Productive Weekend!

We got a lot done this weekend! I set out the strawberries and tomatoes that I have (still waiting on some tomato plants that I ordered to get here). I like heirloom tomatoes, it is what I grew up with, so that is what I plant. I am not big on whether or not my plants are hybrid or not, and I tend to shop around until I find a variety that works and then stick with it. I am using the same variety of squash, and okra, growing them from seed. I am also using some of the tomatoes I used last year. I could not find one of the varieties of tomato, and my grandparents gave me some of their seedlings last year so I guess those two varieties I won't have, but I did find some heirlooms similar to what I got from them, so I hope they work out. The hubby has done a good job preparing the soil and turning the garden spot, we almost have the extension we wanted finished.

I also finished designing, planting, and mulching the Kitty Memorial garden.
Our pet cat, Mr. Kitty passed away this winter and he was the first pet that my kids have lost (besides fish). They wanted to do something special, and the flower garden with the memorial garden stone looks very pretty. I think it was a sweet idea and really like how it turned out. There is a miniature rose, petunias, miniature dahlias, and pansies.

All of my seeds except the corn and eggplant have sprouted. I need to try and transplant the squash into bigger pots soon, they really took off. I'll probably have monster squash plants again this year. Last year they were nearly as tall as me, and taller then the kids. HUGE!!! My blueberry bushes have tons of buds on them and so do my roses. My lilies have sprouted and my irises have spread like wildfire this year, I was surprised to see so many of them. I hope they bloom this year, they did not bloom last year and the year before, they only had a couple of blooms.
I promise to take a lot more pictures of the garden this year.
I already have some pics of the seedlings, memorial garden, and vegetable garden spot so far, and will post them later tonight.

Why garden?

I grew up in the South U.S. in the country. My Grandparents on both sides gardened, my parents gardened, and there was many a day I have fond, and not so fond memories of seeing and smelling the numerous varieties of heirloom flowers in the flower garden, weeding and hoeing rows in the vegetable garden, eating fresh fruit off the trees, and sitting on the back porch shelling peas, snapping beans, and shucking corn.

When I grew up and moved away to college I had a rude awakening when all of my store bought produce did not taste the same as I remembered vegetables and fruits tasting when I was growing up. I love vegetables, berries, and fruits, and you just can not find anything in the supermarket that compares to fresh home grown heirloom produce. Unfortunately my college town did not have a farmer's market either, so I was stuck with supermarket produce for awhile.

I got used to the store bought produce, but whenever I visited my grandparents I always stocked up on canned and fresh veggies from the garden, jams, jellies, and pretty much whatever I could get my hands on.

A couple of years ago my husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol, and we know he has a family history of heart disease, so we made the decision to drastically change our diet. We switched to whole grain breads and pastas, reduced the amount of processed and pre-packaged foods we were using, and reduced the amount of sodium and the types of oils we cooked with. I also decided that I wanted to do a vegetable garden.

I have had a flower garden for years, roses, lilies, gladiolus, daisies, iris, heirloom daffodils, and some herbs, but I had never considered a vegetable garden. I guess I was kind of scared and not sure I could do it. After all I am a mom of three who works full time and goes to school, but for the sake of my family and taste buds, I decided to just go for it.

I decided to try a few of our favorites, watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, peas, cucumber, squash, and okra. Some things worked, even better than I could have imagined, the heirloom tomatoes from my grandparents grew and produced big, yummy and a generous harvest, in fact all of the tomatoes except the cherry tomato gave a huge crop. The cucumbers, okra, and squash also did fantastic.