2017 Garden {Month One}

It's been a little over a month since we planted our 2017 Garden, so I thought I would do a little garden update.

 Here is what our 2017 garden looked like when I first planted it:

And, here it is a month later:

It has grown SO much!!!
My tomatoes are growing a ton!
I am watering 2-3 times a week.
The weather has been really mild the past month, mostly in the 70's with only a couple of days that is hit the 80s and 90s.

This is my garden box that has 5 early girl tomatoes in it:

 No green tomatoes yet, I bet they start showing up this week since we are going to get a heat wave of 90-100 degrees for a week.

Here is my 2nd box of tomatoes which contains my cherry tomatoes, sun sugar, sweet 100, grape tomatoes & sun gold tomatoes.

 No green tomatoes here either just yet, but I think that is because it hasn't been hot enough.

 My 3rd garden box has herbs, green onions, zucchini, yellow squash & lettuce:

 

 I love having herbs in my garden.

I add cilantro to a lot of meals (I make some sort of Mexican dish at least once a week!)

My favorite is adding cilantro to my 3 ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

 And to my Instant Pot Spicy Shredded Pork Tacos:
I feel so empowered...there is noting like the feeling of growing your own food :)

 I also picked my first zucchini last week!

 

The kids want me to make Zucchini Chocolate Chip muffins this week with our harvest!
{I have TONS of zucchini recipes at the bottom of THIS post}

If you grow zucchini and/or squash, make sure you don't let them get too big on the vine. If you do, it will stall the growth of other ones. 

My squash is starting to grow as well:

My lettuce is also in this garden box....it is slowly coming along.

 I use lettuce for salads..... One of our go-to's is my Taco Salad:

Here is the watermelon:

Cantaloupe:

Pumpkin:

The view from how are garden looked from this direction 1 month ago at the beginning of May:

And how it looks one month later at the beginning of June:

 

 

 I can't wait to see the difference a month from today.

Hopefully I will have more tomatoes...that is what I look forward to the most :)

Here are a few more tips/reminders when planting your garden (it's not too late to get one planted!)

1. Make sure your plants have enough space. Leave more than you think you need. As veggies grow, they get taller & wider and it's important to give them space to grow. If they are too crowded not enough sun will get in and also, some of the veggies might rot if they grow too close & get tangled up with other plants.

2. When you water, make sure you water the base of the plants. Don't water the leaves, just water the base near the root. I water by hand with a hose on a slow trickle so that the plants don't flood and so that the water penetrates deep into the roots.

3. Trim back your herbs before they flower.  They will be bitter if they flower. It's okay to trim them way back....they will grow again!

4. Pick the veggies as they grow so that the plant can continue to produce. We can't keep up with all the veggies that we grown in our garden, so we pick it and share our produce with neighbors, family, friends & co-workers!

Happy Gardening!