Heirloom Gardening...

We have two large raised gardening beds in our backyard this year (four if you count the strawberry bed and the other waiting for fall crops) planted in entirely heirloom seeds from the lovely Baker Seed Company here in Missouri (www.rareseeds.com). If you haven't heard of Baker Seeds, definitely go check them out and order one of their catalogs for the Spring. The photography is gorgeous and will certainly cheer you on those dreary winter days! Be sure to order in the Fall, as the limit of free catalogs quickly gets taken.

 Lovely heirloom Sunflower

 This is a purple heirloom tomato that is on the brink of being ripe. The flesh is actually a deep red/purple color with lots of flavor! 

 I believe this corn is called Country Gentleman. 

 Yellow Squash 

 Okra anyone? 

These are some Missouri Pole Beans growing on our green bean teepee. Kurt fashioned this fun structure using some PVC piping, string, and some nuts and blots (and a drill, of course!).  I absolutely love this idea, as our girls can go inside and play. We may have to do a larger one in the future! 

This summer Kurt perfected our raised gardening beds--creating them out of cedar with removable sides so we can get in to weed and harvest while keeping the critters out. I'll post some photos of his design soon. He's received lots of compliments, so I think they are worthy of being emulated! 

I'll also keep you up-to-date on our harvest and post photos of our seeds and names incase you want to try them for yourself! It's been a very hot and dry summer here in Missouri, so we are watering with soaker hoses and trying harder than we ever have to keep our garden alive! Hopefully, we still get a pretty nice harvest this year. The squash and tomatoes have already been pretty tasty!