My Friend Zoe From Pennsylvania Sends in Her Summer Garden Photos

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other people’s pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!
Hello again garden friends!

The growing season is about half over and the gardens look at a lot different than they did a month or two ago! Some patches of crops are over and the last plantings of summer things are just a few inches high. I need to purchase broccoli and cabbage starts for my fall crops and I will plant my garlic in September but other than that, planting is about finished.

Here is our small garden, the one by the barn. The raspberries are huge and finished producing their first berries. Hopefully they will have a fall crop, too. To the right of them are the potatoes which are dead and need dug.

Then it is a patch of tomatoes which are going CRAZY. I followed one of those plans of putting a whole bunch of stuff in the holes when I planted them and I think it made a difference. The plants are going nuts and the tomatoes look great!

The kids’ skid house is covered in morning glories now, which have yet to bloom. The six-year-old told me the other day that he thinks we planted them too deep and that’s why they aren’t blooming! Their spring crops of lettuce, carrots, and beats are over and they now planted some flowers seeds they found in my scene box. I’m pretty sure they were old, though, since they aren’t up yet.

The chickens are mad at me lately. It’s their fault, though! If they wouldn’t fly over the fence and eat my tomatoes, I could let them out. Little buggers. I do leave them out for about an hour in the evening but any longer than that and too many of them get bored of their run and insist on eating my veggies and digging up mulch.

Out in the big garden things are doing well. First plantings of corn, cucumbers, and beans are over. The kids are in patiently waiting on the watermelon and cantaloupe. I’ve been picking potato bugs daily on my second planting of those and I’ve noticed the bugs also moving over to the tomato patch out there. I’ve spent many an hour picking those things! And the orchard trees are doing OK. We didn’t get as many cherries as last year but still enough to freeze a few quarts. The plum tree looks great, though.

Here’s a picture of the other end of the big garden. One of the guys who works on our farm wanted some space to grow okra, which I’ve never grown. He planted 5 nice rows of it which should make PLENTY! I’m excited to try cooking some.

The raised beds need some loving. Looking a little weedy (tis the time of year for putting up produce, not weeding!) but still producing well. I’m getting leafy greens, onions (which I should harvest), and other odds and ends from here. One of the fences has my last planting of cucumbers climbing it. I like picking them standing up!

The grapes look great. The vines are loaded! Hoping they make it another month or so and don’t get diseased.

I recently learned of a way to control squash bugs… Give the eggs a lovely coat of nail polish so they can’t hatch! So I spent an hour out there the other day painting every group I could find. Don’t they look lovely in mauve?

The garlic harvest was good this year.

Everything else is producing bucketfuls, too. There’s always something to pick and preserve!

I did manage to weed the patio, just for you guys!

If you want to follow my cooking head over to my blog www.zoedawn.wordpress.com and if you need any baby quilts or potholders, try my etsy shop www.zoedawn.etsy.com!

Tootles my friends!

~Zoë

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Pantry Pics – Submit at least 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
• Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go  HERE for the official rules.