Our Garden

Growing up I always had a dream of being a cowgirl and living my life on a ranch raising animals and growing my own food...well now i can say I have come very close to this life. When Reid and I moved in together we decided that we would try to grow some things. I really thought we would be unsuccessful since we live in the dessert with temps nearing 110 some days. However, I have been pleasantly surprised. Now you may ask what we have planted and the list is: 2 types of corn, 2 types of squash, 3 types of cucumbers, 4 or 5 types of tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, okra, 2 types of radishes, 2 types of carrots, sugar snap peas, green beans, lima beans, green chili, bell peppers, banana peppers and green chili.

When I lived on my own I was able to grow zucchini and cucumbers but was only able to get them to produce for a short time. So, I guess I did not have the best outlook on being able to grow a much larger selection of vegetables. On Easter weekend we planted most of the seeds and I waited as patiently as possible to see if things were going to grow. I can't explain the feeling I got when we had the first little green stems popping out of the ground. Reid told me that now the real work begins, and boy does it...watering, weeding, fertilizing, harvesting, watering, watering, watering, weeding, weeding, weeding, fertilizing, fertilizing, fertilizing, harvesting, harvesting and harvesting! For the first month we had to water by hand every day which was no small task since we have a very large garden. We finally got smart and bought soaker hose which was not fun to lay but oh so worth it! Now we can turn on the water and continue with other tasks around the house.

Picture 1: The garden just starting to grow in the side yard and back yard

Things began to progress nicely and we realized that it is very possible to grow things in the dirt...not just weeds!

Over the last 3 weeks everything has grown by leaps and bounds and now looks like this:

I am so excited to say that we have been able to eat out of our garden! We have had sugar snap peas, jalapenos, radishes and green beans...and they have been excellent. Tonight we will be eating squash from the garden! I am happy to say that our corn is silking and we along with our neighbors are looking forward to the corn!

The worst part of it all is the bug bites we get while picking the produce, but it is so worth it...maybe the farmer is turning me into a country girl!