THANK YOU, HOME DEPOT, FOR YOUR GENEROUS DONATION.  YOUR HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Thanks to everyone for the help with planting the garden!! We got a LOT done!! The pictures give a little idea of the fun we had! (Click on each picture for a better view!)

 

 

 

GREAT watchdog!!  Check out the dog on the roofline. . . 

Our BEAUTIFUL GARDEN!!

READY, SET, PLANT!!!

Spring has sprung and it is time to get the garden planted!!  8:00 a.m. Saturday, March 24th.  See you there!!

Spring Is Almost Here!!

The sun is finally coming around more, and the garden is grateful!!  We'll actually get started planting plants in another week or two.  If you have a few spare minutes, go over to the garden and pick a few weeds.  There aren't tons, but we like it that way!!

More news coming soon!!

Scouts in the garden...look out!!

Some of the 14-15 year old scouts helped out in the garden by weeding, getting splinters in their fingers, thinning the beets, getting MORE splinters in their fingers, and laughing and talking a lot!!  They did a good job, and so did their leaders!  THANKS!!

 

Peas Are FINALLY Up!!

Guess what?  Given the right amount of encouragement...and rain...and sunshine, the peas have managed to poke their little sprouts through the rich brown soil in the garden!  HOORAY!!  Pictures coming soon!

Smokin' hot!!

The garden was a cool place to see later this morning when the fog finally started to burn off of our little town!  I wish I would have had my camera with me when I first headed out.  But I did manage to capture some of the steam coming off of the garden as the sun warmed the earth.  It looked sizzlin'!!

Ask and ye shall receive - Part Two

Friday night, after my evening prayers and retiring for the night, I lay in bed thinking about the garden and how dry it has been all winter long.  Rod and I had watched the weather reports on the News and saw we had very little chance of rain reaching us down here in southern Utah, yet again!

Prayer is powerful!  Without going into all the details, I DO pray for the garden, as I'm sure others do too, and we are absolutely thankful for the beautiful rain that fell all day long today!  It was PERFECT.  No heavy downpour; no "just dusting the dirt on the surface."  There was a steady drizzle for most of the day which sunk down into the soil of our community garden.  I could almost hear the grateful ground guzzling the much needed moisture!


              
 
We give thanks to our Heavenly Father!!  And we hope our "blessing" didn't disrupt others' plans too much.  ^_^

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE!!

Saturday was a great work day and we got a lot accomplished in the hour everyone spent helping out in the garden.  When everyone left, Devon and I stayed in the garden, reviewing what should be done next, what still needed finished, etc.

At one point I mentioned, "You know, we really should find some kind of old chest of drawers or something that we could put all the small tools, repair things, etc. in so they wouldn't sit in the beating sun, or in the rain and get ruined."   Devon agreed and said he'd what he could find...

Fast forward five days later. . . I went to the garden to drop off a bunch of buckets that someone had "freecycled", and there in the garden was EXACTLY what I wanted but didn't know about!!  Take a look at this cool garden box that Devon made!!  I LOVE IT!!

   

Gambling in the Garden!

Here it is, the second week of JANUARY, and we're planting in the garden!!  Well, what else are you supposed to do with incredibly gorgeous weather, day after day?!  We PLANT!!  Now, what gets interesting is seeing what the next two months bring.

Once in awhile we get a "learning experience" but the rest of the time we get really early crops!  So, it's an easy way to "gamble" without losing the shirt off your back, or your grocery or mortgage money!!

Come join us in the garden and see how much fun you can have, AND learn something at the same time!

(If you want to see more planting details, click the tab above that says 2012 Planting Record.)  Some of the people who have joined in the fun last week and this were: Devon Reeves, Julie Schram, Gary and MaryAnn Zabriskie, Julie Wiliams, Summer, Jace, Aspen and Preston Lang, Grandma Belmont and her clan of grandkids, Susan Skania, Markay Thorklesen, Debbie Hafen, Bob and Lea Porter, Jeonghoon Son, Jennifer and Cierra Clark, Brian, Lea, Dominic, and Bella Larkin, Scott Plummer, Jodi, Haylie, and Morgan Yates, Brecken Moore, Angela Tippetts, and Myrle Nielson.

Who says it's too early to work in the garden?!

Great way to start the new year. . . beautiful weather, lots of compost, and great helpers to work with!!

 Even the younger set were a BIG help!

Special Tribute. . .

There will never be a "right time" to do this...Devon won't like it no matter when I do it...but since I have the computer access he'll just have to deal with it. ^_^

I wanted everyone to know that there wouldn't be much of a garden, if any, if not for Devon Reeves!! Talk about a great side-kick!! He has been heavily involved with the garden from its inception, and I don't know what we would do without him!

Thanks for your help, Devon!!

Looking for 2011 Posts ? ? ?

Visit the Photo Gallery link to view older posts . . . I'm working on transferring all but the current year's posts from this blog . . . GARDEN PHOTO GALLERY

someday I'll get it all done!

I think!

Brrrrrrr . . .

It's nearly December and we've got FREEZING weather! The nice thing is that the cole crops do just fine in the cold weather! The beets, carrots and onions are doing well, too!

If you want to spend a few minutes in the garden, hoe some weeds by the block wall, or put compost on the remaining beds.

We'll be starting up with planting peas and transplanting onions in mid-January, so Merry Christmas, and ENJOY DECEMBER!!

DE-STRESS IN THE GARDEN. . .

Thanks to the cooler temperatures, we're entering a new season in the garden: DE-STRESS SEASON...not to be confused with DISTRESS!!! With the beauties of Fall around us, the garden is the perfect place to come for relaxation and therapy of a different kind! Spending 30 minutes with the EARTH is very soothing, and helps provide a great atmosphere for thinking and sorting through "things."

The garden is the CHEAPEST THERAPY AROUND!!! Come enjoy this beautiful spot of ground and you'll come away with more than carrots, beets, broccoli and cauliflower!!

Things that need done:

1. Rake the tomatoes and leaves off the beds and put in trash cans

2. Put piles of compost on the empty tomato beds; rake out evenly

3. Weeds need hoed or shoveled (meaning use a hoe or a shovel to remove the weeds) throughout the walkways and around the perimeter of the garden.

4. See any obviously dead plants...pull them and toss in the trash cans.

Call Patrice if you have questions. 673-6733 or 632-6733 (area code 435)

FALL CROPS ARE GREAT!!

It's Fall in Dixie and there's all kinds of things to do in the garden!

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are taking off like weeds!! We've thinned and transplanted, and still need to do more.

The tomatoes are putting on tons of GREEN fruit...we'll have plenty for fried green tomatoes, green tomato preserves, etc., etc!! I wonder if they make good brownies??? ^_^

The peanuts got soaked with all the rain the past several days, and started to mold. Hopefully we rescued them in time and they'll still roast well.

The fall planting of onions, beets, carrots and lettuce is doing really well. Come help pull some weeds, wheel some compost onto beds, or anything else to help and share in the fresh produce, too!!

Fall crops are GREAT!

Corn and green beans!! The BEST!!!

Cooling off?

THE CORN IS DELICIOUS!! And it's pretty amazing that our squash and zucchini is (or is it "are") STILL producing.

The little bit of cotton we planted as done beautifully...

The spider was rather fascinating, but I wasn't sure if it was poisonous, so I "disposed" of it, after I apologized to it. ^_^

We're starting to get the new watering lines in, slowly but surely. That will be great to have ready by next spring!

Jumping the gun. . .

From Garden 9-11-10

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage that was reseeded the first of the week is coming up BEAUTIFULLY! So, we learned a good lesson. DON'T PLANT FALL KOHL CROPS THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST... ^_^ oops!

We reseeded a bunch of onions too...hopefully they will do great now! Unbelieveably, the squash plants are still producing, but at a slower rate. The cooler weather is making for some beautiful peppers. We got some volunteer potatoes that we're going to let go and see how they do in the cooler weather.

If you're missing eating fresh tomatoes, you need to get over to the garden! Simply lift up all the green branches that are growing into the walkways and you'll find an abundance of tomatoes. Take the vines, put them on top of the plant in the bed, and that exposes the tomatoes underneath. PLEASE PICK AND ENJOY THEM!!!

GREAT corn growers!!

Everyone sure did a good job helping get this corn growing...and NOW look at how beautiful it is!!! I can almost TASTE the succulent sweet kernals already!!

Coming Along...

Thanks for all the help with the garden! It's Labor Day weekend and time to get your kohl crops in if you are going to. We will be replanting our broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage!! For some reason VERY little of it sprouted when we planted in August. Maybe we were jumping the gun a bit. So we live and learn!!

We will also be planting lettuce, onions, and beets and carrots...

Our squash is still producing a bit...miracles never cease!! And the okra is doing great, and the tomatoes are still producing. Our corn is all tasseled out, and the ears are forming with the silks coming on! The bees are extremely happy and going to work!! Corn pollen is sacred in the Navajo culture. And we feel grateful that our corn is doing so well!!

Rod and I are improving in our mobility, but still need all the help we can get!! Thanks!!

Garden life...

Look closely and you'll see some of the little creatures, and their life cycles, that inhabit our garden.


The large green & speckled horn worm in the background, seems to be watching as a baby horn worm is trapped and eaten by a garden spider.


There's are all kinds of cool things to see and do at the community garden. Don't miss out!! Some of the Scouts will be doing a project there on Wednesday. Then we will have a work party -- planting, weeding, and doing general maintenance things on Friday and Saturday (Sept. 10-11). Call if you'd like an assignment!! Thanks! 673-6733

"HELP - HELP" is right!!!

From Dad and Mom 8-2010

In case you didn't know, Rod had shoulder surgery (his OTHER shoulder!) on Tuesday, August 24th, and I had foot surgery on Thursday, August 26th. Therefore, the sign truly says it all. . . "HELP!!"

So, here's what we can use help with in the garden:

**Puncture burrs (weeds) need lots of ATTENTION!! The rain has really inspired them to grow! Please help me be a GOOD patient...and pull some weeds!


**The cantaloupe bed needs pulled and everything dumped in the trash cans. Please put the trash cans out on the street so the garbage collector will empty them.

**If you notice some of the corn stalks curling up, that area isn't getting enough water. Use the hose to give them an extra drink!

**PICK THE OKRA!!

**PICK TOMATOES!!

** PICK SQUASH!!

**PICK PEPPERS!!

Do anything else you can think of!

THANKS!!

From MOM'S SURGERY

Work day. . .

So we put compost around the corn, leveled out a couple tilled beds, pulled weeds, got rid of a lot of rocks, picked okra and cantaloupe, AND HAD FUN GETTING WHEELBARROW RIDES!! It was another great day at the garden!!

Even Josh Benson helps in the garden!

Yep, it's true! Josh managed to make his way (with a little help...) to the garden where he actually did a LITTLE rototilling...before being whisked back to his "sick bed!" THANKS, JOSH!!!

From Josh

August 9, 2010

YOUTH GROUP RETURNS!!!

These kids had so much fun last week, they opted to come finish the work they started!

The Armenian cucumber patch didn't stand a chance against these hard workers; neither did the weeds!!

Corn rows were hoed, beds tilled and raked, and then the planting began!! We put in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, more beets and carrots, and another bed of green beans!!

Thanks, Kayla, for helping the kids experience some new things!!

YOUTH GROUP HELPS A TON!!

We had a youth group from the Volunteer Center in St. George come to the garden this morning. They were a HUGE help!! We pulled up 4 beds of zucchini and yellow squash, the watermelon bed that had TONS of bio-mass to dispose of, they helped cart compost to the newly emptied beds, spread it out, helped till the beds with the rototiller, raked them smooth, re-strung the perimeter lines, dug out rows, AND PLANTED green beans, onions, carrots and beets!! THANK-YOU SO MUCH KAYLA AND ALL THE KIDS INVOLVED!! (And thanks to the "regular gardeners" who came to help out, too!!)

Enjoy the slideshow!!

Waterlogged Garden!!

Amazing what can happen in a matter of a few minutes of pounding rain and ice!! But in JULY...in the DESERT?!?!? Unbelievable!!!

Rototiller Repair

HURRAY!! WE DID IT!!

Our rototiller engine replacement is paid for thanks to so many of you helping!!

From Tiller

Cost of Engine & Shipping: $306.00
DONATIONS THUS FAR:

MSN - $25
JMM - $20
VB - $20
KJS - $20
JHG - $20
KPA - $15
JTS - $20
MT - $10
BLP - $20
LDH - $15
VAS - $15
HJC - $10
KKB - $20
JKF - $13
RLB - $20
KJ&SS - $50 WOW!! Thanks for putting us over the top!! We'll use the $7 to help pay for Fall seed purchases!!


THANK YOU, EVERYONE!!

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Thought you might enjoy going down memory lane...

BOTTLED SALSA RECIPE

With the TONS of tomatoes we're growing, you might want a good bottled salsa recipe. Check out the RECIPES link (below right)...or click here SALSA!!

Many Hands Make Light Work - Planting Corn!

HOLY SMOKES!! Did we ever get a lot done first thing Thursday morning!! Check out the pictures!
We planted 6 beds of corn, dug a row of potatoes...
Went on a cucumber hunt and picked FOUR BUCKETS FULL!!
AND we didn't even make a dent in the tomatoes and peppers!!
THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME AND HELPED!! IT WAS FUN!!!

BLACK GOLD

What a BEAUTIFUL sight!!

From Garden 7-21-2010

From Garden 7-21-2010

Now that the rototiller is running like a dream, thanks to the Engine Doc (Rick Peirce), we have SIX beds ready to be planted with corn!!

From Garden 7-21-2010

Apparently a spider thinks our garden is the perfect place to spin a web. It was fun to watch for a few minutes!

From Garden 7-21-2010

And a few other pics...

From Garden 7-21-2010

From Garden 7-21-2010

From Garden 7-21-2010

TOMATO TREASURE HUNT

We definitely found lots of tomatoes this morning!! Along with a TON of cucumbers(not quite 2,000 pounds, but it sure seemed like it!!)Lots of tomatoes were taken home by garden helpers, but there was also a PILE of tomatoes left over!!

With the tomatoes Rod and I picked from OUR garden, and some from the community garden, plus peppers (bell, banana, anaheim, and serano) from the community garden, we produced TWENTY quarts of salsa without going to the store to purchase anything!! And there were STILL loads of tomatoes to bless the lives of "passers by" at our little corner of Santa Clara!!

Peppers Tonight...

The Pepper Bed is really doing well with this hotter weather!! There are TONS of peppers. If you haven't used any yet, don't miss out!! There are green and red bell peppers, banana peppers, Habanero peppers, Anaheim and Serano!! Some are mild, some are hot! I used some green bell, and a little (less than half!) of a Habanero, along with a banana pepper all chopped up and added to my "meat gravy over rice" main dish. It was DELICIOUS!!

Of course we had a bunch of steamed veggies, tomatoes and cucumbers to go along with the main dish. Ahhhh, the garden is a great thing!!

We have a garden, a lovely garden!!

BEAUTIFUL RESULTS!!

How can carrots be so vastly different one year to the next?! Last year we had MUTANT CARROTS...5 fingered gnarly things that looked like they belonged in a scary movie!! And this year the carrots have been absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! Maybe soil preparation has something to do with it, as well as thinning . . . and thinning some more!! Whatever did it, we love our carrots!!

From Garden 7-1-2010

This morning we picked an entire BUCKET FULL of Muncher Cruncher cucumbers! And that was after picking a bunch two days ago!! It must be all that loving care the judge has showered on his bed!!

From Garden 7-1-2010

And, of course, the squash, zucchini, and onions continue to do VERY well!!

From Garden 7-1-2010