The Harvest

Happy Tuesday Folks!

No stitchy news today - rather a final update on my sophomore year of veggie gardening! 

Here's where we were at in June:

June 2012 - The Start

Seeds just in the ground and squash's just planted. Oh and let's not forget the gate! Bunny proofing at its best and a lesson learned from the year previous where NOTHING survived the onslaught of slugs and bunnies. 

By July, the garden was in fully swing. My beans had started to climb the teepee I had put together. The carrots, onions, radishes were starting to make an appearance. And those pumpkins... well let's just say they began to over run their bed in August.  

July 2012

And now, here we are in October! We've had to fight off a few slugs and rescue baby squashes from the brink of death, but I can safely say we did it! 

Over the last couple of weeks the boyfriend and I have been in full Fall Harvest mode, and yesterday we dug up most of what was left. 

October 2012

One lone Butternut squash left to ripen. You could certainly call this one a late bloomer!

I have to say - the garden looks in rough shape right now doesn't it? WELL, there's a good reason for this! After our experience with lack of proper nutrients in the soil (this is what almost killed our squashes) the boyfriend did LOTS of reading up on this problem. Nope gardening is not as easy as putting seed to soil folks. A delicate balance must be struck between 3 different kinds of nutrients for a garden - and especially veggies - to grow successfully. 

The boyfriend, being the pro-active type, got his wheelbarrow, shovel and gloves together and started preparing the soil for next year. While a lot of soil preping can be done in the spring, it's also beneficial to let the nutrients hang out in the soil over the winter in addition to doing some spring preping. Yup - he's a keener and that's why I love him :)  

Hard at work :)

And yes! I got my hands dirty too!!! Literally :)

And here are the fruit of our labour (or veggies hehe).

Baby carrots just from the garden!

Butternut Squash

Pumpkins! Currently out on the front step but I took them in just for this picture. We did have 3 but the boyfriend made fresh pumpkin pie the other night and one had to be sacrificed!!!!

The perfect stem? Why YES - I think it is :) Love it!

Before and After a wash. Surprising to see how vibrant the washed ones are! 

Believe it or not, there's still more carrots left in the garden. Hoping that they'll grow just a bit more before the frost gets at them. 

Its been a very rewarding experience creating a vegetable garden. I love being able to grab an onion or a zucchini when the mood strikes me. And FRESH veg is simply to die for, over the comparatively old veg in the grocery store. I hate it when I have to go digging through boxes upon boxes of strawberries just to find a package that doesn't look too bruised or mouldy! Yes this happens... just the other day in fact... ANYWAY I digress. 

For someone who LOVES being in the kitchen, this has been a dream.  I'm so looking forward to next year - plans have already begun! Perhaps a greenhouse is the next step :)

But for now, I'll settle for some down time and will plop my butt in my favourite stitching chair tonight and take in some Halloween movies with the boyfriend. Sounds like an evening made in heaven to me :)

Have a great week everyone!

Melissa