our monster pumpkin

Our pumpkin plant this year only really grew one pumpkin (that didn't rot).  We were totally okay with that, because it was huge.  I couldn't lift it.  Stewart thinks it weighed 50-60lbs.  The only problem is, we had a little pumpkin mishap.

One evening Stew and I went out to lift up the half-ripened pumpkin and place a piece of plywood underneath, to lessen the chances of it rotting.  (I had read this would help; now I am skeptical!)  As he lifted it, we heard it snap off the vine!  We were so upset.  We went inside and quickly googled "how to ripen pumpkin off the vine".

It turns out that you just need to leave it in the sun.  One half was orange already, the other was greenish-white.  We left it for about 3-4 weeks, and it did eventually all turn orange.  Hurray!

A couple days ago we decided to finally cut and cook the monster pumpkin.

our kids, giving some perspective as the the size of it

each piece was about a foot long - it filled our kids table

I had 4 trays full of pumpkin pieces!

for perspective: one piece in a standard 8-10" frying pan

Yesterday I finally finished pureeing and freezing all the pumpkin.  While it was fresh, I made 2 batches of pumpkin muffins, three dozen pumpkin cookies, and several meals of baby food for Jackson.  I now have 17 bags of pumpkin puree in my freezer for baking, ranging from 1-4 cups each.  I'm pretty pumped about it.

Hello, pumpkin pie!!!

our overflowing garden

One of our very first projects when we moved into this house in May was to tear up one quarter of our grass and plant a garden.  Our first big garden: about 250 square feet.  I am so thankful we took the time to get our garden in.  We have been enjoying the fruits of our labours for a couple months already, with plenty more to come.

right at the beginning

Although it seemed way too spread out initially, we realize now that our garden is actually way too dense.  And there are several plants we should be pruning back, and we haven't (yet).

just starting off

This year we "cheated" in that we bought many of our plants as 1"-4" babies at the garden store.  It seemed less risky for our first try at a big garden.  We planted our carrots, spinach, onions, and green onions from seed.  The rest was from seedlings (is that the right term?): pumpkin, tomatoes, kale, leeks, acorn squash, butternut squash, green beans, zucchini, and cucumbers.

We are definitely still learning, but have had great success this year, due mostly to the large amount of mushroom manure we used?!  Either way, we're so enjoying eating our own garden-fresh produce this summer.  I've also enjoyed learning how to preserve our harvest for the winter.  So far I have made 4 jars of pickles (many, many more to come as they keep producing) and frozen 5 bags of blanched leeks.  I'm hoping to make one big batch of salsa once our tomatoes are ripe.

one of four butternut squash so far

our big pumpkin and the crazy mess that is our largely un-pruned tomatoes

Stewart and I have really enjoyed spending our evenings working in the garden together, and Micah loves to help us weed on the weekends.  (It helps that our weeds are huge and plentiful!)

I called this our 'overflowing garden', and it's so true.  Not only have we had an abundant harvest, but our pumpkin plant has very much overflowed onto our grass.  By several feet.  Now we know not to plant it in the middle of the garden!

a glimpse of my garden

I have so enjoyed getting my hands dirty and working in my garden this year.

It may be a fairly small plot, but I am quite happy with the results, especially given that my African garden didn't work out so well.  I think my tomatoes baked on the vine before they ever had a chance to ripen.  All I know is that only five tomatoes were worth harvesting and one green bean.  And lots of basil.  But this is Canada, I started mostly with seedlings, and the weather is much more moderate.

I have hope.

Although only a few have ripened already, there are lots of tomatoes still growing on the vines!

My zucchini plant hasn't done very well.  I've had lots of flowers open up and then fall off, and two tiny zucchini's stop growing and rot on the plant.  But who really wants a dozen or more zucchini anyway?  I'll be happy if I get two of the deal.  And so far, two are looking good.

Not pictured, are the spinach plants which we've been enjoying for a while, and the carrots which are just about ready to harvest.  I only wish I'd planted more spinach so we could eat only our home-grown spinach all summer and not just supplement what we buy.  Oh well... next year.

If I can improve my gardening skills even just a little each year, I'll be one happy gardening Momma!

strawberry season!

Yesterday we harvested our first strawberry...

(the big one in the middle)

...and it tasted aweful!

Any ideas why?  Did we do something wrong?  Or is it just the type of plant?  They are supposedly "Eversweet" strawberries.

I'm so disappointed.  I don't even care that there are lots of berries to come still.  I'm tempted to stop watering and let it die.  Is that bad?!