Cabbage!

So here's the cabbage that's ready to harvest. Some of the outer leaves are a little bug-eaten, but overall the head looks beautiful.

Except here. Did something get inside? When I pulled a leaf aside, an evil little earwig skittered away.

Lifting another leaf, I found this bad boy. What the heck! Leave my garden alone!!!!

So Cam and Ollie came out to help. Ollie thinks we're harvesting a ball for him to play with.

It rolls away, and it looks exactly like any head of cabbage that I've ever bought. Whew!

And yes, I do see that other snail up in the right hand corner.

I took it inside and called my Mom.

"I harvested a cabbage!" I shrieked, with the same enthusiasm that is usually reserved for the announcement of engagements and pregnancies. "A cabbage!"

Mom was impressed.

I washed my cabbage in the sink, pulling back the first leaf to reveal a tiny earwig. But only one. I pulled a few more leaves and everything looked fine.

I'll admit, that while I was thrilled with my cabbage, I was also a little freaked out at the thought of eating it. I set it on the counter to see if any more bugs would make their way out.

I waited. Nothing.

Here goes. Oh, golly, I'm hoping that a million earwigs don't spill out onto my counter. If they do, I might torch my whole garden.

It's perfect!

Both halves are perfect!!!

Pardon me while I revel in my little agricultural miracle.

Now what? Thinkthinkthink.

I grabbed a few green onions from the garden...

Chop, mix, toast (almonds), crush and stir.

Voila!

Cabbage and Ramen Salad!

Very tasty.

So, How Does My Garden Grow?

Pretty well, I think. Some things are doing great, some, not so great. I'm taking notes and already thinking about what I want to do next year.


This is what's going on right now:


Peppers...green, red, and jalapenos. For the longest time they weren't doing much of anything - looked kind of peaked, but in the last week or so they've started taking off and they have quite a few little blossoms.





This is my teeny, tiny jalapeno. I call him Jose. I think he will be delicious.




We have a lovely patch of carrots... none are ready yet.



Lots of green onions and I think one of these squares is actually red onions.




This is cauliflower. Huge and leafy, and I need to keep spraying it with a pesticide. I couldn't see any little heads of cauliflower, and I was about to pull the whole thing out, but then this morning I saw the tiniest little things that just might turn into cauliflower. We'll see.



These two squares have been planted 4 times with green beans. Nine plants (in each one foot square) have sprouted, grown to 2-3 inches, and then disappeared. Four times. I am ticked. Even the little fence hasn't protected my beans.




This is the bean plant pilferer.





Shhhhhh....Ollie doesn't know about this little square of beans.


Cilantro. Bolted. I suppose I could dry it and shake out the coriander seeds, but I'm not going to. I wanted cilantro.



My cabbage! I've had to spray it to keep the bugs off, but now it's ready to harvest (how cool does that word sound?)



Here's another. I think it's the cutest thing ever.

Tomatoes. So far, a disappointment. The plants seem spindly and they are starting to yellow from the base up. Not much fruit - something called Blossom Drop. I'm still hoping that they (4 plants) can turn around, 'cause really, what's a garden without a good tomato crop?

This is the cherry tomato plant. I've eaten 8 tiny tomatoes off of it. They were so delicious...I want more!

The spinach did pretty well - been adding it to salads.

Red and green leaf lettuce - it's done really well. There was some Romaine that was good, but then it bolted. Snails have also hung out in the green lettuce. Overall, a success.

I think the red leaf lettuce is very pretty.

Oooooo...fresh basil!

Zucchini!! I've harvested a few so far. There is a yellow crookneck squash planted nearby, but so far, no fruit.

There were also three broccoli plants. Ollie pulled out the best one and carried it through the yard, whipping it from side to side, while I chased him. The other two produced about a four inch crown of broccoli each. While I waited to show Troy my broccoli success. they sprouted into a large bouquet of yellow flowers. And they were buggy. I don't think I'll do broccoli again.

And that's my garden...so far.

Any luck in your gardens?

Starting a Garden

Last spring, I got the itch to plant a garden. We hadn't had a garden in several years - mainly due to our crappy soil, lack of planning, fear of hard work, and the attitude that we would only fail once again.

Then I found this:

I felt hopeful that I could have a successful garden. So Troy, ever wanting to make me happy, built me some gardens.

We (I totally mean Troy) pulled out the old sandbox, laid the weed fabric down, and set the 6 inch deep gardens on top.

These two are 4x4 foot square. After they turned out so well, he went on to build 2 3x3 foot gardens, and a 2x8 foot garden.

Here, he's getting ready to make the soil mix. He's got peat moss,

different kinds of compost,

and vermiculite.

Gotta mix it up.

Mix some more.

Still mixing.

Seriously, you wanna put the camera down and help?

Fine...I'll help mix.

Then we (he) filled the beds.

And filled...And filled...

Until they were full.

And then, because I had put the camera down to help, I didn't pick it back up again to take pictures of the finished gardens. Whoops.

So just imagine...all the soil is nice and smooth and then Troy adds the grids that mark the whole thing off in 1 foot sections. Each section will be planted with 1-16 plants, depending on the size that it needs to grow. A cabbage, for example, takes up one whole square. Green onions, 16 per square.

The other boxes (3x3 and the 2x8) will hold the squash and tomatoes.

Thanks, Troy!!! The gardens turned out beautifully.

This is how they look now.

And the best part? No weeds. Not a single one. Next year, all I have to do is add a scoop of compost to each square and mix it up by hand, and it'll be ready to plant. The hard work is OVER.

Pretty cool, huh?

Bird in the House

So. Huge storm the other day, and when the boys and I opened the front door to watch it, a BIRD FLEW IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!

It was a really bad storm, and I guess the bird was taking refuge on our porch. Perhaps going inside to dry off seemed like a good idea to the bird - but not to me.

I was trying to snap pictures and stay calm, but I was freaking out on the inside. Seriously, how do you get a wild bird out of your house??

After about 5 minutes (and getting tired of the flash going off in its face), the bird flew into our sliding glass door and fell to the floor. We opened the door, it stood up, and flew back out.

Whew!

Family in our ward found a skunk in their kitchen once. It had come in through a doggy door and was eating cat food.

Have you ever had real-live nature things in your house?

11 year old Scout Camp

Last weekend, Cam headed off for his very first overnight scout camp. Troy was able to go along (did a little dutch oven cookin') and they had a wonderful time.

There was bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. Cam fried up 3 lbs. (!) for 8 people.

Little bit of hiking.

And some geocaching, which was Cam's favorite part.

Knife sharpening,

Whittling,

At least I think this is whittling...

Campfires and midnight flashlight games, sleeping in a tent with your buddy, knives, knives, knives, and getting dirty, makes for one happy boy.

It's crazy to think that in about 5 months he'll be holding the Priesthood, passing the sacrament, going to Young Men's, etc. Love you, Cam!