Sunday, February 22, 2009

Ready for Spring

My husband put in his first garden last year. It was pretty small and all he planted was tomatoes, assorted bell peppers and jalapenos. It did quite well. He canned dozens of jars of jalapenos and I made and froze numerous quarts of tomato sauce. Here's a picture of him last May with his first crop.

He can't wait to start planting this year. Our temperatures have been averaging in the 60's during the day, but we are still getting a frost every so often. He's already bought some seeds and little peat trays to start them in. He's ordered a portable greenhouse and it should be delivered tomorrow. He decided to make the garden bigger this year, so today he dug up the new area and got all the roots out. Next, he'll amend the soil and till it up. Look at the pile of roots he dug out!

He has a friendly rivalry brewing with the neighbor across the street. The neighbor has a lot more garden area, though, and he had a huge assortment of vegetables last year. When we put our lawn in, we didn't think about wanting a garden later and didn't leave a spot for one. We found a sunny place at the edge of the woods just big enough to squeeze in a small plot. We should have known better. Being Italian, my husband has growing tomatoes in his blood. I think I'll have to watch him closely. Next thing you know, he'll be ripping out the grass to make his garden even bigger!

2 comments:

  1. Oh, what fun! That's QUITE an impressive haul your hubby made from his garden. How nice to be able to "reap" those benefits! My hubby has been talking about growing tomatoes lately as well, although we don't have a garden and really nowhere to grow them. I've suggested he research container gardening to see if he could grow 'maters in pots on the patio. I'm sure our harvest would be quite small, but it might satisfy that longing he seems to have developed to make things grow. I'll have to show him this post to inspire him even further!

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  2. I wasn't 'allowed' to put my vegetables or herbs in HIS garden last year, so I planted a grape tomato in a container on the patio. It did quite well. I also had rosemary in a pot and basil planted in among the shrubs by the patio.

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