Getting the Garden Going

 Last weekend my friend, Kjersten and I spent the morning at the Home and Garden Show at the local expo center.  We had a great time oooohing and ahhhhing over all the fun things we wanted to do to our houses this spring!  

I came home itching to get my garden going and started making some serious plans.

 This is how I spend a Saturday night, who knew married life would be this thrilling?  

I decided to ditch the cucumbers this year.  I've tried it two years in a row without even a smidge of luck, so I give up.  Thankfully, there is a local farm stand nearby where I can pick up some pickling cukes for summer snacking.

Have you ever made Bread and Butter Pickles?  SO EASY!  And they taste amazing!  I can't wait to make these again this summer!

I am making some extra space for zukes and a few more Roma tomatoes.  I love making all the fresh salsa and sauces to can.  I've pretty much got it down pat and although it is a lot of work, I almost find it relaxing to do. 

We worked together as a family last Saturday getting the garden boxes ready to go and prepping the soil. 

 We found that our one box with no bottom did twice as well as the one we built with a bottom.  So the boys took over the job of drilling in drainage holes for that.  

And if you find that you are not up for building your own from scratch, Sam's Club has some really great square foot garden box kits right now that are a cinch to put together.

 Boys + tools = pure happiness.  It starts young!

   So far we've only planted spinach, carrots and our bush and pole beans.  Dan built me an awesome trellis last year but we planted the peas late so they never really took off that well. 

At least the place was looking WAY better than it was last year!  

I wouldn't say Mel would be proud by any means, but at least the patio doesn't look nearly as bad.  I was glad I put the garden to bed last fall better than I have in the past!

Other patio plans include building either new steps or a deck out to the backyard and sprucing up the place a bit.  I'm so happy spring is finally here!  

How about you, do you grow a garden at all?  

Linking up to:
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Bread and Butter Refridgerator Pickles

 I was so excited to learning how to pickle last summer 

(I'm such an old lady - but it sounded like something cool to try!)

Except my cucumber plants didn't cooperate and I only got 1 horribly disfigured cucumber. 

Sad.

So this year I planted a whole lot more - they still aren't doing the best, but I was able to finally make a small batch of bread and butter refrigerator pickles. 

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles

• 5.5 cups sliced pickling cucumbers (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1.5 tablespoons kosher or pickling salt
• 1 cup thinly sliced sweet onion (I used regular)
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1.5 teaspoons mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds (or 1/8 teaspoon celery salt, in a pinch)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric

Combine cucumbers and salt in a bowl. Cover with a thin tea towel and chill 1.5 hours. Or, if you are like me, get busy doing other things and just leave them in the fridge overnight.  Rinse cucumbers well in a colander, to remove salt. Drain well. Return cucumbers to the bowl along with sliced onion.

Combine sugars, vinegars, seeds and turmeric in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour over cucumbers and onions. Let sit at room temperature for one hour. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours and up to 2 weeks.

Makes approximately 4 cups of DELISH pickles

You will die.  They are SO good!

 Salting them helps withdraw the water from the cucumbers so they have a nice "crunch" to them.

 Drain well....

 Vinegar on the stove - this goes so quick.  I love that it's not a huge project but you still get a great finished product from your garden!

 Mixing in the vinegars..and then let it all soak together!

If you try this out, let me know what you think!

Linking up to Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm 
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Tatertots and Jello  
At the Picket Fence 
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A Bowl Full of Lemons 

Square Foot Garden

I was so disappointed with my square foot garden last year.  

I had high hopes for bushels of tomatoes (or even just a bowlful?) and lofty dreams of pickling.  For some reason, the garden just didn't do very well.  I still ended up making two batches of salsa, but I had to supplement quite a bit of the ingredients from our local stand to make it happen.

So I was mad at my garden and the minute it turned cold I just ignored it.  So two weeks ago, when I wanted to plant, instead of it being easy, I had a project to take care of.

 

Is this miserable or what?  

Mel would come and take my Square Foot Garden manual away from me and smack me in the head if he saw this.

 I promise, I do not live in the ghetto.  I just like pretending I do?  What the...

My generous friend Kari gave me some starts from her yard last year and I am proud to say that those are coming back and doing well.  So I am not a total failure here. 

This area...I just don't know what to do with it yet.  Dan likes dumping the grass clippings here.  I think we need a plan B. 

 This is not attractive.

 Did you know that tomato plants don't really love growing in pots? 

 I do now.  

 While I've been out getting the garden ready for this year I decided to take out these"decorative" bushes (decorative being a term used very loosely here...) and Dan built us a second box.  We wanted to have more space for tomatoes, zucchini and we have a grand plan for growing "up" in this space.

 

My job was to buy the grow mix - which also involved me vacuuming out my car twice over to get the smell out.  Gross. 

 And here is the box!  

We need to get the grids in still also.  I think gardening is so much fun for our family to do together.  I'll post some pictures this weekend of the finished products from clean up and construction out here!

Popcorn on the Cob - Fresh from the Farm!

 I seriously love farm stands, farmers markets, etc.  It just feels nice to hand your money over to the person who earned it, not just the checker who asks if you need stamps. 

Isn't this place just cute?  They sell all sorts of great things here, delicious sweet corn, fruit from all over Utah, their own sugar seedless watermelons and grass fed beef as well. 

 On Saturday Greg and I picked up some popcorn on the cob.  It's only $1 per cob and such a fun treat to make!

 All you need is 1 paper bag and the corn

 Place 1 cob into the paper bag...

 Fold over tightly....

 Place on its side, fold down, in the microwave for 2 to 2.5 minutes.  Listen for the BANG!  POP!  

Lauren thought this part was quite exciting!

Out comes white fluffy and delicious popcorn that is way more healthy than what comes in a bag from the store.  

(Of course we might have added a shake or two of salt...)

Have you ever made this kind of popcorn before?  

We are going back for more next week!

Square Foot Veggie Garden - August

 Our garden is growing so fast!  Lauren is loving picking everything she can find (including green tomatoes...the salsa might be notsomuch this year!)

 It's fun to see what is new and ready to eat every day now...

 Remember this sad thing?

 Everything is growing like crazy now!  Dan built the coolest trellis for the cukes - it folds up so we can easily store it in the winter time. 

I'm really wanting to learn how to pickle but the recipes seem so complicated.  And honestly, I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble? Someone tell me it is and send me their recipes!

 My tomatoes were starting to get yuck, but our farmer friend Chad came over with his cute wife and saved them with his special garden mix.  Hooray for the city girl being friends with the farmers!

 We've got loads of Anaheim peppers already - I'm cleaning them and freezing them for when I'm ready to make salsa in a few weeks.

In other news....somebody around here turned 39 on Friday...

 He loves Rice Krispies more than cake, so I made him a 4 layer Rice Krispy cake!

We celebrated the day by taking the kids to a water park, it was a great day.  The kids love spending time with their dad...I can see why, he's pretty amazing. 

Happy Birthday Dan!

Swim Garden SWIM!

 I have been so looking forward to planting my garden this year.  So have the kids - they were great help in turning over the soil to get things ready to plant.

 I was careful to wait until the chance of frost was gone - I know how tender these little sprouts can be!

 Here is my 24 square garden Dan and the boys built for our family last year - ready to go!

 

The spinach seems to be doing great!

 So are the carrots...

But my cucumbers....I have been really excited to learn how to do pickling this year - I planted one Straight Eight for salads and two squares of Boston Picklers for well, pickles. 

And then the rains came...and came, and came, and came. 

My poor garden has been DROWNING in water!!!

 I might have to quickly replace these as well as my basil that Lauren decided was fun to dig up.  

Sigh.

At least my chive plant came back full force and is doing well though!  

Any advice for a first time cucumber grower in Utah?  

Other than better luck next year?