Admittedly, I am NOT a green thumb. I can manage to keep 3 children and a husband and myself alive, but alas, I cannot maintain the life of a simple houseplant. But this year I was determined to have a small vegetable garden–it is our very first family garden as this is the first house where we’ve had a good spot for a garden. So it’s sort of experimental this year.
I was a bit worried because a) as I mentioned before, I do not have a green thumb; b) I planted late in the season; c) had no idea what I was doing (but had some help from my mom and grandma); d) practically the whole month of June saw approximately 2 hours worth of sunshine but PLENTY of torrential rain and a few bursts of hail. A few of the plants did not make it. So imagine our excitement and frankly, surprise and shock, when we were able to pluck some goodies a few days ago!
Our first pretty tomato!
A summer squash!
Annie’s been my little helper with the watering and weeding, so she was thrilled to help pick one of the zucchini’s. Now I’ve got to gather some delicious zucchini recipes.
Oh, and a few little pea pods made it through the stifling summer heat.
Aren’t they cute?
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
That's awesome Brooke! My mom has a delicious zucchini casserole recipe! If you want it just let me or my mom know!
This is the same Heather as above. I just realized I'm not on my blogger account right now, so you wouldn't be able to figure out who I was. This is Heather Holmes(Kilpatrick).
Congratulations! It feels so good to grow a garden!
Yours looks so lush. Much more so than mine, but I did pick the first tomato today and had it on my tortilla wrap. Delicious!
I am SO proud of you! You're like super woman/super mom/super farmer! I will look forward to fresh zucchini bread on my porch.
Now I'm even more jealous that you can grow stuff too!! Nice work!
Yay for gardens – I love to grow stuff, not that I have any idea what I'm doing. In fact, half the stuff I planted this year grew leaves but never blossomed…weird – I'm blaming it on the bees 😉
Way to go! Honestly, if you think you're green-thumb-challenged I don't think you've met me. But I will take your challenge, if you can do it, maybe I can too
I'm super impressed! I'd say you may just have a green thumb after all. Enjoy your harvest!
This cake is my latest addiction.
Unfortunately the only healthy think about it is the zucchini but it is still worth enjoying.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
½ c. milk
2 ½ c. flour
¼ c. cocoa
1 t. soda
½ t. cinnamon
½ c. butter or margarine
½ t. baking powder
½ c. oil
1 ¾ c. sugar
½ t. salt
2 c. graded zucchini
Mix the eggs & sugar together. Add all wet ingredients then add all dry ingredients.
1 c. milk chocolate chips
½ c. brown sugar
½ c. nuts (if desired)
Sprinkle them on before you bake them.
Bake at 325 degrees for 40 mins (may take a little longer)
Zucchini Casserole
6 c. sliced zucchini
½ c. chopped onion
Steam together until they are tender crisp (don’t let them get soggy, steam less then 10 min)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream
1 c. shredded carrots
Mix together then add zucchini & onion mixture.
8 oz package of chicken flavored stove top stuffing mix (don’t follow directions on back of box)
½ c. melted butter
Mix together.
Put ½ stuffing mixture on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Pour cream mixture on top of that. Then pour remaining stuffing mixture on top.
Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Cover with foil until the last few minutes. Remove foil so stuffing can brown.
Cute pictures of your cute garden. Well done.
Thanks everyone!!! I seriously think it's a miracle anything actually grew.
Jaclyn, THANKS for the yummy recipes, I'll definitely have to try them out. That cake might be our dinner tonight. 
How lovely. Maybe one day I'll have room for a real garden. I'll call on you for advice when that day comes. I love zucchini. If you have an extra to spare, I'd take it in a heart beat.
Thanks for the beach invite today…it was fabulous!
I love the golden zucchini! The kids really get into it, don't they. I just loving watching their excitement when something "appears"! Great work!!
Yay for you Brooke! I'd say your first attempt at a garden was a success! Great Work! I have two yummy recipes that come to mind. One is for zucchini stuffing(I know it sounds weird, but it's really delish!) and the other is for "Twinkie Surprise" Cupcakes…yum! (They have summer squash in them. My girls love them…good way to hide the squash!) I'll e-mail the recipes to you if you'd like…I'd love to share!
Alishaw said what I wanted to say again! (But what is she talking about?- she does everything too!)
I am impressed! I am pleased to be able to keep my family alive as well! I tried veggies last year and I think everyone in the family was watering the seeds every day and they got moldy. Maybe I will try again next year, any tips?
we love doing a garden, too. in fact, that's where our (ben and me, that is) relationship all started – in a garden. how cheesy.
you'll find a plethora of zucchini recipes everywhere – have fun! one thing we like to do with them is to make zucchini boats – so fun. you can go to my blog and search for that and see what we did – but it's pretty easy to figure out on your own.
happy gardening.
Yummy!