Spring is here again!

Wow...another winter has come and gone, and just as springtime brings with it a new cycle of beginnings and endings, many changes have happened here as well. The light winter here has pushed me to the conclusion that much of the garden needs a good break this year. Not getting nearly as much snow as usual means to me that the ground hasn't gotten sufficient water to help maintain the garden the way it usually does. So this year, for me, I will spend the season getting the garden turned over and adding as much extra nutrients as I can. Leaves, grass clippings and maybe some clover are in the works to rebuild the tired soil and give the ground a chance to be replenish.
We have noticed, ironically, that the garlic and onions that gave up on me last year are back in full force! Haha...such is the way it goes around here - something unexpected at every turn! The garlic will stay in its corner and hopefully we will have something new to harvest this year. Emily has decided that the onions are hers and she would like them moved, so I supposed we will look for a suitable place to move them too so she can have a small project to work on. Izaac has inherited a tomato plant from his Great-Grandma, so he too has a small project to focus on this year.
Dilly and Basil and few of their friends have also been spotted in the yard - their playfulness reminds me to enjoy the new season and keep things light ;)
Maybe this summer, instead of canning our own harvest, we will scrounge the farmers' markets for fruits to make more preserves and if I am feeling really froggy, we will hit up the orchards for their amazing apples so I can freeze more apple pies.

In the mean time, I am thinking about posting some of my favorite recipes and about what else is going on around the yard here :) Thoughts and comments are always welcome!

Madness, Mayhem and Quirky Pets...and Raspberries!

Well the garden has exploded over the past couple weeks, and I am overwhelmed. There is no room in the fridge for regular groceries, as the rest of the space is being hogged by tomatoes, hot peppers, cucumbers (still!) and cauliflower..at least till I can make the rounds and pass some of this stuff out! We have canned salsa, pickles, jalepenos and other goodies crowding the kitchen and I'm sure there's more to come. Don't ask what the secret is...cause I haven't figured it out! Half the garden hasn't been properly mulched or weeded (in weeks) and we never fertilized anything. As far as I can tell, its mostly a product of good luck and over planting :) But this crazy mess in the corner of my back yard is starting to grow on me. Though the weeds are high, they aren't really crowding out anything, and I'm kinda starting to find it fun whenever I stumble upon and errant radish or onion and other tiny treasures hidden away in the mess.
In other garden news, our new puppy seems to find tomatoes absolutely delicious...I take her out with me to harvest and she heads straight for the tomato 'aisles', picks a ripe on and plops down, proceeding to enjoy her snack. Another tasty favorite of hers is carrots- which she will only eat out of my gardening clogs...why? I have no clue. But as I seem to have a knack for finding the oddest animals with the weirdest personalities, we are just going to take it for what it is, and hope she doesn't make herself sick!
This weekend, I am off to pick raspberries. Mostly for making preserves (a tried and tested favorite in this house)- not from my garden, but from Rainbows End Farm , one of the best local growers I know. One of the things I find important is to support local growers and sustainable farming, and here, they practice both! Plus the berries are AMAZING!! They have a nice selection of greens, mums, and corn for making popcorn -so please check them out if you are ever in the area.

Yummy! Fresh beans from the garden are my fave!

Again, no explanation for my luck growing tomatoes like this

Molly..sans carrot or tomato, but this is the "do i have to go inside?" face. priceless.

Seriously? Where am I going to put all this stuff?

P.S. found these little buggers in my strawberry patch. WTH? thought
strawberry season was over 2 months ago!! 

here and there...and everywhere

Things in the garden are going well ~ The tomatoes look AMAZING...I mean, not so much the plants themselves, but the fruits...the tomatoes are so big and growing so fast, I'm convinced they are sucking the life out of the plants. Funny how things work out that way. We have been harvesting lots of jalepenos and cucumbers and made some salsa and zucchini relish too.
I am, as always, amused & surprised at how certain plants grow and change through out the season, as well as by what each plant produces. Take for example, the green pepper plants...every plant looks tall and healthy, but is producing very tiny (although perfectly colored and shaped) peppers. At the end of the season now, the cucumbers are turning into short fat, little cucumber balls.. and the green beans are still producing, but again, miniature versions of what they should be -whether it's because of lack of water or maybe nutrients are lacking in the soil, I'm not quite sure. We still have onions, squash, corn, potatoes (my word will we have potatoes!!!!), and cauliflower (lets hope I don't mess these up AGAIN!) and red cabbage left.
Come to think of it, the only thing that is really done is the summer squash and the large cucumber plants are on the way out...oh, and the lettuce is done (but we are blaming summer heat for that one!)
I will try and get pictures posted this week...things sure are  looking interesting out there.
I've been working on some ideas about what to share with everyone this fall, while the garden is wintering over, and I have some fun stuff in store for you!!!
The Garden is far from being done this year, there is much to do and talk about, so stay tuned :)