December in Minnesota

It's been a couple months since I've posted anything and the backyard is now under about 8 inches of snow. The ground is finally frozen and the sump pump stopped spewing water a couple weeks ago. Christmas is nearly upon us which means we enter the new year in less than two weeks. Whew, where did the year go?

Prior to the snow falling I broke down the garden, pulled up the mulch and ground cover. Moved the ground cover to other areas in order to kill off more grass over the winter months. I gathered all the leaves I could get and buried the garden area under about 6 inches of leaves. I'm hoping that it will kill off any remaining grass and by next Spring I should have almost 700 square feet of garden space.

Now it's time to start dreaming about next years garden. I'm stealing an idea from a friend and putting in cut flowers, the idea is that I plant the flower seeds each week so that I can cut one row each week and have fresh cut flowers everyday!

As for vegetables I'm taking orders. This year I had waaaaaaay too many tomatoes, lesson learned. I hope to try a few new veggies for example brussel sprouts, I'm not a big fan but I have a friend who loves them. I grew 'em about 10 years ago and if I remember correctly they were easy to grow so I'll put in a couple plants for her. I also have a hankering for pumpkins, I've never grown them but I think I want to. There's nothing better than homemade pumpkin pie. I also want to grow acorn squash, it's one of my favorites and I haven't grown them in a long time. I don't think I'll do cucumbers again, I put in a couple plants each year and they just haven't done well. I'm unsure about zucchini, a girl can only eat so much of the stuff and I have a freezer full right now.

The seed catalogs should start arriving in the next couple months so I start making my decisions then. I'm sure after spending hours looking through catalogs I'll have a head full of ideas.

First Snow

I wasn't sure how Jake would like the snow, but he loved it! He and Lash spent quite a long time running and playing in the backyard.


October 12, 2009

Last Harvest

October 10, 2009

First Sign of Fall...

September 18, 2009

Summers Bounty

As you can see I had a bumper crop of tomatoes! I had so many tomatoes and zucchini that I could not give them away.



I did a whole lotta freezing. The freezer my folks gave me this summer sure did come in handy.


Made a big batch of red sauce, had friends over for dinner then froze the leftovers. There is nothing a using fresh veggies.

I planted heritage sunflowers and I gotta say they were beautiful.

The only downfall with Sunflowers is that the are kind of a pain to pull up at the end of the season.

More tomatoes? see I told ya they just kept popping up!





Jake really enjoyed the sunflowers too; he did his best to eat all of the stalks that I pulled up.

Catch Up

WOW, I can't believe it's October already. The Summer went by way too quickly. In any case, I will try to get you caught up on whats been happening in the backyard. I cannot believe I haven't posted anything since July.

Around about August the backyard was hit again by the dreaded Japanese beetles.

I had a problem with them last year and worked hard on getting rid of them. I put down grub killer in the Spring with hopes of killing them before they came out of the ground but obviously that did not work.

If you don't know what a Japanese Beetle is click here for more information.

They damn near killed off my new trees

While I was at a friends house she turned me onto Bayer Advanced so I picked up a bottle of it and it did the trick, no more Japanese beetles!

I'm usually not a fan of using chemicals but drastic times call for drastic measures. There was a noticeable difference after the first application. Next year I'm hitting the entire yard with this stuff as soon as the plants start blooming. All you need to do is mix with water and pour it on the roots of your plants. The plant/tree absorbs the liquid bringing it up to the leaves, the beetle eats the leaves and as they say, that's all folks, no more beetles.

Totally Busted!

I cold busted Jake in the vegetable garden today. Lesson learned don't let your dogs know how delicious sugar snap peas taste right off the vine. The little %^#$* had a field day eating peas...

He just casually strolled on out of the garden like nothing happened...

It's a good thing the peas are about done or I would have been really mad. I can now put in another crop of them.

Elsewhere in the veggie patch...

the Edamame is producing, I haven't picked any yet as I don't think they are quite ready. I've never grown this before so it's a new experience for me.

Finally! the peppers are starting to show signs of life...

The first cucumber...

the tomato and Zucchini plants are really getting big, I've already pulled a couple zucchini

another view of the veggie patch...


the bees just love this little flower area...

These were the easiest plants ever! just tossed in a packet of mixed seeds, water well and tada!

The Memorial garden has really filled out. The sunflowers are getting huge!

ooh you can see my fancy new clothes line in the background...

This year has been really dry, even I've had to water the plants a few times. My grass looks terrible. But so far, knock on wood, no Japanese beetles; last year they attacked the backyard and it was all out war all summer. This year the biggest problems have been lack of rain and little dogs eating whatever they can get into their mouths.

I'm starting to make plans for Fall already, need to decide if I'll put in some Fall veggies or just work on getting the soil prepared for next year. I want to expand the vegetable garden another three feet in each direction and build a cold frame so I'm leaning towards no Fall crops. I wonder what it would cost to have a truck load of cow manure delivered to the backyard? I can just see Jake and Lash if I drop a truck load of cow poop in the backyard, they'll think they died and went to heaven.

What's happening in the Backyard?

First Sunflower!



The beets are ready; the green beans are just starting to come in...


Green Beans


The Edamame (soy bean) plants are getting big but so far no beans


Zucchini is growing nicely


This one is ready to pick but I'm waiting for the weekend so I can put it on the grill


Cucumbers are finally starting to grow


View of the vegetable garden

I don't know who likes the sugar snap peas more, Jake, Lash or myself. I caught Jake swiping some this evening. He also likes to take the beets.

The tomatoes are growing big with lots of fruit on them. I'm thinking a couple more weeks of warm weather and they'll be ready to pick. The Italian tomato tree I planted is still looking pretty spindly but it has a couple tomatoes on it.

It's Alive!

Who woulda thought that this Prickly Pear cactus would have survived...

April 11 survey of the backyard:




It looked so pathetic and old


But low and behold the magic of nature! June 26th...





dozens of flowers!



This plant amazes me, it survived the Minnesota winter and becomes the showcase of the backyard.

Knee high by the Fourth of July

Ok, so I don't have any corn in the garden but everything else is coming up! We had a burst of hot humid weather and the vegetables loved it!

June 26, 2009 I noticed the first tomatoes


Beans are growing big; the beans got off to a slow start this year, I may have planted them a little too early.


Beats and Green Beans


Roma tomatoes


Betty's best


Sugar Snap Peas! absolutely one of my favorites.


Jake, Lash and I have been eating these by the handfuls...


There is nothing tastier than Sugar Snap peas that have been warming in the sun all day, delicious!