It was an unusual week for kids in the garden. Kids said they were COLD!!! The 70 degree temperature was a huge change from the previous weeks. So there were NO SPRINKLERS. I know, the sprinklers were fun, but we had fun anyway. We started by measuring the sunflowers.

 The average height this week was 41 inches. It is so amazing that the sunflowers have continued to grow so well without any irrigation. We should get amazing growth next week with the rain. Some of the sunflowers are starting to bloom.
 

 We went by the canning tomato garden and saw some of the damage that was done by tomato hornworms. Since the worms like to hide during the day, we didn't actually see the worms. Next we checked out the winter squash. Everyone pulled a few weeds and looked for squash on the vines.
 
 We found butternut.

   

And spaghetti squash. Also acorn and carnival. Then we headed back to the garden by the wood stove to look for something to harvest. Then melons we growing well, but not ready yet.

 

 But the summer squash was ready. We picked zucchini, gold zucchini, pattypan and yellow crookneck, then headed for the herb garden to pick some garlic chives, lemon basil, oregano, chives, parsley and dill weed. We sliced up the summer squash (Diane's job) and snipped the herbs (kids job) then made:

Marinated Zucchini Salad
2 T extra virgin olive oil
4 T red wine vinegar
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp garlic chives
1 tsp lemon basil
1/2 tsp oregano
 Mix all together, then add thinly sliced summer squash (we used all the kinds, but you can use just one if you want). Mix well.

 While this was marinating, we made up some dill dip.
Dill Dip
1 c sour cream
1 c mayonnaise
1 T minced chives
1 T minced parsley
1 T chopped dill weed
3/4 c seasoned salt
Mix all together.

We used creamy peanut butter as another dip. Ranch dressing is also a great choice. Afterwards, we created human graphs to see who liked what. It took awhile because lots of kids were busy having seconds. I really HATE to interfere with kids eating vegetables, so this was time well spent....


Dill Dip 7 yes 5 no
Marinated Zucchini Salad 9 yes 3 no
peanut butter 11 yes 2 no

I thought those results were pretty amazing. Almost everybody liked summer squash at least one of the ways we served it.  It can also be cooked.  I saute it in a little olive oil.  Add some herbs,  I like basil, chives and a little oregano.  Then sprinkle with a little Parmesan cheese just before it's done. (Saute it quickly so it stays crispy.)

So we were off to the pumpkin patch. We looked for (and found) the pumpkins that had been marked last week. The vines had really grown, so this was snot easy. We measured a couple of the pumpkins.

black tape 23 inches
red tape 24 inches 

At this point we had already managed to break both of these pumpkins from the vine. And adults were involved with both, so we decided we'd just look at the pumpkins from here on in to see how they've grown. No more measuring. We brought the 2 pumpkins that had broken off back with us. They aren't ripe yet, so they will rot. We'll keep them around to see how long that will take.

Since Cedi and Capri left for vacation without eating all the ripe strawberries, we all got to sample a couple. YUM!!!

Time to go by the Duck Pond Garden. Everything is growing wildly. We're hoping for baby tomatoes next week. The Rain Gauge Gnome had 2 1/4 inches of rain. YEAH!!!! We didn't need to do any watering today.

 

The beets are doing well and we'll probably harvest some Swiss chard next week and maybe some beans from the jungle gym. We checked on the worms, but this has been a really tough year for the worm farm. It is too HOT. Hopefully they will do a little better in the cooler weather and come up where we can see them better.

 

We ended with quick visit to the Fairy Garden where we saw the hen and chick plants and their babies.

Another great week for kids in the garden. See you all next week.

To see more pictures be sure to check out the ‘Kids in the Garden’ flickr group I started HERE.  If you’re participating in our little program please feel free to upload your pictures to the group as well!