AngelsGarden's Blog

~~Fall Planting-Bed #1~~
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.

~~~Salsa~~~
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.