The day started out dreary and cold as I (Trista) noticed my car's outdoor temperature reading was 50 degrees! It rained through this morning, but we thought we should try to do some gardening. I went for a walk with Adam while my Mom tried to plant some sunflower seeds. The sunflower seed packet said that they "tolerate drought and adverse conditions" and she wondered if "adverse conditions" included the opposite of drought. If so this row should thrive. She got half a row (about 6 feet) in before deciding that the soil was too squishy and she was afraid of ruining the dirt. (Later on we planted cucumber starts like the one pictured above). So, she joined us on our walk.
Our Walkabout with Adam:
We saw many pretty native plants and other sights on our walk down the driveway and beyond with Adam as he pulled along his favorite stick. He really enjoyed splashing in the puddles with his little yellow rain boots on the way down the road.
First, we came upon a beautiful rock covered in a thick green moss with a small fern growing in it. It's hard to know how this will look once the weather dries up a bit but right now it is beautiful.
Later, we saw some salal that was blooming. The branches with their pretty and shiny leaves are used a lot in florist arrangements. The flowers turn into small dark blue berries that are edible but bland.
Further up the road we saw a nice patch of sword ferns in among the trees. They like the cool, rainy weather so right now they are a brilliant green. Some of the old fronds from last year are dying. If you have one of these in your garden you would probably cut the old fronds off in early spring to leave room for the new ones to grow and flourish.
From there we saw a dainty and pretty piggyback plant. It has a long stem of little pink bell shaped flowers on it.
Tiny Garden Report:
Later on as Adam was napping we decided to tackle the garden to see what we could possibly plant in this weather. We planted a long row of Double Yield Cucumber plants. Then we decided the only way we were going to get any heat around here was to plant a small row of Jalapeno pepper plants. One of these pepper plants is pictured above.
Our Gardening Purpose:
We've always raised a garden and we've often canned, dried and frozen the harvest as well as eating a lot of it fresh. However, we never really tried to plan to grow the majority of our fruits and vegetables for the whole year.
After I read and then loaned to my mom the book "Animal, Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver in which the author and her family raised most of their food for the year in their large garden and supplemented it by buying only local foods, we were inspired to do something similar.
Last year I didn't participate but I watched my parents were raising a large garden and they are still using a lot of the proceeds from that garden. My mom and I talked about the book and decided to work together towards growing most of our fruits and vegetables for the year.
My mom worked really hard to preserve the bounty of the garden harvest last year and she made everything from stewed tomatoes to pickles and salsa.
Here is a complete list of what she made in the 2009 season:
Frozen Foods:
-strawberries- 12 packages
-blueberries- 7 packages
-hazelnuts- 3.5 quarts
-peas- 2 quarts
-green beans- 16 packages
-zucchini slices- 4 packages
-corn- 27 packages
-bell peppers- 4 one gallon bags
-jalapeno peppers- 3 one gallon bags
-tomatillos- 5 one gallon bags
- brussels sprouts- 2 bags
- brocoli- 2 bags
Dried Foods:
-cherries- 1 gallon bag
-pears- 2 gallon bags
- plums- 6 gallon bags
-mushrooms- 1 quart
-tomatoes- 1 quart
Canned Foods:
490 pounds of tomatoes were harvested in the 2009 season!
-tomatoes- 58 quarts
-tomato juice- 9.5 quarts
-salsa- 30.5 quarts
-tomato sauce- 22 pints
-BBQ sauce- 8 pints
-ketchup- 9 twelve ounce jars
-cider- 20 gallons
Pickled Foods:
-dill pickles- 11 pints
-sweet pickles- 23 pints
-pickle relish- 6 quarts
-pickled jalapeno peppers- 6.5 quarts
Jam:
-strawberry
-blackberry
From this list above you can see that we are very serious about producing most of our fruits and vegetables. Now that I am joining the effort we are trying to grow enough for two families. We have added a lot to our garden this year including potatoes, broccoli, cabbage and other crops that were not grown last year.
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