Garden Harvesting Time!

 I am so thankful for my garden. God blesses us with an abundance every year. Not in everything - we usually have something or several somethings that struggle in some way but over all we are truly abundantly blessed.

 Our garden got a late start this year due to a wedding and a trip but it is looking fairly lush and lovely now.

 I have harvested quite a bit of rhubarb using some for jams and then freezing more. It is still looking good and I will probably harvest again soon.

Usually my garden gets to be a bit of a jungle as I tend to plant things fairly close together but I love it.

 We have eaten a lot of salads from the garden this summer. This romaine lettuce has grown slowly but we have been blessed by it.

 I love the herbs, many of which come back year after year.

 Aaron has just one lovely looking watermelon this year.

 This was a volunteer sunflower and it is very fun and cheerful.

I harvested a bunch of mint today. That is what we use to make mint tea all Winter (and Spring and Fall) long. We pretty much never by herbal tea but we drink it almost daily. It always comes back year after year and we save so much money by having it.

 Today's lovely harvest. I made one batch of pickles, took 2 buckets of cucumbers to share at baseball and made a chocolate zucchini cake which I also shared at baseball this evening.

 My pepper plants have grown fairly slowly but they are looking healthy and are working at producing so I am happy!

 Megan picked Hazelnuts today. I think we may have beat the squirrels and worms on many of the nuts this year. That is rather exciting.

Another garden picture.
 I heard somebody talking about if you want to save money just skip the garden because it is expensive. I totally do not agree! Yes our fence (to keep out the deer) did cost a bit but there would be cheaper options. However now that we have the fence we pay very little each year. I just buy seeds which I get from Fedco for a good deal. I could spend even less on seeds to provide for our needs but I am generally tempted to try some new flowers or veggies. If I just stuck with the basics it would not cost much. Also, once you get going you can save a lot of your own seed. I start my own plants as much as possible. This year may seedlings didn't do so wonderfully but a friend had extra that she gave me. Use compost, leaves and manure to improve your soil. Mulch with free tarps for the lumber yard, leaves and boxes. We get so much good from our garden each year. It is totally worth it!