A Garden's End... Tomato Wars!

My glorious gardening experience has come to an end... at least for this year.

Lots of workers bringing in the harvest before the first frost.

This is what homeschoolers do on lunch break.  : )

A Fall Garden

Welcome to my office...

It's time for a few Fall plants to go in where the Summer crops are finishing up.  It looks a lot more complicated than it actually is.  And next year I'm sure I'll have a better handle on it.  Hopefully!

So, here's what I'm doing...

Life on the Farm... Another Montage

Because I'm too busy to write words...

 I'll just show you what's been going on around the ole homestead in pictures.

A Homestead Montage

 Here's what's been going on around the ole homestead.

Lots of veggies, as you can see.

Oh my, I'm so amazed by my garden!

Come take a look...

Oregano drying.  There's plenty more growing out there in that pot on the deck.

Fresh Homemade Salsa!

Tomatoes & Peppers & Cilantro, Oh My!
This is one of the best things about summer.  Food wise, anyways!

A Morning Stroll

Like Peas In A Pod

Benjamin's peas!!

Spotting a Sucker

For those of you who already knew this, please bear with me.  It took me 40 years to get the hang of it.  But, I'm happy to say that I can definitely spot a sucker now...  and deal with it properly!

  I told you I'm a newb.  And for those of you who never heard of "newb"...  it's a gamer term for "new," you know, "new to the game."  And that's definitely me when it comes to gardening!

Anyways...

Here's a sucker:

Getting A Garden Going

 Thanks to a beautiful weekend and lots of helpers... the garden is coming right along.

 It's hard to believe that it's already time to dig something out and make room for something else.

We've Been Busy

Update on the garden progress...
Turns out that we do actually have some dirt in our yard!  Yay!  Noah and I started digging around a few weeks ago and discovered where the previous owners had their garden rows.  The cats and chickens then discovered them.  So now we're working on a fence.

Most of the tomatoes and peppers are doing great.  Very happy to get out of their tiny little pots.

Ruthie was enjoying digging.  We're trying that method of planting tomatoes super deep.

Sweet Peas and A Little Honey

 Remember those peas that Benjamin and I planted back in March???

New Stuff

 Spring has sprung here on the farm!

Lots of new stuff...

My garden is actually growing.  Yay! Spinach , onions and garlic here.

Potatoes sprouting.  I thought maybe the chickens ate all the sprouts, but lo and behold, here they are...

Hardening Off Baby Plants

 Check this out!  A tiny little pepper bud!

I haven't shown you guys my plants in a little while.  This is pretty amazing stuff.  A couple weeks ago I moved them to the garage.  They were starting to make the house a little stinky.  Sounds weird, but it's true!  It took me several days to figure out what the smell was.  I think it was a combination of wet dirt and tomato plant.  Whatever the case, it's gone now.  And the little guys are just as happy out there.

Now it's time to get them ready for the garden.

Building Raised Beds

A few friends have asked me about this lately.  I know it's really popular to build your own raised bed gardens and there's lots of websites to show you how.  I just wanted to add to that by saying that if you don't have any woodworking experience and you don't even own a saw, you can STILL build yourself some of these and have a nice little garden going this Spring.

Here in Kentucky, the weather is nice but the soil is not.  Our land consists of boulders mixed with rocks and boulders.  Covered lightly with a deceiving layer of topsoil that makes you think you might actually be able to dig a hole.  But don't kid yourself.  You will hit a rock... and then another.  Never fear... Raised beds are here!

Seedlings, Schooling, Potatoes & Prizes

After only one week, these babies are reaching for the light.

Here's my rig-jig operation.  So far... Hey, it works!

My Little Garden Buddy

Peas are the perfect seeds for little hands to plant.

What a great little helper! 

Starting Seeds... A Happy Surprise

Hello there, little thing.