Farmer Donald :)

A favorite past-time of mine has always been cutting grass and landscaping when I can. This year, I decided to put other things aside and devote my free-time to landscaping which grew (pardon the pun) into planting a small vegetable garden as well.

I've broken the landscaping into two phases. Phase I is finished and going to try and get Phase II done by the end of summer or at least underway. I decided to go with natural stone, which wasn't easy to find and then found a gravel yard that had exactly what I wanted. The catch, I had to climb up the mound of stone and sift through it myself to get the size and shape that I needed. It was actually quite fun, built up my arm muscles in the process and a good feeling that I did it myself when I look at the finished project.

In between, I decided to put in a small vegetable garden. I got the ground ready, mixed in some fertilizer (since our ground is very sandy and has a lot of clay) and for good measure, picked up some Miracle-Gro® Tomato Plant Food (good for tomatoes and other vegetables) and planted a half dozen hungarian hot peppers and three types of tomatoes (red beefsteak, beefmaster and grape).

With the rain and heat we've had so far this summer, all the plants are doing very well. Our tomato plants are loaded, all are green still, except for our grape tomatoes which are starting to turn red. I'm hoping with the heat we've been having the past few days, by the time we return home next week, they'll be starting to turn red. There is nothing better than a fresh tomato picked from the vine, whether you put on a sandwich, make a fresh tomato pizza or a nice salad.

Was very excited this past weekend, we picked our first batch of hot peppers! We decided to stuff them with hot sausage. You had to be a lover of hot things to enjoy these .. LOL! The peppers doubled with the hot sausage, set your mouth on fire but oh, were they good! :) The plants are still full and we should be able to pick another batch when we get back. Having a little problem with bugs eating the leaves (as you can see in the photo), tried Sevin but to no avail. Fortunately, they're not touching the peppers.

Very pleased and already thinking next year of expanding it a little bit and putting in some lettuce, string beans and fresh herbs. My Grandmother would be so proud, as she was always after me to plant a vegetable garden vs. flowers.