More ideas and problems to solve

We were discussing this weekend about expanding the garden next year. I think this is PERFECT!! I will have room for the produce I talked about planting, a dill bed I can keep in the corner, and garlic I want to plant this fall!!

Problems I'm having lately....

I'm finding that I planted the tomatoes so that they shade the peppers! The peppers have taken off so is it really a problem??

I'm noticing yellow leaves on the tomatoes. Right now I'm just taking them off but I wonder what is causing it and how I can solve it??

I have had tomatoes on my hybrid plant for a good month or more. How long does it take a tomato to get red after it's appeared??? How can I help it develop??

I even found a "squishy" tomato still green on the vine. Why didn't it ripen??

I'll post the answers when I find them!

Our first "Harvest"

We harvested the spinach today!!

I was sad to see it go but replaced it with more carrots and broccili. I'll put in more spinach in a month when it gets cooler.

The gardening twin decided that this pepper was ready to be picked while we were picking herbs for our scallops and pasta dinner. It was really sour....EEEWWWWW!!! Guess it needs some more time to vine ripen ;)

Ideas for the garden

The things I want to try are:

Fencing!!! Keep those friendly hungry neighborhood creatures out!!
(I woke up to find something at my broccili last night! I know it wasn't the kids!!! LOL!!!)

I want to try to grow: Corn, Peas, and Pumpkins

Smaller walking rows = more growing room

My husband came up with the idea of making the rows go the other way. They are going the long way of a rectangle now and he's thinking about going the short way if that makes sense?? (I'm not sure I'm on board on this one)

I'm sure I'll think of more as the year goes on! This is as you know a work in progress!!!

Testing.... I think I may know what I'm doing wrong???

OK, I'm trying to figure out the picture thing (I'm having one of those boring days, the kids are occupying themselves and the house is clean). I've noticed that the blogs who have great pics are larger and centered. I've also just realized that you need to download the pics before you write!!!! I will get this someday!!! I've added a couple of pics of vacation... Let's see how it looks!

Playing on the rocks

Exploring the rocky Maine Coast

I can't seem to put in pictures like the pros!!

I get so fusturated when I blog! Can you tell I'm just an average SAHM with little computer skills??? LOL!!!!! I see wonderful blogs with pictures that line up with the correct paragraphs. No extra blank spaces, weird word seperations... I can never get the picture to go where I want it to! Oh well, I am indeed a work in progress!!

Back home and the garden has grown!!!

I found myself seeing the garden as I do a child this week!

You know how when your with them daily you don't notice the growth but spend a few days apart and wow! They are amazingly taller and more brillant!

The same happened in the garden. I left for a week and I have:

baby bell peppers, the spinach and lettuce are ready to harvest,

I have blossoms on every tomato plant and cucumber plant as well!!!!

Wow was I impressed!!! What I wasn't impressed with were all the weeds... there were hardly any when I left, what happened??? It's like they noticed we left then jumped right in!!! It's been so humid here in Maine lately that I've been going out in the morning and evening to evict the party crashers. At least it seems like the bugs have taken a respite. For now anyway ;) I did have some footprints in the garden... whatever it was stepped on some lettuce but didn't seem to eat anything (which is good)... I'm figuring it must have been a neighborhood dog since I don't think a deer could stop itself from nibbling ;)

Our trip Downeast was wonderful!!! The kids really enjoyed the goodie bags I made for them on the trip up (the trip back was ugly and full of motion sickness but we won't think about that today) and everyone LOVED the games!!!! Next time I need to find sacks for a sack race, and a better way to tie legs for the three legged race... I had left the hankerchiefs at home and improvised with trash bags which weren't the best idea since they stretch... live and learn!!!

Many of the activities I packed stayed packed since we spent most of our time searching for seashells and playing on the rocky shoreline-- located right beside our campsite!

It was so nice now that my children are older and I don't have to worry about them quite so much. The biggest problem this time was getting along with others, not trying to avoid serious injury (like falling off a cliff or getting hit by a rogue shriner on a go cart... you laugh but it could have happened!!!!). I still worry about it, but they know better than to stand in the middle of a parade route or go by the cliffs. I did get paranoid around the sparklers (since I HATE THEM) but the kids were good with them and there were no injuries thank goodness!!

So it was great! The views of the Bay of Fundy were amazing,

the wild roses and lupine were beautiful and being with family made the trip complete!!

Til next time!

My life isn't all in the garden

I should probably start a new blog. That's what is proper right???
The problem is if I don't have my things in one place I tend to lose them....
I may make a new blog soon but for now you get some crafty / kid posts mixed into our gardening!

A lot of my links are child / craft related.... why????
I'm a stay at home mom who craves things to do with the kids!!!

Gardening hasn't been the adventure I wanted for the kids. They aren't really "into" it. It's become more of my pastime that they come help with occassionally.
My life however... is all about the kids!!!
They facinate me every day! I love finding things for them to do that put a sparkle in their eyes. Lately, the only thing doing that is the back yard pool ;) which forces me to get creative... especially for car trips!!

I'm getting ready for our various family vacations this summer. Nothing like planning ahead! I hate packing but I love finding things for them to do!!!

Each child has a canvas bag which will be filled with snacks, a waterbottle, crayons, pencils, and busy work!! This is great for the long rides we will be taking and while we are at our destination!

I went to mom's minivan and printed off a ton of worksheets (car bingo, tic tac toe, dot game, etc...), I put them in 1qt. plastic bags (so they can be reused) and my husband (aka, wrecker of dreams...LOL) so lovingly reminds me that if dropped the ink will come off on our new minivan!! and also, who are they going to play with (my reason for the minivan was to seperate them so they can't "touch" eachother!) So I guess the white boards will have to wait until they can play with their cousins.

It's OK though... I also made do it yourself clipboards and added a bunch of scrap paper. They love to draw!! I'm back on line today looking for more ideas. I'm contiplating the mini bags from chasing cheerios... I just have to find thing that are age appropriate... and the time ;)

Thanks for listening to my ramble... I like to get it off my chest sometimes ;)
Wish my garden luck while I'm gone!!