Sunday, May 31, 2009

Beans!

The beans are finally up! However I think I could squeeze another two rows in between the rows my dad replanted! I kinda wanted more than three rows of beans. Since I seem inept at growing onions. I think I'll pull up what I have today and use them for green onions in some dish. I could probably plant two more rows of beans where they were. Today I'm mowing and doing gardening work. I haven't felt good the last couple of days. I'm sure we are going to get busy at work again if the temps stay up and it stays dry. I will post this evening and include new pictures of how the garden is doing. Stay tuned...

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Short and Sweet

Not going to post long this evening. I have some medical recording I need to do on the computer. This evening I did to my zuchinni what I did last night with the tomatoes and brocolli. I also got the plow and ran through the rows between the corn. Dad retilled the area where my beans were and I plan on getting them planted tommorrow. Dad says he has a special way of planting them..so I guess I have a lesson to learn! I also watered all the plants. Tommorrow I also need to get in the back herb bed. It's getting weedy but the plants look good. Don't mean to be morbid but that is a spot where I think 3 pets were buried years ago. Things do grow good there. I wish I'd planted the tomatoes there like I did last year. They are not looking good in their new spot but their perking up some. See ya tommorrow I really need to get something else done on here before I crash!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Finally Pictures!


(Far Right Monster Sage!)


Monster Chives

Small Garden after Cultivating Herb and Pepper Bed








Big Garden (Corn) Small Garden Before Cultivating

I am so proud to get these pictures on here! Like I said I'm not technically advanced at all! But my son showed me how to take pictures from my cell phone and send them to my e-mail so I can download them! Now I know you techies are probably thinking DUH! But this is a huge accomplishment for me!
Well I've been thinking about soil amendments. As you can see both of my gardens are hard clay. I've read all along about compost and cover crops ect, adding organic matter and never really did apply it. But my soil is so poor looking now that I'm going to work on it little by little over the year and hopefully next spring it will be in much better shape. Today I started with the small garden that contains my tomatoes, most of my jalepenos, broccoli, and some lettuce that got a slow start. I bought 4 bags of humus/manure at Wal-Mart and took a hand cultivator, loosened the soil around my plants and worked in a good amount of the humus into the soil. I then borrowed my neighbors push plow/cultivator and loosened up the soil in the rest of the garden. What was left of the humus out of the 1 bag I've used I broadcasted all over so it can be worked in later. Tommorrow I need to start on the big garden and do about the same thing. My corn is looking good..so is my squash but nary a bean in sight. I believe it got too cool and wet after they were planted and they rotted in the ground. My dad said he would retill that side tommorrow so I can replant. I have some empty places in the small garden that I may grow some beans also. My herbs as you can see are doing quite well. I need to do something with those soon, cut the excess and preserve them somehow. I don't want them to go to waste. I am good and tired and sore now. I have not mentioned before but I've been going through some things that mimic MS very strongly and I have had various appointments and tests. No one yet has figured out what it is. I have a Neurologist appointment tommorrow. Will it be good news or bad news??? The thing I have with gardening is that I can just relax and focus in the dirt and tend my plants. It's a therapy kind of thing. I think it's what keeps me sane sometimes! I promise to try to update on here daily. I'll be back with a post tommorrow!!! Till then...



Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Okay..I haven't kept up!

I did not get pictures of the garden this weekend as promised. Been busy and had doctor appointments ect. ect. My tomatoes aren't looking that great. They are still too small to stake and the leaves were getting yellowish looking. I fertilized them yesterday and today they seem a little perkier but I don't want to fertilize them too much or I'll have all blooms and no tomatoes. Everything else is looking good. I cultivated the big garden and the small one. My beans aren't up yet and that concerns me but maybe it's just not been warm enough. So I'm still waiting on those. I absolutely will get some pictures on here soon since I've cleaned the gardens up! Today I was looking up herb recipes online. I've got to do something with my monster herbs that are just outside my back porch. I also planted borage around the tomatoes and corn today. It's supposed to make the flavor or tomatoes better and keep tomato worms and corn worms at bay. I do not use pesticides or herbicides, artifical fertilizer on my gardens! So I've been researching companion planting where one plant helps another in different ways.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

CORN IS UP!!

I noticed on Monday the tiny grass-like stalks of corn coming out of the Earth! It is so exciting. Now at least I can run through with my cultivator and get some weeds out of there! Haven't seen anything out of my green beans yet, but it usually takes two weeks. My tomatoes are looking fairly well and I fertilized my brocolli and it is looking quite well too. This will be a short post tonight, I have an appointment with a rheumatologist tommorrow. We'll see how that goes. My main mission for this weekend is to get hold of a digital camera and get some pictures posted of my gardens.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Weekend is Over...

I got most of my tomato plants out in the small garden but not in the back part. It was still a muddy mess. So today I stuck three here and there in the big garden and I think I'm done. I am worn out today. It seems like I was doing something all day but never got anything done. But I did get my van finally cleaned out. That was a huge accomplishment! Tommorrow my plan is to cultivate and fertilize my broccoli and get some stakes in the ground next to my larger tomato plants. I'm bone weary right now. Probably didn't help that my son and I had a huge meal and then a thick shake from Wendy's! For Sunday dinner, we had tacos which I only make with the Chi Chi's meat seasoning mix (How I miss Chi Chi's!) rice, corn on the cob and fried jalepenos. Now..these jalepenos are awsome and so simple I would never have thought about. Last week Mitchell, his father and I dined at a Mexican restaurant in Lyons. Donnie wanted a hotter salsa and the waiter asked him if he wanted some jalepenos. I thought they would bring chopped jalepenos to mix in with the salsa..No...they brought a dish of simply sliced jalepenos, sauteed until crisp (in I guess Olive oil) and sprinkled with lots of salt. These were awesome. Even my son ate them and he hates spicy stuff. Thing is they didn't really burn that bad. I never would have thought of that, but I tried making them today and they were still good! Also my plan this week is to clean up this pile of debris that I had intentions of making a mulch pile years ago that now looks like a jungle. I'll take a pic to post before I clean it up. Now that I've read and read how to make a real mulch pile (actually I'm going to get a bin of some sort) I will start one the right way. Other than that, I'll just pray for a dry spell so I can get some more work done. See ya tommorrow...

Saturday, May 2, 2009

The Tomatoes!

Today is the day. The plants are going in the ground. My problem is I have twenty two tomatoes and no cages. I did have about 8 cages but they are mysteriously missing! So I guess I'll have to come up with some stakes. I've never staked tomatoes before, I've always used cages. But then again I've never had this many plants! So here about noon, I will be out in the dirt. At least I'll get them in the ground. The little ones I don't have to worry about staking right this minute. I'll come up with something. So speaking of tomatoes...here is my favorite fresh salsa recipe!

About 10-12 Roma tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 Cloves garlic
A good handful of Cilantro stems and all
1 lime or lemon
salt
A touch of brown sugar
2 - 3 spicy peppers (depending on your heat desire!)

Cut off stems of tomatoes. Put all tomatoes in a large pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds. Drain. When cool, peel tomatoes try to get out as many seeds as you can. Run through food processor until desired consistency. Put in bowl. Separately run through your onion, garlic, lime or lemon juice, peppers and cilantro. Put in bowl with tomatoes, mix and add salt to taste and a hint of brown sugar. Refrigerate at least an hour, preferably all day. Stir again and serve with tortilla chips.