I'm going to eat jam, it's not going to be your average sweet sticky stuff. And my hubby is addicted to spice, so this recipe pleased him too. You can adjust the amount of chipotle to your taste. I got the basic plum jam recipe here and just added chipotle. They give you great instructions if you are not familiar with canning jam, so check it out. Here's my recipe:

3 pounds plums: washed, pitted, and quartered (leave the skins on for great flavor)
3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 chipotle peppers: diced
2-3 Tbsp adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers

Put all of the ingredients in a stock over high heat and mash gently. Bring to a boil, skimming off the "scum" as needed. (Prepare you canning jars in boiling water).

Stir frequently until bubbles slow down and the mixture sticks to the spoon in clumps (The recipe says about 10-15 minutes, but it always take me more than 40 minutes).

You can remove the skins at this point if you want to, but I prefer to leave them in. They are so tender at this point that you almost don't notice them. Turn off the heat and divide jam among your hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims and finger tighten lids. Process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (for 1/2 pint size jars). 

Spiced Plum Chutney
We used this chutney with pork and also at Thanksgiving with turkey. It was a hit! I found the recipe here, but I added more garlic and used dried cherries instead of currants (because that is what I had on hand). The process is pretty much the same as for the jam above, but it needs to cook longer to reduce the added liquids. Here is my recipe:

3+ lbs of plums (8 cups chopped): washed, pitted, and chopped
2 red onions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/2 cup cider vinegar
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper chili flakes

Makes about 4 pints (or 8 half pints)

1. Prepare jars.
2. Put all ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce to a  
    steady simmer, and cook (stirring occasionally) until the mixture is reduced by a third 
    (30-40 minutes or longer).
3. Put chutney in jars and seal with lids. Process jars in hot water canner for 10 minutes. 
    Store for at least 6 weeks before serving for best flavor. Refrigerate after opening.

Plum fruit leather
This was a fantastic way to use the plums. Even my picky eater (who wouldn't touch a plum with a ten foot pole) gobbled it down. I'll be making them again, despite the long cooking time, because it may be the only way I get her to eat fruit! I found the basic instructions for fruit leather here. I used plums and peaches together and it was DELICIOUS!

This recipe is easily doubled, and I would suggest it because they are devoured in seconds!
All you need is fruit, water, sugar, lemon juice, and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.

4 cups chopped fruit (I did 2 cups plums and 2 cups peaches) 
1/2 cup water

Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes, until fruit is cooked through.
Taste mixture to determine sugar needed. Depending on the ripeness of the fruit, you will need to add more or less sugar. Add sugar 1 Tbsp at a time. I didn't add much because I like my leather to be a little on the tart side.  Add 1 tsp lemon juice to enhance the fruit flavor and add tartness. Add a few pinches of spices. I added cinnamon and nutmeg.

Continue cooking until thickened (10-15 minutes or more). Puree the mixture to make it smooth. I used a stick blender to do this. Adjust sugar and spices if necessary. 

Pour puree onto a lined baking sheet (using microwave safe plastic wrap or parchment). Make sure the lining hangs over the edge, but does not fold back over the puree. The mixture should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 140 degree Fahrenheit (or the lowest setting on your oven) for 8-10 hours. (Mine took much longer, but I think it was because my pan was warped that there was a spot that was too thick). The fruit leather is ready when the surface is smooth and no longer sticky. It will peel off the plastic quite easily.

To store fruit leather (if you have any left over after the kids and husband devour it), wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator.

Canned Tomato Fail

Argh! I get so frustrated when something doesn't work out. 

I've been getting tons of tomatoes off my plants. Yay! This is just two days worth:

Then, to prepare them for canning, I spend hours blanching and peeling them:

I've canned a thousand tomatoes without any problems. Today? I wasted 3 hours of peeling, coring, chopping, and boiling. And it wasn't just time that got wasted......I wasted 20 POUNDS of tomatoes!! I don't know what I did wrong, but ALL eight of my pint jars leaked when I took them out of the canner. And that means that ALL eight jars are not sealed properly and have to be tossed. What a waste!

See the red on the towel under the jars? That shouldn't be there. As soon as I pulled the jars out of the canner, they bubbled out through the seals. That means that there is food between the lid and the jar which can spoil and ruin the seal.

And not only that, the juice/water is on the bottom and all of the tomatoes floated to the top. Now they are not submerged under liquid like they are supposed to be.

What did I do wrong? Did I over or under tighten the lids? Did I boil them too short or too long? I'll never know. I thought I did everything the same as the last time (when all the jars sealed with no problems).

I'm glad that summer is coming to an end. I love the warm weather, but I'm ready for crisp fall air and sweaters. And most of all, I'm ready for NO MORE TOMATOES to can. I think I'm "canned out" for the year. I know I shouldn't focus on this one failure, but I hate wasting my time. Grrr!


**UPDATE**
It turns out I didn't have to waste my tomatoes. All of the jars sealed, though with tomato juice in between the lid and jar. So, as long as I used them quickly (before the juice in the seal broke down), I didn't have to toss the tomatoes. (I hate to waste food). I made salsa, tomato sauce, sweet and sour sauce, and fed tomato based meals to my family all week. I don't feel so bad about my Tomato Fail anymore. :-)

The Curse of the Zucchini

I love gardening. Especially when the time comes to harvest the veggies. This year, my peppers didn't produce ANYTHING, but my tomatoes did well enough for me to can a few batches of sauce, salsa, and just plain chopped tomatoes.

And then there was the zucchini plant.

The first few harvests made me so happy. Sauteed zucchini for dinner and zucchini bread for breakfast. Yum!

And then they kept coming. And coming. And coming!

And no matter how fast I picked them, they just kept getting bigger and bigger! I would see one the size of my finger and think to myself, "Oh, good, it will be the perfect size for picking tomorrow." And then tomorrow comes and WOW! It's the size of my foot! How the heck did it grow that much in ONE NIGHT?!?!

For the last month I have had a bowl of zucchini on the counter that never gets empty. I even have to throw some away because they start to go bad! I tried keeping them in my fridge, but they started to take over (like no more room for milk or eggs), and some of them were just too big to fit at all.

Needless to say, I just CAN'T eat any more sautéed zucchini. And you can only have so much shredded zucchini and zucchini bread in the freezer.

I needed a few new things to make with the overload of zucchini we were picking. (Note to self: DEFINITELY never plant more than one zucchini plant. I don't know what we would do if we had even MORE zucchini.)

Here are some of the ideas I found, and the recipes to go with them.

Fried Zucchini Cakes I found the recipe here. Basically, you shred up some zucchini and toss it with seasonings and breadcrumbs (and an egg to hold it together). Form it into little round "cakes" and fry it in a pan until brown (I like to finish them in the oven). Great as a main course with some dipping sauce, or as a side dish.

Zucchini Bread with Pineapple I have made many different versions of zucchini bread (using milk, orange juice, nuts, chocolate chips, etc.), but never with pineapple chunks. I had to leave out the raisins and nuts so my kids will eat it, but other than that I followed the recipe found here.

Quinoa Salad with Zucchini Cook quinoa according to directions, but use chicken broth instead of plain water. Cube zucchini and sauté it quickly (just enough to make it not raw). Blanch some corn and peas (fresh or frozen). Slice a red onion. Dice tomatoes (fresh or sun dried). After the quinoa is cooked and cooled some, mix in the veggies that you prepped (whatever ratio you like, but having more quinoa than veggies for best results). Mix in chopped fresh herbs of your choice (I like oregano, thyme, and mint). Toss with you favorite vinaigrette. Add goat cheese on top of each serving. YUM!

Curried Zucchini Soup This is a really quick and easy soup to make. We ate it as a mail course with some fresh baked bread. I think I like it better warm than cold, but you can eat it either way. See the recipe here.

Zucchini Chips I didn't actually try these, because I am seriously zucchini'd out this year. But I plan to try these next year. They seem pretty easy, and maybe my kids would eat them. (Ha! Yeah right!) Slice zucchini and spread out evenly over sheet pan. Spray with oil, season with salt and pepper (and in my house we would use cajun or mexican seasoning too), and bake at 225 degrees for 45 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 30-35 more minutes until browned.

Zucchini Chocolate Brownies I was pretty skeptical about this recipe. I mean, zucchini brownies? Sounds gross. But I was desperate to find new ways to use my over abundance of zucchini, so I tried it. At first I thought we would eat it without the frosting, as a way to make it more healthy. Ew. It tasted like zucchini dipped in chocolate. And it wasn't even CLOSE to having brownie texture. Bleh. So I went ahead and made the frosting, hoping it would at least make them edible enough that I didn't have to waste them. Oh. My. Gosh. Add a little homemade whipped cream? YUM! Seriously good! Not just "good enough." But actually good! Chocolatey and gooey (and sort of healthy, I guess). I made another batch and froze it for future "chocolate emergencies."

(I'm sorry, I forget where I got the recipe. Luckily I had it printed out so I can give it to you here.)

Ingredients:
   2 cups chopped raw zucchini
  1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
  1/2 cup low fat yogurt (I used greek, but regular would work too)
  1 1/4 cup sugar
  1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used all purpose white flour)
  1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  1 tsp salt (not iodized)

Frosting ingredients:
  1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
  1/4 cup canned evaporated milk
  2 Tbsp butter
  1/2 tsp vanilla
  1 cup powdered sugar
  1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I didn't use nuts)

Directions:
  Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 inch pan. In blender, puree zucchini, oil, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Set aside. In a large bowl, disk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add puree to dry ingredients and stir until moist throughout. Pour into greased pan, spread evenly, and bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean (do not overcook!). Remove and place on cooling rack.

Frosting directions:
  Combine chocolate chips, evaporated milk, butter and vanilla in a microwave proof bowl. Microwave on flu 30-40 seconds. Remove and whisk until melted and smooth (return to microwave for a few seconds if necessary). Add powdered sugar and continue to whisk until smooth. Spread evenly over brownies. Sprinkle with nuts if desired. (You can also melt the chocolate mixture over a double boiler if desired).

*****I had extra frosting left over. I put it on some plastic spoons and then put the spoons in the freezer. Perfect for adding a little chocolate to your coffee or just to eat when you need a quick chocolate fix! My kids LOVE them. Ok, so do I.*****

Zucchini Pickles (refrigerated and hot water bath canned)

     Refrigerator Pickles: These pickles are nice and crisp. A little sweet for my taste, but delicious anyway. You can get the full recipe here.

To prepare for pickling, you need to toss the zucchini (or cucumber, or whatever) with salt to draw out some of the moisture. Add ice and let it sit for a few hours. You can put the veggies in a colander in a bowl to separate out the water, or just drain them when they are done. The veggies will then be able to absorb the flavors in the vinegar better.

**Although I put these pickles in canning jars, they must be refrigerated. I did not process them in a canner, so they are not shelf stable.**

     Hot Water Bath Canned Pickles: I got this recipe from my local Master Preservers class.

          Ingredients:
            5 lbs medium zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices
            2 lbs mild white onion, thinly sliced
            1/4 cup salt (NOT IODIZED)
            ice water

            4 cups cider vinegar
            2 cups sugar
            2 Tbsp mustard seed
            1 Tbsp each celery seed AND ground turmeric
            2 tsp ground ginger
            3 cloves garlic, minced

          Directions:
            Place zucchini, onions, and salt in a large bowl and cover with ice water. Let stand for 1-2 hours. Drain, rinse, and drain again. In a large kettle mix vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, celery seeds, turmeric, ginger, and garlic. Bring to a boil over high heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Boil for 2-3 minutes.

Stir in zucchini mixture, return to a boil and boil for 2 more minutes. Pack hot mixture into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, and places lids on jars. Process for 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Makes 8 pints.

Cilantro to Coriander

Just a little tip I learned last year. When your cilantro bolts...... which it ALWAY will (especially right when you want to use it), DON'T pull it out!! (By the way, "bolting" is when the herb suddenly grows really tall and flowers). Let it go, watering lightly, until the flowers are gone and turn into little balls on the end of the branches. As soon as most of these balls are brownish in color, cut the stalks and put them upside down in a paper bag. 

When they are all dried, you take all of the balls off the stems. Then, gently rub over them with your hand to get any extra stem or leaf off. Bottle them up and store with your spices. When it is time you use them, you can grind them up or just crack them with the back of a spoon (for coarser uses). They smell so good.... and are great to use in cooking. Grow one plant and harvest two different products. Double duty herb!

Watermelon Fail

When I started blogging, I told myself that I would post about my failures as well as my successes. After all, no one is perfect. And I have learned a lot from reading about other peoples "failures," so hopefully this will help YOU.


I consider myself an average gardener. I am learning quickly, but I still don't know everything. This year, I FINALLY had success growing pumpkins and melons. Yay! Watching and waiting for them to ripen, though, is hard. And how do you know if it is really ripe?


I had a wonderful little watermelon on my vine that I had been watching grow for weeks. I went away for a week on vacation, and when I returned, it looked exactly like the picture on the plant label! Hurray! It's time! So I thought. I read the label, and then read it again to be sure that it was ready. "Dark green fruit, firm, 6" in diameter." Yep. Yep. Yep. Then I tapped it and it sounded hollow, just like it's supposed to.


So I picked it.

I used my hand to show you the size. My hand is about 6 1/2 inches from heel to tip of fingers. (Ignore the green paint on my thumb..... I guess I should have worn gloves while painting my daughter's light.)

I was so excited to cut into it. I grabbed my kids and hurried to the kitchen. I got out my knife and sliced it open.......

Darn it. I guess it wasn't ready. :-(


I will post again when the next melon is ripe...... wish me luck.

Amazing Ladybugs

I'm sure you know what this is:

But do you know where it comes from?


I never much thought about the life cycle of a Ladybug. I have always known that it was a "good" bug. Even little kids know that Ladybugs are safe to touch and are nice to have around the garden. But, until recently, I never knew how amazing Ladybugs are.


During my recent struggle with Aphids (see post here), I wanted to be sure that I educated myself about the other bugs in my garden so that I wouldn't kill the ones that were actually helping me keep the Aphids away. I already knew that Ladybugs eat Aphids, but I kept seeing this bug around:

I did a quick Google search and found out that it is referred to as a Ladybird. But you know what? It's a LADYBUG! A Ladybird is really just an early form of a Ladybug! I have always wondered what those alligator looking bugs were. Now I know!


So I kept my eyes open in the garden in case I might find other interesting bugs that I should keep around to help with my Aphid problem. I found this guy, practically suctioned to the leaves of my plants:

Worried that he might be consuming my precious vegetable plants, I did another Internet search. Guess what? It's a LADYBUG!!


The alligator looking baby (Ladybird) turns into this orange blob. I'm guessing it's kind of like a cocoon. It doesn't move at all, is totally stuck to the leaf, and the Ladybug emerges leaving a "skin":

Amazing! And to think, I always just thought Ladybugs were born the way we all know them:

But that's not all!! The other day, while inspecting my roses for Aphids, I saw this little cluster of orange "eggs":

Yup! Ladybug eggs!!


And a few days later, I checked back to see if they were still there and found this:

Baby Ladybirds (young ladybugs) just hatching out of their eggs! I can't believe that I have been able to see (and capture with my camera) every stage of a Ladybug's life in my own garden!


AMAZING!

Ahhh! Aphids!

I went out the other morning to water my garden. I was noticing that my rose bushes had some funny black spots on their leaves, so I looked closer. What did I find? About a million aphids, feasting on the leaves! Okay. Maybe not a million. But really close.

Trying to be chemical free, I resisted the urge to spray them with my bug killer I had left from last year. I vaguely recalled someone once telling me to spray aphids with soapy water to kill them, so I did a quick google search. Sure enough, there were various websites and forums discussing the effectiveness of soapy water to kill aphids. I browsed through the posts in this forum and found all the information I needed. Basically, you put a few drops of Dawn dishwashing soap (other brands probably work just fine) into a spray bottle and fill with water. It's important not to put more than 2 Tbsp per gallon of water so that you don't damage the plant itself.


I quickly whipped up a batch and ran outside to try it out.


I spritzed and spritzed, searching each new bud and under each leaf.


It was amazing.


They stopped moving instantly. Dead.


After I got them all (or at least all the ones I could see), I sprayed the whole plant down with my hose. The dead aphids just washed right off. I knew that the water would damage the existing flowers, but I was willing to sacrifice those to save the hundreds of little buds that were under attack. And now I have beautiful, (almost) aphid free roses. (As a sidenote, I'm not worried about the few that are left. After all, the ladybugs need something to eat! And to learn more about ladybugs, check out my post here!)

I'm sold. No need for chemicals (well, other than soap).


However, I went out the following day to check on things and found more aphids on the plant! Was the soap a failure? Did I do something wrong? Were those aphids not really dead?


No. No. And No.


Here's what I think is happening. The aphid lays eggs at an EXTREMELY rapid pace. Seriously. You can sit and watch them actually laying eggs on the leaves. Within minutes, one aphid can easily cover a leaf or two. And they mature into adults so fast that some species can produce 40 generations in one season (see here for more facts)! So on one plant, you have aphids in varying stages of life: adults, youth, and eggs. The adults and youth are easily killed, but the eggs seem to be protected from the soap. (The soap kills the aphids by coating their "skin" and preventing them from breathing. Aphids in the egg aren't "breathing" so the soap does nothing). Therefore, you might have gotten all of the adults, but the eggs will soon hatch and mature and start laying more eggs. Continually treating the plant ensures that "new" aphids are killed before having the chance to produce more generations.


The other thing that affects the success of the soapy water is that aphids are REALLY good at hiding. Especially in a plant with many branches, it is hard to find them all the first time. Or the second time.


But each day that I went out, I found fewer and fewer aphids. I was able to really inspect each branch because I wasn't overwhelmed with the thousands of bugs that were there in the beginning. After 4 days, there are so few adult/youth aphids that I could probably count them. And I am able to see where the remaining eggs are.


I don't worry about using the soap everyday because after I kill the bugs, I rinse them off with clean water. The water on the leaves and flowers will do a little damage, but NOTHING compared to what the aphids were doing. And after a little while I'll be able to stop spraying them altogether. Even after only 4 days, I can see a HUGE difference in the health of my roses. And I see flowers blooming that, 4 days ago, didn't have a chance.


Knowing that I'm not spraying lots of crazy chemicals all over my yard makes me feel good. Plus, I can let my kids help me without worrying that they're inhaling a bunch of insecticides. And BOY to kids like to hunt and kill those bugs! I have to admit, it is oddly satisfying to spray those buggers. ***Make sure that you don't spray the ladybugs and other helpful bugs that are likely on the plant as well. They are really good at eating aphids, so you don't want to kill them!*** 


Yay for dishsoap!

Let the Gardening Begin

I am so grateful for the nice weather we've been having. My plants have been loving it too. My seeds are sprouting quickly and my tomatoes and peppers already have flowers!

Last year, it snowed 3 inches the week after I planted my garden (and I waited until May to plant!). I lost most of my plants to the freeze. Cucumber? Gone. Peas? Gone. Pumpkin, squash, watermelon? Gone. Tomatoes and peppers? Froze but came back with a bang! I got TONS of tomatoes and peppers last year. I attribute my success to a few things. First, I planted my tomatoes in black pots and buried them a few inches into the ground. We had just moved in and didn't have a garden area set up yet, so I couldn't put them in the ground. (The peppers were planted in the ground near my back door in direct full sun). Second, I doused my plants with fish emulsion early on, and again right before all the flowers came out. My tomato plants were enormous! Lush and full of leaves, each branch held 5-10 tomatoes at a time. People that came to our house commented on how huge the plants were and how much fruit was on them. Seriously, these plants were all more than 6 feet tall! I have used fish emulsion already on my plants and they doubled in size in just a week! It's really stinky when you put it on, but after a few days the smell goes away. I had some trouble last year with Blossom End Rot, where the bottom of the tomato gets brown and leathery. I found out that this is due to lack of calcium, so this year I mixed in egg shells and oyster shells in my soil. I will probably make an eggshell tea (see below) later in the season just to make sure the BER doesn't happen again this year.

Eggshell Tea: Take a few eggshells and crush them into a pot of water. Boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Use "tea" to water tomatoes and then till crushed shells into soil at base of plant (future watering with help release any remaining calcium into the soil).

I didn't do well with sugar snap peas last year because they were in pots and dried out too fast. This year I made a proper bed for them and built a trellis out of bamboo and string. My kids LOVE to pick the peas and eat them straight from the garden. (I do too.....).

I planted my peas by seed, but not directly into the ground (just in case it snowed again this year). I transplanted them when they seemed sturdy enough. I learned a new way to start seeds this year. You take an empty gallon milk jug (which are easy to obtain when you have three kids) and cut around the jug just under the handle. Leave it intact at the handle. Poke some holes in the bottom and top and, ta-da....... Mini greenhouses! Fill the bottom with dirt and plant some seeds.

They are protected from snow, but still get plenty of light and water. And because they are started outside (as opposed to an indoor windowsill), they are hardier plants and transplant to the ground easier. I had such success with my peas that I planted broccoli and beet seeds in them. They have begun to sprout after just 3 days!

And here's what they look like after a week:

The other thing I had trouble with last year was zucchini. I always thought of it as the easiest garden plant.... but when it snows and freezes, it's pretty hard to bring back. That, and I planted it in a spot that was too shady. I hope I do better this year. So far, it looks pretty healthy:

This year I am planning on not using any chemical pesticides. There are so many natural remedies out there that I am excited to try. I will keep you posted if I use any of them..... and let you know if they work. I'm sure I'll have to try the snail and slug repellant this year. Supposedly, if you set a lid of a jar on the ground and fill it with beer, the snails and slugs will be drawn to it instead of the plants. They will drink the beer and then die. My grandmother swore by it. I'm going to try it this year and see what happens. This probably wouldn't work for you if you have an outside dog, though, because dogs like beer too. :-)

Composting

It's time for the summer garden. Yay! It's one of my favorite things to do. I love to get my hands dirty. I love the smell of the dirt. And I LOVE picking the veggies that grow. My kids have a blast helping me, and they absolutely LOVE eating peas straight from the vine. (all but my 3 year old who doesn't eat anything but chicken nuggets and noodles......).

Every year I think, "Gee, it would be nice to have some homemade compost to put in with my plants." And every year it gets put off until later. At first we were waiting to be settled into a permanent house. Then, we were waiting to build our own compost boxes. I've saved scraps from the kitchen for OTHER people who had compost bins. And for the last few months I've saved scraps for us. I thought maybe it would force us to really get our compost pile going this time. I picked a spot in the yard and just made a pile of stuff, adding to it every few days. I guess it worked. Yesterday, my husband came home with this:

Isn't it pretty? Well, not really, but it definitely looks better than a pile of food scraps on the ground.

Now, it isn't the DIY version of a compost box/pile that I had envisioned us having. But I'm not complaining. FINALLY I will be able to turn my pile of scraps into something useable. (And it's much easier to mix up than a box/pile that you have to turn by hand with a pitchfork).

Here's a little side note about this compost bin. It took FOREVER to put together. It comes in a million pieces with wordless instructions that use vague drawings to tell you what to do. Now, my husband is one of those "I don't need to read the instructions" kid of guys. He's very  handy with tools and is very good at figuring things out. Me? I'm the complete opposite. I'm handy with tools, but I ALWAYS follow the directions. Word for word. (Or in this case, picture for picture). He got going right away, jumping ahead as usual. We started butting heads about what to do next. He probably could have gotten it together without the directions, but there would have been a lot of colorful language and possible breakage of tools and/or parts. (Ha ha). After a TON of home improvement projects together, we have figured out a way to work together that makes us both feel useful. So I offer this bit of advice, in case you have a similar differences of personality with your spouse.......... I read the directions a step ahead and get all the parts, hardware, and tools  needed. Then I tell him where they go and he puts it together. I get to read the directions and know that all the pieces are used in the right places, and he gets to NOT read the direction and do the actual putting together. It works for us.

Now it's time to watch my instructional video on "How to Compost" that came with the unit. I kinda already know what to do. But you know me. I've got to read (watch) the directions anyway. Who knows? Maybe I'll learn something new. Now LET'S GET COMPOSTING!

**UPDATE***
Here is a list of what to compost. There are people out there who add other things to their piles (like cooked pasta, milk products, and urine). I've done a little research about what the "ingredients" do to the compost and have decided NOT to use certain items. So this is MY list of what I will be adding to my bin.

COFFEE GROUNDS (AND FILTERS)
PAPER TOWELS AND PAPER NAPKINS
PAPER BAGS (RIPPED UP.... GOOD IN PLACE OF LEAVE DURING SUMMER MONTHS)
NUT SHELLS (**NOT** WALNUT BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN POISONOUS CHEMICALS)
PAPER EGG CARTONS (RIPPED UP)
TISSUES
HAIR
DRYER LINT
SHREDDED PAPER (OLD BILLS, ETC.)
PENCIL SHAVINGS
SHREDDED NEWSPRINT
ASHES (NOT FROM CHARCOAL)
HAY
PET FUR
CHICKEN MANURE (AND WOOD SHAVINGS FROM COOP)
CRUSHED EGGSHELLS
VEGETABLE AND FRUIT SCRAPS (NO CITRUS)
GRASS CLIPPINGS
GARDEN CLIPPINGS

I'm sure that I forgot a few things, but this covers most of the things that I use daily that can be added to the bin.