2011 Garden Review

Had friends for dinner this week and Jerry brought some arugula and spinach leaves from his garden. He asked "how our garden was" this year. Funny how easy it is to hesitate with that question. Or maybe forget the bounty we had. Why didn't I say we had our first watermelons ever? And our first canteloupes? We are still enjoying acorn squash.
There is nothing more satisfying and practical than having a store of spinach stashed in the freezer.
We ate fresh salsa this week with our locally grown tomatoes and jalapenos, and tomatoes in both frozen and canned forms for lots of things. (Did not do the sun-dry experiment this year, unfortunately). We have corn and bell peppers in the bag. We have grapes in the jar. We have garlic in the basement. We still have basil in a pot. We have honey in the comb, a process we understand better than we did when we received it. We gave tomatillo salsa and plum jam for Christmas.  Finished the onions, could have used more. Garlic got harvested too late and split, but we are still using it.

A world of carrots never sprouted due to watering issues and planting too late. The boys say they don't want to plant sweet potatoes next year, but seeing this picture makes me think they're silly. Paid almost $1 each for them last week. White potatoes (actually yukon gold) were OK, but not outstanding. Had worm problems for the first time ever. Went through about 9 chickens (give or take) but would not trade any of it. 

"It was an OK year."

 The July 4 Derailer Bike Collective chickens.
Snowball, Rocky, Ginger, and the girl who only lasted a day.