knitting, creating, and loving life in the Midwest
So I apologize for assuming the shed was done! Last night my husband put the finishing touches to our new garden storage shed, and of course, I had to take some pics.
It’s about 5×7, so lots of storage space:
He also made this hanging piece, routing out each hole for the tools:
So, that is the completed shed!
Wanna see what’s happening in my veggie garden?
Two pumpkins have started to grow – my husband took last year’s Halloween pumpkins and planted their seeds:
Apparently they are similar to our potatoes in that they are mature when the plant is shriveled and you have to leave them in the sun for a bit after harvesting. These are not the best for eating but we’re just growing them to see if we can.
We have over 50 of these on our plants:
We got 3 plants from a school fundraiser and 3 more because my son insisted, so we’ll see what their final output is.
Our grapes are doing very well
I don’t think we’ll have enough for making jelly but if they’re as sweet as last year’s we will enjoy them in their natural state.
I’m thinking it’s about time I harvested my lavender:
I’m torn between making sachets like I did last year or maybe a wreath like Centsational Girl’s.
The plums are ready for me to pick and make jam – so good!
In the front yard, my little one’s choice of plant from the school fundraiser is doing great and provides sweet color:
My oldest chose a blue plant since that’s his favorite color, and it’s also given place of honor in our front yard:
The hibiscus my husband chose is radiant with color, I just love the bright yellow!
The bamboo, however, might need some more wiring to keep it back, it’s like a jungle to get to our door!
These pretty lilies are gorgeous in the afternoon, they open up and brighten our gray front walls:
As a final surprise, this is what the onion flower I posted about a few weeks ago looks like when opened up – who knew? I sure didn’t. 
Have a great weekend!
No sweet corn on the cob for us yet
although we found a snail cozily nestled in the leaves – grrrrrr!!!
Our grapes keep growing
My husband has hopes of grape jelly but considering how quickly our kids eat any blueberry that matures, I doubt we’ll have enough enough grapes at any one time to make a batch of jelly.
This is what potatoes look like when you push aside the veritable jungle of leaves that grow over them
you can wait to unearth them when the leaves die off, or you can “grabble” them and eat them when young and tender
We planted yellow (on the left) and white (right) potatoes
You leave them in the sun for a couple of hours so the skins harden a bit. When you first take them out you can pretty much just rub the skins off.
The first baby tomatoes are making their appearances
I needed some tomato cages and my son insisted we get more tomato plants, so I hope we have a ton of tomatoes this summer!!!
That’s the happenings in our backyard – are you growing any veggie goodness this year?
Loving the strawberries and peas we are getting from our backyard –
we’re getting about 15-20 sweet, juicy strawberries a week, and about the same number of peas. I would have included the blueberries here but some squirrelly monkeys ate them all before I could take the picture.
make me happy
can’t wait for the rest of our summer bounty . . .
A quick review of some of our fruits and veggies:
Our onions have decided to get ready to flower:
I don’t know about you but seeing those bulbs remind me of being engorged with milk – I know, TMI!
Our blueberries are the right size:
Now they just need to be the right color 😀
We tried some of the peas and they were so sweet:
My oldest, Mr. I-Don’t-Try-New-Stuff, was eating them like candy.
We have serious plans for our corn:
This is only one side of the corn plantings we have.
I think we’ll have some green peppers next week
Maybe in a yummy stir-fry.
Our carrots are about as long as my finger – both my husband and I have peeked:
The tomatoes are getting taller every day.
And my beloved roses keep filling my house with beautiful color:
That’s all the happenings in the garden for now, we’ve enjoyed many strawberries and a few peas and look forward to the rest of our harvest!
Did you know “grabbling” means digging around for baby potatoes? Yep, it’s not “grabbing”, but “grabbling. On Friday, we got our first new potato and 9 strawberries. I would post some pictures here, except we ate them before I could get the camera.
It was joyful, my oldest boy and I, giggling as we found more strawberries to eat, him with the bowl yelling at me to give them the berries, and me jumping from raised bed to raised bed, trying not to step on anything too scary.
Did you know there is such a thing as white broccoli? I didn’t. Good thing I googled it because I was about to go yell at the nursery people because I thought they’d sold me cauliflower instead of broccoli.
We have two bell peppers in our near future, tons of plums and pears growing on the trees, and hopefully some tomatoes down the road.
Hope your Monday is a fabulous one!
Our backyard fence was in a sorry state – it was old, and the wind and rains had done so much damage to it that parts of it were tilting dangerously, and some boards had started to fall off.
We got it fixed this week and couldn’t be happier with the results.
The fence is torn down and we get a really good look at our neighbor’s house 😀
Willie-Boo supervises the workers:
My husband takes a look at the nearly finished new fence:
Isn’t it lovely? I love the lattice top!
This is the longest side of the backyard and there are veggies planted all along the fence. A couple of flower and corn seedlings did not survive the new fence installation but other than that, our veggies are looking good:
Now all that’s left is to seal it and we hope to not have fence issues for a long, long time!
that potatoes are originally from Peru? (just like me!)
Yep, they were first cultivated in the southern part of what is now Peru thousands of years ago. After the Spanish conquest, potatoes became known worldwide.
that you harvest potatoes when the plant part turns brown and dies?
True. You CAN get potatoes while the plant part is green but basically, as long as the plant is green, the potatoes are still growing.
that there used to be about 4,000 varieties of potato in a variety of colors?
Sadly, now the market has focused on a few varieties and even in Peru, there are less than 100 varieties grown now.
Our potato plants are doing great, I am definitely not patient enough to wait until the plants die so I will be feeling around the soil for some baby potatoes long before anything turns brown. My oldest wants lots and lots of French fries from our potatoes but I am longing for some homemade (and homegrown!) mashed potatoes. If all goes well I am going for some rare varieties next year!
Photo credits: Vantage Travel, SF Examiner, Fans del Espanol.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted a garden update so I thought I’d do one.
Our blueberries are doing great, I look forward to never finding one because the boys have already eaten them all 😀
Our latest addition are the corn seedlings, we ran out of space at the designated area so we have two “corn hubs” and hopefully will enjoy yummy buttered corn later this summer!
There are hundreds of tiny pinhead-sized grapes, they’re the Concord variety.
Orange tree from our friends:
The pea and bean vines are doing their climbing thing, my oldest loves to eat them right off the vine.
First time growing potatoes so I can’t wait for these babies to be ready to harvest!
Looks like we’ll have pumpkins for Halloween – and soup!
My yellow roses are blooming daily, just love them.
I hope our squash is as good to us this year as it’s been the past two years.
We have enjoyed a few strawberries, juicy and sweet – yum!
My lavender is also doing well, I made sachets for Christmas gifts last year. I am very happy with my garden and very thankful for all my husband’s hard work! Hope you enjoyed the little update!
Casa de Berry 