The Story of Tate & His Sunflowers...

It all started with a small packet of SUNFLOWER SEEDS...

I gave the seeds to Tate one day out of sheer desperation to entertain him. I told him to go plant them anywhere in the garden, thinking that it might keep him busy for a few minutes yet not expecting them to grow. Since there really wasn't any room left in the garden, he planted them amongst the herbs. Sure enough after almost no time, Tate's sunflowers started to grow. After they grew a couple feet tall, I decided to pull out the herbs that were surrounding the sunflowers and replant them closer together in another location.
Every day it seems, the sunflowers would grow a few more inches until they were taller than Tate and even taller than the wall.
Then one day, Tate checked on his sunflowers (a daily ritual of course) and proudly announced that the flowers had bloomed. He was so excited that he could hardly contain himself.
Now they are HUGE and beautiful, and Tate is counting down the days till he can eat the seeds from them.
THE END.

Zucchini Overload

I LOVE this time of year when zucchini's grow in abundance. My favorite thing to do with fresh zucchinis is to make zucchini bread! When I was a teenager, my sister and I used to make it to sell to people-Oh the memories! Here is the delicious recipe that I love so much...

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

6 Beaten Eggs
1 ½ C. Oil
4 tsp. Vanilla
3 ½ C. Sugar
6 C. Flour
2 Tsp. Salt
2 Tsp. Soda
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
12 Tbsp. Cinnamon
4 C. Grated Zucchini
1 C. Nuts (Optional)

Instructions:

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar with mixer. Combine flour, salt, soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add zucchini to egg mixture. Slowly add dry ingredients mixing thoroughly but do not beat with mixer. Blend in nuts. Bake for 50 minutes at 350. Makes 4 loaves. (For disposable mini tins-bake for 38 minutes)

Garden Treasures

We had 3 nice little surprises in our garden this morning:

1. juicy ripe tomato
2. perfect little zucchini
3. bright yellow summer crookneck squash

Tate & I were thrilled to find them, and we both ate them on the spot.

* I've noticed the biggest difference in my garden this season so far. Since Rascal bit the sprinkler heads off in the garden, I was forced to water the garden by hand, which has produced MUCH BIGGER than my average sized plants. I don't think that I'll ever go back to the sprinklers! Plus it's actually very therapeutic and enjoyable for me to water the garden in the mornings.

Gardening = Simple Pleasures

We woke up this morning to behold that our tomato plant now has fruit! There are tiny green balls covering the plants.
This Bush bean plant amazes me. Last night, the plant had not yet appeared above the soil. When we awoke this morning, it was nearly 2 inches tall!
I couldn't help but take a picture of my favorite thing to grow-squash. It grows so quickly and is such a lovely plant.
And last but not least, here's a picture of some flowers in my flower garden.

I love having a garden! It not only beautifies the backyard, but it brings happiness and provides me with an escape from demanding daily routines.

(This season we planted zucchini, crookneck squash, watermelon, bush beans, bell peppers, cantaloupe, strawberries, tomatoes, and lots of flowers.)

It's Garden Time Again!

The last 2 days have been completely devoted to working in the garden. The first day was solid fun-just harvesting and removing my winter garden. Yesterday was a little harder but necessary-preparing the soil. I carried from the truck-5 HUGE bags of mulch, 2 bags of gypsum, and 1 bag of fertilizer, and worked it into the soil.

Today is going to be-back to the store for more mulch, and finish my 2nd garden day. I'm so excited to plant! Hopefully I'll be ready by Monday!!!

Click HERE for AZ garden instructions.

Garden Grapes

Yeah, we are finally harvesting grapes! I seriously doubted whether we would be able to grow these here, but it worked and they are DELICIOUS!!!

Garden in Gold Canyon

This is our garden!

The plants are tiny right now, but their growing fast. Tate's favorite are the sweet peas (or pea balls) as he calls them.

My Kitchen Garden

These are ALFALFA SPROUTS that I grew in my kitchen! They're actually really easy to grow because no soil is needed. All you do is water the seeds 3-4 times a day for 5 days and they're done! Alfalfa Sprouts can be used in place of lettuce in tacos, sandwiches, omelets, etc. They are really YUMMY and nutritious!

Time to Plant!

Yesterday while we were playing outside, Tate looked up at me and said,

"Grandma Stradling MADE this grass!"

(She helped to lay the sod down)

For all of you gardeners and want-to-be-gardeners out there,

It's OFFICIALLY TIME TO PLANT! I can't tell you how awesome it is to grow your own food. This last season was my first time ever, and amazingly it worked. So, if you think you aren't capable-you are! Seriously, if I can do it, anyone can!

• For help in gardening from John Chapman (Certified master gardener in the Southwest) click HERE.


• For more help in knowing what to plant and when from the University of Arizona, click HERE.


• I consider my Grandpa Manning to be the best gardener around, and I've gotten some papers from him that he has saved throughout the years on gardening. Click HERE to see the papers. Soil Preparation is the KEY to gardening, click HERE for good AZ soil prep info.

Good luck to all of you, and to me!

The Very Best Chard in the Whole World!!!

This is chard that I grew in my garden. I have actually never really liked chard to much, in fact I planted this by mistake (I thought that it was beets). Anyways, I have found the best recipe for chard. Chard is now my absolute favorite vegetable. You have got to try this!!!!

1 large bunch of fresh Swiss chard

1 small clove garlic, sliced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp water

Pinch of dried crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon butter

salt

Rinse out the Swiss chard leaves thoroughly. Roughly chop into inch-wide strips. Remove the toughest third of the stalk, discard.Heat a saucepan on a medium heat setting, add olive oil, a few small slices of garlic and the crushed red pepper. Sauté for about a minute. Add the chopped Swiss chard leaves. Cover. Check after about 5 minutes. If it looks dry, add a couple tablespoons of water. Flip the leaves over in the pan, so that what was on the bottom, is now on the top. Cover again. Check for doneness after another 5 minutes (remove a piece and taste it). Add salt to taste, and a small amount of butter. Remove the swiss chard to a serving dish.