The garden has just been just eh this year.

The critters have gotten to the back two beds (peas and cucumbers) despite our best efforts and lots of repellent. It blows my mind how when we hardly had any kind of protection around the garden the animals left it alone. Now that it has all kinds of fencing around it we can’t keep them out. It’s been a frustrating couple of years on The Farm.

New to The Mommyland Farm this year are the strawberries. They have been tasty but we haven’t gotten too many, I think we’ve been averaging about one every other day. I’m hopeful that they’re the gift that keeps giving and we’ll get some more as the summer progresses. I don’t think I’ll be using my own strawberries for my strawberry shortcake any time soon.

Juicy strawberries.

We’ve gotten one green pepper so far and there are many more out there that just need to get a little bigger. The red and yellow peppers refuse to change color though. We had this problem last year, three different colors were planted but we only had green. They all tasted good though so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Anyone have luck with different colors of peppers?

The cherry tomatoes are doing really well. We’ve got more than Logan can eat coming off the vine. It’s nice to not have to buy them at the store for a few weeks.

The beefsteak tomatoes are OK so far. There are a lot of them on the vine but, much like last year, they’re not turning red. So far we’ve only had one red one but it was worth the wait. There’s just something about tomatoes fresh from the garden, they’re not always as pretty on the outside as their grocery store counterparts but they are gorgeous on the inside and tasty.

The other thing we’re waiting on is the carrots. We’ve tried them before but something always ate them before they had a chance to grow. This year they seem to be thriving and Cameron is really looking forward to eating one right out of the ground. Carrots are the only veggie he’ll eat and they have to be raw and he only eats them every once in a great while. I’m looking forward to sneaking them into my meatloaf. HEHEHE

This was our second year with the potatoes and while we didn’t get as many as we did last year we still got a respectable haul. I’ll be making some chips with some of them VERY soon. I guess I should share a few with my Mom too.

Our potatoes. That’s a little more than half a five gallon bucket.

I’ve had some questions as to how to grow the potatoes and honestly, they’re the easiest thing in our garden. We got the bulbs in the spring, cut them in half and planted them cut side down. All you really need to do is keep them watered. The bulb package said to pile more dirt on top of the plants as they started to grow but we never did that. When the plant looks like it’s about to die we pull them out of the ground and go hunting for potatoes.

Potato hunting.

The boys love searching for the potatoes, probably because it gives them an excuse to get dirty.

The herbs? Don’t even ask! The potted herbs blew away and are laying dead on the front porch. Second year of herb failure.

I’ve been hearing a lot of garden success stories this year, how is your garden doing? Do you have any tips for getting my tomatoes to turn red while still on the vine or how I can get my red and yellow peppers to stop being green?

Happy Gardening!

This Spud’s For You!

We had mix results on The Farm this year, mostly because of the damn animals eating everything they could get their furry little lips on. The cucumbers, peas and carrots all ended up being a lost cause and the weeds quickly took over their beds.

We tried our luck with potatoes this year. Neither one of us know a thing about potatoes but we got a little guidance from good old Google and figured we would get a little something from our potato plants. The other day when Bill and the boys were out in the garden cleaning up they decided to check out the potatoes and see if we’d have any to enjoy.

Man we hit the jackpot with the potatoes! As Bill pulled the plants from the ground it was like a potato bonanza, each plant yielding more than the one before. Within a half an hour we had a five gallon bucket filled to the rim with fresh potatoes. There were some BIG ones too!

This isn’t even a quarter of our haul

I have to admit, I’ve been very stingy in sharing my potatoes. I begrudgingly gave my mom six or eight and I refuse to let anyone else have them now that I’ve tasted them.

That’s right, they are the most delicious potatoes I’ve ever eaten. Bill fried a few up with some onions, olive oil and seasoning and they were melt in your mouth yummy. We even got Cameron to try some and he LOVED them.

I’m looking forward to homemade chips and fries, maybe even some hash browns. Of course we’ll be frying some more up for dinner tonight!

The potatoes are by far my favorite thing from the garden this year.

What is your favorite thing from your garden this year? Did you get an unexpected yield like we did?