Adventures in vegetable gardening (pt 3 of 3)

The garden is still producing, namely cantaloupe and bell peppers. Here's a recap of the bounty we received and some plans for the future.

Week 4 (04/16/12)

Week 6 (05/01/12)

My little garden helper picks our first two mature squash of the season!

Week 9 (05/18/12)

Harvested most of the lettuce. The leaves were becoming bitter, so I pulled up 2/3 of it to make more room for the encroaching cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe runners are spilling over into the yard. Do your thing, melons. Do your thing!

The bell pepper plants are budding.

And the squash will be goners soon. I didn't treat them for powdery mildew in time. I was unsure on what kind of spray to use, especially since I wanted to avoid chemicals. Someone told me baking soda and water would help, but I never tried it. Still, we harvested nearly 30 squash and zucchini before we lost the plants; not bad!

Short carrots could've been left in the ground a week longer, but my daughter and I were anxious to pick them.

Fruit tree: Mr. Mac Satsuma
Just in the nick of time, we planted a citrus tree before the summer heat hit.

The tree is pretty small right now, but will eventually have a canopy of 10 ft, which may eventually cause problems with adequate sunlight over the raised bed. But, that's several years from now, so I may change things by then anyway!

Future plans for our "backyard farm"

See the random places I planted squash and cantaloupe? I just couldn't bear to just compost them when I thinned the plants, so I gave the seedlings a shot in unamended soil alongside the house and in bare patches in the lawn. They didn't really produce, but at least I gave them a chance. In the future, I'd like to amend the soil along the house to plant lettuce (I think they were overexposed in the full sun.)

Next season, I'd love to remove the dead tree in the corner and make room for two more raised beds to plant some veggies on rotation. Maybe add another fruit tree and invest in some blueberry shrubs along the fence. A girl can dream!

My more short-term goal is to replace the failing squash plants with tomatoes for the remainder of the summer.

Read the archives:
Part 1
Part 2

Lemon and lime party

 

With the tremendous help of my dear family at Rambellwood, I threw a summer citrus-themed party to celebrate my son's first birthday and the arrival of my niece. Double the fun!

Invitation | Lemons and limes set the theme (and color scheme). No custom design this time around--I just found a seasonal invitation, from Shutterfly.com.

Decorations | A homemade pennant banner using lime green polka dot print and an alternating solid yellow. Three paper lanterns float above the food table. Miniature chalk boards painted in green and yellow display the names of the two guests of honor: Henry and Lily.

Food and Drinks | What's better than homemade ice cream AND lemonade!? Sweet and tart combo...so delicious.

 

Food and Drinks | Work your way through the chicken salad sandwiches, pineapple and spinach salad. Then, indulge in these key lime tarts topped with zest! 

Games | My creative cousins came up with a fun game for partygoers, old and young! Each guest was given a lime or lemon pin to wear, essentially dividing them into teams for games. The Limes and Lemons battled at Pin the Lemon/Lime on the Tree (see photo), a songwriting challenge and pictionary to boot!

Happy birthday, little man!

Photos courtesy of Johanna Ramsey.