It's almost time to get the vegetable garden ready. That's my grandson wearing his Lighting McQueen rain boots. He's watering the garden last year, and was quite a little helper. He was actually fascinated to see the blooms develop and turn into luscious veggies. This was my first vegetable garden and I'll be doing it again. It was so relaxing tending to the garden, and it was nice to have fresh vegetables in the house instead of the cardboard sold in grocery stores. I hope that I will never have to purchase another vegetable from a store again, that is unless it's from a farmer's market.
I canned tomatoes and froze peppers for soup, chili and salsa. The veggies were as fresh when I used them this winter as they were when I plucked them from the garden. My peppers were huge as you can see. I'll be planting those babies again. Those are Amish Paste tomatoes shown and are great for sauce and salsa. I planted a few Hybrid and a few Heirlooms last year. I'm going with Heirlooms this year. I've decided on a variety for color and taste to include: Boxcar Willie, German Johnson, Kellogg Breakfast, Cherokee Purple and Aunt Ruby's Spicy Green. It's just about time to get the seedlings started indoors so they can be germinated, harden off, and planted in the garden by June. I'm in zone 6, so I usually garden from June to October. I may plant collard greens this fall, we'll see.
Here's a few of my crookneck squash. They were so yummy. I froze a few squash and zucchini for baby food for Zarriah and zucchini bread for me, lol. Did I mention I put away 50 ears of corn and about 6 quarts of fresh peaches for baby food. Yes, I was quite busy in the kitchen last year.
I'm going to expand my garden by approximately 5 feet this year. I'm leaving out the eggplant, and putting in pickling cucumbers for homemade pickles and small, but sweet watermelon. Below is my dream garden. I love the arbor and bench in the back. I would sit and admire the
Be sure to follow or subscribe to Mother 2 Mother so you don't miss my Gardening With My Grandson posts. You can also connect with me by clicking one of the social media buttons on the right. Do you garden with your children? What are you planting this year? I think it's important for children to understand the land and how to grow your own food. With this economy, we need to teach our children how to survive and save when and where we can. My grandson loves flowers, and has a small area where he is responsible for watering them and pulling weeds. He takes his job seriously. We lead by example, would you agree? Leave a comment and let us know what's happening in your backyard.
