2010 Veggie Garden

Cleaning up the gardens each spring is a major job. I'm working as much as my sore old muscles will allow and grooming the flower and perennial gardens in my yard too.

More Squashes This Year

My new favorite vegetable is butternut squash. I have a homeade butternut squash soup recipe to die for!

Some squashes will keep without refrigeration for months and butternut squash is one of them. Sqaushes need room to grow and are best planted in a veggie garden that has lots of space, LIKE MINE!

Plowing The Veggie Garden (By Hand)

Hubby and I had this house built in 1989. We used to toast July 29 each year as another anniversary year in our dream house. We carved and tended and cared for our own landscape, gardens and home ever since. (First veggie garden was 1990.)

Below is last year's garden so neglected after hubby passed in April '09. The chives and mint were lonely, though I planted sunflowers down the middle as usual. I just wasn't up for tending gardens and had my son mow it over. With the economy being what it was, I finally decided not to try to sell the house right off, so instead, I'm going to grow some food and get back into gardening.

Last season the Japanese beetles were really bad and reduced my raspberries which had begun to take over the garden. I had to weed them out of the asparagus - again - always a fun job!

My seeds were all planted by Mother's Day. It was really dry for awhile, then Mother Nature helped me out. As always, I'm in charge of fertilizing, weeding and love when Mother Nature helps me water.

Memorial Day 2010 Veggie Garden in McHenry Illinois

Today (Memorial Day) Mother Nature did some watering for me. Tomatoes, leeks and a green pepper plant (from a nursery) in first quadrant, butternut (seeds I saved from a delicious squash I had a few months ago) and zucchini are doing well, and some of that red sweet corn I never planted last year are coming along fine. The parsley seeds never sprouted and the herb section is sad, but I've been eating the asparagus all month. You can see I can't keep up with the weeds, but the veggies still grow. Soon, I'll trim out the daffodils so the border will be gone (and weed the raspberries).

June 6 - Tired Muscles From Working in the Gardens

In June and I finally cleaned up my raspberry patch and trimmed off the daffodil "hedge". If I leave the piles of scrub around my plants, it keeps the weeds down, so you'll see those piles in some photos. The parsley and other "packaged" seeds didn't produce - so I cleaned up the herb garden and planted one flat-leafed parsley plant I bought at the nursery when I picked up new tomato cages. After the last rain, the tomato plants were bending over and needed help. It was an EMERGENCY.

My dill patch is proof that SEED-SAVING WORKS! I had let my dill get out of control 2 years ago. I had 5 foot tall dill plants where my tomatoes should be. (It was a bad year, so that makes 2 bad years in a row.) BUT, I put handfuls of dill flower tops full of seeds in a box and dried them out good. They were stored in a dry place for over a year. I wasn't sure they'd work, but they worked better than the packages of seeds I bought. I'll feature the dill patch in a few photos soon. Right now (June 7) they are feathery 3-4 inch tall seedlings.

I learned that sitting on a heating pad helps those "bend over" muscles recover quickly.

Late August Harvest and Rewards

I discovered some nice garlic when I dug up the old plants. I learned that garlic and onions grow best after the ground cools. Leave them in all winter, plant late in the season, plant the largest cloves of garlic and use the seeds you take from the best veggies you ate all year. Dry them good and plant them next spring. This works for veggies, herbs, and flowers. I love collecting and replanting seeds.

Sure hope you enjoyed the full slideshow above with a montage of photos taken all during the 2010 growing season here in northern Illinois. I enjoyed every zucchini recipe, my dill pickles, all the stewed tomatoes and butternut squash galore. "Thank you for these bountiful gifts from Mother Earth!"

Home

Veggie Garden

Portentilla Bush

Green Thumb Garden Tips

◦	Harvesting Annual Seeds
◦	Fall Chores for Gardeners

Growing Sunflowers

Sunflower Trivia

Growing Sunflowers Early

Sunflower Pictures

◦	Sunflower Man
◦	Sunflower Photos 2008
◦	Sunflower Pictures 2007
◦	Garden Photos Sept07
◦	Spring - Parrot Flowers
◦	Zinnea Pictures and Care
◦	Iris Collection
◦	Friends Flower Photos

Indoor Plants

Violet Care

Iris Planting and Care

Gardeners Check In

Sunflower Pot Project

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"Subject: I LOVE YOUR WEBSITE!

My sister Karen sent your website to me today. Alas, I have found another person whose home looks like a nursery!
See the pics she sent here.

Thanks for your hints! I have two grown daughters but my flowers are my "babies".

Emily

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