How Big is it?

I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and the ones that focus on gardening usually say how big their garden is. I have always thought I had a big garden, but I had never actually measured it. After seeing all the produce people have been harvesting I began to think that maybe my garden was on the small side. So yesterday I went out and walked foot in front of foot along the length and width of my garden and set out to find its square footage. I know that is not the most exact way to figure it out, but I was home alone and had no one to hold the other end of the tape measure..lol I am sure my neighbors thought I was quite strange walking ever so slowly and to be honest almost falling over a few times! So when I was finished I wrote out the numbers 120ft length by 32ft width. At first I added everything together..yeah not the best at math and ended up a small number and figured that could not be right. Finally the ole brain kicked in and remember its length x width...lol So the total square footage of my garden is 3840 sq ft give or take a bit for my faulty measuring system. I am not sure why in the past 4 years I have never thought about measuring it, but now I understand why I get so tired when I go out there and work..lol

Even at the size my garden is I still feel that I do not have enough space. This year I do have 4 rows of various flowers taking up space. I had wanted to plant honeydew melons, but I bought seeds to late in the season and I wasn't sure if they would have enough time to produce. However, after seeing a few blogs with lovely melons I wish I would have chanced it..lol

I have wanted to make a Herb garden for quite awhile now. During my first ever garden four years ago I set aside a section of the garden and planted seed for 10 different herbs. Nothing came up and since my dad tilled that area every time he came out nothing was going to come up that year..lol. The next year decided to just go out and buy some seedlings and plant them in one huge container. The problem with that was the stupid cats we had at the time decided to use my herb garden as their toilet and thus ended the herb garden. The next 2 years I just went out and bought a my herbs as well established plants and planted them in individual containers by the house. That seemed to work, but everything bolted so quickly that I hardly had time to use the herbs fresh and therefore drying them was not even an option. This year I set out to try again from seed, but I couldn't seem to figure out where to plant them so they are still inside a bag in the closet. I know so very productive..lol

I think I am going to find a nice spot somewhere in the yard and do a raised herb garden for next year. Now I just have to go outside and scout out the best spot!

Today I decided to go out in the hottest part of the day and weed. I was not very productive and only got one row done. I started on the leek and garlic row, but since I am still not sure if anything is coming up or not I just left it.Well I would have continued but started seeing spots so I figured it was time to go in. The mosquitoes yet again were just horrible.

Before I came in I harvested the spinach again. I had chopped off the flowers and I think that helped stop the bolting a wee bit. I was still able to cut half of the plant off again and there is still enough for a few more feedings I hope. I decided I was just going to freeze what I brought in since the fridge is still full of lettuce.

This time I chose to chop the spinach before blanching it. I thought that it would be a lot more work, but I was done everything in 1 hour. I used my pasta strainer in my pot this time so I wouldn't have to pick out every last piece and it worked surprisingly well. After I got out as much moisture as I could I was able to get 2 6oz bags and one 6.5oz bag. I then used my food saver and vacuumed sealed the bags. I love that food saver!! I thought it would be really hard to use, but it is pretty well idiot proof...just my cup of tea!

 

Spinach Harvested 3lbs or 1.3 kilos if my math works...lol