AngelsGarden's Blog
AngelsGarden's June 2007 Entries
Last Post 3 hours Ago
Jun 29, 2007 | 3:05 PM PST
#1...I love Lays plain potato chips with Frenchs mustard (just a dab will do ya, try it)
#2...I think my chickens are beautiful and hilarious (they have sooo much to say)
#3...I make and sell delicious treats and goodies(anything but wedding cake)
#4...I don't really care for housework, but its a nececcary evil
#5...I miss my Mom (can't get her off my mind today)
#6...I think my husband is a serious HOTTIE, no kidding
#7...I always try to listen to God when making decisions, my most important of all
Jun 25, 2007 | 7:34 AM PST
Tags: Atlantic Giant Pumpkin , Leaf-footed Bugs , Squash Vine Borers , Watermelon , Squash Vine Borer Larvae , Chickens , zucchini
This poor thing. It was just not destined for greatness this time around. The pumpkin hadn't grown in quite awhile so we decided to clean it out of the circular bed. Besides the watermelon was begging for more room.
When I started pulling it out I was surprised at how brittle it was. One of the first pieces I pulled up broke open right where there was this large (I'm assuming) Squash bug larvae. Gross!!!
I'm not sure how much damage overall the Leaf-footed bugs are responsible for, versus the Squash Vine Borers.
I had seen one of these in one of the zucchini plants that I had pulled up for the same reason, but it had been smaller.
When I looked at the pumpkin the stem, all of the way up to the pumpkin was full of holes along the inside of the stem and there was a big mushy spot were it had been sitting on the ground. It also had a wound that was an orangeish color.
That wound had me wondering if there was a bug in there too, because of the shape and color. So, I dug around in there with the scissors. Lo and behold...another gross larvae!
Very disgusting! I will be doing research and deciding how I will try to get a Giant Pumpkin without this happening again. I have not given up!!! This has all been very interesting to me. And now the watermelon has room to breath.
So, the chickens were pretty happy sat. night, they had a late evening snack of giant pumpkin with squash bug larvae on top.
Jun 22, 2007 | 10:14 AM PST
Tag: Eggplant
This is the first year I have grown eggplant. I got a mixed pkg of seeds which included
Applegreen, Blue Marble Hybrid, Snowy and Millionaire Hybrid
I had trouble starting out because I didn't realize how important it was for the seeds to have heat to germinate. The heat requirement is much higher than other seeds I have started. I also started them out late as well. I thought after I planted out the seedlings, that just to be sure, I would grab a pk of already started ones from the store. Now mine are all almost as big as the ones from the store and mine have set on fruit first. Actually, I have noticed that the store bought ones have had some flowers open and then fall off onto the ground. Strange.
I have now already started more to see if we can get a second round of fruit later in the summer. They germinated very fast because of the heat of the summer. I also would like to see if any of these that I have would have seeds that would come true. Not the hybrids of course. If so how would I go about collecting ripe seeds?
All of the Eggplants have been eaten on by flea beetles on a regular basis. It doesn't seem to bother them except when they are very young.
There is a picture of a really pretty flower on one of the eggplants in my Eggplant and Peppers Album.
Jun 22, 2007 | 7:52 AM PST
Tags: grass , compost , zucchini , leaf footed bugs , squash borers , mowing
Wed. evening I was able to get out into the garden and get 4 buckets of the bane of my garden removed...GRASS. I had to use the pitch fork to loosen the soil so I could get the runners from under the soil. When we tilled it early this spring to add the rabbit manure we didn't remove all of this grass first. Now it is all coming back from all of the little pieces that were chopped up and are now under the soil. I am lucky in the fact that my 5 yr old is a gardener to the bone like me, she loves and begs to help when I am doing things like that. I would show here were to put the pitch fork and she would get on and rock side to side to get it down in the soil. She doesn't weigh much but she is determined. Then we would pull it back to loosen the area where we wanted to work. Its nice to have someone around that enjoys gardening like I do, even the weeding. Its still satisfying to get it removed, even if it is just pulling grass. I got a good area cleared out and hope to get the rest done by the end of the weekend.
After all of the grass is removed I will be planting where needed. I will remove all Zucc. plants as they have been too damaged by the leaf footed bugs and squash borers. I need to get a list together of all that I will be planting. I just picked up some more seeds last week that are clearanced because its summer now.
Last night I mowed the back yard. It had gotten kind of tall because of all the rain we have had lately. Its been good for the garden though, I haven't had to water the garden in quit awhile. I used the bagger on the mower and put some of the clippings in the compost, its getting pretty damp though. I spread the rest of them around in different places along fences and such where it will help to keep down weeds and or grass. I am doing much better this year with keeping the yard mowed. At least I don't have scruffy, leather faced guys coming to the door asking to mow the yard yet this year. LOL
Jun 20, 2007 | 10:36 AM PST
I haven't had roses since we moved to this house about 5 years ago. This is the story of how I came to have some awhile back.
My husband and his father own a "fix it upper" house that we have been working on, off and on since last spring. We were over there many times last year and never saw any roses at the end of the driveway. Our brother in law was mowing the yard regularly evidently cutting them down.
About 6 weeks ago my husband and I went over there to do some work for a few hrs. Lo and behold there at the end of the driveway were some roses! Weren't there last year! No one lives there and the neighbors most certainly are not going to be generous in that way. We looked at them for a while pondering how they could have survived all of last summer being continually being cut down. We decided that they must be REALLY hardy and maybe we could take the chance and move them. We dug them and put them into a couple of buckets, weeds, grass and all. We brought them home and put them in the back yard in the shade where they sat for almost 2 weeks due to the fact that my husband had taken my shovels somewhere and I didn't get them back for awhile.
We decided that we should plant these roses where the azalea was in the front flower bed. Which meant we had to dig up the azalea. My husband a.k.a Big Daddy dug and cut the roots out a good ways from the base and it came out in one very big piece. We talked about where we could plant it in our yard but decided that it wouldn't look good in any of those places. BD though that it would be funny to take it over to his parents house and plant it near the end of their driveway and not tell them, see how long it took them to notice it. It was dark by then so we loaded it in the back of the truck, that was NOT EASY, that thing was heavy! Then he went and planted it, mulched it and came back home. It did take them a few days to notice. LOL Its still looking good!
The next day we prepared the soil with fertilizer, extra soil, composted manure and chopped banana peels. We tried to "weed" the clumps of very wet soil that was around the roses but all of the soil just fell off of the roots. We planted about 8 pieces that had roots on them. Some of them had a few stems on them, some had only 1. All of them had browning on the leaves and a few had fallen off. I didn't know if they would make it with all of the roots being disturbed and planting them in such hot weather. We have had a good amount of rain since then and if we didn't, I watered.
A couple of days ago I was checking them out and all of them (except 2 stems) has new growth!!! These must surely be the roses for me. I don't even know what color they are since they had already bloomed when we found them but I'm sure that we will love them. I have a glimmer of hope that with our long growing season maybe we will see a bloom or 2 before winter arrives.
Jun 19, 2007 | 10:18 PM PST
Well I haven't gotten any work to speak of done in the garden since last Thurs. All I have really done out there is take a few pictures.
Fri. Big Daddy called and said that one of his employees had a family friend die and could I make something for the wake. I made 70 mini cheesecakes for that. It was pouring Fri. also.
Sat. was beautiful, the girls and I took Big Daddy golfing for a Fathers Day treat. I drove the golf cart, took pictures of flowers, mushrooms and a lizard of some kind. I also found some ripe seeds on a 4 ft red canna. Some jumped into my empty chip bag and landed in my purse. Didn't find them until we were at home. We tried to find balls that he hit way off of the green, lol, he was playing with new clubs. After a leisurly 5 hrs. outdoors we were very tired as it was pretty hot. We had to get some groceries and when we came home had no electricity!!!!!!!! The whole area was pitch black, went back out to the hwy and got some ice to put the cold stuff in the cooler so we didn't have to open the fridge. It was out from a little storm that swung through while we were at the store. It finally came back on a couple of hrs. later. Then I made 2 Carrot Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting for bake sale at church. I think I got to bed at 1:30am.
Sun. of course was Fathers Day, breakfast in bed for Big Daddy,church, lunch, in-laws house and the dreaded(for me at least) housework. Found out that my brother was in a serious accident that should have killed or seriously injured him. His van is almost split in 2 after he almost hit a deer, went through a guard rail and down an enbankment 50 yrds then hit a tree!!! God was watching out for him since all he has wrong is a broken finger, sprained ankle, staples in his head a few places, a sore back and cuts on both arms from the sholders all the way down. Thanks God for watching out for him!!!
Mon. 2 extra kids in the house, cousins that needed baby sitting, putting the # up to 4 girls in the house!!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!
Today...dentist...a long nap...dinner and family and I am exhausted!!! It poured again today, very loud thunderstorm!!! I even took a picture of the front yard because it was filling up the front ditch soooo fast!!
Tomorrow the extra girls again but I WILL be in the garden.
Jun 14, 2007 | 3:55 PM PST
Tags: grass , weeding , herbicide , pole beans , zucchini , weather
We are going into the hotter part of the summer. It has been over 90 and up to 100 for the last couple of weeks. At this point in my garden most of the work that needs done is just weeding. Over the last few days I have been trying to eradicate, at least to some degree, the grass that is taking over. Even where I put down newspapers and mulch there is this nightmare type of grass that is growing by leaps and bounds. It spreads under and above ground by runners. When I try to pull it I have to be very careful or it will break inbetween the nodes where it has put down roots. I have tried just spraying vinegar on it. The grass just laughs, "I will conquer!", it says. The only solution seems to be the Chair and Pitch Fork method. I loosen the soil and meticulously remove as many root and runner pieces as possible. We have had frequent afternoon showers lately so the soil is cooperative with this method. I will continue to work on this problem, I think that if I make sure that I clean really good this fall also and don't let it get out of hand this winter that will make a big difference for the next summer growing season. Something for everyone to remember....IF YOU HAVE WEED OR GRASS THAT SPREADS BY RUNNERS OR CURRENTLY HAS SEEDS, USING A TILLER IN THAT AREA WILL ONLY MULTIPLY YOUR PROBLEMS LATER. Planing ahead would have saved me at least some of this headache. I could have sprayed with an herbicide that is stronger, right now I wouldn't because of all of the veggies growing. At least now the side affects from my heart medication have leveled off and I have more energy to get out there and tackle this problem.
The green and purple pole beans are doing great. Especially the purple, this morning I harvested a gallon size zip-lock bag full. I also got my first zucchini!
Jun 10, 2007 | 9:00 PM PST
Tags: giant pumpkin , leaf-footed bugs
So here is the story. The Giant Pumpkin Plant grows. It sets on babies. It is attacked by LEAF FOOTED BUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw a pic of one on the net and thats what they called it anyway. It has caused the stems in a few places some damage. Part of the plant wilts now in mid day when its hottest. I put some water crystals beside some of the worst parts of the stem and covered it all with soil. Its still growing though. I am going to read up on those stinking bugs and find out their weak spot....if they have one. I will take some more current pics of the pumpkin and if there is any of the damage showing I will get that too. And the bug too if there are any hanging around. ****current pics of the pumpkin, leaves and some damage are in the Pumpkin photo album. Also I found eggs, nymph stage(which I have seen before in and around the garden and I didn't know what they were until I was looking them up today on the net) I also found an adult which I drowned in soap water.
Jun 7, 2007 | 4:19 AM PST
Tags: pickles , pickled eggs , cucumber
I made pickles yesterday for the first time ever. It was good practice for later in the summer when I hope to can tomatos. I ended up with 6 pints of pickles and 2 pints of pickled eggs. I didn't process the eggs though. I couldn't find anywhere that would give times for that. Most sites that talked about it either said it was unsafe or it makes the eggs rubbery. I don't know about it being unsafe....you can buy canned pickled eggs at the store. Since I only ended up with two I just put them in the bottom of the fridge. When they are ready to eat they will dissapear rather quickly anyway. Only some of the cucumbers were from my garden. One of my husbands customers gave them some long cucumbers. They weren't too bad on seeds to I decided to use some of them. We couldn't eat that much before they went bad anyway. The long ones were great for cutting into spears, they were real straight. The jars look great, they all sealed and the liquid is not cloudy....they actually look like pickles.LOL Now I will have to wait and see if they taste like good pickles.
Jun 6, 2007 | 5:58 AM PST
Tag: blueberries
I looked at the blueberry bushes early this morning and some of them were ripe!!! Yeah!!! Mind you it was only a few...like 8 berries...LOL. They were delicious though. I'm not sure if any of these will make it to the freezer. This is a great crop of blueberries for being the first one. I just planted these bushes last fall. I need to cover the bushes. I wiil be using fabric row cover instead of the netting. Last week when I started putting the bird netting on them it was actually catching the berries and popping them off of the bush. Thank God I didn't have it very far on them. Can't wait to make some muffins and pie!!!!
Jun 4, 2007 | 9:20 AM PST
Tags: strawberry foxglove , chickens , pink dogwood tree
STRAWBERRY FOXGLOVE for $3.94 each
Yesterday my family and I went to W-M to pick up a few bags of top soil and some potting soil for starting seedlings for later in the summer. They had all kinds of plants on clearance, some looked great, some didn't. My husband spotted the foxglove first. He didn't know that I love foxglove and have been wanting some for a long time. I have actually tried to start some from seed a couple times with no luck. All of the foxglove plants looked great! They were in pretty good size pots too. We grabbed 3 of them and were off, the clouds were rolling in and the lightening was getting scary. None of them had flower stalks or even the remainers of any, so I don't know if they have bloomed yet. I looked this one up on a few places and most of them said that it truly is a perrenial....I will just have to wait and see about that. I am just so excited though and my husband was feeling better enough to work in the front flower bed last night for a couple of hours. It was great to share that with him.
My younger group of chickens have started to lay some eggs now. It won't be long and I will have more than we can use. Unless of course I am baking cookies, or cake, or bread, or cinnamon rolls, or pie....sorry my sweet tooth got away from me for a minute there.
The gladioulus are opening, they are beautiful. Even the orange and yellow ones. We will have to move the ones from around the pink dogwood tree though. They are just too tall. I will add more of the lilys instead.
