Back in the Garden!

Last year, all gardening efforts were pretty much a bust as my husband had some serious health issues that prohibited him from working in the garden and left me to do tend the house, the kitties, him, and work. Something had to give, and unfortunately, it was the veggie garden. The heat probably would've killed everything anyway...

The hubby's health issues are pretty much under control after heart bypass surgery in August, 2011 and then having a heart defibrillator implanted this past January. He's back to working in the garden while monitoring his heart rate and we're ready to reclaim the garden plot, expand it, and continue developing the flower beds!

We put in garlic in the fall and it's almost ready to harvest. I have cut all of the bloom stalks off so the heads will be as large as possible. Since it's been warmer than normal, the garlic will probably be ready to harvest late May.



We planted onions again this year. I ordered the short day sampler from Dixondale which has a mix of Texas 1015Y, Texas Early White, and Red Creole. I've been fertilizing them with blood meal weekly. I've learned that once planted, you want to feed onions a high nitrogen fertilzer (21-0-0) every two weeks until they bulb. Blood meal is 11-0-0, so I'm feeding weekly. The more leaves an onion has, the more rings it will have. The more rings it has, the bigger the onion! So if you want bigger onions, fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer.



The peas are a project plant out! We had seeds leftover from 2 years ago and from last year that didn't get planted, so they all went in the ground. I think every single seed germinated! LOL We also planted them about a month late, so while I'm not expecting a big harvest, I do hope to get some peas. There are 2 varieties, Alaska and Wando. My husband planted them and he doesn't remember which ones are which variety. Note to self: Do not let husband plant anything unsupervised!



We've also planted pole beans. This is only our second attempt at pole beans. The first time didn't go so well. This year, we planted Blue Lake pole beans. We like the Blue Lake bush beans, so I'm hoping these are just as good. Several have started vining and I'm thinking I might need to thin a few out still. We've thinned once. If possible, I might try transplanting them further down the fence line.



As you can see from the pics below, the flower gardens are doing great! We have lots of bees, butterflies, and other visitors in the gardens this year.

Starting the Fall Garden

I know, I know. It's been more than a year since I blogged about my garden. Due to some health issues my husband has been experiencing for the past 6 or 7 months, we didn't get to do much spring gardening. We did get some garlic and taters, but I didn't have time to blog about them. However, the husband's health issues have been addressed, he's feeling better, I'm getting more rest, and we're back in the saddle for the fall!

I've never really "done" a fall garden because you have to start it in the dead of summer when the temps are over 100º and it's miserable to be outside during the daylight hours. Really, who can garden in the dark when it's not so hot?? On top of the miserable heat, we've had NO measurable rain for weeks.

I still have lots of bell peppers that I managed to plant in the spring. Of course, they didn't get planted "on time" so they've not done much until recently. As long as I can keep them watered, they should do well through the fall. I think I planted something like 14 or 16 transplants. Less than half of them survived the squirrels and the birds. Grumble, grumble.... I have 1 Bullnose Red Pepper, grown from seeds saved from last year's crop, some orange peppers, golden peppers (yellow), and chocolate (purple) peppers.

These are the chocolate peppers. They're supposed to be really sweet, but since I've yet to taste one, I can't say for sure. The plant is a nice size with lots of branches and a sturdy trunk. It's loaded with babies, too! I counted 5 babies on one plant yesterday and that was just at a glance from one direction!

The husband is going to erect some kind of shade thing for them so they don't get sun scald. The one red bullnose pepper that I have already has a touch of sunscald, so we'll have to use it soon.

Last Thursday, I sowed cantaloupe seeds. They germinated in 2 days! We'll grow the same variety we grew last summer, Honey Rock. I think every single seed I planted has germinated, even the ones I dropped and couldn't find so they wouldn't germinate in the wrong place! LOL

This picture is from yesterday. Today, all the leaves are open and they're up above the straw. Soon, I'll have to thin them to 3-4 plants per hill.

Until next time, have fun playing in the dirt!

Garden Update

We've been so busy harvesting and shelling black-eyed peas (pink eye purple hulls, actually) picking tomatoes and okra, and watching the progress of the cantaloupes that I've not had time to update. Not to mention that work really hinders my computer time!

It's been hot, hot, HOT here in my neck of the woods for the past couple of weeks. We finally got about 1/4" of rain a couple of days ago. We're more than 5" behind in our rainfall for the year. I think it's going to take something big, like a hurricane to come ashore (unfortunately), to change the weather pattern. I'm so ready for cooler temps and rain and it's just the end of June! I'm usually not feeling this way until the middle to end of July.

The Contender bush beans gave up the ghost this past week. They were really starting to look stressed because of the temps, so on Wednesday, the husband and I harvested all the beans and then yanked out the plants.

We ended up with a mop bucket full of beans.
The partial harvest for the day of the beans.

Out of our bucket full of beans, we got 3 quart sized freezer bags full of cut green beans. I did blanch them for 3 mins in boiling water followed by 3 mins in a cold water bath before bagging and freezing.

The pink eye purple hull black eyed peas are going crazy! They are so loaded with pods it's not even funny. For the past week, we've been harvesting pods, shelling them, and then putting them in a freezer bag in the freezer. I'm cooking them TONIGHT!

Bloom and the first pods.
Green pods
Ripe pods (purple hulls)
Fresh shelled. See the pink eyes?

We have 2 mounds of cantaloupes. The first mound has already set 3 fruits. The largest fruit has started to develop its webbing, so it should be ripe and ready soon.

Still a bit on the green side, but you can see the webbing starting to form on the skin. Soon....

The second mound of cantaloupes is in an area that receives more shade than the first mound. Those plants have finally started running and sending out both male and female flowers. I saw a couple of potential melons this morning that look like they've been pollinated. Here's one of the potentials on my watch list.



Lastly, the watermelon patch is really filling in. I think there's some kind of fungus among us, so I'm researching that and trying to figure out what it is and how to treat it.

The watermelon patch before straw was put down.

First potential watermelon. It's teeny tiny, but located just to the right of the black edging between the two leaves.

That's it for today. Next time, I'll show off my cucumbers!

Harvests

It seems like so much has been happening in the garden lately! I'm so tired of the hot temps already. We usually have these temps in July, not in June. We're also lacking precipitation. We're 5" behind on the rainfall totals for the year. However, there's good news in the garden! We've been harvesting for the past week or so.

Today's harvest of a handful of cherry tomatoes from our volunteer cherry tomato plants, a few okra that are now in the freezer, and a lemon cucumber.

The other night, I went out and picked about a pound of Contender bush beans, a few strawberries, and a couple of okra. This was our first harvest of beans and they were really tasty! Husband put the okra somewhere, supposedly in the freezer, but I've not found them yet! LOL

This is the first year I've grown lemon cucumbers. I didn't really know what to expect, but I thought I'd give them a try. I'm in love!! What a tasty little thing and perfect for just one or two people! It's about the size of a medium sized apple, grows green, and then turns a light shade of yellow and gets stripes from the top down when it's ripe. There are little spiny things on the outside of the skin, but if you use a vegetable scrubber on them, they'll come off. The skin is tasty and the inside is nice and crisp!


Here's the inside. It's so pretty, I think!



We pulled the garlic up on Sunday. It hadn't fallen over, but it was all brown and dead looking, so out it came. This is elephant garlic passed along to me from a gardening friend who's been growing and passing it along for about 20 years now. All I can say is that the fully mature bulb is HUGE! It's about the size of a softball.

Here's my haul. The smaller bulb on the left is a 2-year bulb. I'll let it cure, then plant it again in the fall. Next year at harvest time, it'll be the size of the larger bulbs on the right. The 2 bulbs on the right were grown from full size pods last fall. They are full size cloves of garlic. We'll use one of the bulbs for cooking and one of them we'll plant in late September-early October so we'll have more full-grown garlic bulbs next June.

If you'll look at the picture of the garlic on the right, you'll notice that the outer paper husk of the garlic is not there. That's because we waited too long to harvest. These cloves are still viable, but without the paper, they are more susceptible to disease and pests. We'll have to use these first. They need to dry for about a month where it's not too dry and out of the sun. We've brushed the dirt off them, but not used water on them. Right now, they're on my washing machine, but we'll soon hang them outside under the carport where they'll be out of the sun, but can take advantage of the warmth and high humidity.

These are the small bulbules that grow on the bottom of the larger bulb of garlic. These are 2-year pods and this is what we planted most of last fall. They have a very hard outer shell that takes awhile to break down and germinate. The smaller bulb in the previous picture is what was grown out of one of these bulbules. I need to clean these up, let them cure, then they'll be ready for sharing and planting!

Until next time, I'll leave you with a pic of one of my garden visitors.

Today in the Garden

We have a lovely lemon cucumber growing.


The Contender bush beans are getting ready. They were flopped over, so the husband has been working today to get them "contained" in a more orderly fashioned.

The black-eyed peas have started blooming.

I spied my first couple of maters ripening...finally! Now I just need to keep them safe from the birds. Need to put up bird netting. Oh good! Something else to do outside in the heat.

Lastly, we released our first Black Swallowtail butterfly grown from a caterpillar this morning!





I have one caterpillar getting ready to pupate and form a chrysalis, 1 in the third instar stage and then I discovered 2 first instar stage cats this morning in one of my containers.

Excitement in the Garden!

A couple of weeks ago, I found baby Black Swallowtail cats on our dill plants. They were teeny tiny, much smaller than they appear in these pics, and weird looking. I've never seen Black Swallowtail cats, so I had no idea what they were! Before I could rescue them, though, the wasps got them. I was so upset!



This morning, as I was coming back inside from my morning stroll through the garden and checking on the tomato cages DH has built, I found a Black Swallowtail cat that had evidently escaped or survived the wasp attack! Woohoo! I was so excited! I showed it to DH and told him, "We HAVE TO rescue this guy!"


The husband had an appointment and had to leave, so I found a wide-mouthed plastic gallon jug, cut the parsley and put the sprigs in some water in old medicine bottles, and put the guy in the jug. I cut some holes in the top for ventilation until we can get some screen mesh put on the top. I need to get a stick for the cat in case he wants to make his cocoon on it. Otherwise, he'll probably use the screen mesh.


He's currently residing on my washing machine, but I think he'll probably be moved back outside to a shady spot. Stay tuned for updates!

The Flower's are a Bloomin'!

The front flower bed by our driveway is coming alive with color. In the past couple of days, I've added several new plants, which I'll profile later on at some point in time.

The gaillardia (Blanketflower) has come back in full force. I gave many of these away at the plant swap this past weekend and I've pulled some and put in the compost pile. There are many self-seeded plants in my flower bed as well.

This scabiosa daisy has really put on a show this year. I really wish this thing flowered all summer, but alas, it doesn't.

Phlox pilosa (Prairie phlox) was added last spring. It's a wonderful bloomer and the flowers have a very soft scent to them. It's most prevalent in the early morning and late evening hours when it's not so hot.

Here's a better pic of the little flowers that can range from pink to purple.

This Sweet William was also a new addition to the garden last year. It acted as a perennial last year, but I'm not sure if it really is. I absolutely LOVE the color and the long-lasting flowers. I hope to collect seeds from this to plant more next year. By the way, that's a Prairie Coreopsis sticking out from the middle of the plant!

The poppies have performed beautifully this year. I've pulled out several of the little ones that have already bloomed, but I'm waiting for the bigger ones to go to seed before pulling them.


The Brazos Penstemon is still blooming. It's gotten top heavy and some are laying down. The color is so pretty and the flowers are so dainty. Last year, when I didn't know what I was doing, I collected a seed pod. Threw the seeds into one of my winter sowing containers and they've sprouted! Now I'll need to transplant them to bigger containers and then plant them in the fall.