First Harvest

A delectable salad made with fresh arugula and
green leaf lettuce from the garden.
The first green beans and summer squash,
which I steamed for dinner last night--is there
anything so tasty as fresh vegetables from your
own garden?

First Fruits

Peas
















Green Beans

Serrano Chili Peppers

The first Nasturtium blossom

Crooked-neck Summer Squash

Grape Tomatoes

One Tater, Two Tater, Three Tater, Four

Many years ago, when I bought my first house (it was in Bellevue, Nebraska), I decided to follow the prophet's counsel to plant a garden and use the harvest to feed my family and preserve for the future. With the headstrong boldness of youth, I rototilled a garden space about 20 ft by 20ft in the middle of the backyard, incorporated a truckload of cow manure, and started planting. With this garden I had enough space to plant potatoes, and since potatoes are almost my favorite thing to eat, I planted a bunch. It required a lot of digging and maintenance, but it was sure worth it! I harvested TONS of potatoes! And with my cool, dark basement, they lasted through the winter, too. Here in Virginia, space is limited, but I still want to have potatoes of my own. I learned about a method of growing potatoes in a garbage can from our county extension agency for when space is a problem. I also looked it up on the internet and found a number of youtube videos of interest. Just google "growing potatoes in a garbage can" and you'll come up with lots of hits. In addition, my "garden Bible" described how to do this also.

So, I bought a 32 gallon black plastic garbage can (the black color keeps things hotter for better growing conditions) for $15.00, two bags of garden soil, and seed potatoes (Idaho baking type). Next I drilled holes in the bottom and around the bottom sides of the can for drainage. I put about 6 inches of soil in the can, added the potatoes--six of them--with the eyes facing upwards, and then added another 4 inches of soil. Watered well. When the potatoes had sprouted and the leaves were about 6 inches tall, I added more soil until only about 1 inch of leaves were showing. When the stems are covered with soil, potatoes will sprout off the stems, making the harvest that much greater than if you just let the plants grow untended. As the plants grow, I add more soil until the garbage can is full. Below I have pictures showing the progress of my garbage can potatoes after having added soil for the first time and almost ready for another addition. Later in the summer, after the plants flower and start to fade, then you harvest the crop by simply pulling up the plants and dumping everything out of the garbage can to retrieve the potatoes. The soil can then be added to the main garden and rototilled in for the next year. I'll keep you posted on the progress of my little experiment. If it works well, I might try two garbage cans next season!

Jeffrey's Seminary Graduation

After four years of attending early morning seminary with Sister Vicki Lewis as his teacher, Jeffrey graduated with his seminary diploma last night, June 13, 2010. We are very proud of him! He had 100% attendance (sometimes more than 100%, due to extra credit from watching General Conference sessions). Waking up at 5am every school day for the last four years has been taxing, not only for Jeffrey, but especially for Dad, who had wake-up duty. But it has been worth the effort for the benefits of studying the standard works and receiving the blessings of learning and applying gospel principles in his life. Once a seminary graduate, always a seminary graduate, and this will be something he can be proud of and grateful for his whole life. These pictures show Jeffrey with Bishop Wahlquist; with his friend, Tyler Stephens; with Sister Lewis; with Mom and Dad; and with a whole group of best buds.

My Kitchen Garden, Part 2

I've been spending a lot of time outside in the garden. It's been about 7 weeks since I sowed the first seeds and set out the first plants. Below are pictures of the garden about 3 weeks after initial planting.

My "gardening Bible" recommends dividing the garden into sections according to the category of plant to be grown there. For example, the above picture represents Group 4--Legumes, annual herbs and flowers. Here we have growing string beans, peas, and sugar snap peas. Also still incubating below ground are nasturtiums.

Now we have Group 3--Potatoes and the Cucumber Family. The three hills show seedlings of pumpkin, zucchini, and crook-neck yellow squash. Also in the back are three pepper plants, oregano, and chives.

Group 2--Root vegetables, is really a sorry sight at this stage. You can't hardly see anything growing, although there are some picked over (by the birds) onions. Carrots, dill, parsely, sweet william, and cosmos are all planted but not yet sprouted.

Finally, Group 1 (my favorite)--Brassicas and tomatoes. In the foreground are three different varieties of tomatoes, Big Boy, Roma, and Grape. Broccoli, radishes, spinach, arugula, lettuce, asters, and cosmos are all in varying stages of germination and sprouting.

The idea of planting in these groups is so that you grow vegetables together that are good for each other. They deter harmful insects, discourage disease, and require the same things from the soil. Next year I will rotate the position of the groups in the garden. Group 1 will move to the section where Group 2 is this year. Group 2 will move to Group 3 position, Group 3 to Group 4 position, and Group 4 to Group 1 position. In this way the soil throughout the whole garden will not be depleted and diseases to a particular group will not infect next year's crop.

The following pictures were taken today and show the progress over the last 4 weeks. During this time I also planted basil plants in Groups 1 and 4 and two sage plants in Group 3. I've planted succession rows of lettuce, carrots, and string beans, as well as additional flowers along the borders of the garden. It's been a challenge keeping the weeds down because of the neglect of the garden space over the last five years, but with pulling and hoeing and mulching, I'm making some good progress there.

Pretty big difference, no? We'll see what growth and change the next few weeks bring, changes that will hopefully include some harvesting!

Update: The Great Chipmunk Challenge

I'm sorry to say that I haven't come up with a real solution to the problem of Chip's affinity for flowers. He continues to forage in the planters on the deck from time to time, and I continue to salvage as many uprooted seedlings as I can. One thing's for sure, any survivors are sure to be strong bloomers that will last the season--if they can endure the constant seesaw between being uprooted and replanted, they should be able to endure about anything!

But back to the story . . . Memorial Day morning, as we were preparing for our trip to Monticello, I checked on the flowers only to discover that Chip had been at it again. In a flurry of bad temper, I moved the two planters to the front porch to get them away from the the Mad Marauder. Upon returning from Monticello at the end of the day, to my complete and absolute incredulity, the plants had been dug up much worse than Chip had ever done. I figured it must have been a squirrel this time. So, in another flurry of temper and with few alternatives left (except for Gregory's sharpshootin' air gun), I toted them back to the deck to effect damage control-- at least there they would get more sunlight. Here's an idea: Maybe I should try the rabbit repellant spray I got for the garden. Hmmmm. . . worth a try anyway.

Memorial Day at Monticello

Uncharacteristically, the Hilton Family decided to take a day-trip to Monticello for Memorial Day. Too many times we let these one-day holidays slip by, but this day was different. About fourteen years ago, when Gregory was a baby (see how big he is now--that's him above right), we travelled to Charlottesville, VA to see Thomas Jefferson's famous home only to find out when we arrived that all the tours had been sold out for the day. Instead, we drove a few miles up the road to see James Monroe's home. Interesting, but NOT Monticello. Now, after all these years, we tried again, this time having bought our tour tickets online (not an option in 1996) so we knew the trip wouldn't be in vain. One of the enjoyable parts of the trip was the actual drive through the beautiful Virginia Piedmont region. Monticello is amazing, magnificent, and beautiful, and we learned a lot about our nation's third President. For instance, did you know that of all the myriad of things he accomplished in his life, the only three that he thought worthy enough to go on his tombstone were: author of the Declaration of Independence, author of Virginia's declaration on religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. No mention of being President of the United States for two terms.

Gregory chilling at the foot of a very old tree.

A view of Monticello from the West Lawn.

Some of the beautiful flowers on the walkway surrounding

the West Lawn.

A partial view of the vegetable garden on Mulberry Row.

Mr. Jefferson's view from the top of his little mountain.

Gregory and Jeffrey with Mr. Jefferson himself!