Growing a Giant Pumpkin

 In the spring I found a packet of giant pumpkin seeds at the store. 'How fun!' I thought.  But we certainly wouldn't want them all. So why not make a contest? Plus we had been listening to the story Sweet Home Alaska, where they had a giant pumpkin growing contest. I presented it at our local 4-H meeting, and several kids wanted to participate. They each got two seeds.

Desert Girl put hers in pots that she could bring indoors when it got cold. Apparently a bean seed was also in the soil!


She had to keep checking them to make sure they had enough water.


Eventually it was warm enough to plant the pumpkins out in the garden. Desert Girl dug a hole and put the plants in, with ag bag around to keep the weeds down.


We soon found that the insects were enjoying the pumpkin plants. We weren't sure they would survive.


Fortunately they seemed to grow. We watched with eager anticipation for the first blooms.

 

 The vines started creeping out, and we wondered if we had given them enough room.

And then we started seeing flowers!

And more flowers. And more flowers. But no little pumpkins. We tried some hand pollination.

It worked for one plant, which started producing a bunch of pumpkins. We pinched off extra blossoms so only four pumpkins would grow. But the other plant didn't produce any, so we eventually pulled it up to let the other one have more space.

The pumpkins grew and grew, and then they stopped growing. We thought they might grow more, but they seemed to just stop. We talked to others who were growing pumpkins, and they said theirs did the same thing. 

Finally it was time for the competition to end. Desert Girl took the largest one to the 4-H meeting and weighed it in. It was 51.8 pounds, the largest in the club! She won $10 from donations for the prize money and was quite excited by that.

 Now our chickens are enjoying the pumpkin and we'll save some seeds for next year!

The Great Pumpkin Growing Contest

I saw these giant pumpkin seeds in the store and couldn't resist. Wouldn't it be fun to try and grow huge pumpkins? I posed the challenge to our local 4-H club. Who would like to participate in a pumpkin growing contest?

Desert Girl eagerly accepted. Perhaps it was because we had just listened to an audiobook, Sweet Home Alaska, that included a pumpkin-growing contest. She named her two pumpkins Laura and Almonzo, the same as the heroine in the story. Almonzo was also the name of the pumpkin in Farmer Boy.

 It didn't take long for the pumpkins to sprout. And a volunteer bean plant, too.


Then it came time to move them to the garden.


Unfortunately the insects haven't been kind. Would the pumpkin plants even make it? We weren't sure.

Fast forward a week or so, and they are growing well. We're looking forward to flowers next!

Our Surprise Pumpkin

 We didn't have the best garden this year. Insects ate all the beans I planted, irrigation problems were daunting, and it seemed like we were growing more weeds than anything. So it was a wonderful surprise to find the perfect pumpkin in our garden. This vine had been growing all summer and looked like it wouldn't produce at all. But it did. And finally it was time to harvest.

Desert Boy tried to pick the pumpkin. But it was a little too heavy.

I picked it and gave it to him. Did I mention that it was a little too heavy?

Now the pumpkin is sitting in front of our house. Desert Girl has recently decorated it, and later we'll make it into a jack-o'lantern. And roast the seeds. And make pumpkin juice (whatever that is, but Desert Boy really wants to do it). And make a pumpkin pie. We have big hopes and dreams for our one pumpkin.

Happy October!

Late Harvest

 This has been the longest season garden I have ever had. I started planting in February, using old windows on straw bales to keep things warmer. It is now December, and I still have beets, onions, and carrots hanging out under leaves and we go and pick cilantro and kale periodically, despite several hard freezes. I've learned that some vegetables are a lot hardier than I had thought.

About mid-November I finally got around to harvesting the rest of my red cabbage, popcorn, some carrots, red beets, kale, and onions.

Popcorn was a new crop to try this year. I had some helpers husk it.

I bought colorful varieties, partly because they might be more nutritious, partly because they're so pretty. It's not easy getting the kernels off, so I just take off what we need. We've had one successful batch of popcorn and one not so successful.

It's strange to think that it will only be a couple months until it's time to plant again--if the weather cooperates! We've actually enjoyed gardening so much we're thinking about putting in a greenhouse. I keep dreaming of year-round cherry tomatoes and spinach. I would love to be able to just go pick my salad daily.

Around the Yard

 School is out, which means it's summer time! (Desert Girl keeps asking if it's spring or summer, and I've decided to tell her it's summer.) Desert Boy got a new bike for his birthday with gears and hand brakes, and he's been learning what it can do. Desert Girl got a $6 thrift store bike with new inner tubes and princess decals, but lately she's been asking to go back to her smaller bike, so we may take a step back. (Wearing her fancy dress, in the photo above, doesn't stop her from bike riding. She's a princess who likes to do everything!)

We've been really busy in the garden. I've almost got everything planted. The hardest part for me is getting the irrigation system in and working correctly. Fortunately the first plots in the garden are well on their way, and we've been harvesting lettuce, kale, spinach, and cilantro for weeks.

The kids love to pick peas.

We got some broccoli, but it started bolting, so it wasn't as nice as I was hoping.

The kids are fascinated with the garden and also all the insects of the garden. Desert Girl continually has new insect pets. She leaves them all over the house, so I have to watch out for strange containers. By the way, Desert Girl now has shorter hair because she keeps cutting it. Besides new insect pets, I also find little tufts of blonde hair here and there throughout the house.

We're pretty sure Luna is a rooster now, since he cock-a-doodle-doos in the morning. We had a recent scare when some dogs scared the chickens and they all scattered. We slowly rounded them up, but couldn't find Luna. The four hens were not happy in the coop all by themselves. When we found Luna the next morning, cock-a-doodle-dooing in the garage, they immediately perked up. Luna is missing a few tail feathers, but otherwise seems okay.

We've really enjoyed having chickens so far. Hopefully we will make it to the egg-laying stage!

And that's the news from this neck of the woods desert. Lots of playing in water, using power tools to work on forts, play dates, and lazy afternoons watching the kids play. We're savoring early summer and the good weather. We hope you are too!

Unexpected Bounty

A high pressure has settled in over much of the western United States, which means sunny skies and 50 degree temperatures in the high desert. We are enjoying it! Today we cleaned some of the garden, and much to our surprise, found some carrots have been growing in the warmer winter temperatures. Yum, fresh local veggies in winter!

Ten Minute Pickles

How is your garden doing this summer? Mine is doing okay, although I've figured out a few things I'll change next year. My new drip irrigation system is working well. I have a lot fewer weeds! I just need to put in a couple more tees at the beginning, because the plants at the end of the drip irrigation aren't getting enough water. Before I went on a long weekend trip and my cucumber plant sort of dried up (oops!), I harvested some cucumbers. I had specifically planted cucumbers because I wanted to make pickles.

I have to admit that when I moved out to the desert, I had never made pickles before. For some reason, I thought that when you made pickles, cucumbers shrunk into pickles. I didn't realize that pickles were just made out of small cucumbers. Ay, ay, ay. Live and learn!

Oh well, fast forward to today, when I actually understand that the cucumbers won't shrink when I pickle them. I picked three cucumbers about six inches long and found a recipe for quick pickles. I didn't want to bother with canning them, as that is a rather hot and long process. Fortunately, quite a few ten minute refrigerator pickle recipes exist. The basic process is to heat some vinegar, sugar, and spices in a saucepan, pour them over your cut cucumbers, and put them in the refrigerator. That's easy enough! Here's a great recipe from Rachel Ray. If you have another recipe you like to use, please leave a comment!

First Harvest

Last night I asked the kids if they would like to go out to the garden with me to plant some beans. They said no, planting beans didn't sound fun. Desert Boy asked if there would be anything to eat. I said yes, not really thinking of what he could eat, but hoping to lure him out anyway.

When we got out to the garden, I noticed that the heat we've been having has made the garden flourish. Tiny cilantro poked out of the ground, and Desert Boy happily ate some of that. Then we found some baby spinach tucked in with the lettuce, and they each tried a leaf and then wanted more. Oh, to have the kids actually ask for spinach, especially after they had refused to eat it at dinner!

 I saw tiny broccoli heads peeking out of the leaves. I'm so excited that we'll have a real broccoli crop this year.

The peas are starting to flower. I let the kids each plant their own square (we do square foot gardening), and we'll see what grows there. I was a bit distracted trying to plant those beans, so I'm not sure what they planted. Maybe it's best that way!

Taking Gardening to a New Level--a Grow Light and Mini Greenhouse

At the end of February we started some seeds indoors. This year I'm determined to do a better job with gardening, as I want to have more fresh food in our house, locally grown. My husband is in total support. He doesn't care so much about the locally grown part--or even the fresh food part, but he wants us to be self-sufficient and ready for survival mode should we ever need to be. (Hopefully if we need to be, we will have quite a bit more time to prepare, because we are not ready now!)

By starting seeds inside so early, I knew that we would need some help from light, as the sun just isn't strong enough now to provide enough light via windows, and it's still too cold to put the plants out for the day. So I did some searching and found a wonderful design to make your own grow light system with PVC pipe from Emily at My Square Foot Garden. She had gotten all her supplies from Home Depot for $48. We were heading to town and decided to go for it. 

Her directions (and prices) were spot on, and it didn't take long at all to assemble our own grow light.

 Our seedlings immediately showed their appreciation by not bending towards the light. If you're wondering if the light is crooked, it is. We had some seedlings much taller than others, so we thought by hanging the light crooked, we would be able to make them all happy.

 The seedlings are doing great. Desert Boy has been keeping track of when the seedlings appear. It's been interesting to see how fast different vegetables germinate.

Seeing the change from the nearly bare tray to the now much greener one makes this project worth it. (It will be even more worth it once we get to eat the vegetables that we planted!)

Now that we are in March with 60 degree days in the forecast, it's time to plant some of the early crops: peas, beets, carrots, and lettuce. We're a little concerned that it might be a tiny bit early, so we decided to make a mini greenhouse for our early crops. We gathered some old windows and old hay bales. We came up with a solution. It's not pretty, but hopefully it will work!

 Our next big task for the garden is figuring out a better irrigation system. Those of you who don't have to water your garden--you are so lucky!

Time to Plant Seeds!

 I started getting weekly emails from My Square Foot Garden a couple weeks ago, reminding me that it was time to start seeds indoors. Last year I just bought seedlings from the store, but this year I decided the kids would really enjoy seeing things grow. So we bought a couple supplies:

In particular, I bought a mini-greenhouse seed starter kit for $6.99 and some potting soil. I also bought a couple extra packets of seeds, although I had more than I thought left over  from last year.

 The kids got the soil moist in a big metal tub and then started filling in the plastic trays. I thought they would like this a lot, but it wasn't nearly as fun as I had anticipated. Oh, well. I guess playing in mud is more enjoyable when it's less supervised.

 Then came the seed planting. Desert Boy did a fine job, but Desert Girl thought it was fun to put seeds into extra spaces. Hmm, we may have some surprises coming up.

 We carefully labeled everything with little bits of paper secured on toothpicks.

 Then it was time to water with a little warm water on the bottom of the tray and add the plastic cover. I put the whole tray up on top of the refrigerator, hoping to find a nice, warm place for it. Our house is usually about 65 degrees and I had read that germination was best about 70 degrees. It turns out that the refrigerator is near our door, and all the opening and closing lets in some drafts, so I found a place on top of a high cabinet. It didn't have good light, but the seeds don't need light at this point.

 Three days later, I took down the tray and we saw seedlings! Broccoli, spinach mustard, sunflower, and parsley (which probably really isn't parsley because that takes longer than three days to germinate) had just barely emerged from the soil in six of the little spaces.

Desert Boy is keeping a record of the sprouts. It's been good for his math, reading, and handwriting skills. Today was day 4, and we had sprouts in 11 of the compartments. This is fun! The plastic cover seems to make a big difference, as many other times when I've tried seeds indoors, I've invariably let the plants get too dry. Hopefully this year we'll have much better success!

What plants do you like to grow the best?

Bountiful Garden

 Our garden has been rather pitiful this year due to deer, insects, and much more, hence I haven't shared it on this blog. Fortunately, some friends at Home Farm have had a bountiful garden this year, with more than they can use. Today Desert Girl and I went and visited their garden, which Desert Girl called the jungle.

 Jane helped Desert Girl pull up carrots. They were beautiful carrots, big and so orange.

 Desert Girl looks like she can't quite believe that under all that greenery, deep in the ground, the carrot was growing! Her expressions during the visit were hilarious, as you will see.

 Now Desert Girl is helping Laurie. It's hard work pulling up those carrots!

 Laurie had washed one carrot off and was eating it, but Desert Girl doesn't look like she quite believes that you can eat that orange thing right out of the ground!

 Next it was on to cherry tomatoes. Usually Desert Girl doesn't like tomatoes, so I wasn't expecting her to say that she wanted to give one a try. But she was feeling adventurous, and she said, yes, she would try one.

 Jane and Desert Girl try them at the same time.

 Hmmm...maybe not quite what she was expecting!

 I wish I knew what she was thinking here!

 With a half-eaten carrot still in hand, Desert Girl followed Jane to the broccoli. Desert Girl loves broccoli, and she turned out to be very good at spotting it. She wasn't too thrilled eating it raw. But we ate some cooked broccoli tonight--so delicious!

 They still had beets left, so Desert Girl helped pull up some of them, along with a few onions. I think she was surprised at all the varieties of food in the ground.

Swiss chard. Desert Girl is having her horizons expanded! She had such a fun time at the garden and with Jane. Thanks so much! We really appreciate Home Farm's generosity and feel blessed to be able to partake of such well-tended produce. We all ate carrots as a snack this afternoon. Yum!