upper respiratory bummer

I came down with a upper respiratory infection (aka cold) and had to miss Saturday's citizen gardener class. If that didn't make me disappointed enough, I wasn't able to do much in the garden either.  Attempts ended with me feeling a bit winded and reclining on the couch. I eventually gave up and bought the Spring 2011 Heirloom Gardener for my iPad to make me feel better. It worked. ;)  I read all about tomatoes and am starting to feel a bit more knowledgeable. I am a little nervous about growing tomatoes! I have had really bad results so far.  Granted I've only gone two seasons, and had little to no clue what I was doing, but still!

E checking out a few pepper, tomato, and eggplant starts in the greenhouse

One of my collard plants started a flower, so I decided they were done. As much as that plant (which was actually 2 kind of intertwined together, oops!) produced, I really am not a big fan of the flavor so I hardly harvested it. I need to make room for other things. :)

Like more sugar snap peas! I have 8-10 of those plants growing right now, and the plant that I had left from summer/fall decided to spit out 4 pods before it turned brown and wilted.  Evie and I really enjoyed them as a snack on Saturday! She is actually quite nuts over those peas, so I am excited to have a ton more soon.  We like them enough that I want to start another set of them for springtime.

I'm also thinking about more beans and peas. We love them in our house, now to find out how well they do in this climate!  Also on the list now that wasn't before: melons, and perhaps a winter squash variety (I have 2 summer varieties planned for spring.)  Ever since I found out that peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes are not too fond of the superhot weather we are prone to get, I have been on a mission to fill my gardens with stuff that may work better. I've got a lot of space to work with and want to make sure I am using it to its fullest potential!

Back yard (before we finished mulching the back on Saturday)

I decided to raised-box the longer bed that I dug up in the back yard, again to help improve yields. We went to Home Depot and got some wood for that, so I now have a(nother) project for next weekend.  The scrap wood ended up being two 1' and two 2' pieces, which I plant to assemble into a small box, possibly for an herb garden, probably for the front yard.

I may be a little bit obsessed with gardening.  I can think of many worse things to be obsessed about. :)  I love the peace it gives me, the usefulness and practicality, the connection with the earth.  I appreciate food so much more now that I know all of the work that goes into producing it. And it definitely tastes better!  Plus I like to know that I am learning such a vital skill.  It gives me pride to go out to my own yard and harvest food that I cared for to feed my family. I picked some lettuce for lunch on Saturday and I swear it was the best lettuce I've ever tasted! I never knew how much I liked lettuce until I started eating it NOT from the grocery store.  I plan on growing a ton of it!  There's already quite a bit out there.

E bringing kale in for dinner Thursday night