Yep, We Grew That

 This was our first year growing corn. We did not think it would actually work, our yard is too small to grow enough stalks to cross-pollinate. We had really low hopes, but it actually worked. Look at how beautiful that is? I'm glad we ignored the experts and tried it anyway.

Sunflowers!

Remember these tiny little sunflowers?

Well look at them now!

 My husband is 6'3" (I think?) so we guess that the tall one is about 9 feet tall now! Crazy. They tower over the fence so our neighbors can enjoy them too.

 When they were first peeking over the fence, our one neighbor said it freaked her out a bit because it looked like someone was spying at them.

One of them already has a big beautiful bloom too.

 

Its so nice to be able to spend time outside. Too bad our lazy summer days have come to an end...school starts next week!

Three Sisters Garden Update

Remember when everything in our garden was tiny and just barely starting to grow? Well look at it now! Whew, those sunflowers have been growing like crazy. At one point it felt like they were growing 6 inches a day. The flower heads are just beginning to form so I think they will stop getting higher now.

They have served their purpose though. Although the green beans we planted did not grow very well (out of the 16 we planted, only 3 grew). The ones that did have laced themselves around the sunflowers and climbed on up. Can you see this one wrapping itself around? That's like 5 feet high too. Their good little climbers.

 

 We even have some corn growing. I think we had about 4 stalks shoot up so we did not think that we get any corn because corn needs to be planted in bunches so it can cross pollinate. Everything we read recommended that you grow at least 12 stalks so that they can cross pollinate. I guess we were just lucky!

The only thing I will probably do different next year is wait longer to plant the squash. Once it started growing well, the leaves blocked the still small beans from getting enough sunlight. We ended up having to cut off a bunch of the leaves from the squash. Each large leaf usually supports a flower which will grow into a squash. It was sad to see the flowers die and know we weren't going to get squash from them. We do have plenty more flowers forming though so I am sure we will get plenty.

Oh yeah, remember those tiny herbs just beginning to sprout? Well look at them now:

 I've been trying to use the basil as much as I can, but I guess not enough because this one is going to flower.

Sneaky Vegetables

 Our vegetables are growing like crazy now that it is getting hotter. Check out those Mustard Greens, they are HUGE!

 The Swiss Chard is pretty big, but I am not sure why the leaves are funky. I just tear off the funky parts when we eat it.

 The herbs... not quite big enough to use yet, but hopefully soon.

 The part I'm most excited for...the broccoli. I can finally see a little floret starting to grow.

 So I have been trying to come up with ways to use our lettuce in ways that the kids will eat it. Last night I tried adding it to pasta sauce and it was delicious.

I took 3 or 4 of the largest leaves of the Mustard Greens and Swiss Chard, tore off the thick stems, and ripped it into several smaller pieces and steamed them for about 5 minutes or so. Then, with an immersion blender, I mixed it into some spaghetti sauce (I just used some from a jar) along with some minced garlic. I served it over some rotini noodles with a little parmesan cheese and the kids LOVED it. My daughter is really picky and she asked for seconds.  I thought the lettuce taste might be a little overpowering, but it really made the sauce taste really good and I loved the color that it made the sauce.

 The biggest evidence is this little man's face. We don't even bother with a bib on spaghetti night...it is so much easier to just strip him down and stick him in the kitchen sink when he is done.

Our garden and some tips for small spaces

For the past 4 years, we have grown our own vegetables in our backyard. Having your own vegetable garden is economical and great way to feed your family fresh, healthy, and pesticide-free vegetables. This year, it has been an unseasonably cold and wet spring which has not been great for the garden, but some plants are doing great, while others are not. Hopefully it will start to take off soon.

Living in a townhome, our backyard is not very big, but we have found various ways to better utilize the space, while still being able to use our backyard for play and entertaining. Here are some of the ways we plan to make the most out of a small space this year:


Plant more than one type of vegetable together

This space will be our "Three Sisters Garden"


A three sisters garden is corn, beans, and squash planted together to help eachother. The corn grow tall and allow the beans vines to crawl up them. The beans provide nitrogen for the soil, and the squash has big leaves that keep pests/rodents/etc. from getting to any of them.

The corn is planted first, but after several weeks of nothing, I planted Sunflowers as back up:Then a few days ago I saw this one little corn starting to pop up so all hope is not lost.


Use containers to create more growing space
We like using containers because we can move them around to get more sunlight, move them closer to the house on colder nights, and move them out of the way when we have people over and want to use the backyard for entertaining. It also keeps the voles that are prevalent in our neighborhood from eating our plants.

We love these self-watering containers, you poor water in the bottom and the soil soaks it up when needed. I am mosquito paranoid and don't want any standing water breeding grounds so we only use this feature when we go out of town.
Red cabbage (a recent hailstorm beat up a lot of our plants)

Mustard Greens

Swiss Chard

Herbs:

Strawberries

Broccoli

Plant for multiple seasons

Tomato, its not looking so good. I'm hoping it will hang in there and get better once it warms up some more. I also have more broccoli planted surrounding the tomato. The broccoli is a cool-season crop so I planted it first, it will die off once it gets too hot. Then the tomato can take over the space.

Peas
Last year at this time these had already climbed up several feet onto the trellis.

After the peas grow a bit more and establish themselves better, we are going to plant carrots intermixed with the peas. The peas die off once it gets hot in the summer so then we will still be able to utilize the garden space by having carrots which grow in the summer and are harvested late summer and fall.


I'll keep everyone updated on the progress of our garden as the season progresses.

Do you have tips you want to share?

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