Here are some of our seedlings under the grow lights in early May, 2016. This was the first year that we grew all of our own Marigolds, all four dozen of them. We had a set back when it rained most of the beginning of May and some of our seedlings became too "leggy" before we could plant. We started a second planting of seeds and then didn't get to plant some seedlings until the end of May. They quickly grew and by July there was no way to tell that they had been planted so late.
The greenhouse was set up in early Spring and now you can see last year's new raised bed next to the greenhouse. The green beans and yellow beans are growing nicely and ready for harvesting. We planted a second crop this year and were excited to pick green beans again in the end of September. We are blessed with forty meal size packets of green beans in the freezer. Blanching and vacuum packing the beans allows us to have tasty green beans until time for the next harvest.
Four of our square beds where we have zucchini, yellow squash, green beans and yellow beans. In one of the other square beds we tried growing Pinto beans and let them dry before picking. They were heated in the oven and then vacuum packed. How exciting to use them in homemade chili and to know that we grew them. Okay, we admit that it doesn't take much to entertain old people. Note: The new electric fence kept the deer out of the garden.
Our failure this year was the cucumber crop. We tried two plantings and only got four small cucumbers. We found out later from a local farmer that there was some sort of cucumber blight this year. That meant no bread and butter pickles. Fortunately, I canned twenty pints of B&B pickles in 2015. We enjoyed eating them and also shared our stash with my Uncle Ellis. We only had four jars left to get us through 2016 so we are hoping for a bountiful cucumber crop in 2017.
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