Here’s the recap of my 2018 garden!  Check out what I loved & hated about the garden this year!

Here’s what I gathered from the last garden harvest of 2018!

August is when I officially gave up on the garden.  There were just too many failing plants & there was no way the garden was coming back…

I think the first tomatoes from the garden are the best tomatoes.  It’s like a preview of what’s to come & judging by our first harvest, there will be a lot of tomatoes this year!

Well…an attempt was made.

That’s the best I can say about the 2018 so far.

Don’t let the pictures fool you:  the garden is a disaster this year!  Sure, there are tons of little tomatoes & peppers, but it’s nowhere near its full potential.  It’s so disappointing to see these weird plants with little or no vines on them!

The Big Reveal

Hey, Besties! I've been buzzing with excitement to give you a peek into my garden – it's like a little slice of paradise right in my backyard. Editing these photos felt like an eternity (I might've gone a tad overboard with the camera 📸). Still, I've finally narrowed it down to share with you!

Garden Expansion

This year, I went all out and expanded my garden using railroad ties – talk about a major upgrade! More space meant more green babies to tend to.

Plant Selection

I've got a soft spot for my local greenhouse; they're my go-to for plants. Starting from seeds? Maybe next year (fingers crossed!). For now, I'm all about those robust, ready-to-thrive plants.

Classic Choices

I kept it classic with tomatoes and peppers – they were superstars last year, and I'm all for a repeat performance. Plus, let's be real, my veggie palate isn't the most adventurous. But I did sneak in some squash (yellow & zucchini) for my hubby – he's the king of frying them up, and I might give them a whirl in the instant pot!

Tomato Varieties

Tomato-wise, I mixed it up a bit. I aimed for last year's champs but ended up with a different variety from the greenhouse. And then there's the San Marzano – a recommendation from my aunt that had me rushing back for more. Trust the family wisdom, right?

Pepper Picks

Peppers were a bit of a green blur – I'm not their number one fan, so I wasn't too picky. But hey, variety is the spice of life, or so they say!

The Wild Card

And then there was this little patch left – a garden's equivalent of "what's behind door number three?" My husband threw in the idea of planting green beans from last year's seed stash. It's a bit of a wild card, but guess what? They're thriving like it's their garden party!

Harvest Dreams

I'm already daydreaming about homemade tomato sauces and stuffed peppers. With this garden's size, I'll be a canning and cooking machine come fall. Bring on the harvest!

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned for more of Tiff's Garden Chronicles – it will be a delicious ride! 🍅🌶️👩‍🌾 

Semi-Homemade pasta sauce recipe!

I’ve never really been the type to make homemade pasta sauce.  That was also before I had about a million Roma tomatoes in my garden!  Since I had so many tomatoes, I decided to venture into the waters of homemade sauce making.

I imagined myself adding different spices together until I came out with the perfect pasta sauce.

In reality, I bought a pasta sauce seasoning packet at the grocery store.  It’s the same thing, right?!  Haha!

One thing I didn’t realize was that it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a sauce.  The first time I made tried to make a pasta sauce, I used 14 Roma tomatoes & came out with 2 small jars of sauce.

My parents always plant a huge garden! 

Here’s a peek at what they grew this year:

Here’s an update on our garden!