Getting ready for spring by planting seeds and playing in dirt. I think we’re a wee bit early.

We are back from a lovely holiday weekend in MN with my side of the family.  Elias had tons of fun hanging out with his 28 month old cousins Liana and Amaya.  It is a busy place when those 3 are running around!  Tony got away for a little bit of time on the water fishing.  I got some shopping in with my mom and sister-in-law, but really just having extra hands and eyes around to help with my boys is break enough for me.

We came home to more food ready for picking in the garden.  This means more work for us to get it ready for the freezer, but we will be glad we took the time come January.  I think I need to keep making tomato sauce, but salsa is sure sounding good…

I did get some sewing time in recently, so I will share those projects with you in the next couple days.

The garden is in!  For many of you the gardening season may have started a while ago, but for us here in the midwest it is just beginning to roll. I am the designated weeder at our house and so every year Tony tries to get creative in how to make it as easy as possible for me.  This year, with a baby due in mid-July, he is afraid that more responsibility for the garden may fall to him, so weed control is at an even higher priority.  Last year we tried a black paper-like material over the entire garden to control the weeds, but sunlight penetrated the paper and the weeds just grew up under it.  It was a terrible failure.  This year Tony decided to go with black plastic.  I have some concerns about the plants getting enough oxygen…maybe that is stupid…time will tell.

Our garden runs the length of our backyard–about 4″ wide by 50″ long.  I always want a bigger garden in the spring, but by the end of summer it seems about right.

The set-up this year is a soaker hose under the black plastic with mulch set out as walking paths and around each plant where we cut the plastic for the plants.  Lets hope we have defeated most of the pesky weeds!

Because we have somewhat limited space, I try to think economically.  What do I buy at the store that I can grow myself?  What do I cook with the most?  I have been making my own tomato sauce for the last few years, so that is my biggest target.  We just ran out of sauce so I am a little short on making it for the whole year.  (Homemade pizza sauce, spaghetti, and tomato soup are what use it up through the year.)  Solution=more tomatoes planted this year.  We also were not able to do any salsa last year, so we also planned for that.

Thus, 16 tomato plants, banana peppers, red bells, chili peppers, tomatillo peppers, onions, and well…green beans.  I still have pickles from last year that I think will last us another year, so I am not concerned about cucumbers.  If I had the space I would but…  I would also do squash…  and strawberries…and an entire herb garden…maybe some artichokes and brocolli…oh rats, I want more space.  Someday I am going to live on a farm!

Let’s hope this growing season is a good one!   Your food can’t get much more local than your backyard!

I showed you Elias’ new winter hat yesterday before I completely finished it.  It’s totally done now and I can’t believe the difference a finishing edge, ties, and some blocking makes!  Wow!  I love this little hat and of course the little boy that will wear it.

I went out this morning and finished picking our potatoes.  I had been picking them as we needed them, but I thought I better pull them before it got too chilly around here.  This is only the second year I’ve tried them and I’m sad to say that my crop was down from last year.  We will only last a couple months on these and then I will have to buy from the store.  Bummer.  However, they will for sure go on my garden list for next year.

*If you’ve never tried potatoes, I highly recommend them.  They are easy to plant and way fun to harvest.  I think kids would love digging for them.  You never know what you are going to find!

Well the weeding season is upon us.  I went out this morning and took care of a few unwanted visitors.  Plants look well.  A bit smaller garden this year, but I think we will still have quite a harvest.  I told Tony today that I think it should be one of our life goals to eventually grow most of what we eat through the year.  Last year we planted 8 potato plants and they lasted until December.  We would only need to double that to get almost a years worth.  Here are some pictures of my garden status.

This is my flower pot on the deck.  I used an old silver wash tub and the brilliant blue and orange look wonderful in it.

I can get another picking of rhubarb in.  I’m thinking maybe some rhubarb sauce since I don’t need to make any more jam.  (I didn’t have to make any jam this year–I still have a ton from last year.)

Herbs are growing very well.  This is sage and a bunch of basil and oregano.

Peas and beans are coming along nicely.  We had to do a double fence around these this year so the bunnies don’t get any free meals.

And finally the lovely potato plants.  Variety=Kennebec=good for lefse=a proud Norwegian.

What are your garden favorites?