Pre-Orders Begin After Christmas

Many of y'all know that we jumped into the world of gardening this year. We have had an herb garden since we moved to Mississippi, and have planted a few tomatoes and peppers in the past, but this year we became more adventurous. We decided to just go ahead and jump into it, knowing that we really didn't have a clue (especially around here where a small garden is larger than our entire lot!) Vacuuming the stink bugs that consistently attacked our beautiful zucchini became a highlight activity of our summer. Who knew that Joshua's bug vacuum would come in so handy or that I would have a vengeance against these annoying little pests? Too bad I don't have pictures of that, but I am hoping that we won't have the opportunity in the future! Most of our crop was eaten as soon as it was ripe (or close to being ripe), and there were many delicious additions to our summer salads. What a fun and healthy reward!!

Next year we plan on doing things a little differently - a much larger herb garden by the kitchen window and possibly moving our tiny vegetable garden to the other side of the yard. We also plan on getting the seeds in the ground MUCH earlier. Our garden motto this year was "better late than never!" That proved true on most things and enabled us to learn a lot. One thing that we learned takes a much longer time to grow and produce, however, was our carrots. Considering the size of our "crop," we may need to plant them right now for next summer's harvest! However small they were, the kids enjoyed them immensely. Pre-orders for next year's fruit and vegetables will begin after Christmas. . . .