Fall Garden

As the summer is sailing by and our garden is down to tomatoes, hot peppers and carrots, I've begun planning for our fall garden.

My thoughts:

Kale

Spinach

Radishes

Lettuce??

What are some other good veggies to grow in the fall?

In other news, remember those cute red and yellow pots with little, baby herbs in them?

If you do not, I would understand. I regret to inform you that they have since croaked (translation: they died). I have learned from my first attempt with an indoor herb "garden" and am up to bat again with basil. Unlike my previous attempt, I planted only a few seeds this time and quickly plucked all but the most hopeful sprout.

My, has he grown quickly!

This little guy has grown taller in the last week and a half than my two month-old basil plants of the past ever did. It's wonderful what a little space can do!

Please share any suggestions you have for a fall garden. Has any particular variety proven successful for you?

A Trillion Tomatoes

The title of this blog post might be deceiving as our six tomato plants are currently yielding a total of about a dozen green tomatoes. Yes, after what has seemed like weeks of them blooming cute little yellow flowers, each plant now bears fruit. And by fruit, I also mean fruit. These are tomatoes, after all.

The reason I title this post "A Trillion Tomatoes" is due to the rumors I have heard about tomato plants, especially heirloom varieties. I'm getting the notion that we will have quite a few tomatoes on our hands in the coming month - at least more than my salsa-adoring husband and I will ever need. If you're reading this, and you love tomatoes, please let me know and prepare for homegrown tomatoes to show up in your future.

This foreseeable abundance of tomatoes reminds me what I've been learning lately about being godly stewards of the resources that God has given us to manage while we are living on this side of heaven. We will most likely have so many tomatoes that we will be jumping at the chance to give them away to those that might have use for them or even need them. We will seek out how we can share the abundance with others. However, God has been showing me that this has not been our attitude concerning our money. The funds my husband and I have are the Lord's, and He has called us to put it toward things that are glorifying to Him and further His Kingdom.

Chase and I had a conversation yesterday in which we analyzed how we've been viewing money and if we've been practicing an eternal perspective when it comes to material wealth. I feel like we've been tight-fisted with our money, always wanting to save it. While saving money and spending carefully are wise and good practices, we see that we haven't been intentionally seeking opportunities to give. As full-time college students and newly weds, we are being extra careful with our funds. But this lack of giving is alarming. I need to remind myself daily that our money is not our own, neither are our lives our own, and Christ has called us to give joyfully as He does.

Our pastor actually preached on this very matter on Sunday, and throughout his message he repeated this point: God doesn't want your money, nor does He need it; what He wants is your heart. And if He has your money, He has your heart.

What do you think about this?

In summary, Chase and I are praying for the Lord to create in us generous hearts that want to give because God is worthy of all that we have and so much more. Feel free to pray for us concerning this matter.

I suppose the extra-long post makes up for the extra-long time that I've been neglecting my blog. :)
Here are some picture updates on the garden!

Yellow Pear heirlooms

Carrots...that are crying out for some thinning.

Yellow Bell Peppers. They have been transplanted into the garden!

First Harvest!

RADISHES!

 Let the record show that I have, thus far, never been more excited about radishes in my life. That is for darn sure. 

I love their deep, saturated color. Who would have thought that something this vibrant could come from the ground? God truly is a Master Designer. I'm even more sure of that than my faddish affinity for the radish. 

We are rhyme-y today.

In other news, the pepper plants (the bell peppers, that is) are doing quite splendidly. Now to get them into the ground...that's my next mini-project.

Mushroom Friends

As you can see, our pepper plant is doing well! It's so cool to actually see some produce on these plants! The other pepper plants have several buds, but no peppers just yet.


Take a quick look at a few other plants that are, by the grace of God, doing very well!  Hooray!!

Spinach is looking very spinach-y.

Most of our tomato plants are flowering like this one and getting significantly taller!

Ta-da!!

Now about those mushroom friends....

Some new neighbors have moved into our garden. They look like this.

My questions: should I leave them? Pluck them? Pluck them and leave them on the soil to decompose? Are they helpful or harmful? It seemed that they moved in overnight, and new ones are there to greet me every morning. Could their appearing be due to over-watering?

I know; that's a great deal of questions. I would appreciate any insight you have to offer. :)
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Catching Up

Flowering pepper plant

     Here are some more up-to-date pictures. Things are starting to bloom in our garden! The pepper plant pictured actually has a teeny, tiny green pepper growing on it now. Pretty exciting stuff. :)
     God's creation is so cool. The way He created plants - how the smallest seed can produce a carrot, a tree or a gorgeous flower - is amazing to me. Gardening has caused me to notice the way God has placed so much vibrant color in His creation. I've really taken this beauty for granted.

Radishes!

Chase tending to the garden.

Spinach with actual baby LEAVES!

Semi-artsy green onions

Colorful radish tops. Don't you love that red hue?

Hot Pepper plants are finally emerging!

New Growth

 

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."

  I Corinthians 3:7  

Radishes!

 Of course, Paul wasn't talking about a garden here - he was speaking of the spiritual growth of the believers in Corinth. However, I like this verse because, even as I'm gardening, it reminds me that all good things come from God and Him alone. As the vegetables in our garden continue to grow, I am continually reminded that I cannot take credit for their growth. Sure, I have to make sure I'm being responsible in my care for them, but is not God the only one who can actually make them grow? Is He not the Sovereign One     who sustains all things?  

It's been amazing to see God provide us not only the means to maintain this garden but also continue to add to it and experiment as we learn. Here are some new updates and additions!    

Spinach is making an appearance.

Yellow Pepper plants getting started in pots. Our plan is to transplant these into the garden bed once we harvest the radishes in about a week and a half.

We added three more tomato plants!

 

We added two marigold plants to help keep bugs and such at bay.

 

            Note: Because I started the blog a week or so into the garden, my updates are about a week behind. So what you will see in the next blog entry is what our garden actually looks like as I write this one.

Humble Beginnings

Yellow Pear tomato plant in its new home.

Day 1

     In our 32 square-foot garden, Chase, Molly and I planted: carrots, radishes, green onions, spinach, a variety of hot peppers, and tomatoes. All but the tomatoes were planted as seeds - the tomatoes were purchased as seedlings from the farmers market. The varieties of tomato plants include Yellow Pear, Italian Heirloom, Roma, Jet Star and Celebrity.

Proverbs 31:16 & Our Garden

- Pro 31:16 -		Proverbs 31:16 "She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard." (ESV) The small, raised garden bed that my husband Chase and I constructed with the help of our dear friends Molly Duncan and George Sleezer is no vineyard. It's about 32 square feet. A certain number of seeds were planted in each square foot with particular spacing according to the advice of the Square Foot Gardening guru Mel Bartholomew.  We are newbies, and this garden is highly experimental.  Chase and I had the chance to visit with a gardener that gave us some great advice. She said, "If you want to become a better gardener, write down everything you do with your garden this summer - what you planted and when, the type of seed, when it germinated - everything. Take pictures! Then you'll remember what worked and what didn't."  Thus, a blog.  I chose to write a blog rather than keep a notebook because: a) I cannot misplace it. b) I can keep my pictures and scribblings in one place. c) Other gardeners that happen upon it (you, perhaps?) might have experience and advice to share with this humble beginner.  d) Molly has since moved, and I want her to be able to see updates in picture form. :) In the beginning, this garden was a means of developing an inexpensive way to eat more produce and cut down on our grocery bill. After a good dose of reading and research, we finally planted our first garden together. It's been a really fun, common interest that's added to our marriage. No more than a week after planting the garden, I met up with a good friend from church, Mary Kraft, with whom I study Proverbs 31. For those of you that may be unfamiliar with Proverbs 31, it is a chapter of the Bible in which a mother tells her son what to look for in a wife. The woman she describes is a model of how a daughter of Christ should live as a wife, mother and selfless servant of our Father in Heaven. The particular verses that Mary and I discussed that day were Provers 31:16 and 17 (verse 16 is quoted above). The verses go hand-in-hand to describe the work ethic by which this woman lives in order to provide and care for her family. The example used here is her investment in a plot of land (most likely in close proximity to her home) and the planting of a vineyard - a lifelong investment that, if properly cared for, will produce an abundant harvest year after year. What a wise woman! To spend money (the verse indicates that it's the money she has earned on the side and saved up) on an investment that will benefit the good of her family rather than just elevate her on a personal level. It was so eye-opening to study this verse after having just planted a garden. My hope is that through recording what we learn on this blog and continued practice, we can use gardening as a means of bettering and providing for our family. Look for updates!