it's a jungle out there

when i returned home from a three-week trip out west, i found a jungle growing in our backyard.  the weeds had flourished, as well as many of our plants due to all the rain that came while we were away.

i knew i'd have some weeding to do, but i was really surprised when some of the weeds were as tall as my knees.

i've spent the last week trying to reclaim my flower beds.  it was a little like rediscovering my garden, since the weeds were so thick i couldn't even see some of my smaller plants.

i love our yard, and although it takes a lot of time to keep it growing, i enjoy making our little space more beautiful.  and it's been a blessing that the previous owners had already planted a great garden, so i'm mostly maintaining what they started.    

see how much better things look in the second pic?  i'm to the swings now, but the weeds and ground cover gone crazy are more time intensive to pull.  

maybe this weekend i'll be ready to start the front.

this year's garden

in our new home, we have a little back porch, which is nice and sunny. a perfect spot for this year's garden -- two varieties of tomatoes, pimento peppers, japanese cucumbers, carrots, green onions, lettuce, parsley, basil, and rosemary.

and my new favorite garden pot -- a #10 tin can, leftover from different food storage items. i just tapped a few holes in the bottom with a nail and hammer and filled with rocks and dirt. my can collection is home to two basil plants, the carrots, and green onions.

in the garden

the weather has finally warmed up around here -- and it was time to plant our garden. mr. pike, baby girl, and i all got a little dirty. (most especially baby girl. she was so happy to play in (and eat) the dirt and chew on rocks!)

this year we've planted tomatoes, green peppers, green onions, and carrots. i'd like to add some herbs and maybe some cucumbers. i was just so eager to get what i had bought already in the ground.

now a little water, some sunshine, and a few weeks, and hopefully we'll start seeing the fruit of our labors.

when green tomatoes are good

the mystery of our green tomatoes is over. they're ripe for eating. we have a a harvest of cherry tomatoes on our hands. our green tomatoes turn from green to yellowish-green when they're ready to eat.

we eat them as any other tomato. but our favorite way is sliced in half with slices of cucumber and chopped red onion. i mix it with a yogurt dressing mix i found in germany. it's so tasty. i will be so sad when we run out of the dressing mixes. i'll just have to talk mr. pike into a trip to the market in germany.

the fate of green tomatoes

by the time mr. pike and i decided to start a garden, we thought it was too late in the season. i was at the grocery store just days after our garden discussion when i saw that they were selling tomato plants.

these tomato plants looked pretty sickly, but we're only 77 cents a plant. i felt confident on my ability to revive them, and if i didn't i had only lost a few dollars.

as i looked through the selection, all the tomato plants were of the same variety -- green cherry tomatoes. i had never eaten green tomatoes before, but thought wishfully, "i bet they'll still turn red."

two months have passed since then, and our tomato plants have been flourishing. we have lots of little tomatoes growing -- but not turning red. mr. pike and i are adventurous and don't mind eating green tomatoes. we just don't know when to pick them.

when i water, i give the tomatoes a little squeeze to see if they're softening, but that hasn't given us a clue yet. if you have an idea, let us know. otherwise, we'll keep watching to see what happens.

home grown goodness

mr. and mrs. pike have a garden. we don't have any land of our own - still enjoying apartment living. but, we do have a patio, which is a perfect spot for two pots of tomato and green pepper plants. we also have basil and mint growing in smaller pots of their own.

growing up, both of our families were garden growers. and we like to think of ourselves as having green thumbs.

leaders of our church have asked member to plant their own garden - to help us be more self-reliant. and as produce and food prices rise this summer, mr. pike and i thought this was a good time to become a little more self-reliant.

last week, mr. pike's mother asked me if we had any blossoms yet. i said no. and like a new mother who worries about her baby's development, i started to worry that my plants were too slow or maybe they'd never blossom at all. (there's news that they're aren't as many bees this year. what has happened to them? this is another great worry!)

but, i am so happy to report that this week i found four blossoms on our tomato plants and six buds on our pepper plants. i couldn't have felt more excitement and relief. a harvest is in our future, as long as the bees come.

green thumb tip: i love miracle gro. i give a dose of it every other week to my plants and they have grown quite hardily.