garden update

FYI: seeds + soil + rain = rapid growth (and it doesn't matter who put what seeds where!)

So, I should have my garden looking much better in a matter of days, so there is no overall picture just yet... but here are some select pictures showing our progress:

pumpkins starting to bloom

cilantro (which tastes quite good, by the way!) and Cherokee Purple tomato plant, which is also starting to bloom


Green Zebra tomato (I hope I'll be able to tell when it's ripe!)

Black Seeded Simpson leaf lettuce ready for eating! (and in need of weeding)

Gray Mammoth Sunflower and Mancha, hoping for another chance to dig in the mud

zucchini, already growing, with many more blooms

oregano

parsley (which also tastes very good!) in front of white popcorn

I've already chopped up some parsley and baked it with some fish... fresh herbs really do make a big difference. I can't wait to use some cilantro in pico de gallo, and both parsley and cilantro in this wonderful chimichurri sauce.

Mortgage Lifter tomato

squash blooms


Gardening is not easy, and neither is harvesting (at the right time, with enough time) or "putting up" as we say (time, time, time!), but enjoying the fruits of my own garden is much more rewarding than trying to select produce from the store. It is very cool to see something go from seed to plant to fruit to your table... very cool, indeed!

a tale of two potatoes

So, Alpine suggested that we try to grow potatoes this year in the garden, so we did. I've got red ones and white ones growing. Not very many... just enough to see if we could grow them and then store them well. I planted about 11 plants of each color, and I have no idea how many potatoes will come from each plant. You are supposed to "hill" the plants every so often so the potatoes aren't exposed to the sun. If they do see the sun, they turn green - you've probably seen green potatoes in the store. My great-grandmother used to say that green potatoes are poison! Needless to say, I want to keep mine hidden from the sun. =) Anyway, I was looking them over yesterday, when i saw a tiny bit of red in the soil. Curiosity got the best of me - and it's hard to be patient when you can't see the progress of how your potatoes are doing! - so I dug around the potato just a bit... you know, just to look at it. Sure enough, it was a potato! It was quite small, though, so i planned to leave it. While digging around that one, though, I came across a fairly big one. My excitement got the better of me, so I dug it up to taste it. I covered the little one back up and headed for the house. I turned to call for Mancha and noticed that she had something in her mouth. I told her to "drop it," and she did... she must have decided that if I could dig up a potato, then she could, too! She got the little potato that I hoped would grow into a bigger one! Silly dog. Alpine and I cooked and ate the big potato, and Mancha got to eat her small one. Now, I just hope that she doesn't make a habit of this!

69 days...

... 'til kickoff!!

garden and nature

Fields of gold? This was a full rainbow... I was too close to get the entire thing in one picture! It sure was pretty...



This baby cardinal was stuck in the garage behind some plexiglass. I cleared the way for it's escape, and mama was quite concerned about it. I monitored its progress throughout the night, and it made it about halfway across the yard by nightfall. A storm was coming, and it was just out in the grass, so I tried to move it to shelter... however, by morning it was dead. At least I tried!

I love to see the fields dotted with hay bales after mowing time! We didn't get our "rolled up man" out this time, but maybe next time.

And... the garden. I finally got it planted several weeks ago, after it dried up a little... and now we've been a litte too dry! My weeds were under control, but nothing was growing well (even with a few manual waterings)... but some big storms have moved through this week and got everything growing well. Even the weeds. Time to get out there and tend to the garden!

My popcorn is looking pretty good... can't say the same for the sweet corn. It's about time for a second planting, so i'll restart the sweet corn and see if that helps.

This is either squash or zucchini... I can't remember which one I took a picture of. This plant grows like a weed... it gets "true leaves" far more quickly than most plants, and when it starts bearing fruit, you'd better check it twice a day... unless you don't mind baseball bat sized fruit!

I've not had much luck wth growing onions from seed, so my dad gave me some onion sets. Here they are... looking pretty good! I've got red and yellow onions... I'm eager to see how long they keep.

These are my potatoes. The red ones are in back and blooming, and the white ones are catching up to the size of the red ones. The red ones were planted first and had lots of rain. I'm also eager to see how long these keep once harvested. This is our first time growing potatoes (and was James's request), so I hope we're successful. Supposedly they are ready for harvest after the leaves die back.

Ahhh... tomatoes. I planted about 10-12 tomato plants that I grew from seed, and rabbits or some other wild creature ate about half of them. My dad gave me some odd varieties also, and one of those already has fruit! This one is called "Mortgage Lifter" and is an heirloom tomato (which basically means it's not hybrid... and it's been around for a while). Other varieties given to me by my pop are Mr. Stripey, Cherokee Purple and a pink one... I can't remember its name.

I've also planted cucumbers, beans, pumpkins, watermelon, cantaloup, peanuts (which i don't think are coming up), carrots, lettuce, strawberries, sunflowers, dill, oregano, parsley and cilantro. I've got a lot of plants in my small garden... I try to plant an appropriate amount for two people, or enough for me to can/freeze/dry, but I'm afraid I might need a larger garden soon. If I can manage this one well enough...