Words with Family

For my birthday this year, Larry and Heather surprised me with this wonderful gift.

These are our blessings!!

This picture lets you see the size of names.

Larry cut out the blocks for the letters and used his router to give them a beveled edge, Heather then stenciled the letters on each block, and then Larry mounted the letters on a board for hanging. Caleb was a little upset that Joshua's name was worth more points than his!! Larry cooked Crawfish Etouffe and Fried Catfish for my birthday and we made Milky Way Ice Cream. I was able to share this with some special friends! It was a wonderful day.. so thankful for family and friends!!

Blessings,

Debbie

Harvest Monday 07-09-12

It was a great week in the garden. I think this has been my largest harvest ever! This with extremely dry conditions. Yesterday and today we have received a good rain and my garden looks so happy.

I didn't get pictures of everything but here are some...

The Juliet Tomatoes are happy even with the heat and dry conditions.

The Juliets above were harvested in one day.

Lots of tomatoes make my boys and their mom happy!

I was down one day and my sweet husband harvest this for me.

The heat is causing me problems with the peppers.

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture of my Louisiana Purple Beans (which I had to shell because they stayed too long on the vine) and my Florida Speckled Butter Beans.

This was my first year to grow yellow onions. I am pleased. 

They are drying in the garage and will be weighed later.

Harvest Week of 7-3-12 to 7-9-12

Okra 51.9 oz

Tomatoes 162.9 oz

Bell Peppers 17.8

Zucchini 16.2 oz

Beans 15 oz.

TOTAL 263.8 oz = 16.49 lbs

YTD Harvest 44.82 lbs

Check out what others are harvesting in their gardens at Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions.

Debbie

Garlic Harvest

Today I cleaned up my garlic that had been drying in the garage.

Here is some of my garlic five weeks ago.

(front left)

Here is what it looked like after digging it up 2 weeks later.

All the garlic lined up before I took it to the garage to dry.

Garlic today after drying for 3 weeks.

  

Close up of some of the garlic.

After it is cleaned.

This is my harvest except for the one bunch I used to make gumbo and the one that I gave to daughter #3 to take home with her.

Blessings,

Debbie

Things that Make Me Happy!!

This morning I took a quick stroll in my garden and I found a few things that made me smile and very HAPPY!! I love the simple things!!!

A picture of my garden

Purple Morning Glories (top)

Purple Gladiolus (bottom)

The first beans on the Florida Speckled Butter Beans

First zucchini

Tiny Bell Peppers

The first Louisiana Purple Green Beans 

(they are purple but turn green when you cook them)

The first Okra ready to be harvested

and Blackberries!!

Blessings,

Debbie

The Sun Is Out and So Am I

The weather is beautiful here today... Sunny and currently 46 and almost noon. After the last few days of rain and yuck, I couldn't wait to walk in my garden!!

And this is what I found...

Broccoli

Spinach

and Buttercrunch Lettuce.

Blessings,

Debbie

Harvest Monday 10-31-2011

It has been way too many months since I have participated in Harvest Monday - a place to share with others what is happening in our own little corner of the garden world. Go to Daphne's Dandelions to read what some of my garden friends are sharing.

Yes, I have been MIA from my garden blog (read post here) and I have missed reading all my favorite garden blogs. Slowly I am trying to read a few here and there.

I did not do a very good job this year of keeping track of my harvest. I was so disappointed by the damage that the extreme heat and drought were taking on my garden. I just couldn't keep up with the watering. BUT thanks to cooler temps, the garden is showing signs of life again. Although small, I am thankful for the harvest especially when I read that so many already have snow on the ground!

Harvest this week:

• Bell Peppers 4.9 oz
• Green Beans 9.0 oz
• Okra 3.4 oz
• Tomatoes 3.4 oz

I experimented with the green beans and sauteed them with butter, garlic, and almonds. Larry and I both enjoyed them and I know I will cook them this way again. What is your favorite way to cook fresh green beans?

Blessings,

Debbie

Yes, I have been MIA from my Garden Blog

It's hard to believe but it has been over 4 MONTHS since I last posted to my garden blog...

The harsh summer temperatures and the lack of rain was hard on my garden. I couldn't keep up the watering needs of the garden so kinda gave up. The weather was too hot very early in the season for most of my tomato plants to set fruit. Even the okra suffered from the summer heat.

But about a month ago a wonderful thing happened, the temperatures started to drop and my garden started to revive... I have tomato plants that have started to set fruit (even the ones that NEVER set fruit in the spring/summer), my bell pepper plants are loaded with peppers, the green beans are growing, and the whole garden seems to have new life!!! It sure does my heart good.

Yesterday I gathered the harvest below 

...green beans, tomatoes, okra, and

bell peppers (harvested because the branch holding them broke)

As some of you may remember, 

I planted Christmas Beans in the spring. 

I was rather disappointed in the small amount of beans

 that they produced. 

Here are the plants in May... Kinda pitiful...

Here is a side view 

and if you look in the front of the bed, 

you can see the Spanish peanuts that I planted 

in front of the Christmas Beans.

Well, the Christmas Beans survived the heat 

and here is what they looked like on Sept. 24th 

after the temps started to cool to highs in the 80s... 

FULL OF BLOOMS!

And I took this picture earlier this week on Oct 24th... 

It is amazing to see the difference that one month has made!!!

I have hundreds of wonderful pods... 

I can only imagine what is on the other side of the fence 

in the neighbors yard!! 

I hope they don't mind.

Do you think that the peanuts planted in the same bed 

could have contributed to the great growth of these beans?

I am hoping to harvest lots of the Christmas Beans.

It seems my garden seems to do better in the fall. 

Last year, I was harvesting cherry tomatoes on Thanksgiving Day!

Blessings,

Debbie