Working in the Garden

Do you want to know what is keeping me really busy this summer? It would be my garden. This is the first year I have ever planted a garden and this is all new to me. I was so afraid my none-existent green thumb would fail me like always. However I must say it is growing leaps and bounds better than I ever imagined.

First back in May my dad came down and plowed my garden with his tractor. Much better than me tilling it by hand. We had the perfect spot where we had been putting grass cuttings for the past seven years. Let me just say this made some really great soil for growing a garden.

I started everthing by seed. Let me just say when you plant rows with little tiny seeds you never expect things are going to grow so big.
These (above) are my squash and zucchini plants. There is supposed to be two rows here but the rows are now gone because my plants are huge.

Now this is the opposite end of the garden with the same plants. This is the soil that was previously just grass and not our pile of grass cutings that made really fertile soil. Things are not as big at this end.

I planted two rows of tomato's and they have also merged into one row at the far end of the garden and are growing into my pepper rows as well. I have little green tomato's popping now. It won't be long and we will be basking in fresh tomato's.
I can't wait!
This is my row of peppers and lettuce/spinach row. We have already cut a lot of the lettuce and spinach as it was ready to eat and oh so good. I had a real hard time cutting and cleaning the lettuce. The slugs love my lettuce and I don't like the slugs. I learned to cut the stuff much higher so didn't drag them into the house and have to watch the crawl across my counters. Let me say, I don't deal well with this.

Oh and excuse my weeds. I am out here all the time picking them out but they grow faster than I weed and my garden is all natural so it is just me against them. Sad to say they are winning.
Here is the back view of my tomato's. I really have learned that next year I must make more room between the rows.
Finally, this is a picture of Luke's sunflower seed he planted. I can't wait for it to bloom. It has gone from seed to this large plant in no time. He loves to go to the garden to see how it is growing. He got the pack of sunflower seeds from school but our dogs chewed up the pack. We were able to save three little seeds and one of them actually produced.

Do you see the fence post behind the sunflower? Funny story, poison ivy was growing around the fence post. I was out one day just pulling weeds like crazy around the fence post and then thought oh-no.... I was plucking weeds of three like crazy with my bare hands. I instantly felt like I itched. Went inside washed up and waited to see if I would get poison ivy. In my past I have been in it and never had an issue with it. Lucky for me, I escaped ivy free again.

So have any of you grown a garden?
Any recommendation for recipes? Canning or storage ideas to get the most out of my garden? I am going to make my own spaghetti sauce and can it using my tomato's, cucumbers, squash, zucchini and peppers.