Summer Goals (and goodies!)

Three of our goals this summer were: (1) to have a successful garden, (2) to set-up a rain barrel for outside watering needs and (3) to begin composting. All three goals accomplished! Actually, we'll need to wait and see how well our garden grows...but so far, so good! Take a look at how it's doing today. The beans are up (under the peas stick?!) and they need to be thinned out in a couple of days.

Next to the beans are two heirloom tomato plants. Our raspberry bush is growing well and it looks like we may have a few berries this summer...I wasn't expecting any until next year.

The cucumbers have started to thrive and should hopefully crawl up the lattice instead of laying on the ground - this should make them easier to pick.

We've already picked the basil twice for pesto and pasta - so nice to have fresh basil whenever you want it! The green peppers are doing well and the cherry and Beefsteak tomato plants seem to grow inches every day!

And here's our patio tomato plant, also thriving.






The rain barrel is set-up (thanks Jason!) and ready to go. Now we just need some rain! Does our set-up look correct? I was wondering if we needed some type of screen over the opening?
















The compost bin is also set-up (thanks Jason, again!) and we're using it daily. I don't mind composting for the most part, but the one thing I really hate is the flies when I have to open the lid to add new waste. Ick! So gross!



Now for the goodies...tonight I baked two pies from scratch! We had tons of rhubarb that was ready (no picture because I had already cut it), so I baked strawberry rhubarb pies. This was my first attempt at making my own pie dough and I think it turned out quite well. I tried to make two little flowers and a leaf on the top - you can't really make it out in the picture. It looks nice in real life - I'll have let you know if it tastes good, too.

Happy 4th of July!