Garden

fuzzy picture of a yellow tomato

So let me tell you a bit about my garden. This year I tried several different things because I'm not really good at keeping plants alive and I figured I'd see what would survive and make next year worth it.

And I did find out what I could keep alive and what I couldn't. My number one problem was weeds. I kept forgetting to go out and pick them so they'd get really bad. We tried using newspaper (which is apparently what Grandpa Bennion did) but I don't think I buried it far enough cause it just dried up and blew away.


Grandpa Bennion- gardener extrodinaire

I also didn't do a whole lot to the soil before hand. I really should have done some testing and applied some fertilizer but I didn't make much of an effort (we just took a couple of shovel-fulls from Nate's folks compost pile).

But some of it did come out much better than I expected. The tomatoes for example were amazing as you can see above. Oklahoma is perfect for tomatoes. So beautiful!!! Too bad Nate won't eat them. :(

Anyway so here's what I grew and how it turned out:

• spinach- wonderful! it's an early spring plant (or at least just colder weather). It did great in the early part of the year but went to seed once it got too hot. I'd really like to try some more salad greens next year.

• sugar snap peas- very well. these did fine early on but when it got too hot they wilted. I would like to try something more structured for them to grow on next year and a shade device, which I hope will extend their life a little.

• yellow squash- very well for a while and then these weird white and black spider/aphid things ate them all. Must find out what they are and destroy them!!!
  

• zucchini- never got off the ground, eaten by the same things as my yellow squash

• butternut squash- never got off the ground, eaten by the same things as my yellow squash

• watermelon- over taken by weeds, never produced

• cantaloupe- overtaken with weeds, never produced

• corn- got to the perfect ripeness when we were on vacation and didn't get picked so went bad. WAY SAD!!!

• tomatoes- I planted 4 kinds

• beef steak- big and beautiful but not amazing. They love the sun so maybe they haven't hit their stride yet. The rainy weather isn't helping
• roma- my best and earliest producing. I love them! I wish they got a little bigger but overall they're super yummy
• yellow (low acid)- these things are so beautiful. I wish pictures did the justice. They look amazing on the plant. And really good and sweet
• 4th of July- not overly impressed. These were the last to produce and are medium sized red tomatoes, I'll probably skip them next year.

And just for fun a picture of one of our kittens attacking a tomato I dropped in the kitchen. It was way funny.