I just don't know where to start.
The blueberries are almost done, we've gotten a number of overflowing handfuls of beautiful, flavorful berries this year. That's even with my youngest daughter grabbing the unripe ones before they all started to ripen.
My tomatoes are going strong. We have many green tomatoes growing and sizing up. We ran out of tomato cages this Spring so only about a third are caged up, the others are kinda growing naturally-- which i know is going to turn into a big mess, lol. I know they can be staked, but that takes pruning and its way too late for that. Besides, after all my reading i still don't get how to stake and prune tomatoes.
Out weeding and my daughter pulled up my Kai Lan Queen kales. I guess its ok. We haven't more than snacked from them. If i grow them again i'll do a whole row, they don't seem to produce enough tips for a meal all at once if you only plant 3.
Three days ago she picked our first Golden Zebra summer squash. It was a little small (5 inches or less) but it was crisp and flavorful. I'll plant it again. More are on the way.
Funny thing happened to one of my beach plums and one of my cherry plants. The main stem seems to have died, all the leaves crumbled and dried, but both are resprouting at the roots. They are on opposite ends of the yard and looked like they got hit with Round-up or something. Butthey are coming back strong anyway.
The green beans are flowering right now, looks like a good potential crop.
The weather has finally cooled down, we'd been dry and hot for the last 2 weeks the lawn is going brown in places which has my hubby all annoyed.
Well thats it for now. I'm still working on getting my phone working for posting, hopefully i'll get some pics up with it soon!
Showing posts with label green beans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green beans. Show all posts
Friday, July 20, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Finished planting
I weeded everything with my old garden weasel, then dug the last two rows. Then i planted the squashes and cucumbers and the three Job's tears seedlings. I also planted a third row of green beans. The ones i planted a week ago still haven't come up, its been a bit cool out so hopefully its just that.
I've had not-so-good germination this year.
None of the 3 Beit Alpha seeds sprouted, only one of the 3 Delicata squash sprouted, out of 4 Spacemaster cukes, only 2 came up. The Banana Legs tomatoes sprouted 2 out of four. Happiness came from the Golden Zebra summer squash. Every seed came up, i actually had to thin them.
I managed to get everything done just before some thunderstorms blew up, so everything is being watered in naturally.
Its supposed to be sunny and warm through next week once the storms clear out tonight.
I've had not-so-good germination this year.
None of the 3 Beit Alpha seeds sprouted, only one of the 3 Delicata squash sprouted, out of 4 Spacemaster cukes, only 2 came up. The Banana Legs tomatoes sprouted 2 out of four. Happiness came from the Golden Zebra summer squash. Every seed came up, i actually had to thin them.
I managed to get everything done just before some thunderstorms blew up, so everything is being watered in naturally.
Its supposed to be sunny and warm through next week once the storms clear out tonight.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thunder and rain
It would have been nice to know we were going to get heavy rain overnight and today. I would have planted bean seeds. Last night the forecast called for 0.08 inches of rain. My guess is about 3.0 inches of rain. It was nice, however, to be woken up a few times last night by flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder. I find it relaxing.
If i had known, i would have finished mounding and digging the rows and planted those green bean seeds, i don't like to manually water if i can help it. It would have been perfect.
But the tomatoes are enjoying it and the kales and ground cherries. It has been on the dry side since i planted and the rain was really needed.
Still, it would have been nice to know! lol
If i had known, i would have finished mounding and digging the rows and planted those green bean seeds, i don't like to manually water if i can help it. It would have been perfect.
But the tomatoes are enjoying it and the kales and ground cherries. It has been on the dry side since i planted and the rain was really needed.
Still, it would have been nice to know! lol
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Potatoes and green beans
Ahhh, the first green beans of summer!
Its hard to believe that another year is going by.
Got a bunch of potatoes
One lunker
And a bunch of tinkers
I'm told they are delicious.
Its hard to believe that another year is going by.
Got a bunch of potatoes
One lunker
I'm told they are delicious.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Garden remix
I planted peppers and eggplant today. I also reseeded the cukes that didn't come up. Only thing is i goofed on them. I was supposed to leave room for the eggplants and peppers, but i wasn't thinking and i had to put the eggplants elsewhere.
About 6 of the beets sprouted so i just raked them over and put the peppers and eggplants there (next to the butternut squash. My parents' garden is still wringing wet, so they planted their tomatoes alongside the house and didn't expect to plant more than that-- this means i still have quite a few plants, so they took up almost half a row. This means my bean row is not going to be as big as i planned.
So what i did was narrowed the rows of corn and added a strip of beans. I'm still not convinced that any type of corn is going to provide much in this small garden. If all hades breaks loose we won't be sustained by corn. It may be the Jerusalem artichokes and all the greens i can put by. Not that i'm expecting a sudden specific calamity, but gardens are supposed to be for an independent way to save some money and be a backup plan in case of job loss etc. Its not like the economy is going to get any better very soon.
Anyhow, today i planted the beans and corn as well and re-did the garden map. Watering for about 45 minutes seemed to get things moist enough.
I also put the usual cream and red petunias in the big pot next to the front steps. The one stocks seedling wen right in the center.
We saw bees all through the blueberry blossoms. Gorgeous day to be outside.
I also spent the better part of the day with my mom. Its been one year since my grandfather died, so we bought some flowers and plants for his grave site and paid our respects. I'm glad i was able to spend the time with her. Its still very hard on my mom. Both of her parents are now gone. We still have our memere who is my mother's step-mother, though i never thought of her as 'step' anything! She is sprightly and full of goodness. One of my grandfather's best friends stepped right in and has been a great comfort to her. His wife was one of my memere's close friends and died recently also. Now the two of them travel together everywhere. Is a beautiful thing!
About 6 of the beets sprouted so i just raked them over and put the peppers and eggplants there (next to the butternut squash. My parents' garden is still wringing wet, so they planted their tomatoes alongside the house and didn't expect to plant more than that-- this means i still have quite a few plants, so they took up almost half a row. This means my bean row is not going to be as big as i planned.
So what i did was narrowed the rows of corn and added a strip of beans. I'm still not convinced that any type of corn is going to provide much in this small garden. If all hades breaks loose we won't be sustained by corn. It may be the Jerusalem artichokes and all the greens i can put by. Not that i'm expecting a sudden specific calamity, but gardens are supposed to be for an independent way to save some money and be a backup plan in case of job loss etc. Its not like the economy is going to get any better very soon.
Anyhow, today i planted the beans and corn as well and re-did the garden map. Watering for about 45 minutes seemed to get things moist enough.
I also put the usual cream and red petunias in the big pot next to the front steps. The one stocks seedling wen right in the center.
We saw bees all through the blueberry blossoms. Gorgeous day to be outside.
I also spent the better part of the day with my mom. Its been one year since my grandfather died, so we bought some flowers and plants for his grave site and paid our respects. I'm glad i was able to spend the time with her. Its still very hard on my mom. Both of her parents are now gone. We still have our memere who is my mother's step-mother, though i never thought of her as 'step' anything! She is sprightly and full of goodness. One of my grandfather's best friends stepped right in and has been a great comfort to her. His wife was one of my memere's close friends and died recently also. Now the two of them travel together everywhere. Is a beautiful thing!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Picture post
I got my Bountiful Gardens seed order yesterday. That was fast. The seeds look good and there are plenty of them.
I got things like SeaKale, Schizandra, Serviceberry, Amole and Hawthorn, among other things
My Horizon Herbs order has not shipped yet, i looked up my account and it says backorder.... so i guess i won't know for a while. I'm a little annoyed, i wish the website was kept up to date better. If something is unavailable it should not be purchasable until it is ready. Its not a huge problem to me, but i'm just sayin'.....
Shopping bag-full in the fridge
Out in the garden i have more yellow squashes. I'm still enjoying it but the yearly novelty has worn off.
I need to pick more green beans today and i'm out of room in the freezer so i will eat or give them away.
They aren't producing enough for a big enough canner-load that i'd consider worth the effort. If i had ripe tomatoes i'd do some cans of beans and some cans of tomatoes in one load.
I have been enjoying the Canning forum at the Ball website. Its a bit slow there, but the members do answer questions within a day and seem to know their stuff. They are also patient with multiple questions.
I have an Artichoke!
And... what is this?
A little closer....
Ooooh! Its turning color!
I didn't expect Siberia to be the first to start ripening. It was the last tomato seedling i was able to get in the garden and it was not the first to flower. Its also partially shaded from both ends- the corn in the morning and the other tomatoes by the afternoon....
And look at all these green tomatoes!
Even the Topsy Turvy is putting a real effort forward.
Size comparison with the onions
Hale's Best i think....
Are you ready for some Football? Almost.
Unfortunately the Pony Yellow cracked, but there are more.
;;
Surprised this missed my daughter's attention....
Carnival squash
The great pumpkin turning orange
A Point One cabbage that seems to have fully recovered
Corn silk
And tassels
Siberian Motherwort
The patio set... sans camp chairs. It was threatening rain so we put them away. We got those Coleman folding canvas chairs. They are more convenient than non-foldy chairs because we can take them anywhere and they store much easier.
And this is Chuck... Chuck likes collard greens....
Chuck won't be eating my collard greenss anymore, since he has been relocated to a nice place about 8 miles from here.
Oh, and here's what my hubby calls my Nuclear Reactor
Its the warning stickers that freak him out.
We've had sporadic rain showers but nothing substantial. It has gotten hotter in the last day or so and humidity was really high today. Nothing like the middle of the US is getting.
Still trying to keep up on weeding. That seems to be the way of it this time of year.
The seeds i got from Bountiful Gardens will likely be Wintersown since they are shrubby or hardy type plants.
I need to sort through my collection so i have some idea of what i have going on or else i will end up buying even more seeds.... i can't use them all as it is!
,
I got things like SeaKale, Schizandra, Serviceberry, Amole and Hawthorn, among other things
My Horizon Herbs order has not shipped yet, i looked up my account and it says backorder.... so i guess i won't know for a while. I'm a little annoyed, i wish the website was kept up to date better. If something is unavailable it should not be purchasable until it is ready. Its not a huge problem to me, but i'm just sayin'.....
Shopping bag-full in the fridge
Out in the garden i have more yellow squashes. I'm still enjoying it but the yearly novelty has worn off.
I need to pick more green beans today and i'm out of room in the freezer so i will eat or give them away.
They aren't producing enough for a big enough canner-load that i'd consider worth the effort. If i had ripe tomatoes i'd do some cans of beans and some cans of tomatoes in one load.
I have been enjoying the Canning forum at the Ball website. Its a bit slow there, but the members do answer questions within a day and seem to know their stuff. They are also patient with multiple questions.
I have an Artichoke!
And... what is this?
A little closer....
Ooooh! Its turning color!
I didn't expect Siberia to be the first to start ripening. It was the last tomato seedling i was able to get in the garden and it was not the first to flower. Its also partially shaded from both ends- the corn in the morning and the other tomatoes by the afternoon....
And look at all these green tomatoes!
Even the Topsy Turvy is putting a real effort forward.
Size comparison with the onions
Hale's Best i think....
Are you ready for some Football? Almost.
Unfortunately the Pony Yellow cracked, but there are more.
;;
Surprised this missed my daughter's attention....
Carnival squash
The great pumpkin turning orange
A Point One cabbage that seems to have fully recovered
Corn silk
And tassels
Siberian Motherwort
The patio set... sans camp chairs. It was threatening rain so we put them away. We got those Coleman folding canvas chairs. They are more convenient than non-foldy chairs because we can take them anywhere and they store much easier.
And this is Chuck... Chuck likes collard greens....
Chuck won't be eating my collard greenss anymore, since he has been relocated to a nice place about 8 miles from here.
Oh, and here's what my hubby calls my Nuclear Reactor
Its the warning stickers that freak him out.
We've had sporadic rain showers but nothing substantial. It has gotten hotter in the last day or so and humidity was really high today. Nothing like the middle of the US is getting.
Still trying to keep up on weeding. That seems to be the way of it this time of year.
The seeds i got from Bountiful Gardens will likely be Wintersown since they are shrubby or hardy type plants.
I need to sort through my collection so i have some idea of what i have going on or else i will end up buying even more seeds.... i can't use them all as it is!
,
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Its almost August?!!!
Summer is going by fast.
The garden is good, we've gotten some nice rains in the last week. I have blanched, vac-packed and froze 4 pounds of green beans and 2 pounds of summer squash.
I love my new Foodsaver. It is so easy to use compared to my old one. Now the old one wasn't bad, but it was like driving a stick-shift compared to driving an automatic with cruise control. They both work fine, but one is way more comfortable to drive.
My new Foodsaver has settings that the other one didn't. It has a 'gentle' setting so it won't smash things like blanched summer squash, and it has a setting for 'wet' foods- also like blanched summer squash. This means that it won't vacuum so hard that it sucks out the water and ruins itself. Any water remaining in the blanched foods did not become a vacuuming issue even with the heat seal- which i noticed is almost 2x as wide on this machine as my old one.
I'm sure part of the difference in the way they work is because of the brand name bags.
I had been using the generic food storage bags that i could get for about $1 less at WalMart. It had been so long since i had used real Foodsaver bags that i didn't notice there is a difference in them. The new Foodsaver came with a roll of bags and a whole packet of pre-cut bags. The brand name plastic has a different texture, almost rubbery.
I had tried using the generic bags to store things like pet food and dehydrated apple rings, but those items had sharp edges that broke the bags so the air leaked back in after a few days. I bet the brand name bags would work better if i try that again.
The reason i tried vacuum packing cat food was because my cat eats Solid Gold brand cat food. Its not a cheap food and we normally buy it in 5# bags. When i worked at the same pet store we bought the food at it was easy to buy 3 bags at a time and my employee discount made it a better value anyway. After the accident and since i don't always feel up to a trip out to get pet supplies hubby took over most of the grocery shopping duties. He thought we'd save a few dollars and a trip or two if we bought the big bag of Solid Gold.
Problem is that we have one cat. By the time he eats the whole bag the last half is stale. He also likes his dry food to be cold. I have always stored his food bag in the fridge, (one main reason for that is because we had ants that were attracted to the meaty smell and the fats that are in it) so he is used to a fresh bowl of food having a different temperature.
Anyway, you can't fit a 20# bag in the fridge. So i tried measuring out and vac-packing 2 week portions in the generic bags. I figured i could probably clean and reuse the bags on more cat food a few times if it worked. But it didn't because the food punctured the bags. Since the bags were ruined and could not be reused, what we saved on the bigger bag of cat food was lost in trying to keep it fresh until it was eaten.
I don't know if i would ever bother trying to use it for cat food again (unless i think it may have some emergency food storage applications like a Bug Out Bag for natural disaster evacuations- which are almost unheard of around here- but you never know!), but i do think i will be trying the brand name bags for foods that are dried to a crisp.
Now that i can compare the bags side by side, i don't like the generics very much at all, I'll pay the extra for the real ones.
I'm not sure why my apple slices dried so crispy though, the slices i get at the health food store are leathery. In my dehydrator, the apples were either too soft and obviously not done and then they became crisp...no in between- or i missed it. I have read books on dehydrating, but i don't remember what i read about apples... maybe i need to borrow the book from the library again.
On to grapes...
The Frontenac has decided to wake up and show signs of life! It has just unfurled some small leaves. Of course it would do this after i completely gave up on it and spoke to the company it came from. They have a pending order to send me a new one in early April 2011. So i feel weird now. BUT both Burpee and Stark have unconditional guarantees- "if for any reason you are unsatisfied....refund or exchange will be granted".
I hate to complain, i might do it a lot in some things but i don't enjoy it. But i really was unsatisfied with the grapes from Burpee and this one from Stark's. Everything else met or exceeded my expectations, so maybe i should stop feeling dishonest when i accept my refund/replacements. Bottom line is that i don't know if these 3 grape plants will even make it through the winter considering how late they began above ground growth. They may not have time to harden off this Summer's wood. If that is the case, i will be correct on two fronts. I was shipped plants that not vigorous enough to grow well their first year, this could delay my years till harvest time frame.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and feeling bad for not being happy. I don't like to be ungrateful about anything, even little grape cuttings. I think i need to get off the guilt trip, stop feeling bad about being displeased and let the companies do their job and make it right. Why is that so hard for me?
But i have decided to do it. So i will.
My lilies bloomed a few days ago. These were bought as Stargazers but i remember Stargazers as having more white along the edges. Maybe its my growing conditions. They are on the back side of the house and you don't see them when they open, you smell them. I planted 2 bulbs about 3 years ago, this year i got to pick them and bring them in the house before the bugs got to them too bad. The three blooms perfume the whole house.
Yesterday my dad brought over 3 loads of topsoil for us
And then he spread it out with the big tractor.
Today he plans to stop by with the littler tractor and drag a weighted pallet over it to smooth it out better. Hubby will put down some seed and with luck, we will have a nice lawn to enjoy next summer!
Update on the Koolickles. They are delicious. Something like a bread and butter pickle but more tart. Not as sweet as a sweet gherkin but maybe its because i used a sugar-free mix. I can't actually taste 'strawberry' flavor, but it has the tart/tangy/salty/sweet thing going on. I bet adding a hot pepper will make it even more interesting. Anyway, the flavors don't clash at all like i thought they might. I plan to keep a supply of these going indefinitely.
I need to update my harvest record on the side bar. I haven't done it in about a week, but the garden is really beginning to supply what i finally feel comfortable as calling a "harvest". I have been able to give away some produce even. The tomatoes are not red yet, but there are a lot of green fruit on all of the plants. The tomatillo has even gotten a husk on it.
I have not done any further work on the flower bed, but the neighbor husband has picked out a few plants they wanted to have (my hubby told them to go ahead if they wanted or they could wait for me to save them some) he replanted them in their back yard where it looks like they are creating a sort of pocketed terrace on the slope. It looks like it will turn out pretty neat if they continue to enlarge the beds. I'm glad he felt free to come in and take what he wanted, that way i'm sure they can feel more in control of what they see out their window.
Hubby is now painting the door to the shed. He has been doing the shed project gradually. It used to be a screenhouse, but we hardly ever used it. The screens let in dust and after a couple rainy summers things started to get moldy. We had a table set out there that got covered in dust and pine pollen, then in the damp it all grew mold. Took an hour to clean it up whenever we wanted to use it a few times a week. So we stopped using it. The screens were also disintegrating. So we decided that we needed a shed more than a screenhouse and hubby got a few sheets of plywood and closed it in and painted it up nicely. It was a few weeks longer before he could get the door made, but he did and now it needs a coat of paint to finish the job. He's pretty pleased with himself since he really did it all on his own. Its a good sort of manly ego boost. :o)
I plan to get more pictures of the garden, i have to keep a visual record so i can compare years against the others.
The pictures from this Spring compared to this Summer are always quite amazing. I don't know why i forget every year how quickly and large the plants end up growing. Its funny.
I'm really tired today so i hope to spend much of it simply reading and picking away at small household tasks.
The garden is good, we've gotten some nice rains in the last week. I have blanched, vac-packed and froze 4 pounds of green beans and 2 pounds of summer squash.
I love my new Foodsaver. It is so easy to use compared to my old one. Now the old one wasn't bad, but it was like driving a stick-shift compared to driving an automatic with cruise control. They both work fine, but one is way more comfortable to drive.
My new Foodsaver has settings that the other one didn't. It has a 'gentle' setting so it won't smash things like blanched summer squash, and it has a setting for 'wet' foods- also like blanched summer squash. This means that it won't vacuum so hard that it sucks out the water and ruins itself. Any water remaining in the blanched foods did not become a vacuuming issue even with the heat seal- which i noticed is almost 2x as wide on this machine as my old one.
I'm sure part of the difference in the way they work is because of the brand name bags.
I had been using the generic food storage bags that i could get for about $1 less at WalMart. It had been so long since i had used real Foodsaver bags that i didn't notice there is a difference in them. The new Foodsaver came with a roll of bags and a whole packet of pre-cut bags. The brand name plastic has a different texture, almost rubbery.
I had tried using the generic bags to store things like pet food and dehydrated apple rings, but those items had sharp edges that broke the bags so the air leaked back in after a few days. I bet the brand name bags would work better if i try that again.
The reason i tried vacuum packing cat food was because my cat eats Solid Gold brand cat food. Its not a cheap food and we normally buy it in 5# bags. When i worked at the same pet store we bought the food at it was easy to buy 3 bags at a time and my employee discount made it a better value anyway. After the accident and since i don't always feel up to a trip out to get pet supplies hubby took over most of the grocery shopping duties. He thought we'd save a few dollars and a trip or two if we bought the big bag of Solid Gold.
Problem is that we have one cat. By the time he eats the whole bag the last half is stale. He also likes his dry food to be cold. I have always stored his food bag in the fridge, (one main reason for that is because we had ants that were attracted to the meaty smell and the fats that are in it) so he is used to a fresh bowl of food having a different temperature.
Anyway, you can't fit a 20# bag in the fridge. So i tried measuring out and vac-packing 2 week portions in the generic bags. I figured i could probably clean and reuse the bags on more cat food a few times if it worked. But it didn't because the food punctured the bags. Since the bags were ruined and could not be reused, what we saved on the bigger bag of cat food was lost in trying to keep it fresh until it was eaten.
I don't know if i would ever bother trying to use it for cat food again (unless i think it may have some emergency food storage applications like a Bug Out Bag for natural disaster evacuations- which are almost unheard of around here- but you never know!), but i do think i will be trying the brand name bags for foods that are dried to a crisp.
Now that i can compare the bags side by side, i don't like the generics very much at all, I'll pay the extra for the real ones.
I'm not sure why my apple slices dried so crispy though, the slices i get at the health food store are leathery. In my dehydrator, the apples were either too soft and obviously not done and then they became crisp...no in between- or i missed it. I have read books on dehydrating, but i don't remember what i read about apples... maybe i need to borrow the book from the library again.
On to grapes...
The Frontenac has decided to wake up and show signs of life! It has just unfurled some small leaves. Of course it would do this after i completely gave up on it and spoke to the company it came from. They have a pending order to send me a new one in early April 2011. So i feel weird now. BUT both Burpee and Stark have unconditional guarantees- "if for any reason you are unsatisfied....refund or exchange will be granted".
I hate to complain, i might do it a lot in some things but i don't enjoy it. But i really was unsatisfied with the grapes from Burpee and this one from Stark's. Everything else met or exceeded my expectations, so maybe i should stop feeling dishonest when i accept my refund/replacements. Bottom line is that i don't know if these 3 grape plants will even make it through the winter considering how late they began above ground growth. They may not have time to harden off this Summer's wood. If that is the case, i will be correct on two fronts. I was shipped plants that not vigorous enough to grow well their first year, this could delay my years till harvest time frame.
I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and feeling bad for not being happy. I don't like to be ungrateful about anything, even little grape cuttings. I think i need to get off the guilt trip, stop feeling bad about being displeased and let the companies do their job and make it right. Why is that so hard for me?
But i have decided to do it. So i will.
My lilies bloomed a few days ago. These were bought as Stargazers but i remember Stargazers as having more white along the edges. Maybe its my growing conditions. They are on the back side of the house and you don't see them when they open, you smell them. I planted 2 bulbs about 3 years ago, this year i got to pick them and bring them in the house before the bugs got to them too bad. The three blooms perfume the whole house.
Yesterday my dad brought over 3 loads of topsoil for us
And then he spread it out with the big tractor.
Today he plans to stop by with the littler tractor and drag a weighted pallet over it to smooth it out better. Hubby will put down some seed and with luck, we will have a nice lawn to enjoy next summer!
Update on the Koolickles. They are delicious. Something like a bread and butter pickle but more tart. Not as sweet as a sweet gherkin but maybe its because i used a sugar-free mix. I can't actually taste 'strawberry' flavor, but it has the tart/tangy/salty/sweet thing going on. I bet adding a hot pepper will make it even more interesting. Anyway, the flavors don't clash at all like i thought they might. I plan to keep a supply of these going indefinitely.
I need to update my harvest record on the side bar. I haven't done it in about a week, but the garden is really beginning to supply what i finally feel comfortable as calling a "harvest". I have been able to give away some produce even. The tomatoes are not red yet, but there are a lot of green fruit on all of the plants. The tomatillo has even gotten a husk on it.
I have not done any further work on the flower bed, but the neighbor husband has picked out a few plants they wanted to have (my hubby told them to go ahead if they wanted or they could wait for me to save them some) he replanted them in their back yard where it looks like they are creating a sort of pocketed terrace on the slope. It looks like it will turn out pretty neat if they continue to enlarge the beds. I'm glad he felt free to come in and take what he wanted, that way i'm sure they can feel more in control of what they see out their window.
Hubby is now painting the door to the shed. He has been doing the shed project gradually. It used to be a screenhouse, but we hardly ever used it. The screens let in dust and after a couple rainy summers things started to get moldy. We had a table set out there that got covered in dust and pine pollen, then in the damp it all grew mold. Took an hour to clean it up whenever we wanted to use it a few times a week. So we stopped using it. The screens were also disintegrating. So we decided that we needed a shed more than a screenhouse and hubby got a few sheets of plywood and closed it in and painted it up nicely. It was a few weeks longer before he could get the door made, but he did and now it needs a coat of paint to finish the job. He's pretty pleased with himself since he really did it all on his own. Its a good sort of manly ego boost. :o)
I plan to get more pictures of the garden, i have to keep a visual record so i can compare years against the others.
The pictures from this Spring compared to this Summer are always quite amazing. I don't know why i forget every year how quickly and large the plants end up growing. Its funny.
I'm really tired today so i hope to spend much of it simply reading and picking away at small household tasks.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Nothing much
Not a whole lot going on.
I am still getting green beans. More than we can eat in a day. If we ate them every night we could probably keep up, but i have a backlog beginning. If i had room in my freezer, i'd be blanching, vac-packing and freezing them now.... but i need to rummage through the freezer and shift things first.
I was picking them when they were about pencil size, now they are getting much fatter before i can collect them off the plant. More like the size they are when you buy them in cans at the grocery store. Fewer beans equal more poundage, so even though actual beans picked is going down, weight is staying about the same.
I did find out that i cannot can my beans yet because i need a pressure canner for them.... unless i want to brine or pickle them and i don't. I planned to get a pressure canner anyway so i had been researching them and decided on the All-American 21.5 quart, model number should be 921.
It will be a while before i can order it though- even if i did have enough money saved. Somebody tried to steal my card number and rent a room at some hotel in another country. My bank called this morning to check on the legitimacy of the attempted transaction. It had declined anyway because the attempted charge was well over the available funds in the account. Joke's on them. Next time try and steal from someone who actually has money, you horse's backside.
I have been meaning to get the fall crop seeded in, but things always conspire against me. Indecision is my enemy. While i have been trying to decide if i should start them in flats or direct sow them and watch them get eaten or mistakenly pluck them as weeds, the days are going by. *sigh*
Finally got my hair sent off to Locks of Love. I sent two bunches, one from a number of years ago that was 10 inches long and the most recent bundle which was 16 inches long. Ten inches is the minimum they can use, so i hope they are able to get all they can from it. My procrastinating about mailing them off is my example of how not unusual this indecision is for me. My indecision about cutting off all my hair as short as i could stand added about 4 inches to the 16 inch hank. But enough of that, its just that i have had the hair bundled up and in a bag for ever and only just got to mailing it to the charity.
Yanno what. I think i'll just go now and start some flats.
Later update-
I planted 6 more seed types.
Salt Wort
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Starbor Kale
Arugula
Calabrese Broccoli
and
Broccoli Raab which i guess is a form of early sprouting broccoli, but i don't quite understand the distinction-other than flavor.
Some of them should do well in at this time of planting, the others are experimental. I have never eaten salt wort before but the description sounds intriguing.
I am regretting not having planted parsley this year. I did chit some seeds in a baggie with paper towel but i forgot about the seeds until it was too late and they got to be a mess. I had hoped to make tabouleh with fresh herbs, so i have plenty of mint but no parsley. I think lovage can be used as parsley so i might go see if the plants i set at my parents' house many years ago have come up this year... i should probably bring them home with me since nobody has ever actually used them.
I don't think i have ever seen a ladybug this small:
I am still getting green beans. More than we can eat in a day. If we ate them every night we could probably keep up, but i have a backlog beginning. If i had room in my freezer, i'd be blanching, vac-packing and freezing them now.... but i need to rummage through the freezer and shift things first.
I was picking them when they were about pencil size, now they are getting much fatter before i can collect them off the plant. More like the size they are when you buy them in cans at the grocery store. Fewer beans equal more poundage, so even though actual beans picked is going down, weight is staying about the same.
I did find out that i cannot can my beans yet because i need a pressure canner for them.... unless i want to brine or pickle them and i don't. I planned to get a pressure canner anyway so i had been researching them and decided on the All-American 21.5 quart, model number should be 921.
It will be a while before i can order it though- even if i did have enough money saved. Somebody tried to steal my card number and rent a room at some hotel in another country. My bank called this morning to check on the legitimacy of the attempted transaction. It had declined anyway because the attempted charge was well over the available funds in the account. Joke's on them. Next time try and steal from someone who actually has money, you horse's backside.
I have been meaning to get the fall crop seeded in, but things always conspire against me. Indecision is my enemy. While i have been trying to decide if i should start them in flats or direct sow them and watch them get eaten or mistakenly pluck them as weeds, the days are going by. *sigh*
Finally got my hair sent off to Locks of Love. I sent two bunches, one from a number of years ago that was 10 inches long and the most recent bundle which was 16 inches long. Ten inches is the minimum they can use, so i hope they are able to get all they can from it. My procrastinating about mailing them off is my example of how not unusual this indecision is for me. My indecision about cutting off all my hair as short as i could stand added about 4 inches to the 16 inch hank. But enough of that, its just that i have had the hair bundled up and in a bag for ever and only just got to mailing it to the charity.
Yanno what. I think i'll just go now and start some flats.
Later update-
I planted 6 more seed types.
Salt Wort
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Starbor Kale
Arugula
Calabrese Broccoli
and
Broccoli Raab which i guess is a form of early sprouting broccoli, but i don't quite understand the distinction-other than flavor.
Some of them should do well in at this time of planting, the others are experimental. I have never eaten salt wort before but the description sounds intriguing.
I am regretting not having planted parsley this year. I did chit some seeds in a baggie with paper towel but i forgot about the seeds until it was too late and they got to be a mess. I had hoped to make tabouleh with fresh herbs, so i have plenty of mint but no parsley. I think lovage can be used as parsley so i might go see if the plants i set at my parents' house many years ago have come up this year... i should probably bring them home with me since nobody has ever actually used them.
I don't think i have ever seen a ladybug this small:
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Koolickles, broccoli and midsummer pictures...
First, Koolickles. Its another example of what those crazy southerners will do with pickles. Its really not that crazy to me, though i never lived in the south i have seen odd foods from all over the place since i grew up watching cooking shows....
I think the first time i saw Koolickles was on an Alton Brown show not too long ago so for all my not-freaked-out-ishness, it is somewhat new to me. The original recipe calls for dill pickles, sugar, and Kool Aid packets... red colors seem to be a must. Grape is reported to not work, lemon lime flavors are said to be nice, but are less preferred. Fruit punch, strawberry and cherry are the top choices. Some recipes say to drain the juice and replace it with what is basically a double-sugar mix of Kool Aid. The recipe i followed said i could add the Kool Aid to the pickle brine and add it back in. Some recipes say to slice the pickles lengthwise and some say leave them whole or buy a jar of spears.
I don't eat sugar, so i had to do some looking to see if this can be done with Sugar-free mix. It turns out that it might be possible. So that is what i am trying.
The Victims. A one gallon jar of Mt. Olive kosher dills.
The accomplice....
I'm taking the lazy way out. This may backfire. But if it backfires i'm out a jar of pickles...ho-hum. I'm just going to dump 2 of the little cups of mix straight into the jar. If it turns out to be too much flavoring i bet i could dump the juice out of the jar and refil with water and let it sit for a few days to purge the salt and flavoring a bit.
Ok, straight into the jar:
Looks sinister
Into the fridge for 1-3 weeks....
Ok, back to gardeny things...
I have Broccoli! I noticed it the other day. The plants that got shredded the least and that i left to recover have recovered. The florets are understandably small
Polfast tomatoes are getting bigger.
All the tomatoes have been treated to prevent blights.
Cucumber!
FGS- Full garden shot
Grapes... the famous Marechal Foch.... this thing is so healthy looking.
Reliance... i finally tied it up.
I tossed some flax seed into the garden in Spring. They had started to smeel like they might be going rancid. Many of them sprouted...they don't take over much so its nice to have little blue flowers like this popping up here and there
I'm wondering what is up with my beets and rutabagas. I need to take a closer look at them. The beets are supposed to be 45 day and its right about that time now. The packet said Spring planting was correct, but they seem to be late. I think that area of soil isn't as yummy for them as it could be...though the beans just behind them are growing like mad. The two rutabagas that i keep snipping the tops off of kept sending up flower stalks so i pulled them last night. Their roots looked woody and like they had tunnels through them.... they may have wireworms... this would explain why my beets are slow... but i did pull a beet and the root of that one had no tunnels, but it wasn't any thicker than my thumb. I managed to break it in half and it smelled sweet and had some juice to it. It has been a long time since i have grown beets so i don't have much background to go on. The rutabagas were 100 day type, so its too early to expect them to be getting ready.... but i don't know if the reason the rutabagas were trying to go to seed was because of the attack on the roots... they are the only ones that were trying to go to seed, so maybe they were the only ones affected? This does not seem likely. I noticed some green larvae on the rutabagas, so i'm going to apply some BT. I have been picking cabbage butterfly eggs off the leaves of kale, collards et al, but the rutabagas have too many leaves to do this well and i noticed the butterflies are laying eggs on everything in the garden, not just the cole crops.
I had to pull back the birdhouse gourd quite a bit yesterday. It was laying hold of my rosemary and salsify plants in the next row over. I almost have to say that planting them was a mistake. My garden is simply too small. They really need to be allowed to climb something, but i way underestimated what they would have needed to climb anyway. They are spreading in the rows like a large green glacier.... i had to rescue the watermelon vines from them as well. They really would take over the entire garden if i let them.
The pumpkin plant that appeared in the walking row this Spring, and that hubby wanted me to keep is becoming a pest. It has blocked my passage through that end of the walkway, on the other side are my summer squash plants...it is a tight fit getting through.
I need to remember to plant squashes in the center of the row and at the end of the garden no matter what the garden planner says. I planted 2 side-by-side and that is not enough room to keep them from coming out the side.
With my small garden, there wasn't enough root space for the Summer Squashes to grow this large, i had slightly dwarfed plants.... i don't now! lol
I have been able to pick about 2# of green beans every other day for the last week. I may try and practice some small scale canning of them. I have never canned solo before... i borrowed Ball's Complete Canning book from the library the other day, so i'll do a quick read before i start trying.
I think the first time i saw Koolickles was on an Alton Brown show not too long ago so for all my not-freaked-out-ishness, it is somewhat new to me. The original recipe calls for dill pickles, sugar, and Kool Aid packets... red colors seem to be a must. Grape is reported to not work, lemon lime flavors are said to be nice, but are less preferred. Fruit punch, strawberry and cherry are the top choices. Some recipes say to drain the juice and replace it with what is basically a double-sugar mix of Kool Aid. The recipe i followed said i could add the Kool Aid to the pickle brine and add it back in. Some recipes say to slice the pickles lengthwise and some say leave them whole or buy a jar of spears.
I don't eat sugar, so i had to do some looking to see if this can be done with Sugar-free mix. It turns out that it might be possible. So that is what i am trying.
The Victims. A one gallon jar of Mt. Olive kosher dills.
The accomplice....
I'm taking the lazy way out. This may backfire. But if it backfires i'm out a jar of pickles...ho-hum. I'm just going to dump 2 of the little cups of mix straight into the jar. If it turns out to be too much flavoring i bet i could dump the juice out of the jar and refil with water and let it sit for a few days to purge the salt and flavoring a bit.
Ok, straight into the jar:
Looks sinister
Into the fridge for 1-3 weeks....
Ok, back to gardeny things...
I have Broccoli! I noticed it the other day. The plants that got shredded the least and that i left to recover have recovered. The florets are understandably small
Polfast tomatoes are getting bigger.
Cucumber!
FGS- Full garden shot
Reliance... i finally tied it up.
I tossed some flax seed into the garden in Spring. They had started to smeel like they might be going rancid. Many of them sprouted...they don't take over much so its nice to have little blue flowers like this popping up here and there
I'm wondering what is up with my beets and rutabagas. I need to take a closer look at them. The beets are supposed to be 45 day and its right about that time now. The packet said Spring planting was correct, but they seem to be late. I think that area of soil isn't as yummy for them as it could be...though the beans just behind them are growing like mad. The two rutabagas that i keep snipping the tops off of kept sending up flower stalks so i pulled them last night. Their roots looked woody and like they had tunnels through them.... they may have wireworms... this would explain why my beets are slow... but i did pull a beet and the root of that one had no tunnels, but it wasn't any thicker than my thumb. I managed to break it in half and it smelled sweet and had some juice to it. It has been a long time since i have grown beets so i don't have much background to go on. The rutabagas were 100 day type, so its too early to expect them to be getting ready.... but i don't know if the reason the rutabagas were trying to go to seed was because of the attack on the roots... they are the only ones that were trying to go to seed, so maybe they were the only ones affected? This does not seem likely. I noticed some green larvae on the rutabagas, so i'm going to apply some BT. I have been picking cabbage butterfly eggs off the leaves of kale, collards et al, but the rutabagas have too many leaves to do this well and i noticed the butterflies are laying eggs on everything in the garden, not just the cole crops.
I had to pull back the birdhouse gourd quite a bit yesterday. It was laying hold of my rosemary and salsify plants in the next row over. I almost have to say that planting them was a mistake. My garden is simply too small. They really need to be allowed to climb something, but i way underestimated what they would have needed to climb anyway. They are spreading in the rows like a large green glacier.... i had to rescue the watermelon vines from them as well. They really would take over the entire garden if i let them.
The pumpkin plant that appeared in the walking row this Spring, and that hubby wanted me to keep is becoming a pest. It has blocked my passage through that end of the walkway, on the other side are my summer squash plants...it is a tight fit getting through.
I need to remember to plant squashes in the center of the row and at the end of the garden no matter what the garden planner says. I planted 2 side-by-side and that is not enough room to keep them from coming out the side.
With my small garden, there wasn't enough root space for the Summer Squashes to grow this large, i had slightly dwarfed plants.... i don't now! lol
I have been able to pick about 2# of green beans every other day for the last week. I may try and practice some small scale canning of them. I have never canned solo before... i borrowed Ball's Complete Canning book from the library the other day, so i'll do a quick read before i start trying.
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