Zucchini, Pulled Pork, and Prayers

I haven't posted about my garden in a while, but it is still there. They say that summer gardens are wild and unorganized. Mine is no exception. The only things that have been able to withstand the desert heat are tomatoes, zucchini, and cantalope. The zucchini and cantalope seem to brush the sun aside and just keep growing and growing. I have learned that 3 or for long, slow soakings from the hose per week are much better than watering everyday from hand, or a watering system. Once I started doing this, my pretties doubled in size. I am anxious to begin a fall garden.

I came accross this bad boy just this morning. He (I am pretty sure it is a "he") will be good with our pulled pork, corn on the cob, and crusty bread tonight. You can find a fabulous, easy recipe for pulled pork here, http://marinscreations.blogspot.com/search/label/PORK.

Lastly, I wanted to share a quote that Warren and I have been talking about for a few weeks now. My cute cousin, Landon, used it in one of his lessons at church. We used to babysit Landon, and now he is engaged to be married, and well on his way to being a spiritual giant. Time really does fly.

“When He answers yes, it is to give us confidence. When He answers no, it is to prevent error. When He withholds an answer, it is to have us grow through faith in Him, obedience to His commandments, and a willingness to act on truth.”

By Elder L. Lionel Kendrick of the seventy.

"As the gardener, such is the garden."...Hebrew proverb

For all of you who have always wanted to, but thought you couldn't, or didn't know where to start. For all of you who have always heard, "Nothing grows in the Arizona soil." For all of you who have been brainwashed into thinking that you have to do something fancy, or have a raised bed garden...

This is my very first garden. It's not a Master Garden, but stuff actually grew! Most of it is from 20 cent Walmart seeds. The empty row was full of radishes, which we promptly ate. Are you feeling more brave?

A ladybug found my spinich!

Summer squash. Say that 10 times please!

Basil, dill, and parsley.

Pomegranite (I'm too tired to look up the right spelling).

Peaches.

Zuchini, watermellon, and cantelope starts that Cody, Preston and Tyler planted.

This is my very first try. You can do it too. I promise!!

My Tomatos (You know you want to know about my tomatos!)

This morning, as we were examining our little garden, I noticed that my tomato plants had started producing! I am very excited to see these little bad boys. I have learned that tomatos are a sensitive plant, but can produce a ton when taken care of properly. If you want to try growing tomatos, let me give you some hints that I learned the long way.

1. Grow tomatos from starts. You can buy them at Walmart, Lowes, or Home Depot.
2. They need a bit more water than other vegitables, and must be watered consistantly.

3. Pull the bottom leaves off. Anything touching the ground will turn brown.

4. They need some sort of support.

5. Realize that little tomato plants turn into big tomato plants. Give them space to grow.

Follow these guidelines, and you will be making me homemade salsa with your own homegrown tomatos in no time!

Planting

For FHE this week we planted a new little peach tree and a naval orange. The naval orange tree will not produce fruit for a year or two, but the peach tree already has fruit on it. If you visit the Home Depot on Power and Queen Creek there is a man in the garden section that is an expert on planting fruit trees. He will give you information on which varieties grow in AZ and how to get large fruit instead of the little tiny peaches, apples, etc. that so many people seem to get. He knows everything there is to know about fruit tree growing in Arizona. I am trying to motivate more people to plant things in their yards. We had four fruit producing trees this year. It was so much fun and really not much work at all. I wish I would have planted more when we first bought this house.

Garden Update

Here is my garden as of this morning! I am so surprised that things are actually growing. The lettuce and radishes are just about ready for thinning and the spinich is finally coming in. I have already planned a spot to expand this garden in the fall. Lately, we are interested in having an edible yard. I found a cool magazine and website giving advice on this. You can find it at http://www.ediblephoenix.com/. This morning a fruit expert at Home Depot told me about a couple of apple and peach varieties that actually do very well here. If anyone knows about growing these kinds of trees here, or any other gardening/planting information, I would love some more advice.

New Blog To Share

Several people have asked me about starting a garden. I am a novice, but my vegitables seem to be coming in nicely. My cousin told me about a great blog called The Enlightened Homemaker. You can find it over in my "Sites I Visit". Right now she has some excellent information about starting a garden. I know that you are just DYING to know how my garden looks, so I'll take some pics. and post them later. Hopefully you will not die of suspense! Please, compose yourself! This weekend we will tackle a watering system. I am already wanting to expand the garden (Which is exactly what Warren said I would do!).