Sweet Little Munchkins

Tonight I had some very precious garden visitors...Nola (daughter of my friend Julie) and  Connor (son of my friend Cheryl.  They are so sweet and funny and playful and awesome!  I love them both so much and their wonderful mamas too!  We grilled out and hung around chatting and watching the kiddos play.  Connor and Nola have always been cute together, but tonight was the first time I've really seen them truly play with each other.  They were both laughing at each other and a few times could have cared less if us grown-ups were in the room.  So precious!  It won't be long and Cheryl's baby girl will be here.  Mona Catherine will be making her debut mid-August.  We can't wait!



The kids both ate blueberries and Nola kept picking and eating cherry tomatoes off the vine. So funny! I love nights like this and I am so thankful for dear friends!

I also wanted to share a great recipe. I made a strawberry cake recipe by Paula Deen and it was great! It can be found here and some pictures are below.  It really reminds me of a cake my Grandmother Usher used to make.

Who takes perfectly healthy organically grown vegetables and turns them into cheesy carbohydrates? Me.

Today I gathered up all of my ripe veggies (I use an orange Home Depot paint bucket, it doubles as a garden stool...I never said I was fancy).  Lots of tomatoes today!

I am already getting a little tired of zucchini in its pure form, so I started searching for some recipes.  I thought about making zucchini bread, but (believe it or not) my sweet tooth is pretty calm today.  So, I started searching for a savory zucchini bread recipe.  This is what I found and it is delicious!  I took a couple of pics  (I seriously recommend trying this one!)

Tonight we are having a tough piece of meat for dinner (note to self: research cuts of meat so we don't have to go through this again), baked potatoes, zucchini bread, and broiled tomatoes.  My Aunt Glenda made these broiled tomatoes for me when I visited last spring.  I searched for a similar recipe and this is what I found.  So good (a real winner if you like horseradish...if not, you may want to find another recipe).  Here they are!!

That's all I've got, off to get ready for Monday.

Hostile Takeover turned Garden Sacrifice

Sure, it's only June...but I've already got pumpkins.  Crazy!  I should probably do a little research to find out why this happened so soon, but I am never going to grow pumpkins again so I really don't care.  Aren't they cute?  Too bad they'll be a rotting mess before the trick-or-treaters arrive.  Oh well.

Let me tell you why I am never going to grow pumpkins ever again.  My back yard was beginning to look like a serious commercial-grade pumpkin patch.  Unless I wanted to set up a distributor agreement with Wal-Mart, the pumpkins had to go...in order to save everything else in my garden.  Pumpkin vines are aggressive, sprawling, and get tangled in all of the other plants.  With a pair of shears and my bare hands (ouch...they are kinda prickly too!), I tore up all the pumpkin plants and said my goodbyes.  So sad, but it wasn't meant to be.  Check out the carnage...it's not pretty.

On a happy note, I have a new little garden friend.  What shall I name this sweet little gnome?

We can't eat it all quick enough!

I just returned from a trip to South Florida with my mom. We went for my Uncle Al's funeral. Even though it was a sad trip, we made the best of it and it was great seeing family and learning more about my uncle...he was such a wonderful man and will be missed by so many.  It was a beautiful service! The drive wasn't too bad, so I will be going back in February to visit my Aunt Glenda (Aunt G - if you are reading this you'll love that I put it in writing!).  Also, it was wonderful getting to spend so much time with my mom.  She is wonderful and I love her so much (and she is freakin' hilarious!).

Upon my return, I discovered a plentiful garden...I'll give you a tour of what is going on.

One of the most exciting events to come home to is a ripe blueberry bush.  I ate most of them in the yard (I'll admit it), but here are a few that made it into the kitchen.

Squash, Melons, Pumpkins, Oh My!  Pictured below:  Butternut Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Summer Squash, Watermelon, and a Pumpkin.

Everything is growing beautifully.  I have my first little bell pepper, and I cannot wait for it to get big enough to pick.

I have roma tomatoes and cherry tomatoes out the wazoo!  I used those (along with some of my green onions and fresh basil from my yard) combined with a few grocery store items to make Kevin some pasta salad.

This is the most current garden view taken today.

My corn is getting so tall!  I can't wait to put up some creamed corn...love it!

Tonight for dinner we had grilled chicken thighs (my new favorite thing to grill) with the zucchini and squash (I have a feeling that we'll be having that every night for dinner, it grows like crazy!) and some green beans from the garden.  I sautéed these with a little EVOO and some garlic...then I made a little balsamic glaze.  

So, you can see that we can barely keep up eating all this stuff.  I love our garden!


Other random milestones are my first canning of banana peppers (I barely had enough for one jar, ha!).

Also, our Crepe Myrtle is finally flowering!  I love summertime (even though it has been insanely hot outside)!

I also wanted to mention something I never knew until I became a backyard gardener.  When it comes to taste, the vegetables I've been buying in the store all these years do not hold a candle to the vegetables I've grown myself. My cucumbers taste amazing, the tomatoes are so delicious, and the blueberries were better than any I've ever tasted.  Maybe it is all in my mind, maybe it is because of my decision to garden organically, or maybe there is really something to gardening, but the taste of everything from my backyard is so flavorful.  Amen!

Random Mobile Upload

I cooked zucchini from the garden...had to post, it is so much fun getting dinner from our yard.

Flowers = Happiness

Today I ran a bunch of errands, nothing exciting just a hair trim, the bookstore, and my usual Saturday run to Home Depot.  I needed some plant ties because my tomatoes have a mind of their own and I am just here to support them.  I went with a gentle Velcro version and so far I think these will work nicely.

While I was at Home Depot, I saw the prettiest flowers.  I think they are petunias (shows you how much I know) but whatever they are they are gorgeous and they made me smile.  Also, they are HUGE.  This pot almost takes up my entire outdoor table.  Oops...but I had to have them.

For the garden, I have a couple of updates.  First, I have a red tomato.  I think it will be just ripe for picking in the next few days.  I am drooling thinking about it.  How will I enjoy my first tomato?  On white bread with Hellman's Mayonnaise and a little S&P of course!  Nothing beats a tomato sandwich.

Up next, Spaghetti Squash.  I am really excited about these, because (refer to previous post where I cooked one) these are pricey if you buy them at the store.  Also, they are really tasty and are very similar to spaghetti noodles but healthier (I am not a health nut, but its true).  These are sprawling and I think I might have them all over the yard before its all said and done (same with the pumpkins!).

I am starting to get little bean flowers and they are still climbing beautifully.

Ok, this is the annoying bragging section.  I think I am going to be good at growing banana peppers.  So far, I've picked all of these!

And....this is nothing to brag about really, but something I am kinda proud of.  Almost 7 years ago when Kevin and I got married, we received a gift card to Pier 1 and I purchased a super-cute plant stand with it.  Year after year, I fill up clay pots with flowers or herbs and they ALWAYS die.  Sometimes I've even filled them up twice a year and nothing happens but death and disappointment.  Maybe I have morphed into a natural gardener, maybe I take more time, or maybe I am just getting lucky but for the first time ever I am having great luck with my plant stand.  The herbs that I purchased at Bennett Nursery are still thriving (refer to  springtime post when I potted them).  I use these herbs a lot too.  Just today I made some mint sweet tea.

Big Changes in the Garden

I love looking back at my blog so I can really grasp the growth. Every day that passes is more and more exciting. This is where we are now.

I have so many tomatoes on all my plants (Better Boy, German Johnson, Mr. Stripey, Roma, and Sweet 100). I can't wait until they ripen, so far they are all still green.

My Summer Squash and Zucchini Squash are both doing great!

I think I am also going to have a lot of cucumbers. This is a super-tiny baby cucumber. I have lots of these blossoms on the vine.

Also, we have some creepers. My pumpkins, spaghetti squash, and butternut squash have all decided to break out of the 4'x8' box and play in the yard. I think I'll let them.