Spring in Kansas

I feel like Spring has officially sprung here in good old Kansas. The temps are no longer in the frigid range and my flowers have begun to pop up and bloom.

I like to think that I have jumped head first into Spring cleaning of my house but let's be completely honest I haven't. A few things have managed to get removed from my closet and some wallpaper has been destroyed but other than that I have nothing but a list of to-dos to show for my efforts.

The most likely culprit of my lack of cleaning has been my garden. I managed to convince my dear husband to do the heavy lifting for me and till up the garden after I raked out as many dead weeds as possible.

Probably because I picked up all this fertilizer for "his" yard...

Surprisingly it didn't take too much to convince him to build me a couple raised beds for my strawberries either. I managed to get those painted and then we got them settled in the ground. We threw some regular soil into the bottom part of the beds and then I bought a couple bags of good top soil from Home Depot. Last night I finally got my strawberries transplanted just in time for the rain showers today.

Still have lots to plant.

Let's take a moment now to appreciate some of Spring's beauty…

The new table and chairs I snagged at IKEA for my back deck…

Dinner on the grill...

Browsing the local greenhouses…

And the start of baseball season… Go Royals!

Gardening 2013

It's garden season folks! Finally, I might add. 

After what I like to refer to as "the longest winter known to man" it's time to enjoy those beautiful spring days.

Last Tuesday I was able to get my garden planted after a couple days without rain. I've got a feeling I may have timed my planting perfectly again this year. Want to know why?

This is why...

...everything is sprouting!! 

Literally, everything I planted is popping through the dirt. The photos are from planting last week and when I checked it all out last night. Only 6 days after putting it in the ground! In case you can't tell I'm totally fascinated and amazed that this can happen in under a week. I'm also super excited for the produce to come. 

Gunnar "helping" me plant corn last week. That's potatoes to the left. May 14th.

Planting the Peaches and Cream sweet corn. Last Tuesday, May 14th. 

Onions on the left followed by 3 rows of potatoes. Next to the potatoes are two rows of corn.
Photo taken last Tuesday right after the corn was planted. May 14th

The corn sprouting last night! May 20th.

Strawberries that were planted last year and will produce this year. You need to pick the blooms off the first year so that they will grow and produce a lot the second year. May 20th.

The onions have more than doubled in size since last week.  May 20th.

Cant' remember what this is...cantaloupe maybe? 

Potatoes last night after doubling in size since last week.
These are the same ones Gunnar was sitting next to in the photo above. May 20th. 

Please ignore the weeds, it's been to wet the last couple days to weed and they sort of multiply when they get rain. 

There is lots of other stuff I have planted but haven't posted photos of yet. Including 10 tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, a jalepeno plant and a serrano pepper plant, lettuce, spinach, zucchini, squash, and pumpkins. Plus a few herbs like cilantro which is great for salsa. 

My husband loves spicy and so I hope to be making him lots of spicy salsa, with all those peppers, later on this summer. 

If you have any gardening questions feel free to let me know. This is only my second year with my "own" garden but my mom has had one my whole life. I have/had grandparents with Green Thumbs on both sides of the family so I'm hoping I got lucky and got the thumb and not just beginners luck last year. 

Gardening: Seeds coming up

Well, I got everything planted and was super excited to see some of the seeds popping up!

Here is the lettuce that I planted as seeds. It's just peeking through and I must say I was pleasantly surprised that it made it that far:)

You can see a little broader view of the garden here with the lettuce and tomato plants as well as the strawberries in the row on the right.

This is the radishes popping up. Check out the stripes on that lawn!! 

 

 These are how tiny the tomato plants were when I bought them from Home Depot. I felt ridiculous leaving several feet of empty space in between each of the plants. Lets say it's a good thing I left the space...

The jalapenos already growing here.

Coming up next is the full size plants!

Top 10 Tuesday: Garden Plants

Below you will find 10 of the plants that I cannot wait to plant and have fresh produce from. Most of these plants are the same as what I planted last year but I love them so much I will plant them again this year. 

1.Tomatoes - My very favorite item from the garden! I like to plant the big slicer tomatoes as well as some cherry tomatoes for salads and such. I'm hoping to find the kind my mom planted last year that are smaller than a Roma but bigger than a Grape tomato. They were awesome.

2. Strawberries - When you plant strawberries it usually takes a year before they produce and since I planted last year I'm hoping to have them this year. I love to make freezer jam with strawberries. 

3. Corn - Does anything say summer more than a nice ear of corn on the cob? I didn't think so.

4. Potatoes - Digging up potatoes is like hunting for buried treasure. It's so exciting when you pull them out of the ground and then they keep for such a long time in a cool dry place. 

5. Onions - I love onions. On salads, sandwiches, in potatoes, on kabobs...pretty much anywhere really.

6. Lettuce - Making a salad with fresh lettuce from your own garden is strangely satisfying. Make sure you wash it good to get the dirt off and then throw it in salad spinner to dry off. Yum!

7. Peppers - These are so great to dice up and throw on fresh salads or with the onions on some kabobs. My favorite are probably the red peppers while my husband loves the green.

8. Green Beans - For some reason I forgot to plant these last year and I was super disappointed. Hoping to plant a bunch and then can them for the winter.

9. Cucumbers - My cucumbers last year turned out pretty bad. I think I got a bad variety (that's my excuse anyway). This year I want to try planting some pickling cucumbers and then make homemade pickles. Seth and I both really like pickles so why not.

10. Jalapenos - This goes in my garden for Seth mainly. He loves things hot and spicy and jalapenos are just that. I used a ton of them in the salsa I canned last year but I'm hoping to put in two plants this year so I can can (haha) some as well. 

The plants listed above are just some of what I will be planting. Do you have favorites to plant in your garden?

I hope the weather cooperates so I can get everything in on time this year and have an abundant harvest like last year. 

Check back tomorrow for more about my garden:)