A look at what worked this summer

Here's a list of everything we tried to grow this summer:

1. Tomatoes (about 12 plants)
2. Zucchini
3. Green beans
4. Bell Pepper
5. Rainbow Chard
6. Lettuce (3 different types)
7. Strawberries
8. Sugar Snap Peas
9. Chives
10. Mint
11. Oregano
12. Basil-by seed
13. Thyme
14. Sage
15. Cantaloupe
16. Lemon Verbena

And here's the verdict: the tomatoes did great but definitely took longer this year to ripen and we had a terrible problem with rats eating them this year. I will have to do more cherry tomatoes next year (the kids love them and the rats did not touch them!).. we never had one cantaloupe and the basil just disappeared! But the success stories were the herbs, rainbow chard (except we had lots of ants all over them so we completely chopped it down about a month ago), the sugar snap peas were easy and yummy and we had lots of zucchini. Not bad for a very small backyard. The best part is that the kids had a blast and really learned a lot this year! Stay tuned for the fall/winter list.

Fall/ Winter Vegetables

One of my many challenges to gardening is always finding room for my next vegetable! The fall vegetables need to be planted but I still have oodles of tomatoes getting ready to ripen (I am crossing my fingers) and lots of squash coming in! How do I find room for the broccoli seeds I want to plant, onions I just bought last week and sweet pea seeds that need be sown? Always a fun challenge when you just don't have the space for all you can do! So I have to decide is it time to say good-bye to a few tomatoes? I did find room to squeeze in my beets under a tomato plant and the mini pumpkins are already coming in so let's hope they have enough room! I have been reading that the fall planting season can even be more productive than the summer and we don't even have to water. Maybe next year I'll remember to leave a few spots empty? Hmm, we'll see!

Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for joining me as I learn more about organic gardening! After planting 17 different tomato plants in my small Sonoma garden, I decided I was bitten by the gardening bug! This blog will be about my journey to learn all I can about gardening both vegetables and flowers and teach my 4 year old twins. It is really my son's garden, I am just his helper! We are in the middle of summer and just waiting for all our tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, strawberries and cantaloupe to grow. I have a small garden for now (someday hope to have a least an acre) but I am learning to use every available square inch. I will also be writing about recipes to go with our vegetables we planted and lots of ways to just have fun with your kids in the garden. Thanks for joining me!