Day 18

Yesterday we needed to buy a new tie out for one of our dogs as she managed to break it and run off down the street (good girl came right back when I called though!). While at Dollar General my husband picked up some gum and some canned dog food since our bulldog isn't too eager to eat after her surgery and we can at least entice her with canned dog food. She doesn't like standing up and eating since the pain in her leg must be quite uncomfortable so I spoon fed her some of the dog food and she ate it all up. Anyway, long story short we spent $10.91 and have $235.63 left for the month.

I promised some more recent garden pictures yesterday. I promised them after I weeded the garden. As you can see from the picture below, I started weeding (as seen by the small pile of pulled weeds on the lawn) but then had a million other chores to tend to so didn't finish the weeding. With a chance of storms for the next several days I decided to snap a few shots regardless of being weed-free or not.

The kids are standing behind the trellis for the cucumbers. The vines of the cucumbers are growing just long enough that today I tied some string to the trellis and will train the vines upwards and onwards. The trellis is just simple bamboo steaks, bought in a bag at The Dollar Tree for $1, that my husband nailed/twined together. This is the second year we are using it and it seems to still be in great shape. For $1 you can't go wrong with that! Next time we are at the Dollar Tree I am going to see if they have more for my beans and raspberry plants. The cucumbers thrived on being off the ground last year so if you've never grown your cucumbers on a trellis you may want to consider it this year.

This messy little garden bed is my strawberry patch. They should really take off next year but just today we had our first strawberry and Joe was the lucky person who got to eat it.

This is the whole view of the garden area. Rhubarb is in the back behind the beds (which really needs to be picked right now and sliced up to be put in the freezer). Going left to right we have brussell sprouts in the back and green peppers in the front, cucumbers in the back and more green peppers in the front with a few turnips and spinach mixed in between, several tomato plants, then the strawberry bed and a pot of cherry tomatoes beyond that. Once the turnips are ready (the kids picked one and shared it today) I will plant some beans in their space. Tomorrow I intend to plant a couple more hills of cucumbers (hope it isn't too late!) and some pots of herbs to set around the garden area. Later this summer I will plant more turnips, radishes, beans, lettuce, and spinach to have a late fall crop. In this small area we are able to produce quite a lot.

The kids and I also worked on re potting some flowers and planting a few flower seeds for some planters out front on the porch. A little late in the season to start from scratch but I think we will still be able to enjoy some blooms from those later this summer. I replanted the parsley in my small kitchen window pots as the previous plants died. I'm also giving our little houseplant a nice bask in the sun outside after spraying it down with the hose so it will be happy and squeaky clean when it gets put back in the house tonight.

And that is how we save a little on our grocery bill each summer!