Humble Beginnings

Garden Update

We did a lot of work in (and for) the garden yesterday).  A lot of the seeds I started in February did not sprout so we ended up buying quite a few plants yesterday.  Let me tell you, it's so much cheaper to buy seeds than to buy plants.  But, what do you do when your seeds don't grow?  We bought:

• 3 6-packs of Roma tomatoes
• 1 6-pack of cherry tomatoes
• 1 6-pack of green bell peppers
• 1 6-pack of habaneros
• 1 6-pack of jalapenos
• 1 6-pack of cayenne
• 1 each of the following:
  • strawberry plant
  • rosemary
  • cilantro
  • flat leaf parsley
  • greek oregano
• 2 basil plants

Of the seeds that grew, I have about 6 cucumber plants and several okra plants.  Plus, I'll be planting about 3 rows of green beans from seed.  I hope to get the remainder of the plants and seeds in the ground today and tomorrow.  James had volunteered to take care of the 3 rows of pepper plants and Lauren will help me with the tomatoes.  They were really excited to buy the plants yesterday and help with the planting.  I only hope that their interest remains the same as the gardening season progresses.  We shall see ...

After we planted everything yesterday, we said a prayer over the garden. James thought it was odd, but I explained that God can make our garden grow better than we can and we need all the help we can get so that we don't have to buy too many vegetables this year.

Our local farmer's market starts up on April 1st.  I'm hoping to buy tons of corn this year.  Corn didn't do well around here last year because it was so wet and for that matter, neither did the dewberries.  I'd like to can vegetable soups and freeze lots of fresh corn.  As for the dewberries, they'd make a nice pie, cobbler or something else.  I've found several canning recipes for pie fillings, so I think I might try one w/ dewberries (if they do well this year).

My vacation is still going quite nicely.  I really don't want to go back next week.  In fact, I had a call from the office for some programming yesterday. Our IT guy (who is really so sweet) was out and they needed some programming done yesterday.  When I called the office back my kids were like, "Don't call them.  Just hang up the phone!"  They really didn't want me to call.  So, hubby got an earful from the kids for the little bit of programming I did.  I'm under strict orders from hubby not to pick up the phone again.  He was furious that they'd call me during my vacation.  Then, the programming didn't go through timely enough so the office kept calling.  Needless to say, I won't be picking up the phone again.  I didn't realize how upset the kids would be.  Even though I work from home, they apparently don't like me working at all.  I can't wait until I don't have to work at all.  I realize how blessed we are that I can even work from the house, but the kids don't understand that.  I keep praying that the day I can leave and be completely work-free will be soon.  I really do. 

Anyway, I hope y'all are all doing well.

Untitled Comment

{ 05:07 , Thursday, March 27, 2008 } { Posted by southernbelle }

Wow! I'm impressed with all you've done. I worry each time we have a garden about my enthusiasm dwindling down to nothing once that hot Summer sun comes. And I also have always prayed for our garden after we planted it. I hope you can post pictures of your garden's progress. I love garden pics!