Saturday, September 26, 2009

Assessment of Recession Garden

An assessment of our recession gardening attempt would be to say it was so-so. It was fun for MK. She didn't so much like the work it took to plant the vegetables, but she so loved going out to check on their progress each day.

The potatoes are long gone. We didn't have many because I didn't have extra soil or anything to pile and make them grow in layers. But, that was fine because we enjoyed the beautiful potato plants -- we had never seen any before. We enjoyed eating the potatoes we had. It was a new experience for us.

We had very few squash. We fought some kind of mold on the leaves . . . big, beautiful leaves they had been! We had two zuchinni squash, the third rotted before it got to six inches long. We had maybe six yellow squash. We made some zuchinni bread, ate some, froze some . . . and froze slices of zuchinni and yellow squash, and cooked yellow squash. So, we enjoyed what we had and will still enjoy some this fall or winter from the freezer.

We have not had an overabundance of tomatoes. We would get two or three every few days from the plants out front. Right now we are getting black leaves, so I'm wondering if we've gotten the tomato blight that I've heard other people have had. The tomatoes in the back have given us a couple of larger tomatoes just recently. There are some more on the vines and they are still very green.

We finally picked some "baby" carrots. They are about three inches long . . . most are shaped rather fat and weird. They don't look like those perfect ones in the store. But, I think we didn't have them far enough apart. We had such a tiny spot for them, they were a bit crowded.

Lettuce was good in the spring, bitter in summer.

We never had broccoli, we couldn't keep ahead of the worms on them . . . even treating them twice a day.

We had two watermelons that were only about 1 1/2 inches long. I looked today and one is black now, the other one will be because the vine leading to it is dead.

We had only a few peppers. There are a few more trying to grow. We have enjoyed them when we get them. They taste so good when they are fresh. We love eating them or cooking with them.

The green onions were delicious, but again, not plentiful and didn't last any time at all.

What did we learn? We learned that what I had guessed was exactly right. Our yard just does not have any really good gardening potential. It is shaded by too many trees and the houses. I think our unusually cool and wet spring and summer may have caused the mold on the squash. The squash also was between the brick wall and our house, so it didn't have possibly the sun and breezes it needed to get rid of some of the moisture.

Financially, this year, gardening cost me more than buying the vegetables would have. The fun we had, the learning MK had (maybe a little science and botany besides gardening, harvesting and cooking/eating?), and the enjoyment from eating was priceless. I had hoped to do quite a bit of freezing and hopefully some canning, and much more baking of bread. I had hoped that we would have our freezer full.

Next year, if we try again, I think we will do more tomatoes. Maybe not much else.

I'm behind on school work, like always. I'm also behind on my required hours for the pay period. I don't know how I manage to get behind like that. I just have no motivation, no energy. Every day I wake up with intentions of accomplishing a lot, and I feel at the end of the day I have accomplished so little, even though I am always very busy. I guess what I do accomplish just isn't what I hope to do. I guess we all feel that way.

MK and I were planning to camp out tomorrow night with C on her mini-vacation, but it has been wet for several days and it is working up a nice little bit of rain storm or shower right now. We have decided not to sleep on the cold wet ground and will just do a day thing instead. MK is mad at me == as if I have control over the weather.

MK is still escaping into her Harry Potter books. I think she has one more to go in the series. She dearly loves reading those books. She said she loves reading them and feeling as if she is "in" the book with them; in fact, she can't stand not to be reading them. We have had some fun with it. She writes little notes to Harry Potter and leaves them around the house. Harry (me) finds them and writes her little notes back.

I sneak a peak into the books ahead of where she is and find something that I can use and mention it in "Harry's" notes to MK. She is puzzled by them, but when she gets to that in her book, she is amazed. She hasn't figured out my secret on that yet. But, it is fun for us both and I like helping to keep her engaged in her reading, and sharing it with her. (I do get a bit bored when she goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on . . . . about the stories. Ha, ha!)

MK has finished another level in her Singapore Math and just did the placement test and passed with an 80% (needs 70% to pass), so she gets to move up to the next level. She knows HOW to do the work, and does very well at word problems . . . she makes silly errors and still does not have all her addition and multiplication facts memorized, though she is getting better. When she has them all down, she will likely do better on the silly error thing.

Well, I must get supper over with so that I can get back to work and try to squeeze in as many hours as possible. No tomatoes for supper tonight, though.

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Squash Bloom

Squash Bloom
I found a new setting on my camera for shooting flowers!

Bean #1

Bean #1
So far, we have three bean pods. Bugs are eating the leaves.

Bean #2

Bean #2

Bean #3

Bean #3

Second Strawberry

Second Strawberry
The birds found the first strawberry (pictured yesterday) and ate right out of the center of it! This is a new one that showed up today. I'm sure it will be gone soon. We have buds for more.

"FLOWERS" NOT

"FLOWERS"  NOT
Actually, squash, lettuce, flowers, and grass where we planted what were supposed to be flowers! This is what happens when children help you garden. But, the squash looks excellent!

Our Recession Garden & First Harvest

Our Recession Garden & First Harvest
These are the beautiful squash plants growing where we planted what the package said was FLOWERS! Actually, I think MK may have mis-labled them in the spring planter box we started everything in.

Peony

Peony
The peonies were beautiful only a few days before being ruined by rain.

Leaf Lettuce

Leaf Lettuce
Recovering from being beat down by rain

First Harvest from Recession Garden

First Harvest from Recession Garden
This is actually from a "thinning" of the garden.

Parsley

Parsley

One and Only Strawberry

One and Only Strawberry
The birds had not found this strawberry, and so far, it is the largest one we've ever had left on the vine.

Onions

Onions
We planted MANY onions, but this is the only patch growing well. We thin it to get our green onions and they are tasty!

Potato Plants

Potato Plants
They are growing like crazy!

Hosta

Hosta
Aren't the leaves pretty?

Potato Plant Blooms

Potato Plant Blooms
Pretty light purple with bright yellow centers. I've never seen any before.

Our First Recession Garden Salad

Our First Recession Garden Salad

First White Rose of Summer

First White Rose of Summer
This is the first bloom on the white rosebush this spring.

Max the Mouse

Max the Mouse
Max the Mouse in Cinderella, Cinderella

Sledding Fun

Sledding Fun
FUN!

Sledding

Sledding
Another one bites the dust

More Sledding

More Sledding

Oh, that's gotta hurt!

Oh, that's gotta hurt!
And yet, another one bites the dust . . . er, snow.