Twiggybet1's Blog
Twiggybet1's July 2008 Entries
Last Post 1 day, 7 hours Ago
Jul 29, 2008 | 10:57 PM PST
We are getting a nice assortment of veggies right now. Here is a picture of what I picked on Monday:
The peas I planted in May are for the most part finished, so I planted more for a fall harvest along the pea fence. Most of the old vines are pulled and composted, but a few of them still had a couple of pods and blossoms, so I left them to finish up. I imagine they will be done by the time the new ones sprout. The green beans are still chugging along, although much slower than they were. Those should be finishing up soon. My green cabbage is ready to be harvested. I will probably freeze most of it. The red cabbage still has a little way to go yet.
I had planted a second crop of spinach when I pulled the first crop about a week or so ago (I don't remember for sure when) and it is hard to tell if what is growing there is the new spinach seedlings or weeds. I'll let them get a little bigger before I weed that area. I planted way too much lettuce. I was a little bit too enthusiastic when I was picking out the seeds, and bought some of every variety that I saw for sale. We have been trying to keep up with them by having salads every day, but they are maturing faster than we can eat them. I really don't like waste, and I know of no way to can or freeze them, so I plan to share with the neighbors, whether they want to or not! (no, not the crazy one. I have other nice neighbors!)
You know, broccoli has to be one of the powerhouse growers in my garden. I'm not sure if it does well because of my efforts, or in spite of them, but as long as it keeps putting out side shoots, I keep gathering them. I like it best fresh (and we have been having it at least twice a week since it started coming in) but I plan to make sure I freeze some too. I got a recipe from my sister for a broccoli salad that she had made for the family reunion last year. It's really good, and a nice change to steamed or w/ dip.
I have decided that the peppers might just take off yet. So far, it has been a trickle of peppers. A few here and there, but they seem to be picking up the pace a little bit. I hope to get enough when the tomatoes come in to make a batch or two of salsa.
Speaking of tomatoes, the Sungold cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes (I have decided that they are plums, not grapes. They are too large for grapes) are ripening so that I get at least a handful or two every day. The better boy and beefsteak plants are getting some nice, big green ones. I don't expect it to be too much longer, and then I plan on making BLT's for dinner one night!
Yesterday, I picked the first zucchini. It was a round one, "eight ball" variety, I think. If memory serves, I had to replant them a time or two. Most of the wintersown vegetables died, and so did most of the ones I started indoors. I had a seed packet of mixed varieties (always fun to have surprises!) and some of the pool ball seeds, and it seems that the ones that are setting fruit now are the round varieties. I chopped it up raw and put it in a salad. I plan to make some bread with the next couple I get.
The sweet potato vines are running riot all over their area. I have been trying to direct the errant ones back into their area. That's something I need to keep on top of if I don't want them invading the neighboring rows. The plants look very healthy. I am so pleased I found a new grower when the first slips died. I would have really missed them come next winter!
I have been picking a few of the beets, as they get large enough. It looks like quite a few will be large enough to pull soon, and when I do pull them, I will make a batch of pickled beets. Hubby likes his beets pickled best. Me, I love beet greens, with or without the beets themselves. We have also been getting some carrots, but they never last long enough to amass enough to can. I have never canned carrots. I know it's possible. But carrots are one of the favorites around here. Sometimes they don't last long enough to make it to the fridge.
The corn seems to be progressing very well, as are the pumpkins and butternut I planted amungst them. The corn is setting a bunch of ears, and they are growing every day. The pumpkins and squash are putting out blossoms like crazy, but still mostly male blossoms. Although I have seen a couple female blossoms. One troubling thing, though. I have found some holes in the ground down the corn rows. About the size for rodents. I also saw the neighbor's cat skulking around in the corn. Hmm, I looked for damage to the stalks, and havent seen anything yet. I stepped on and filled the holes, but I'm wondering if I should do anything else. I don't know if it's field mice, or moles or something else, because I haven't seen the critters.
I need to take more pictures. Aren't digital cameras wonderful? Remember having to buy rolls of film? Boy, we sure were careful the picture was something we wanted because you only had so many exposures, and had to pay for developing. But with the digital camera, I can take pictures of any silly old thing, and every silly old thing I want. And print them from the computer. And delete them if I decide I don't want them. I need to take pictures of my sunflowers that are blooming right now, along with my oranges & lemons blanket flower.
Until next time, Happy Gardening!
Jul 23, 2008 | 11:25 PM PST
Well, we've had thunderstorms nearly every day for the past week or so. I haven't had to use the sprinkler in quite some time I'm happy to say. We have also had some very humid, hot days. I have been running the A/C nearly every day. Today, it was drier and cooler, so I gave my trusty A/C unit a rest for the day. I love opening the windows and getting a nice breeze blowing in.
We've been so busy with other things this past week, that between the storms and errands, I haven't been able to spend as much time as I'd like out in the garden. But I do manage to at least check on things.
The peas have seen better days, they are about exhaused and I think I got as much as they have to give this year. They were delicious, and we got enough to put some up in the freezer. Hubby prefers them frozen rather than canned. I have to agree with him when it comes to peas.
The green beans are starting to slow down a little bit, but I got enough for us canned. I have some more cleaned and trimmed in the fridge that I will can tomorrow. Some of the lettuce is threatening to bolt. We have been eating a lot of fresh salads. This year I planted assorted kinds, one of which was musculin. We had never had that variety before, and we really don't like it as well as other kinds. So when that one started to bolt, I left it to flower to keep the bees and other pollinators happy. The blossoms are done now, so I pulled them all up now. I'm debating what I can plant there now.
This is a basket of some things I harvested earlier in the week. The beets are the first I got so far this year. I cooked them up with their greens, using a little bit of bacon and onion for flavor. Those red potatoes were ones I "stole" early. I just couldn't wait any longer. I cooked those up with their skins on, with bacon and onion for flavor, and mixed in some green beans. Sound familiar, my southern garden friends?
This basket I picked on Tuesday. I am finally getting a couple peppers. I made stuffed cabbage rolls for dinner last night, using that cabbage. I used one of those green peppers in them, also, along with a jar of last year's tomatoes. We have only just begun to get a few tomatoes, and those are the cherry tomatoes, and what I thought were supposed to be "grape" tomatos. Pretty large for grape tomatoes:
I don't know if they were mislabeled, or I didn't pay close enough attention when buying them, but, oh, well. Plum tomatoes are great for stuffing (something I plan to make soon) or sauce.
The corn has been growing so fast, it's just amazing! Here's what the garden looked like last week:
The corn had finally gotten taller than everything else in the garden. It started developing the tassels:
Now, all the stalks are topped with open tassels, and the ears are forming. Some of the stalks have to be about 8' tall. Here is a picture of what it looked like today:
This is hubby & I playing in our corn field.
Until next time, happy gardening!
Jul 17, 2008 | 9:21 PM PST
*sigh* I need to share. I've had a couple of strange days....
Yesterday, my daughter had her first automobile accident. She's o.k., but it sure gave me a scare. She was on her way to school, and stopped for a light and the driver behind her hit her. To make matters worse, it was final exam day. She calls me and says, "Mom, I've been hit and I don't know what to do!" (crying, and hysterical) Me: "are you hurt?" Her: "no" (thank you Jesus!) Me: "is the other driver o.k.?" Her: "yes, he's O.K." (praise the Lord!) Me: "how much damage?" Her: (cries harder) "I don't know!" Me: "Where are you?" (she tells me where) Me: "are the police there yet?" Her: "no" (she's a bit calmer, stopped crying) Me: "you did call the police, didn't you?" Her ".....no...." Me: "well, hang up with me and call them." Here in Michigan, in order to make an insurance claim, you need a police report. And by law, you are supposed to report any accident that happens on public streets. Since I was at home with NO CAR and she was only a few miles from Hubby's work , I called him, and he met her at the scene, to make sure the car was drivable, etc. It was, so he went back to work, and she went to class. She was 40 minutes late for class, but thankfully, the prof. let her take the exam. The damage is minor, only cosmetic, I'm not even sure we will bother to have it fixed. So much for that. After that, I felt exhausted for the rest of the day. I guess adrenaline rushes do that to you.
I spent a good portion of today canning green beans. Daughter was visiting friends, Hubby was at work, I had the house to my self. I got 2 canner loads done. So, after those were set to cooling, I decided to stroll around the garden, and check on things, since I'd been inside all day, before I had to start making dinner. Checking this 'n that, going up one row and down the other. I notice the next door neighbor watching me over the fence. This particular neighbor is of the barely nodding acquaintance type. She doesn't really talk much to anybody, she doesn't spend very much time outside, and never comes calling. Other neighbors have mentioned having quarrels with her, and that they believed she was mentally or emotionally imbalanced, but I had never had any cross words with her. So when I see her watching me, I shout out "Hello!" She shouts back "HI, how is it going for you?" I reply "Oh, good! and how are things with you?" (sounds like a nice, normal conversation so far, huh?) She says something unintelligible, so I ask her to repeat. I still couldn't make sense of what she was saying, so she screams at me while pointing to my garden "That stuff you got growing back there, that witchcraft stuff, I hope it all comes back on you and your family!!!!!!!!!!!" Then she stomps off into her house. I have no idea what it is she thinks is "witchcraft stuff." Maybe it's the corn. I don't know. About 3 years ago, my neice and her boyfriend both were out of work, so my husband told them he would pay them to help him put a new roof on the garage. This neighbor saw quasi-nephew working on the roof, and asked him to repair a shed roof she had that was leaking over her kitchen. So neice and quasi-nephew got a little side job repairing her roof. (Hubby helped, free of charge, just to make sure the job was done right, to avoid friction with the neighbor) Well, she had security cameras and motion detectors all over the roof, aimed at every corner and span of her yard. She told hubby she needed them because her ex sent people to spy on her all the time. What did we know, sometimes ex's are strange, we thought maybe she had a reason to be worried. So we started paying attention, but we have never seen anyone suspicious hanging around. But she has said and done a couple of weird things. If she does have mental problems, (and it seems evident that she DOES) Lord, I don't want to be the focus of her delusions! Now I am going to be just a bit nervous every time I go out to my garden, wondering if she's watching, and hoping she doesn't try to act on any delusions she's been having, like, oh, say, burn me at the stake or whatever.
Jul 14, 2008 | 6:51 AM PST
It's Monday morning, hubby's at work and daughter's at school. I have a some time to myself to reflect, write my blog, and plan my day. Well, some of it's already planned for me. Dentist appointment this afternoon, never look forward to those, just looking forward to getting it over with.
During the past week, we have had some stormy rainy days and some sunny days. Glad for the rain, saves on using the sprinkler and glad for the sun! Since returning from our short 5-day mini vacation for the 4th of July weekend, I have been trying to catch up on the weeding. It seems that once behind, it's a struggle to catch up again. But I'm making progress. I take it one area at a time. I need to replenish the mulch in areas.
We have been enjoying beans and peas. The peas especially have been doing very well this year. The plants seem taller than in past years, and the yield seems larger too. I used bean and pea innoculant this year when I planted. In past years, hubby declared he believed that buying and using innoculant to be just an added unnecessary expense. I talked him into trying it this year. I think that it made a huge difference.
This picture is of a basket full of peas that I picked yesterday afternoon. It took me quite a while to shell that many peas. As you can see, I also pulled some rhubarb. It is finally coming in good, I have been so impatiently waiting for it! Now perhaps my lucky family will get a pie for desert tonight.
These are the first of the tomatoes to ripen. They are golden cherries. It was all I could do to get them to last until this photo was snapped. They dissappeared soon after and are now history.
The asparagus was let to go to fern for the year. We had gotten a couple good meals from the new patch, which was more than we expected, being planted just last year. There is still plenty of broccoli side-shoots producing, I get those about every 3rd day or so. The cabbage is making nice heads now, I just need to keep the slugs away. I have been sprinkling crushed eggshells around them, but I am going to need to make some spray for reinforcements! The celery seems to be doing good. I did find some caterpillar on one, I don't know what kind, but it got moved to native flowers. I don't want to squish an endangered specie, but I don't want to share my celery, either. I took a picture of the critter, but I can't find the picture now.
The peppers are putting out a few blossoms, and there are a few growing on some plants, but this isn't going to be a stellar year for peppers. For some unknown reason, they are not growing and performing as they usually do. Hmm, I will have to spend some time finding out why.
The potatoes seem to be doing really well. We planted two varieties, a red one that we bought sets for, and white ones that we saved from ones we grew last year. The blossoms are pink on the red potato plants, and the blossoms are white on the white variety. Makes it easy to tell them apart w/o digging. The trench/mulch method seems to suit them fine.
The sweet potatoes are settling in fine. They are starting to vine out, but are still small enough to distinguish individual plants. But it wont be long before they run riot, if the weather stays warm.
My summer sqush plants are blossoming, but not any set fruit yet. It will be fun to see what kind of fruits we get this year, as I planted a medley of assorted types. Many years we have bought plants for the zucchini, but this year they are all from seed. A little bit later, but that's o.k. It will give me a bit more time to concentrate on canning the beans.
The corn stalks are now the tallest plants in the garden. They surpassed the tomatoes, just in the last week. I spent some time yesterday removing the suckers from most of the stalks. I had to leave a few in place, as the pumpkin vines are using them for support. Some of those plants are nearly as tall as the corn! I decided to interplant pumpkins and butternut squash with the corn. When using this method, from what I read, any pumpkins or squash harvested are supposed to be considered "bonus" fruit, but I can't help being hopeful that we will get a lot of them. If this method works out well, I will do it again. Almost like doubling your garden space!
My husband pulled the first of the carrots yesterday. I had to replant most of the carrot block, because I left the clear plastic cover on too long and fried the tiny seedlings. I will try not to make that mistake again. So far, no root maggots have showed up. We made sure to plant them far, far away from the spot they were in last year just for this reason.
I will be able to harvest the first of the beets soon. They are in the block next to the carrots. I plan to pickle some for my husband, because that is his favorite way to eat beets. I planted Detroit red and Detroit white this year. I am guessing that the white ones will be much less likely to stain things, and I am curious if they have a milder flavor. We will soon find out.
Until next time, Happy Gardening, everyone!
Jul 7, 2008 | 10:38 PM PST
We spent the 4th and the weekend out of town visiting relatives. While we had a very enjoyable time, it still is good to be back home. I could hardly wait to get back to check on the garden. Only another gardener would understand...
Before we left, the green beans and peas were just starting to ripen. This is what I picked today:
The peas are in one of those cartons you get at the U-pick strawberry farms. We had picked strawberries while we were away. I spent a good portion of the morning cleaning them, and getting some ready for jam. Anyway, it must have took me nearly 2 hours to shell the peas (but, then again, I had a few little interruptions). So, we had peas with dinner tonight. The beans were put away, I will deal with those tomorrow. I imagine we will have beans with dinner tomorrow, and I will can a load. I also picked more broccoli.
The potato plants are getting blossoms. LOTS of blossoms:
As I recall, the potatoes I planted last year seemed to have a lot fewer (and smaller) blossoms. I suppose that doesn't matter, since it is the roots I'm after. I will take it as a sign that this is a very healthy crop...
All the other vegetables seem to be progressing as expected. The tomatoes are overflowing their cages, and the corn is just past my knees now. I am finally getting a respectable amount of rhubarb, and I made 2 batches of rhubarb bread before we left town (I brought them to share). It seems I will have enough to make a batch of strawberry-rhubarb jam, and possibly a couple of pies after all.
Elsewhere in the yard, the orange lilies are in full bloom:
I have heard those orange lilies called tiger lilies, Michigan lilies, ditch lilies, and probably a few other names that escape me at the moment. Regardless what they are called, I like them. I realize some people consider them a weed or nuisance plant, but I love the fact that they are native, and don't require any special care. They are reliable.
After dinner, I made my jam. I did two batches, one regular strawberry jam, the other low-sugar strawberry jam.
I had picked up some "no sugar needed" pectin by mistake a while back, and since I had enough strawberries to do two batches, I thought I would try it. My daughter and I did a taste test with the skimmed foam and left over not-enough-for-another-jar jam. Tasting them side-by-side, we could detect a slight difference, but if you were unaware it was low-sugar, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. So I might buy more of the "no sugar needed" stuff in the future.
Until next time, Happy Gardening!!!
