Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Our Square Foot Garden and the Joys of Flowers

















Gardening is a lot of fun. So far I haven't killed anything so I'm guessing that is a good thing. We had our first harvest of lettuce and two adorable strawberries the other day. They were surprisingly good. I hope each year to add another square foot garden. Baby steps, right. I can't wait for more fruits and veggies to pop up. Thank goodness Nick made a chicken wire cage for it because the turkeys would have really enjoyed it. Speaking of turkeys, the other day I was home alone and I heard this loud banging noise. I was so scared. I didn't know if somebody was trying to break in or what. I heard it coming from the basement. Thank goodness my boyfriend Butters came with me. When I went down, there was this huge turkey with his feathers sprawled out banging on the glass. He was hitting it so hard. I was afraid he was going to come through the window. It was really scary. My baby Butters ran right to the window ledge and scared the turkey away. What would I do without my baby Butters.

Ok, back to gardening and beautiful flowers. I'm slowly learning all the exquisite flowers out in the world. They have such crazy names. I'm trying to remember all of them but those who know me, I have a terrible memory. Here are a couple of flowers that I absolutely love. This is Viola. My friend Kelliann gave me these flowers. They were so sad looking at first but look at it now. It is so beautiful. I guess I have somewhat of a green thumb.

This arrangement is from my Mom. She is an expert with flowers. She is always teaching me what flowers are good for sun and shade and the crazy names too. Nick and I have the arrangement off of our porch so we can look at it as we eat dinner.
My goal is to add different types of perennial flowers each year to our edge of our woods. I can picture it now, all different types of flowers that are the colors of the rainbow. Our grass looks beautiful, thanks to Nicholas Ivan. He is lucky to have a sit down lawn mower from Dad. I wish I could help but I would probably mess it up or run into a tree like I did when I was younger. :)







Here is some basil from my herb pots. I made pesto with it. My other friend Kelly from Utah has the best recipes on her blog so all the credit goes to her. It turned out really well. It was delicious. I put mushrooms and peppers on the pasta too. The only problem is when I cut the basil, I cut all the leaves and you are only supposed to cut the bottom leaves or they won't grow back anymore. Minor mistake, hehe. Kelliann said that they may grow back but nothing yet. I guess no more pesto for now. You live and you learn.




My Mom and I used to go strawberry picking when I was younger. Good memories. I remember picking one and eating two. Jersey strawberries are soooo delicious. Buying them from the store just doesn't compare. Here are some strawberries I picked with Kelliann. It has been awhile. I can't wait to take my kids one day.





I have never been cherry picking before. These weren't as delicious as the strawberries but the trees were so beautiful. We took so many pictures. I want to frame the picture on the left. This is in the middle of one of the trees. So much fun. I love the Garden state!