Garden Update

Much time and love has gone into preserving our garden during an extreme spring. Utah weather can be just brutal.

If you have followed our blog you remember the tomatoes under the cold frame / plastic. The tallest of the tomatoes in the image were recipients of that tender loving care. They are doing great even though they have been subjected to freezing temperatures and 4 inches of heavy snow. The snow fell when the plants were not covered.

We are having lots of blossoms and if you look carefully you will see some tomatoes. Yummy.

Now can you see me (the tomato that is).

Here is a better shot of me. I am growing very big and look forward to the day I can be sliced, salted and peppered. Becoming a delicious part of the Glassford family diet is my only goal in life....... wait a minute am I talking like a tomato?????? I need to take a break from the garden.

Our peppers were also snowed on. We have 8 different varieties of peppers this year. In the past we have only grown a few plants.

Check out our largest pepper. You will never guess its name.....Holy Mole', this is an awarding winning pepper that turns chocolate brown in color. I look forward to some awesome salsa with a warm chili flavor.

Since our soil is heavy clay I find potatoes grow best in containers. I decided to use one of my old bee boxes to house the scrumptious tubers. We used some of the potatoes we bought from the store as our seed potatoes. They were big russets from Idaho.

Our onions and beats are doing great. The soil is very shallow in this location because of the rock wall. The plants along the edge need extra water and and fertilizer.

We are having pumpkin growing contest this year and Jimmy and Richie are inspecting their mounds of giant squash..... also known as jack-o-lanterns. Here are the teams

Richard II and Richard III
Richard I (grandpa)
Jimmy and Rachel
David and Conner

We will keep you posted on strategy and success. Stay tuned.

Richie wanted to grow some watermelon and cantaloupe so we took Grandma H's water troth and filled it with a proprietary blend of unique soil substances. A little extra fertilizer was mixed with the soil and a cover was applied for the first few nights of cool temps. We have never successfully grown these scrumptious fruits here in Utah. We were successful in San Diego but not here along the Wasatch Front.

Up in the orchard Richie and I decided to try growing some winter squash among the trees. They get some full sun.....but deserve much more. There are a few more hills that you cannot see. These poor plants are attacked nightly by soft slimy mollusk (slugs). In this image Richie is applying a natural slug bait that will hopefully put an end to the squash buffet.


Well we hope you are all doing a little gardening, if not you still have time. You can adopt some herbs than eat them as they grow..... Ha!

Happy gardening !