Garden Update! {Lots of Green and Pretty Lights}
It’s the middle of the summer, so I think it is the perfect time for a garden update. ❤️ The last time I shared about my new garden, I was just showing you how we built it. I shared how we filled up my garden beds with soil, how we put down tons of cardboard boxes beneath the mulch, and how we built the fencing around the garden to keep the deer and other animals out! You can read that post HERE.
Today, I get to show you how beautifully everything is growing and how I added some pretty lights!
First of all, let me show you my garden plan and what I planted…
In the past, I have tried twice to have a garden. And let’s just say they didn’t go well. Racoons got in my first one and destroyed it. 😡. My second one at our last Kentucky house was small and included only tomatoes and green beans. I didn’t do a good job taking care of them, so they didn’t grow much and I kind of gave up on them.
But I tried really hard to make a plan for this garden, which meant watching a ton of YouTube videos and reading a lot of garden websites. And even though I tried to have a plan, I have been winging a lot of it most of the time. haha!
So I am shocked that somehow, things are growing very nicely. Here is a picture from about a month ago…
My squash, cucumbers, and peppers came in really quickly and have been doing great. Except that I realized, after watching a YouTube video, that I was watering the cucumber too often. I didn’t know they didn’t need to be watered as much as other plants. 🤷🏻♀️
My very favorite part of my whole garden is my green bean trellis. I had seen other gardeners create an arch out of cattle panels to let their green beans grow on. I decided to try it, but didn’t know if it would work for me, but it DID!
Look at how quickly the green bean vines have grown over the past few weeks! 😳 We do not have beans yet, but they have started flowering, so it shouldn’t be too much longer. I planted 1/2 white runner beans, which are my dad’s favorite and what I grew up eating as a child. I LOVE fresh garden green beans so much!
Last night, I started hanging string lights around the fence of the garden. I got about halfway around, but I love the extra light they add to the garden. They will also serve as an extra deterrent to keep deer from jumping the fence. 👏🏻 I am going to buy a dimmer/timer outlet so I can control how bright they are and how long they stay on during the night.
I’ve also been learning about how important pollination is to your garden. Next year, I will have a LOT more flowers in my garden! But a couple weeks ago, Sania and I went to Lowe’s and bought some Cone flowers to add to the base of our green bean trellis, and they have definitely helped to attract bees to my garden. And the pop of pink color to my garden makes me smile every time I see it!
I planted 8 strawberry plants with onions in between because I heard they were good companion plants. We are starting to get some berries, and they are delicious!
And my next favorite vegetable in the garden, next to green beans, are tomatoes, of course! Some are starting to turn red, and I was able to pick my first tomato just a couple days ago. :)
Last night, after hanging some of the lights on half of the garden, I took a video to share on instagram, and I wanted to share it with you too! You can see that I added some little fairy lights in my green bean trellis, and they make my garden feel magical! I love them so much!
Now that my garden is growing well, and it will be harvest time soon, I have been researching online about how to can and preserve my vegetables. I have never done that before! So if you have any helpful advice or links that I should check out, please let me know in the comments.
I’ll keep you updated on my garden adventures!
P.S. I have a “garden shop” in my Amazon store with links to products I have bought on Amazon for my garden. You can check it out HERE.
Have a blessed weekend, friends!
xoxo, Traci
Your garden looks great! I don’t can anything but I’ve learned a lot about freezing. I mainly grow Roma tomatoes but with any tomato you simply wash, core and squeeze out the seeds and freeze whole. Later when cooking sauces or soups use an immersion blende to smooth. Chop and freeze your bells peppers for cooking, also celery for stews and sauces. The flavor is like no other.
Thank you for the tips, Judy! Love em!
That’s a great tip! Thanks so much!
(I’m very much into freezing instead of canning, so I appreciate your ideas very much.)
I freeze my tomatoes whole. Just take the fresh clean tomatoes and put in the freezer. Once frozen put in freezer bags and date. When I need tomatoes for soup, stew or sauces, I just remove the number of tomatoes I need, run each tomato under hot tap water for a few seconds and peel the skin off. It comes off very easily from the frozen tomato. Because it was frozen from the vine the taste is excellent. Just chop, dice, purée or put in whole in soup and it will cook apart.
Wow! I never knew you could do this! That is great info! Thanks for sharing, Terri!
This is brilliant! Thank you very much for sharing this idea.
I love to make pasta sauce and salsa with my ninja. Just add all your ingredients (I found recipes on Pinterest): get to your taste (no peeling of tomatoes needed) and pit in canning jars. I do put the salsa in a quick hot bath so they seal. The pasta sauce I cook a little before putting in jars and the heat seals the jars!!! So so good and easy!
Sounds delish! I can’t wait to start getting some red tomatoes!
https://melissaknorris.com/
This is a website I found this year. Melissa has so much helpful canning information to preserve food safely. As always, I really enjoy your blog. Your garden and chicken updates are among my favorite posts.
Thank you so much for sharing this information. I will check it out for sure. And thanks for letting me know you enjoy my chicken and garden posts. That means a lot!
Thanks for this post! I particularly love the green bean arch idea.
We’re trying new things this year in our Oregon garden, too (cucumbers and mini peppers). Wish us luck!