8/30/10 - Bob is Back!

Welcome home, "Bob". We missed you!

He seemed happy to see his friends again and couldn't believe the garden growth. Like him, life keeps on growing! :-)

It's great to have him back in the mix of kids again. Daris and Alex are very pleased, too.

The bundle of tomatoes we wanted to pick as a bunch was ready today. Don't they look amazing?

Daris and Alex got new Henna Art on their legs ... their mom is very talented!

8/29/10 - Lemons and Lemon Grass

At our visit to the Nursery, I bought a lemon bush and some lemon grass. They were 50% off ... and I couldn't resist!!!
I had a large day cleaning out the back yard ... the weeds had invaded all corners of the non-garden area. It took the better part of the day. (I was having a cook out which finally got me motivated to get it done!!) I am glad to have it cleaned up and seem to always be shocked that it takes a huge mess to make me clean up. I wonder if I'll ever just keep up with it?

8/28/10 - Trip to the Nursery

We took a little field trip this morning to a local nursery. All the kids got up early on a Saturday to make it happen. Our intention was to ask a professional gardner how we should proceed with our Fall planting and then to pick up some plants.

Well, we got some great advice from our expert, Hugo. He was very helpful and the kids enjoyed ask

ing him questions. The Fall veggies weren't available yet, though. It's still too warm in our area. I'll call next weekend for updates. We're to have even warmer temps next week, so if I had to guess, we're looking at two weeks. But, we'll see.

The kids had a great time exploring (me, too!). We learned from Hugo that when planting tomatoes, don't replant the next harvest of tomatoes in the same spot as before. If you do, then you will have fruitless plants. Good to know!!! Currently, we've got tomatoes in both of the boxes. Next Spring, we'

ll have one box for tomatoes and one box for the other loot. Then the next season, we'll be able to just swap boxes. For the Fall boxes, we're going to keep our tomatoes in place ... they're still full of flowers and green fruit. We decided this after Hugo took us to a large tomato pot with lots of green fruit to have us compare our tomatoes to his (picture below shows the kids following Hugo to his plant). We'll just have to remember our spacing (not hard with all our pictures!) so we can space the tomato plants differently in the Spring.

I picked up some large stakes to install in the

second box to help our leaning tower of tomatoes.

8/26/10 - Twin Tomatoes

Alex and Daris came over to water and see if there were any goodies to pick. Daris found a twin tomato. He's going to love eating that one! (He's one of the few kids that enjoys the tomatoes right off the vine!)

It seems like the kids are getting an itch to go back to school. No one wants to admit it ... but they seem to be restless. No one's riding bikes or boarding or normal early summer activities. Doesn't seem like they're going to the pool much either. They know better than to say to me that they're board ... but, I think they are kind of itching to see what other kids have been up to for the summer and to do something different. I know for a fact that the parents that stay home, are VERY excited for school to start ... and some are a bit frustrated that they're not going back before the holiday.

There is lots of talk among the kids about the Fall Garden. I'd really better start planning and figuring out when to turn over what we have in the boxes now. I mentioned to the gardeners that I'd like to have them start planting seeds in our starter kit so that we can be ready. Daris and Alex are talking about how, if they have the seeds, they'll invite everyone over to participate in the growing process. Currently, I've only got one seeding container. I was going to get more, but I kind of like how they're working it out. I'll ask some parents and see what they'd like.

Yesterday and today they were talking about having a block party. They want to use the veggies we're growing to make food for the neighborhood! I'm not sure if they're thinking about this season's garden, or our fall garden. We don't have too much now ... so, maybe if I get it together, we'll have some fun options for our annual Halloween gathering? It's fun for me to hear them talking to each other about what to grow next and about planning a block party. Very cool!

8/25/10 - Sunflowers

The kids were trying to wait for one of the other kids to come back from a week with family before cutting the sunflower heads off. But, they couldn't take it any longer. It's probably a great idea that they cut them anyway because I think some critters would have made a meal out of them and then the kids would have really been bummed out.

They were cute cutting them down. I tried to explain that they really needed to dry them out by hanging them upside down for a few weeks. They nodded and said they got it. But, in an hours time, the kids had the seeds out of the heads and into buckets and most of them in the ground. (They planted near a bird grave site ... in the woods. I'm not going to tell them that sunflowers need direct sunlight.) They brought me over a little baggy of seeds. Alex asked me to please save them for later so that we can all plant them together. I'm guessing that our littlest gardner dude took it upon himself to de-seed the flower heads and to start planting. (He was very excited about them!) From the looks of things, it seems like the older kids handled that situation well and they were able to negotiate an offering of seeds for me. I'm drying what they gave me and we'll see if we can make more flowers grow next year. I'll have some packets for backup, too! :-)

8/18/10 - Welcome Home and Peer Pressure

Two of our kids came back this week from camp. (Welcome home girls!!!) It rained like crazy all day yesterday, so everyone was excited to see the growth in the garden. We've all noticed that a little rain goes a long way .... and we had a lot. The growth was actually pretty impressive. All five kids plucked at least one cherry tomato. What was interesting is that all the kids were asking me if they could eat the tomato they picked. (Mind you, all but one child actually likes tomatoes.) Of course I said yes ... talk about organic! They were all saying how sweet and yummy they were. How funny! I love these kids. I'm always learning something from them. And, I think I like THIS kind of peer pressure!!!
We did harvest a good looking squash that "Katie" took home. She hadn't had dinner at that point and her mom is good about cooking up veggies ... I wouldn't be surprised if she had it tonight. Talk about FRESH! YUM-O!
Tomorrow, we're going to cut down the sunflowers and try and dry out the seeds for Round 2. I also asked the kids to think about the Fall Plot. I have some homework to do ... I've learned a lot from this go around.