Someone Has Switched my Tomatoes

When purchasing my tomato plants at Costco this year I decided to go with the Beefsteak variety. They were so yummy last year and I thought they would be a delicious treat! I was slightly alarmed when the green, little fruit appeared on the plants not round but as skinny ovals. I wondered "Are my plants diseased?". As they continued to grow I realized that Costco had played a trick on me. Even though my plants were labeled as the Beefsteak variety I actually got Roma tomatoes. I can't complain too much because I still love the Roma tomatoes. It was just a bit surprising!

Edible Garden

We have our first fruits of the season. Our Raspberry bush has produced a few red berries, despite the torrential rain and less than present sunshine. We have all tried one and think they are pretty good, but not as good as our fresh peaches we had last year from our tree.

We ate them even though the bugs have been nibbling on them a bit. I am just happy we have gotten any fruit yet this year. The blackberry bush looks terrible, I don't know if it is because there has hardly been any sun. There haven't been any blossoms on that bush yet. Thank heavens it is a perennial so hopefully it will start producing at least next year. The cilantro we planted looked like it wasn't going to make it. It came back to life, but then it promptly went to seed! Drat!

Hardly anything has come up in the other garden. Do you remember that laborious day when the girls and I planted the garden? I must have done something wrong. We only got two spinach plants which is really strange. We always get a lot! One of the plants got pulled while the girls were weeding. The peas were coming up great but then the monsoon hit and the morning glory took over. From there our poor sad peas where lost forever! The tomato plants have grown HUGE! There is really minimal fruit on them right now though, so hopefully as we get more sun we will see more fruit. The peach tree is abundant with developing fruit so hopefully we will have a bountiful harvest at the end of the season. Something is better than nothing I guess!

The Grand Planter Box

Today was an EXHAUSTING day! Remember my first gardening post a few weeks back? Remember how I bought those raspberry and blackberry bushes and a grape vine? Well, we finally pulled our resources today to make a planter box for our plants. Inspired by the Pioneer Women and her post about making planter boxes we set off on our grand adventure. Here is her post on how to make your very own planter bed.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed/



We decided instead of buying bags of dirt to buy dirt from Aposhian Gardens. It was $49.99 instead of $72 dollars for the amount of dirt we needed. We of course do not have a truck so we asked to borrow Wes' parents van and trailer. First we headed out to Lowe's to buy our lumber and other miscellaneous items including a bird feeder and seed which the girls are so excited about. Anyway, the lumber cost about $54 dollars. We loaded everything up including a brand new (but cheap) wheelbarrow. We went over to Aposhians and got our dirt. They loaded it for us which was wonderful. I even bought a few veggie plants because they were only $1 a plant! Wow!



We started driving home and were alarmed to feel the van lurching and to hear scary noises. Lo and behold the trailer had a flat tire! Just our luck. We were about a mile or so from Wes' parents so we walked over to their home. We spoke to Wes' dad who gave us a spare and a jack. We headed home for lunch (cold, leftover pizza since we were in a hurry) and then drove back to the van to fix the trailer. At this point we had about $200 worth of merchandise including our dirt and we weren't going to just abandon it! Wes started to remove the wheel when suddenly to his dismay he realized that his father has given him a four lug nut tire, when in fact the trailer already has, and requires, a five lug nut tire. One of our neighbors stopped by to make sure everything was okay. Thank you Jeff! You are so kind!!



Well we decided we were just going to repair or replace the tire since the only spare that Wes' dad had was worthless. We headed over to Discount Tire. The parking lot was bustling with people. Wes took in the tire and was informed that they wouldn't have another one for him for 2 hours! This was just to replace the tire, not even to put it on the trailer, but just to hand us one to put in our trunk. We headed home again. Wes in his anger started digging holes in the yard. At first I was alarmed and wonder what in heavens name he is doing. I learned though that he was just digging a new line for the sprinkler system that will go to the planter box (Phew!). In the process of digging though he did manage to bust on of the pipes. Thank heavens he had extras, but when he went to glue it all together he found out that his PVC glue from last year had in fact hardened almost to a solid mass. Nice!



We finally got a call from Discount Tire and we all loaded up in my car to continue our adventure. We stopped off at a small hardware store to get PVC glue, a new sprinkler head, and wasp poison. The wasps LOVE our house. They always have. Anyway, we got the tire and headed over to the van perched which was on the side of a very busy, bustling road. Wes got the tire replaced and who happened to show up again? Our neighbor Jeff! Really he is super! Wes and Jeff rearranged the dirt in the trailer so it would stop leaking out the back. Then we headed home! Finally!!!!!



Lydia and I unloaded the car while Wes finished the sprinklers. Then Lydia and I filled in the sprinkler trench while Wes started cutting the wood for the planter box. Lydia and Adelle ended up being Wes' helpers while he built the box.

Once the box was built Lydia and Wes hammered in the stakes and then screwed on the second level of the box.
From there we all unloaded the MASSIVE amount of dirt. I stood on top and compacted everything while trying to rake it level.

After a SUPER LONG, TIRING Day it was done! YEAH!!!!!!!!! It is so super easy to plant in the box and I think it looks WONDERFUL!

I planted green bell peppers,

Jalapeno Peppers,

the grape vine,

Cilantro,

The Raspberry Bush,

Basil,

and the Blackberry Bush! I told the plants that the need to be fruitful and multiply especially after all of the hard work and money that has gone into building them a wonderful home.

Adelle was a wonderful helper and especially filthly!

Lydia was the dirtiest! I am so proud of my girls being such wonderful helpers. Wes was amazing!! What would I do without him! We are all so tired and I don't know how much longer I am going to make it despite being covered with a layer of dirt. Pregnancy sure doesn't help the energy level either. I was thinking that the planter box will probably be wonderful for my growing belly as I won't have to bend as far to weed or harvest. As I sit her aching from head to toe I am imaging fresh salsa from my tomatoes in the regular garden, my jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, and cilantro. YUM! Also I can imagine wonderful salads from my fresh spinach, basil and tomatoes. I know it will be worth every ounce of sweat and hard work. I hope we get bountiful crops this year. If not, the plants will be hearing from me!

Gardening Time!

I am sluffing from work today. Don't worry my boss knows. I decided to use my get out of jail free card to spend the last day of spring break home with my girls. Wes hinted several times before he went to meet with a client that it would be a great idea for the girls and I to plant seeds in the garden. Wes already worked yesterday to till the garden with manure. We decided this year to plant Spinach, Peas, Bell Peppers and Asparagus. Spinach thrives in our garden every year. The peas almost took over my tomatoes last year because Wes planted them in between the tomato plants. Silly guy! He stated that the peppers were starting to come up last year, but that they were planted too late. The asparagus is going to be planted in a wild strip next to our driveway.

On Saturday we bought a blackberry bush, a raspberry bush, and a grape vine. I am SO EXCITED about these!! Here is the problem though. I had this great place picked out in my mind, right next to the chain link fence. Wes has pointed out several problems with my location. He is determined that they will be planted in raised planter beds, which will probably cost a bit of money. Probably not too much, but still extra money. I would love to say that I have expertise to build my own planter beds, but I don't. Hopefully I will be able to convince Wes to help me soon. I did find a wonderful blog that gives step by step instructions so hopefully that will help us along.

So anyway, the girls and I ventured outside to make rows in the dirt and the plant our little seeds. Lydia complained quite a bit. I love my girl, but she complained she was hungry, and that she didn't like her hand feeling dry, and she was bored. She still was a big help though. Thanks Lydia!! Adelle helped with the seed planting and she was the photographer.

I think Lydia and I were really getting good at making our rows by the end. My legs ended up feeling like jelly by the time we were done. We didn't use any gloves because we only have one pair, and besides who needs gloves! A little dirt never hurt anyone!

In the far left row we planted peas. In the next row we planted spinach and the row to the right of that we planted a variety of bell peppers. The last row is reserved for a later planting of spinach. The spinach will go to seed after a couple of months and isn't usable anymore, so we figured it would be a good idea to plant one row later. The square in the far right of the picture is reserved for tomato plants, my favorite part of the garden. I really, really hope Costco gets tomato plants again this year. They were so hardy and did so well. I had buckets and buckets of tomatoes!

Our peach tree is looking really healthy this year. I hope we get a lot of yummy, sweet peaches this summer!

Using the Fruits of the Harvest

So I have heard from a lot of people in the area that their tomato plants have not done well. Now I honestly have almost completely neglected the garden. I shamefully have to admit that most of it is covered in morning glory. I don't know if you remember my earlier post about my tomato plants I purchased from Costco and planted in my garden. Well I have to say they have just been abundantly producing tomatoes for us, despite the neglect. They have been the most delicious tomatoes I have had in years. A week ago I took two huge bowls of tomatoes and blanched them (with Lydia's help). Then I took the blanched tomatoes and made a huge pot of home made spaghetti sauce. It was the best spaghetti sauce that I have had in the longest time. I had enough leftover to freeze three dinners for the future. I highly recommend making sauce using fresh garden tomatoes. Nothing compares.

I had another bowl full of tomatoes on Friday and I decided to try to make home made pizza sauce. Instead of blanching the tomatoes I just cut them up (skins and all) and cooked them down with a little bit of oil, onion and garlic. I had already cut up about 2/3 of the tomatoes before I took the above picture. I have more tomatoes growing out in my garden right now!! It is crazy how many tomatoes have been produced from those 4 plants.

I let it all simmer and this is what I ended up with. A thick, yummy sauce. I also made my pizza dough from scratch. I actually use a home made dinner roll recipe to make the crust. The crust ends up being a little softer than a usual pizza but it tastes so good. The dough I made was enough to make two pizza crusts. If you want the recipe at all let me know. It is pretty easy to make. One pizza was pepperoni. The second was Hawaiian. With the home made sauce and dough the pizza was honestly the best we have probably ever had. We all loved it!! We even ate the rest of it for dinner the next night. There is nothing like using the food that you have grown out of your very own garden. It is an amazing thing. You should try it next year! Even if you don't have an area to have a full garden maybe you could just have a few potted plants. It is well worth it.

We spent the rest of the evening watching the classic movie "Watcher in the Woods". I enjoyed watching Lydia get scared and hold onto me. Does that make me a mean mom?