No Go on Canteloupe, Yes for Watermelon

So, This year we planted cantaloupe and as you can see from the picture they didn't get real big.  I always had to pick them before they were really ready because the bugs and slugs would get them and eat them till there was nothing left.  Since I had to try and pick them before they were ready they obviously didn't taste the best.  Not horrible, but bad enough that this is the first and last time I do cantaloupe.

On the other hand, Our watermelon did quite well.  This watermelon is on the biggest cutting board I have.  Also the watermelon was pretty good.  It wasn't the best I ever had, but we will be trying again next year and maybe read up on some things to do better.  There is one thing I will try though, and that's looking to see if i can find seedless.  There were a lot of seeds and with little kids it gets messy.

Pumpkin Patch

 Our Garden has done really well this year.  I think it is partially because when we bought this house the backyard was weeds and hadn't been used in years.
This year we only planted two pumpkin plants and we grew 12 pumpkins.  Amazing!

We were so excited to pick the one we were going to carve for Halloween.  I have never harvested pumpkins before so I wanted to make sure I did it right.  HERE is the video I watched for the correct way to harvest and store pumpkins from an Extension Vegetable Specialist.

The girls have loved looking and choosing theirs.

Trying out the Green Thumb

This is the first year I did a garden.  I will be posting the things that didn't work and what did.  This year we were actually really successful.  I will be posting pictures soon of our garden and what we picked from it.  So far I have canned peach jam, peaches(I had two huge boxes of peaches plus two over flowing grocery bags), pickles, and salsa.  I think I have a year supply of each.  So far I love gardening and the fruits of my labor.  Ok lets get real.  My husband did most of the work in prepping and watering the garden.  I mainly weed and harvest.  I will let you know that I bottled the BEST tasting Salsa EVER!  It is called Jalapeno Salsa and it isn't really spicy but has the best flavor.  Comment if you would like the recipe.

 Peach Jam

 Pickles

 Peaches

Salsa