Time for an update of Dad’s garden! Â I promised this year that I would let you see more of his garden in progress and hopefully learn a few things about starting a garden yourself.
He always gets in a hurry and tries to get started when there is still danger of frost. Â This year he put out these tomato plants and broccoli and rutabagas and was afraid he had lost the tomatoes, but most of them survived the last frost, thank goodness. Â They are growing well now with our heat and rain.
Next to the tomatoes he planted Blue Lake beans. Â I’m trying to remember which of these are the right plants, so I might get some of these wrong, so bear with me. Â I’m pretty sure these on the right are Blue Lakes. Â Some things he plants the actual plants and some are seeds.
Seeds: Â Irish potatoes from the potato, Corn, Squash, Blue Lake green beans
Plants: Â Tomatoes, Broccoli, Sweet Potato, Peppers
Dad planting his sweet potatoes.
He buys plants for these and plants them one at a time. Â His garden stool helps with this part.
He also planted corn and squash and I think this one is squash.
And I’m not sure which ones these are.
Broccoli on the right. Â He also planted some peanuts and that row on the left might be those.
More of the broccoli plants.
He was very happy not to lose all these tomatoes. Â He has since planted more tomatoes in the middle of the garden, along with some Romas. Â Most of the tomatoes he plants are Better Boys, which he has been planting for years.
He also heard somewhere that adding Epsom salt around tomatoes is good to help them grow, so he’s been doing that too. Â Not sure what it’s supposed to do, but he heard it from someone.
On the backside of the garden, he planted his Irish potatoes. These are what he planted by cutting up potatoes and planting the eyes up. Â This is how much they have grown since the last time I did an update.
These are additional tomato plants, which will come in later in the summer. Â He spaces them out to have tomatoes coming in longer.
More broccoli.
All in all, he has planted Broccoli and rutabaga, tomatoes, squash, Blue Lake beans, corn and sweet potatoes. Â He’s got a few more things going in this garden too. Â He’ll plant even more in the NC garden, so if I get up there I’ll take pics of that garden too.
He fertilizes twice in the growing season with 10-10-10 fertilizer. Â That keeps his plants going and growing.
We get spoiled with all these good veggies in the garden. Â Of course, my fave thing to look forward to is the first ripe home grown tomato of the season. That always happens around 4th of July!
I love seeing your Daddy’s garden. It reminds me of being out in the garden with my Daddy and Mamma. Your Mother will be putting up a lot of veggies this Summer. I always get excited about a good tomato sandwich with lots of mayo.
I think Judy Clark speaks for all of us..we all love your Mama and Daddy and we all love good sloppy tomato sandwiches !!! Oh yeah..and we all love you Rhoda !!!
I always love seeing pictures of your Mom and Dad on your blog. And, I especially love seeing your Dad in his garden. Just wanted to let you know that Epsom Salt is great to use in your garden, flowers, etc. It is magnesium sulfate. Because tomatoes are prone to magnesium deficiency, they can benefit from the use of Epsom salt. We use it in our garden and like the fact that it is also organic.
Take care.
Emily, do you just sprinkle the Epsom Salt around the tomato plant, and how often should you do this? I just recently planted mine…can’t wait for the first one!
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
How blessed you are to still have your parents with you and what an amazing garden! Enjoy the bounty!
I”m pretty sure your not a gardener!! lol.. Your fortunate your Dad is, I’m impressed he has not one but two huge gardens!! This is certainly keeping him fit, I don’t see a weed in the entire garden! Love these posts about your DAd, you are so fortunate to still have him in your life, especially he is healthy and active.
Mary, you are right. I’ve never had to learn how to garden with my dad being the passionate one. He has gardened my entire life. I had to work out in it some as a kid, but never loved that part! My thing is planting flowers.
Thank you for sharing your father’s beautiful garden. Hubby and I would love to garden alongside him. Oh, the things we could learn in the process.
he’s terrific!!! Please put more posts with your dad in them; he’s a gem!
Wow, your Daddy sure has stamina for his age to be able to plant two gardens. The plants look so healthy. You can tell he loves to garden. He reminds me so much of my own Daddy who has been gone for almost 15 years. You are truly blessed, Rhoda to have both parents still with you.
Love that your Dad has such a grand garden and love seeing all the home cooking your mom does. Did he already use the 10 10 10 on his tomatoes ?
Phyllis, I imagine he has already fertilized at the beginning of the tomatoes growing.
What an amazing garden your dad has!! Nothing beats garden tomatoes!!
Oh that good Georgia red clay soil looks beautiful. Your Dad’s garden is great and you’ll enjoy good things coming out of it.
Love the garden pics! Took a break from reading your archives to see what is going on TODAY! Your Dad is AMAZING! You can tell by his continence that he loves God! I am about to move into a new house…so I will try a couple of container plants on the patio…and go from there!! I am enjoying your blog so much…you are very inspiring in so many areas…not just decorating…but life in general!! Keep it up…you ARE making a difference!
He is definitely a pro. Tell him I learned on pinterest that Epsom salt is good on most all plants,inside and out. I have been using it for about a year and my indoor plants are doing wonderful. He will be surprised. Look on pinterest in gardening for the proportions.
He is such a hard working man!! What a good dad!
I always love hearing about your mother and dad! I loved seeing his garden.
I love any post you do featuring your parents! Between Moms cooking and Dads garden and handy work, they’re so cute. Now, what are Irish potatoes? Living in Maine, all potatoes are grown by using cut up potatoes with an eye. I wasn’t sure if it was that method that is called Irish potato or the variety. Seed potatoes are purchased already cut up. I didn’t always know this, I grew up on the coast! When I moved north, to potato country, I learned to keep potatoes that were sprouting for the garden. My husband started using Epsom Salt in the garden a couple years ago.
Kim, I really don’t know the answer to that. My dad calls them Irish potatoes and I guess they are regular potatoes that he cuts up and plants them eye up. I will have to ask him if he just gets these from the grocery store or another source.
Thanks Rhoda, I was curious…being an Irish girl! I didn’t know anything about growing potatoes until I moved to “The County”, northern most county in Maine known for potatoes. And yes, they all refer to it as “The County”, I married a county boy. There is a State Seed Farm up there, I always thought seed was out of a packet, but potato is different. Hardware/garden stores have bins near the seeds with different variety seed potatoes (cut up potatoes each with an eye).
I know this blog is how you make a living/your “job”, but wow! I look at these beautiful posts of your family and think that you are creating something SO much more than a livelihood. All these treasured moments in time are a true family record and history. Your love for your family shines through in all your words and pictures. What a gift for the generations to come!
HI, Sofia, I’ve often thought that too, that I’m so glad I have a blog which really helps me with documenting my life and family all in one spot. It’s pretty cool!
Love reading your blog and especially seeing pics of your Dad and his garden. Brings back so many memories of my Dad who loved to garden. Living here on the SC coast we do not have a lot of room for a garden but I do have my little, grape tomatoes planted in 3 large containers along with a couple of red bell pepper plants. Grape tomatoes are like eating candy…..so sweet and juicy and perfect for a salad plus I always have lots of them to roast with olive oil…..delicious! Rhoda, these would be perfect in a large terra cotta pot on that new patio.
Love the posts about your Dad! So sweet, Love his garden, great tip with the epsom salts!