Mark's Garden 2009

Each year Mark plants his famous garden and each year we get an abundance of fresh produce. So much, that I hate to say that some of it goes to waste by the end of the season because we have had so much. We like to blanch and freeze the majority of it because to us it tastes better than pressure cooking it in bottles.

This year has been a little less abundant in the bean department, other than the pole bean plants themselves look more like "Jack in the Bean Stock" plants. He tried pole beans this year rather than the normal bush beans and this is the first year we've had minimal beans. I think he'll go back to bush beans next year.

The tomatoes were slow in coming but that is probably due to the colder than normal month of June that we had. They are on now though and we've already made a batch of canned salsa.

The cucumber, zucchini, squash and pepper plants have produced a lot also. We've had to give away cucumbers because they just keep mass producing.

Mark loves planting his garden and calls it his "therapy". I feel bad but over the years I've made him down-size his garden because it has been just way too big and we haven't been able to keep up with it as much as we would like to. I have already told him again this year that he still needs to go a little smaller, but if it is his therapy, then well......what's a wife to do?!?