I was not sure that the day would ever come but the tomatoes are finally ripening and I am finding myself with an overwhelming amount of tomatoes! Not a bad problem at all to have just an overwhelming problem! I have given many away but I am still finding myself with so many tomatoes. I have been gathering information and trying to decide the best method to put away some tomatoes for the winter months and I think that I am going to go with freezing for now. I definitely want to can next year but it just felt like to much to run out and buy all the things that I would need to plunge into that so I settled on freezing for now. I spent a small part of nap time preparing the tomatoes and if all goes as planned we can have some tasty casseroles and soups with fresh tomatoes in the dead middle of winter. That is pretty exciting to me! I followed these directions and it was really pretty easy. A little messy but easy all the same! Give it a try and we can enjoy soup together this winter!

Oh yes, I also want to try to make some of these although by the looks of them they would not be around as long as the frozen tomatoes. Tasty!

The garden has been in full bloom we have already had many cucumbers and two squash. There are a few jalapenos waiting to be picked and the tomatoes are working on turning from green to red! The past two weeks I have been taking care of a friends garden while she is away and since she started her garden before mine she has already had a lot of tomatoes ripen and they have been delicious. Here is a look at a tasty salad from the other night (there are not many cucumbers because I kept picking them out to eat), there is nothing like garden fresh!

I promise to post soon with quilt pictures as I finally finished the Amy Butler Brick Path Quilt

Being a first time gardener I am not really sure how it grows but I think that it looks pretty good…does that count? I am amazed at how some things have taken off namely the squash and cucumbers. It almost seems like the veggies grow at night. Every morning when I return to the garden, even though I just visited the night before, the veggies look as though they have grown whole inches! Amazing! Not all look this way as I still have some concern for the yellow and green bell peppers but we shall see in time I suppose. I think that I could be getting some carrots in. Not many but maybe a few or they could just be weeds again time will tell! Here are a few pics. I hope that you are not tired of the garden yet as I find it super exciting! Odd, but I find it amazing to watch veggies grow!

Oh and I almost forgot the little patio tomato plant! He is struggling a little I think but he is still producing! I am so excited for them to turn red!

Yes, that statement is very true…it did all start with a simple little patio tomato plant. I have always wanted to try having a garden. There is just something about growing food that I find very exciting! I decided to get the little tomato plant so that sister and I could have a little project of learning to water and care for the plant. I thought that she would really enjoy it. Well, the tomato plant is actually producing little tomatoes which got me super exited that it had lived long enough to bear fruit and that I had not killed it. It gave me hope that maybe just maybe I could have a garden (I know two totally different scales we are talking pot to plot but I was really excited). After consulting with a friend and dragging another friend around to a few stores, with full intentions not to buy anything yet, I came home with the startings of the garden. I made a small space in the yard and got everything into the ground and we shall see what happens. I have very high hopes but I am just excited to start and whatever happens happens. I figured that I would try this year and next year I will have a much better idea of what to really do and maybe I will make the area a good bit larger next year as well. I had to bunny proof the area really well as we have bunnies-o-plenty around our house. I feel that most of the money went into the caging and gating of the garden but it will be worth it not to have half eaten veggies. I planted a lot for not knowing much so hopefully in a bit we will have some tomatoes (Roma and Big Boys), Jalapeño Pepper (gotta make salsa), yellow peppers, green peppers, squash, cucumbers and I am trying from seeds carrots as well as okra (I don’t have great hopes for these but we shall see). So there it is! I will keep you updated on the goings on in the garden. Hopefully all will grow!