I love my garden

Princess Bear (PB) & I had so much fun with our first garden. All of the seedlings I planted in the spring had gone to ruin :( It was a great learning lesson though. I really had no idea what I was doing. Since then I've read A LOT on gardening, taken a course at the UofI extension office & am considering taking the classes to become a master gardener. What we wound up with was carrots (still growing), peas- didn't make it for some reason, green beans had some nice sized but the plants didn't thrive as much as I hoped, corn- still coming in!, and more tomatoes than I know what to do with! We are bringing in anywhere from 1-2 dozen grape tomatoes daily as well as a few large (we planted beefsteak, heirloom & roma). Our pumpkins are looking like a bust- oh well better luck next year! I'm not done for the season though! I'm planning on putting in some lettuce in the next few weeks since they say that will grow through October here in Zone 5. I love the idea of fresh lettuce so late in the year! Once we had the garden cleared & tilled it really wasn't too much work. I do know that next year I want to try Square foot gardening so we have more return on our room. My dad says he's also going to give us some more space to plant next year. I figure if I start planning now that I will have a pretty good idea come spring what I want to do & be able to have a good return on all 3 crop times (early, main & late fall). I must confess that the big disappointment was the pumpkins not turning out as I expected. Live & learn right?!!!? Princess Bears main job has been bringing in the tomatoes every day. We learned very early on that once the tomato has some red on it that we needed to get it off the vine & into the house. We let them redden the rest of the way on the windowsill. If we let them get any riper on the vine the critters get them before we can! Not ok with me!!! I also want to try horse trough gardening next year. I used a variety of containers from the dollar store & UFS this year (& got to use a drill for the 1st time!!!) If anyone is looking for a great magazine to add to their reading list consider Mary Jane's Farm I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this magazine & how much I've learned from it in a few issues! I have a few other magazine recommendations to throw your way- another day! Its late & I hear the shower & a book calling my name!!!