Our family has had a great time this summer in our garden. It has been our first effort to try more than a few pots of tomatoes and herbs. We started our tomatoes (big tomatoes and cherry tomatoes), parsley, basil, and a couple of bell pepper plants from seed. We also purchased a couple additional bell pepper plants and a jalapeno plant. I love tomatoes, so we had to have several plants. I think we have 13 that survived, 9 cherry and 4 big tomatoes. You may notice I cannot remember the real name of the variety of "big tomato" we have. I think that makes me a true novice gardener. We also have a strawberry patch. This was a gift from my wonderful in-laws who knew I loved fresh strawberries and wanted to try my hand at gardening. They don't really produce much the first year, so we are mostly just keeping the weeds out of there and watching them grow.
The tomatoes have really been the focus of the garden. This has been for a variety of reasons. As I mentioned above, I really love tomatoes. You can never really get a good tomato at the grocery store. Nothing is quite as tasty as a fresh vine ripened tomato. Fresh salsa and BLTs are a favorite around here. (Pork bacon for James and turkey bacon for me...) YUM!!!
The cherry tomato plants have become quite large. James said they are 8 ft tall. They are huge and loaded with ripening fruit. They are worth every minute of labor that has gone into them. Early in the season, we had an infestation of worms. The worms were insane. We would go out there daily and kill about 20-30 of them. We caught most when they were really small. These were not so bad to kill. The large ones were another story. The first day I fought with the worms, Amanda picked up on my disgust for the vermin. We sat down for snacks that afternoon and she pointed out the door, wrinkled up her nose, wagged her little index finger and said in a very threatening, deep voice "No, no worm." I wish I could write to reflect the inflection she had on the "worm." It was obvious she knew the worms were to be hated.
The cherry tomato plants have become quite large. James said they are 8 ft tall. They are huge and loaded with ripening fruit. They are worth every minute of labor that has gone into them. Early in the season, we had an infestation of worms. The worms were insane. We would go out there daily and kill about 20-30 of them. We caught most when they were really small. These were not so bad to kill. The large ones were another story. The first day I fought with the worms, Amanda picked up on my disgust for the vermin. We sat down for snacks that afternoon and she pointed out the door, wrinkled up her nose, wagged her little index finger and said in a very threatening, deep voice "No, no worm." I wish I could write to reflect the inflection she had on the "worm." It was obvious she knew the worms were to be hated.
Every day the girls have enjoyed watching the plants grow and "turn red." Amanda still gets excited, startes yelling "turn red, turn red" and does a little dance when she sees a new ripe one.
Finally the worms seemed to have all died or at least passed from the worm stage of their lifecycle and turned into something else. (Once again I show I am not an expert gardener... I don't know the real name for the worm or what it turns into... Maybe next year I will have more time for researching details such as this...) Now is the time of the season when we can truely enjoy the fruits of our labor and thank God for allowing us the opportunity to partake of food the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Fresh, pure, and full of nutrients!!!
Finally the worms seemed to have all died or at least passed from the worm stage of their lifecycle and turned into something else. (Once again I show I am not an expert gardener... I don't know the real name for the worm or what it turns into... Maybe next year I will have more time for researching details such as this...) Now is the time of the season when we can truely enjoy the fruits of our labor and thank God for allowing us the opportunity to partake of food the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Fresh, pure, and full of nutrients!!!
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