It is time for planting.

The winter in AZ is headed out the door!  That didn't take long.  It is time to head to your local nursery. 

This time of year at my house we grow tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, onions, and and snap peas.  (You will need to consider how much sun, water and what kind of soil you have to determine what you can do at your house.) We like to grow tomatoes, better boy and early girl, and the better boy is a fabulous tomato for making spaghetti sauce.  It is a large tomato.  At my house it likes full sun and grows around 20 lbs per plant.  My neighbors love them too. :)  Early girl tomatoes are basically cherry tomatoes.  My 6 yr old son LOVES them.  He says they are a gift from God just for him.  He loves to eat them for snacks while playing and he takes them to school for lunch.  (Isn't that cute?)

Usually we put the zucchini in the spaghetti sauce but our favorite way is to grill them!   We let the Zucchini get super big.  Then we slice them in rings about an inch thick.  We put sea salt on them and let them "cry".  Crying is when the moisture  leaks out because of the salt.  If you do this it keeps the zucchini from being mushy.  Pat dry with a paper towel.  We put them on the grill and season with smoked sea salt and garlic.  We like to call it Zucchini Steak.  YUM!! 

The kids like to eat the snap peas while they are outside playing.  Whatever it takes to get good veggies in them.  I love not having to worry about the food that my kids eat.  I don't have to worry about what types of pesticides or what type of manure and what is added to the fertilizer.  Gardens are more than just food for us, they are a way to know that we are getting exactly what we need and not of what we don't...

Hows and Whens:
I like to plant them the last two weeks of January.  By the end of June all the plants are fried from the sun.  I typically buy the tomatoes, onions, and peas as plants.  I like to do seeds for the rest.  I grab the kids and we go out and plant the seed together.  It is nice to watch something they have planted to grown and produce food that they eat. 

In our back yard what comes around goes around.  The Ducks are a great source for fertilizer for the plants which helps the plants in producing a lot of produce.  All the clippings go to the ducks for food.  Excess produce goes to the ducks too.  They love it. (If they are not afraid of it)  And the circle continues. 

So head out today and get your yard going.  It will be so much fun.  Or feel free to live vicariously through us until the need to start your own garden hits you. When we get everything planted and it startes to produce I will update you on the great things to come.