Lots to catch up on

Sorry, life got in the way of computer time for a few days there.  I have been taking some pictures and making notes of things to share with you, though.

So, let me catch you up and fill you in.  I grew up a country girl.  Now, we didn't have much land, I grew up on about 10 acres my parents owned and the 100s of acres that, at that time, surrounded the place and was unoccupied.  Spent a lot of time in the woods, camping with our extended family and doing all those chores that come with country life.  A lot of those chores revolved around feeding the family.  Gardening, tending the animals, butchering, canning, all those things that you can't take for granted if you want to eat in the lean winter months.

Fast forward several (OK, SEVERAL several) years and I find myself wanting to get back to those roots more and more.  We own a home back in Texas (well, the bank owns it, but you know how that goes) on almost two acres and we have lots of plans for it when we get back there in (hopefully) a couple of years.

Right now we find ourselves in a rent house and we do what we can to insure good food for our family.  It helps that doing this stuff saves money, too!  Sure you invest some time, but it's a much better thing to do with my time than watching videos or something.

Having given you that information, let me start where I left off.  Sunday I drug my sorry rear end out to the garden to see what was ripe.  Felt like crud, but it needed to be done.  My garden here is small.  No, really, it is.

I haven't measured it but I have four tomato plants, 2 jalapenos, a bell pepper, two eggplants, five zucchini, several green pea plants (well, I did, they died back and I pulled them already), two cages covered with green bean plants (also about ready to be pulled), 3 melons (honeydew and cantaloupe), 5 or 6 cucumber vines and onions planted around the edges.  I planted things close together (too close hubby says, lol) and basically crammed a lot in a small place because the owner of this house said I could have a garden in the back yard as long as I only used the space she used to use, so that set my space limitation.  I did have some lettuce and spinach planted in the old flower beds by the back porch but it got too hot and they started to bolt so I pulled them.  I have five cabbages in there, too, and so far they are doing OK except for some minor bug damage.

Here is what I got from the garden Sunday