AngelsGarden's Blog
AngelsGarden's August 2007 Entries
Last Post 13 days, 10 hours Ago
Aug 30, 2007 | 6:44 PM PST
Tags: Onion , Garlic , Romain Lettuce , Fall Crop , Lily bulblets , Weeding , Raised Bed , Successive Planting , Flat Leaf Parsley , Fish Fertilizer
We had a nice cloud cover this morning, so I thought I would jump at the opportunity. Not literally jump, of course. I cleaned out one bed of weeds and debris. Used the pitch fork to loosen the soil, then the flat shovel to bring up the edges of the bed slightly. A slightly raised bed with a shallow 'ditch' around the edge makes for great drainage and also great water catching capabilities. I smoothed the top of the bed and broke up any large lumps. We sprinkled out some granular, fish based fertilizer and mixed that in. We then planted Onion sets, Garlic and Romain Lettuce. I didn't plant the entire bed, I left parts unplanted so I can make successive plantings in a couple of weeks. We gave the bed a decent watering and called it good.
We also did just a wee bit of weeding in another part of the garden and planted some Flat Leaf Parsley that my husband picked up. I know its late in the season for that but I think we will get enough from it to make it worth our while. As soon as the sun came out I had to come in though. It was just too hot with the sun out.
This evening I planted up the lily bulblets that had roots on them. I put them in a pot so they can be in a shadier spot until later in the fall. I will plant them in the bed with the larger bulbs when it isn't so hot out. It doesn't seem like these delicate looking bulblets need to be babied at all when it comes to getting started though. I guess looks can be deceiving.
Well, good progress for the day. I hope to pick up some starts of some of the fall crops that I should have started seeds of. I didn't get that done because at the time I wasn't feeling well. Oh well, at least I know I can get them here before too long.
Here is a shot of the bulblets that shows there roots.
Here they are in their new, temp. home, I covered them all with about 1 inch of soil after I nestled them in here.
Aug 28, 2007 | 10:08 PM PST
Tags: salsa , peppers , onion , cilantro
Well, the salsa has been made. I used a recipe from Randy Cobb. I didn't make as big of a batch as the recipe called for, I just did 1/4. I didn't chop the peppers and onion by hand, we used the food processor to make a smoother salsa and to cut down on the work load. I have never used Cilantro before and it seems that it is a crucial ingredient in salsa. It really smells funny, kind of like crayons, or some such thing. Anyway, it makes the salsa....well, salsaey :). It seemed like we put ALOT of hot peppers in it, 4 cups worth. But I really didn't want too mild of a salsa. My husband helped...thankyou darling. All together it made 8 pints. I did taste a little of what was left in the pan, it tasted great and I think it will have a good amount of heat to it. Time will tell how it tastes after it sits for awhile. I want all of the flavors to meld together. Tomorrow morning its Pickles! All of the cucumbers are soaking in the salt water until the morning. Any extra pickling solution will go over boiled eggs and be put up in the fridge.
Salsa boiling....
This isn't a very good picture, maybe I can get a better one tomorrow.
Aug 26, 2007 | 12:50 PM PST
Tags: Sweet Bell Peppers , Hot Peppers , Purple Bell Pepper , Anaheim Chili Pepper , Mild jalapeno , Hungarian Wax Pepper , Red Cherry Pepper , Cheyenne Pepper , Jalapeno , Salsa
Last evening I went out into the garden with the scissors and a big bowl, to collect the peppers that were ready. There were more than I thought there would be! We want to make some salsa tonight. So we cleaned and seeded all of the peppers and we will chop and measure when we put the salsa together tonight. I am glad I planted so many pepper plants this spring. Now we are thinking maybe we should have more than that next year.
Here is a picture of all we collected. Green Sweet Bells, Purple/Red Sweet Bells, Anaheim Chili, Mild jalapeno, Hungarian Wax, Red Cherry, Cheyenne and Hot jalapeno.
Here they are all deseeded and ready for salsa making.
Aug 24, 2007 | 7:35 AM PST
Tag: Crinum
It has been 5 weeks since the first bloom from one of my Crinum bulbs. And now 5 weeks later......up pops another! I was pleasantly surprised! When we moved in here these bulbs were planted in the most shaded corner that we have on our property. I very rarely saw them bloom, also where they were located is not seen or walked by nearly as often as anywhere else in our yard. So I moved them. I was taking a chance, but we were getting absolutely no enjoyment from them where they were.
I didn't know what their name was...but you know GG, I love it, usually a plant can be identified. With the help of Ron, the 'professor' as I like to call him, we have now identified them as Crinum.
I was also surprised this morning by another characteristic of this Crinum that I didn't notice from the first bloom. They are very sweetly fragrant. A beautiful start to the morning.
I love the contrast between the shimmering white and dark pink and black stamens, or is it the pistels, in the center of the flowers. The flower stalk also seems to erupt out of the simple foliage, then explode with blooms. One day its not there, the next it is. You wouldn't want to miss your daily walk through the garden with these flowers around.
One of todays blooms....
A closer look at the center....
Here is the first bloom stalk from 5 weeks ago.....
Aug 20, 2007 | 10:07 AM PST
Tags: Fire ants , eggplant , compost , heat
The temps are moderating a little. I have miss being in the garden, working and feeling strong from the exercise. Frankly, the garden looks terrible!!! Since I've not been feeling well, and the heat so intense, I have just stuck mainly to housework. But when I got up this morning it was only 71F, so by the time I got back from taking my daughter to school it still wasn't too bad.
I went out to have a look around. Collected some eggs, eggplant, peppers and the first cucumber from my second planting.
My compost pile is ok to spread around in the flower beds, even though its not completely broken down, I did find the occasional egg shell. I even found a banana sticker. I spread four 4 gal. buckets around in one area. I will keep at it until the compost bin is empty of usable stuff. Then I will put in the spent plants that need to be cleaned from the garden. I can also start adding grass clippings again along with the fall leaves.
I also took the pitch fork and loosened around the eggplants, then pulled them up. They weren't doing very well anymore. Fire ants had decided that they liked them. They were climbing the stems, eating holes here and there. They especially liked the flowers and the fruits, right were they connected to the plant.
I set the sprinkler for the peppers and melons then came inside. It was good to get back to gardening, but enough for this morning.
If you look really close you can see a couple of fire ants in the center of the black area where they have been chewing.
Aug 20, 2007 | 9:34 AM PST
Tag: Lily babies
Awhile back, maybe 2 weeks ago, I noticed something dark on the top of one of the lilies fading foliage. I knew that lily hadn't bloomed this year, it must have been too young. So, I took a closer look, they really looked the same as the lily bulbs that we planted very early this spring, only very tiny. So, I plucked them off and brought them inside, the more I looked at them the more I was convinced that these were tiny babies. I stuck them in a small tray of soil, only about half way up the bulb. Today I checked on them, they all have roots starting!! I am going to plant them a little deeper and keep them going until I can plant them outside later this fall when the temps aren't so hot. Pretty cool!!!
Here they are...all four of them.
Aug 19, 2007 | 6:14 PM PST
Tags: rose , fertilizing
My hardy rose that I wrote about previously has just had its first bloom open. I was so excited to see buds on these plants!!! I had been contemplating fertilizing them. But it was 100+ degrees outside, and had been for awhile. Most things that I read say NOT to fertilize in the high heat of the summer. I posted this question, about feeding these roses, on the forums. I came to the decision to use my liquid, organic fish fertilizer...do it after the plants were shaded...and use the watering can. I also used the sprinkler on low to kind of water in the fertilizer a little. There are a 4 or 5 buds on the plants now. I am so excited and I hope with continued care they will do well.
Pretty pink....I love pink.
Here is a picture of the bloom more open.
Aug 10, 2007 | 6:40 PM PST
Tags: Cantaloupe , cucumber , heat , peppers , fall garden
What a weird time it is. It is so hot right now. I feel like I am hibernating indoors. It has been upper 90s and its just too hot for me to be out. Right now its 8:30pm and its still 87F.
Even though I haven't been doing much out in the gardens, things go on without me. Either good or bad, lol. The veggie garden in seriously weedy!
I planted a second crop of cucumbers awhile back, they are doing good even in this heat, climbing and flowering. Maybe soon we will start to get some cukes. Hope the heat doesn't affect that too much. I also planted some cantaloupe later than normal. That now has babies on it.
The peppers are producing a good amount for us. We don't use a ton of peppers but it seems they never go to waste. We know alot of people that love to have our extras. I am going to try to freeze a few after I chop them up so I can use just a little when I need it. Some of the hot peppers I can dry or pickle. I would also like to try roasting some and blending them into some tomato sauce, then if I can freeze it in small portions.
Some really cool things are happening in the flower beds right now. The hardy rose has produced one bud. Yipee!!! Now I can see what color they are. Also the Dr. Ruppel clematis has sent up a new shoot that has shot up to the top of the trellis and has at least 3 flower buds on that. Its so exciting. I really hadn't expected these clematis to produce any flowers until next spring.
I am starting to think of what veggies I want where for the fall crop. I want to plant onion, peas, some herbs, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, salads, cabbage....what else...I know there is more! I am also consulting my info on companion planting. I will have to cover some of the crops with fabric row cover to keep them a bit cooler until more 'fall like' weather comes along.
I am collecting seeds along the way as I can for next year. So far it has gone really well. All of them have dried out really quickly because of the heat. Its exciting too knowing that I don't have to buy some things next spring.
I am anxious to get back to work on all of my 'projects' outdoors!!! I can't wait. For now I am trying to keep up on housework, reading through the info on Companion Planting and organizing seeds and things like that. Not to mention that the kids go back to school starting Monday.
Hope everyone is staying COOL!!! Be Careful!
Aug 6, 2007 | 1:33 PM PST
Tag: sweet potatoes
I stopped by the sweet potatoes yesterday. I knelt down and pulled apart the vines near one of the plants and pulled back some soil. I was very excited to see a big orange potato!!! I went inside and asked my husband if he would help me dig some or all of them. Who could resist digging for a wonderful surprise? Not me, the ones you can't see are the most exciting to harvest. He dug them out mostly by hand. I helped pull back the vines out of his way. I only planted the slips from one potato, that was seven slips. The vines filled to overflowing a 10ft x 4ft box, we kept having to put wandering pieces of vine back in. We were going to fill in the box with soil this spring but didn't get that far. I think we got alot from just one potato. It took 100 to 110 days to mature. I will definetly be planting sweet potatoes again next spring. And SWEET POTATOES, its whats for dinner!!!
~My first look at the sweet potatoes~
~Some more potatoes showing themselves~
~A couple of the bigger ones, the lighter one has been washed~
~Here is most of the larger ones~
Aug 6, 2007 | 1:04 PM PST
Tag: Watemelon
I haven't done much in the garden or yard for the last 2+ weeks. I was sick, then my heart got irritated with that, so I am just trying to get that under control now. My outside activities have just been occasionally going out in the evening and harvesting what needed to be brought in. The ones I am most excited about are the watermelon and the sweet potatoes.
One evening I went out to check on the chickens and stopped to look at the watermelon. The tendrils on the two that were left had brown streaks on them, the bottoms were more yellow and the garden snails were congreating under and around them. I decided to bring them in. My husband was out of town so we waited to open them until he came home. The biggest one is the only one we have opened so far. I turned out great, very sweet and delicious. Pretty good for just planting seeds I saved from a melon that we bought off of the side of the road.
