Loving the garden

I have been SO busy, but am loving the garden. We are finally getting some zucchini. So we now have tons of tomatoes and cucumbers, and squash, zucchini, and okra. We also have baby corn and jalapeno peppers, just waiting on them to get bigger.

I canned 6 quarts of garlic dill pickles this weekend. I made 3 quarts of dill chips and 3 quarts of dill spears. I have never tried to can or pickle before, but it really was not too bad.

Pretty Flowers, Baby Tomatoes, and Sad Corn

I have my first baby tomatoes and many many blooms on several plants, my cucumbers have began to vine and my broccoli and brussel sprouts are getting big. My squash and zucchini are growing very nicely and leafing out, and my eggplant is finally big enough to plant in the garden.

The azalea my Nana gave me from cuttings of hers is blooming now. I thought it would not bloom because usually azaleas bloom early, but buds showed up about a week ago and it now has lovely blooms. My roses are in full fragrant bloom. My lilies are budding and my gladiolas are getting nice and tall.

The garden is doing very well, except for the corn, it is yellow, some is withered and I have no clue why or how to help it. I emailed the MSU extension service and am waiting to hear back from them. I am making sure to keep it watered. It makes me sad because I love corn especially fresh corn, but if I can't grow it I have a friend whose Dad farms and I can still get some fresh corn from him if mine doesn't work out.

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.

Method(s) and Style(s) of Gardening

I do not have a lot of space, so I used my own method of modified square foot gardening. My garden was pretty congested, and there are pros and cons to it. A pro was there was not much weeding that had to be done, but the con was it was harder to harvest and I missed a few cucumbers and squash because of the dense growth. One thing I will do different this year is try to do more vertical gardening. I am using tomato cages and lattice to try and get the most out of the vines, so I can plant more of each, and they will not overwhelm the other non-vining plants.



I am an organic gardener. I also use my own soil, and put mulch around the plants to minimize weeds. Here is a pic of my garden in the early stages last year. I removed a few of the tomato plants to make room because my heirlooms got enormous. I staked them, but they got so big and heavy they outgrew the stakes, so I am definitely getting metal cages this year so I can tame the tomatoes a bit better than I did last year.


I am a trial and error gardener. I read as much as I can and research as I go. This works well for me because I have very little time and it is easier for me to research problems as they arise than to try and learn everything all at once and end up forgetting half of everything.