Now that Christmas is out of the way, it's officially Summer! Which means, we've been out having lots and lots of fun and not blogging. Boo. Thank goodness for those annual resolutions (right, Reed?).
One of the fun projects we've seen coming to fruition is our little backyard veggie garden. Now, you'll notice I said "veggie garden" and not just "garden". That's because down here, folks call almost any sort of outdoor space where plants or grass grow, or even some pavers hang around, a garden. Or rather, a "gahden".
Growing up we always had about a quarter of an acre garden which seemed so annoying to this teenage girl who had to do an hour of weeding every day after school. UGH! Well, don't tell my dad, but I actually learned something from it. I've been longing for an honest to goodness garden for about 8 years now but this is my first year at actually doing it. I dug up a little section and have a good little selection made up of sugar snap peas, carrots, green beans (the whole row planted by miss Sophie), parsley, corgettes (or zucchini for those of you in the states), 7 heads of lettuce, capsicums (bell peppers) and a massive heirloom tomato plant.
The girls have been helping me harvest and thoroughly enjoy yanking the carrots out of the ground or pulling on a bean. Sophie doesn't really have much interest in eating the veggies other than the carrots and HER beans. But Josie barely gets them off the plant before she's shoving them in her mouth. She single handedly ate our entire crop of sugar snap peas over the course of three days. Jake and I have enjoyed eating salads made from our "salad mix" varieties of lettuce every day. The tomatoes are still green but we'll have heaps of them once they ripen.
It's been such a great project and learning experience to teach the girls about the different plants and bugs and responsibilities associated with the garden. They really seem to enjoy it and always want to see what has grown each day and love collecting all the fallen leaves from the cabbage tree that towers above the garden.
One of the fun projects we've seen coming to fruition is our little backyard veggie garden. Now, you'll notice I said "veggie garden" and not just "garden". That's because down here, folks call almost any sort of outdoor space where plants or grass grow, or even some pavers hang around, a garden. Or rather, a "gahden".
Growing up we always had about a quarter of an acre garden which seemed so annoying to this teenage girl who had to do an hour of weeding every day after school. UGH! Well, don't tell my dad, but I actually learned something from it. I've been longing for an honest to goodness garden for about 8 years now but this is my first year at actually doing it. I dug up a little section and have a good little selection made up of sugar snap peas, carrots, green beans (the whole row planted by miss Sophie), parsley, corgettes (or zucchini for those of you in the states), 7 heads of lettuce, capsicums (bell peppers) and a massive heirloom tomato plant.
The girls have been helping me harvest and thoroughly enjoy yanking the carrots out of the ground or pulling on a bean. Sophie doesn't really have much interest in eating the veggies other than the carrots and HER beans. But Josie barely gets them off the plant before she's shoving them in her mouth. She single handedly ate our entire crop of sugar snap peas over the course of three days. Jake and I have enjoyed eating salads made from our "salad mix" varieties of lettuce every day. The tomatoes are still green but we'll have heaps of them once they ripen.
It's been such a great project and learning experience to teach the girls about the different plants and bugs and responsibilities associated with the garden. They really seem to enjoy it and always want to see what has grown each day and love collecting all the fallen leaves from the cabbage tree that towers above the garden.
why wait for the tomatoes to ripen? pull some off and make fried green tomatoes! yum.
And what a beautiful "gahden" it is! Some seriously awesome home-grown lettuce!!
And hey, by the way, can I get some parsley? ;)