A Happy Garden

Late Night in the Garden

So it's pretty hot these days. So hot that just going outside makes me feel like I'm done working out for the day. A face full of sweat and shiny shins stay with you as loong as the sun's out. Thus, gardening is something I don't dare try until the sun is way down, and in the summer that's 9 o'clock.

Although it gets harder to see every little detail and you don't have the benifit of taking as long as you'd like, late night gardening is splendid. The bats and swallows swoop about the air, a breeze weaves through the rows, and the crickets chirp their nightly songs. Working at dusk in the garden can be nothing but peaceful, cool, refreshing. Its fleeting nature only heightens the experience.

Yesterday, however, I braved the heat for a basil harvest which I needed for a recipe. I also gleaned the first "real" tomato of the season and of course, tomatillos, cherry and yellow pear tomatoes. Mmm...mmm.

The recipe was for a Caprese Pasta Salad and it was delicious, especially because I used so many garden goodies! As usual, I made my own recipe from bits and pieces I had found elsewhere. Here's the deal:

-Cook about 1 lb. of pasta (I used penne) until just done- al dente is way better in pasta salad
-Let pasta cool at room temp (mix a bit of olive oil in to prevent stickiness)
-Dice about 3-4 tomatoes and a package of fresh mozzarella... set aside
-In small bowl, wisk together 1 tsp. mayo, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/3-1/2 cup olive oil as well as crushed sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
-Chop a handful of fresh basil leaves into 1/4 inch strips or pieces

-Mix tom/cheese into cooled pasta and add half of the dressing, stir gently with a spatula
-Add in basil
-Let sit covered for hour or more at room temp.
-Come back and taste- add more dressing, salt, and pepper if needed
-Makes a great summer side dish!

Going on a Treasure Hunt

Now that I've returned to town for good, I can finally concentrate on the garden. I surveyed the damage and it isn't all that bad... Of course there are the weeds. Dried up cripsy leaves? you ask. Well, yes. Plants that probably hate me, yes. Peppers that could care less about growing, yes. Tyrannical flea beatles attacking my eggplant, definitely. But, like I said it's not all that bad. Completely salvageable.

Thus, I decided that first on the the to-do list would be a treasure hunt...a delicious potato treasure hunt. Start with locating the 'X'. Well, not exactly an 'X' but rather a dead potato plant marks the spot.














Next, slip pitchfork (really should use a potato fork with blunt edges so as to prevent dissecting one's precious potatoes) into soil at a 45 degree angle about a foot away from the base of the plant. Apply pressure downward and pry up the soil containing the potato plant.













After a little digging and sifting with your hands, you should behold your treasure!













Keep digging until you achieve basket o' taters!
Those are Red Gold and Austrian Crescent (fingerling) varieties by the way.











After playing pirate I harvested tomatillos, a few yellow pear tomatoes and green onions. I also tied up tomatoes, weeded as much as possible, dead headed marigolds and snipped me some zinnias for a small bouquet.










On watch: green beans with a possible case of rust, stupid peppers that wilt for no reason, and the eggplants with leaves of lace..thanks to those pesky flea beatles. No worries though.










See, I'm still happy.

Happy 4th of July!

Not in the garden for a couple weeks....received update that things are wet, that the melons are still small and the peppers are still sad looking. Wishing there was better news to share.

In Virginia for the 4th. Hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend!

Summer Has Arrived!

A windowsill full of yum

Birdhouse Gourds trellising themselves











Black Hungarian Pepper!

Tomatillo

What's wrong with my peppers?? Anyone?

Don't you just love Zinnias?

Dwarf Sunflowers in front of a big one

When the tomatoes start falling off the vine into your hands....you know summer has arrived. Along with some cherry tomatoes, I harvested my first peppers (one bell and one Black Hungarian) this morning and three tomatillos. I also grabbed some carrots and a few beets. The beets are currently boiling and the carrots were just added to some fresh cabbage picked up at the Madiera Farmers' Market. The scarlet skin of the red dragon carrots add something special to my typical coleslaw.

Last night, the power went out, my boots got soaked on the porch, and three and a half inches of rain fell. I wore my galoshes to the plot this morning, scattered blood meal about the tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos, grabbed whatever I saw and got out of there before the next thunderstorm rumbled through.

Too Hot for Broccoli

So, as you have noticed, I've been absent. Chris and I were out of town for marathon wedding attending...Sandusky, St. Louis, then Colorado and back to Cincinnati. So much fun, but we sure did miss a lot on the plot.

We were elated when we arrived there for a few hours of work yesterday; I felt so at home taking care of our veggies. However, not everything in the garden was something to smile about. The radishes had all bolted (went to seed), the peppers are all limp, the eggplant are yellow, only two of the Amish melons germinated, and the broccoli died. It was too hot for most things in the cole family...cabbage, broccoli, radish. They prefer 60 to 70 degrees and it's certainly been hotter than that. The leaf lettuce is done for. The little that I harvested tasted quite bitter but the romaine is still pretty delicious so I'm leaving that in the ground for a bit longer. Along with the lettuce and some basil, I harvested 4 cherry tomatoes and 1 yellow pear tomato, as well as 4 red beets and 3 red dragon carrots; I had a terrifc salad for dinner.

Thankfully, my mother was willing and able to hoe and harvest while we were away. She reported a lot of rain which explains the yellow eggplant and plenty of heat which explains everything else. Also, the aphids which I forgot to mention are gone after spraying the tomatoes with a solution of 5 parts water, 1 part soap, and 1 part olive oil. Things are back on track even if it's too hot for broccoli.

Fruits of Our Labor

LABOR













FRUIT







YUM

My Garden....where the grass is greener

No Time for Tomatillos

I won't complain about getting rain, but I will say that it is really hard to get a garden going with such soggy soil. Along with the rain delays, I am preparing to be out of town for 28 of the next 36 days and I'm feeling a little time crunched...there's just no time for the tomatillos! The poor tomatillos have been waiting patiently for weeks...they are almost a foot tall! I would love nothing more than to tuck them into their new home, but it's just too wet. One thing to be happy about is that the weed cover worked. We took it up yesterday to help the soil dry out faster and when we pulled it back, there was nothing there, only hundreds of wiggling worms! It was great to know no weeding would be necessary for this soil prep. However, I didn't feel like prepping mud so I put off transplanting for another day. I will also have to find room for all of the eggplants as the prolific tomatillos will be taking up the space I had allotted for both species.

Hopefully, before driving 6 hours tomorrow, I will get a chance to pop in as many plants as possible. Another hope is that I will be able to get a few things done in the garden on those 8 full days scattered throughout June when I return home.

I'm including photos of the growth so far...it is starting to look more like a garden each day!





These are those poor tomatillos I was talking about.









The first (and probably only) strawberry of the season.













Cilantro!









Mud that was under the weed cover






Leaf Lettuce

Soggy Peppers

It's been four days since I've worked on any gardening...
The last thing that was planted were the peppers, and I probably shouldn't have even been in there for that.  The weather was perfect for transplanting, but the ground was still rather soggy.  I planted eight pepper plants in all.  I have three green sweet bell plants, three red sweet bells, one black Hungarian, and one Corno di Toro, a sweet Italian pepper.  I am anticipating plenty of salsa, stuffed peppers, and stir fry!

So beside the soggy pepper planting, I continue to weed and thin.  I'm sure it will be quite the mini-jungle by the time I can get back out there.  But, honestly, weedng is rather enjoyable.  Maybe it's feeling like I'm helping to protect and nourish another living thing that I like.  Or maybe it's because the repetitive movements and fresh air put your mind into a trance-like state.  Either way, I've determined that rather than dread the inevitable work of weeding that comes when trying to be "all natural", I can look forward to the many days I will spend hunched over with my hands in the dirt.

"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard

Oh the lovely tomato!
What a happy Monday I had transplanting my precious tomato plants in the breezy 67 degree partly sunny weather!  What a beautiful day for transplanting!  The tomatoes still look happy and so do I!

I planted 12 tomatoes and 6 marigolds in all.  We have 3 Sweet 100, 3 Better Boy, 3 Cherokee Purple, 1 Green Zebra, and 2 Yellow Pear!  Their semi-fresh, semi-earthy frangrance covered my hands until I finally gave in to washing.  It's hard to explain how delighted I am to have the tomatoes in the ground.  Nothing compares to that homegrown taste.

Here are a few pics of the day!

The prepared bed.

When planting tomatoes, you can cover up all of the bottom leaves...this will help the transplant establish itself faster and be healthier.







Nothing else is really worth mentioning, but I'll share some more non-tomato snapshots anyway.

Barn swallow buddies

A baby sunflower!

The beginning of a strawberry I hope to savor some warm June day.

Weekly update

Yesterday was my first real day of work at the plot this week.  With all the rain of last weekend, I had to wait for the ground to dry up to get out there.  Take a look at that sodden soil...there was no way I was going in there!

By Friday, the heavy winds and 80 degree days had done the trick, and I was able to plant corn and some flowers like cosmos and cornflowers.  Along with thinning carrots, beets, and lettuce, I also weeded the big hulk weeds that have sprung back in preparation for more planting and transplanting.

Although all of that took some time, the biggest task yesterday was hilling the potatoes.  Apparently, I should be doing this potato covering until the plants blossom.  I estimate we are a few weeks away from that...I am certain to run out of soil and mulch by then.  The hills or mounds are nearly two feet off the ground!  I'm just hopeful that my efforts yield lots of yummy taters!

Another Rainy Weekend

Another rainy weekend means time to delve into other endeavors like cleaning and cleaning....and cooking!

So, last night we had some Aloo Gobi ( an Indian Cauliflower and Potato Curry Dish- I add spinach and onions to mine), homemade naan, and mango lassis (a refreshing yogurt drink)!  Unfortunately, none of my ingredients came from the garden, but they soon will! 

Speaking of the garden, I had some time to do various calculations and determine the overall cost and specific breakdown of my farming expenses thus far.  I figured I could share them with you to give you an idea of all aspects of this project.

SEEDS/PLANTS                                               SUPPLIES/RENTAL
51.00 - Seed Savers Exchange (SSE)                 52.00 - Home Depot
33.75 - SSE- potato seed                                 12.03 - Lowe's
12.97 - Lowe's                                                15.92 - Marvin's
31.45 - Burpee                                                34.00 - Tiller Rental
25.00 - Findlay Market - transplants

SUB TOTAL: 154.17                                         SUB TOTAL: 114.35

                     GRAND TOTAL: $268.52

The Week in Retrospect

Well, we got our rain. I'd even consider it a good dousing; there was so much that we had puddles in the garden 2 days after the rain and haven't had to water since last week.  However, conditions weren't exactly ideal for doing much work in the garden, not even walking. So, we had to leave it be for a few days. 

But, yesterday we were back in action.  The 2nd succession of spinach, beets, and carrots were planted.  In this way, we'll make sure to harvest those veggies for a longer period instead of being inundated with one crop at a time.  If Bubba wanted to be a farmer instead of a shrimp boat captain, his line might have read something like this: "Dey's uh.... raw carrots, cooked carrots, carrot cake, carrot muffins, carrots in salads, carrots in soup, boiled carrots, baked carrots..."  

There is nothing like a fresh carrot from your garden, but I think our skin would have turned orange from all the carotene.  Thus, plant in successions!  I left 10 days between the spinach plantings, nearly 2 weeks between beet sowings, and almost 3 weeks for the carrots.  I'm hoping to fit even more carrots under some tomato plants further along in the season.  The shade of the tomatoes will keep it nice and cool for those carrots to live long and prosper.

Off to the plot for turnip and parsnip planting!

Rain, rain, come our way!

So, we're nearing the end of April and we're missing 3 inches in rainfall!  What's a farmer to do?  Well, to be honest, we haven't done much.  So far, watering at night or early in the morning has been just fine... at least in the sense that there are still signs of life.  Other than keeping things moist with our tiny watering can, we wait patiently for the real thing. This weekend, we are supposed to get at least an inch of rain.  That would be terrific and would also give our weary bodies a little rest.  Hopefully, you get a nice little rest this weekend, too.

I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Row of potato hills.

Zoomed in

Mini greenhouses made from halved plastic bottles...these are working like a charm on my broccoli transplants!
















Baby lettuce that I had a kick hand weeding...no joke.

Our picturesque view from the plot.

A bunny buddy. 

Proud