The Sequel

Come on in, meet my fungus. So I thought maybe this year I wouldn't have to deal as much with this particular plague, as rain has been pretty scarce. However, here it is again, even after all my precautions of bleaching my container and sterilizing soil, etc., etc.

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Now I've been pondering this problem of Attack of the Killer Fungus, Part Two, for the last week and have pinpointed my mistake. I had half a bag of leftover mulch from last season and so I used it on my tomatoes and peppers. I took a good look at my planters and realized that the fungus came from the mulch. I never even gave it a thought that after having sat in the garage for a few months the mulch may have fungus on it, but it did. So, okay, important lesson number two learned this year - If you use old mulch, inspect if carefully! Hopefully this won't take over my tomatoes. The peppers don't seem affected by it so I guess they're fairly fungus resistant.

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So I have a new and exciting challenge. No more sitting around - Back to work!

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Fungus, fungus go away
don't come back another day
I dislike you very much
for, alas, you do make such a fuss!

Hola!

So things are getting spicy around here! Last year's jalapeno pepper plant has its very first fruit. Now last year it had one pepper all season and that one was punctured by a bird beak, so I'm hoping I actually get to try some home grown jalapenos this year. Caliente!

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Overall garden chores are lighter than they were a month ago. Not much to do but water (and water some more) and check for bugs and disease. I just watch and wait for fruit to eat - Sweet!
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Jalapeno, jalapeno
You're the only one I've got
and I and assuming that you are very hot.
Ripen little pepper and be sure to make some more
So I can breathe some fire into recipes galore!

My, What Big Plants You Have!

So yesterday was Goldilocks and today is Red Riding Hood. I find my mind often reverts to fairy tales when I write. I guess our brains retain what we love, and yes, what big plants I have! Behind me (and taller than me) are the Big Boy tomatoes. In front of me are the banana peppers, and to my left are the grape tomatoes that I seeded in March, already over a foot high. So far I'm feeling quite satisfied with this year's garden. I'm still watching the fungus among us and keeping ever vigilant for tomato horn worms, but thus far all is quite well. There are many, little green fruits, both in pepper and tomato form, just bursting forth, so my salads are going to be great in no time!

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A little love

A little care

and plenty of bounty

soon to share

Goldilocks

Someone's been eating my chives!

As the three bears in Goldilocks were perplexed, so am I as to what is eating my chives. Perhaps a couple squirrels or oppossums decided they needed a little kick to their evening meal. Whatever the culprit, it is just munching off the top three inches or so, saving some for me I guess. How considerate...

The garden truly brings new challenges every day. That's part of the enjoyment, trying to be in harmony with nature instead of battling against it. We've been in our usual drought this time of year, although a little more severe than normal, but today we had wonderful rain all day. The grass is unfolding and the living plants and creatures all seem to be giving a sigh of relief. We should start the rainy season soon in May, so just everybody hold on!

My Goldilocks, I doubt you're blond

disappearing chives, family of onion

lizard, oppossum, squirrel, rat

I just want my chives back!

Cast Out the Nets

Well, there it is, little beak holes punched into my tomatoes. The birds have begun to peruse my garden (a gray cat bird in particular). Yesterday I saw him steal a strawberry - plucked it right off the plant himself and had a little snack. Now I have better tolerance for the disappearing strawberry than I do for the "holy" tomatoes. After all, the little gray cat bird actually ate the strawberry. The tomatoes on the other hand are just pecked to death. So I think it's time to get out the bird net. I'll continue to share the strawberries, as I had a nice time watching the snack encounter at my kitchen window, but whatever pecked my tomatoes has gone too far! If you want it, take it, but don't waste it!
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Birdie beaks have gone to far
peck, peck, pecking in my yard
leaving holes in tomatoes firm
just as if they were little worms!

On the First Day of Spring

My garden brought to me:

One really great dog.

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On the second day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Two eggplants and one really great dog.
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On the third day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Three peppers, two egg plants, and one really great dog.

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On the fourth day of Spring my garden brought to me: Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the fifth day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the sixth day of Spring my garden brought to me: Six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the seventh day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the eighth day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Eight sprigs of spearmint, seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the ninth day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Nine peppermint leaves, eight sprigs of spearmint, seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the tenth day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Ten long lean chive sprouts, nine peppermint leaves, eight sprigs of spearmint, seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the eleventh day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Eleven tarragon shoots, ten long lean chive sprouts, nine peppermint leaves, eight sprigs of spearmint, seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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On the twelfth day of Spring my garden brought to me:

Twelve lemon basils, eleven tarragon shoots, ten long lean chive sprouts, nine peppermint leaves, eight sprigs of spearmint, seven oranges hanging, six sprouting dill buds -

Five strawberries!

Four round tomatoes, three peppers, two eggplants, and one really great dog.

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Whew!

Sweet Pea

Well, Bill and I have been on our journey and back. The garden does a lot of growing in five days! Peppers, tomatoes, and chives are popping out all over. So I definitely missed some garden growth here at home. HOWEVER...I have been watching another little sweet pea growing while we were gone:

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Our new little niece!

No, she's not from the garden, but she's certainly sweet!

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Little sweetie, special girl

Will you have many curls?

Eyes of dad and ears of mom

Smile that's as bright as sun.

Watch you grow and send our love

Blessings of the Lord upon

all your life and days to come!

Metamorphosis

Wow! Okay, I've been AWOL for a little while. It's been a busy, busy couple of weeks. The garden is in full force and Bill and I are getting ready to take a mini trip out of town - so I'll be missing in action again for the next four or five days!

However, I did stop and smell the roses, or in this case when cleaning out my perennial bed I stopped to admire this beautiful cocoon. I almost hacked the poor thing down before I noticed it. Whew! If you look quite closely you can actually see the orange and black butterfly wings inside. I figured it would be emerging soon and I was really hoping to see that.

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HOWEVER...No such luck. I checked back the next day and the butterfly had already emerged and disappeared. I guess he was AWOL too.

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So as spring has sprung, so too has my time clock - just picture little gears popped out all over the place! However, the garden in its unending work is also an unending joy and respite from the craziness that goes on out there in this world. So gardeners rejoice - it's time to get out there and grow!

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Butterfly butterly

in your cocoon

Emerge you did

and oh so soon!

Pepper Parade

Look at all these buds - We'll be eating peppers soon! Now really I'm probably the only one excited about that in my household, but that's okay. I love to pickle my peppers. Yes, I'm a pepper pickling person. It's so very easy and quite yummy for salads and such.

I'm keeping a close eye on these guys. Some pest was eating holes in the leaves but I recently found a little worm, so once I got rid of him I haven't seen any new holes - one down and a few hundred more to go before summer's over!

Meanwhile, the garden is actually beginning to look like a garden:

The tomatoes in the plantar box are almost as tall as me and the little grape tomatoes in the green box that were sown from seed just three weeks ago will be looking like good sized plants in no time.

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So, on you grow

little garden of mine

we'll be eating your harvest in no time!

New Arrival

The first tomato of the season has now appeared. This little guy is about an inch in diameter but he's looking good. I noticed him two days ago in last year's garden along with many other flower buds. Since the winter garden has been much ignored, it seems that what I have to do to be successful is to pretend like I don't care! Ha! Nature doesn't need me to grow wonderful fruit. This is not the first time I have had really good luck with a tomato plant that lived past its season. Any time I have kept last year's tomato plant alive, trimming it back in spring and letting it go for another round, I have always had really good luck, probably because by then it has a phenomenal root system!

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Sometimes plants are not too old

to rebloom and sprout fruit gold

Old is just a state of mind

for which this plant knows no time!

Yummy!

So what is one to do with too many strawberries? Is there such a thing as too many strawberries? My answer is equivocally no. Since I had a refrigerator full of these little fruits last night, and they were on the verge of declining from their optimum strawberry-ness, I was trying to come up with a creative way to use them with what I had on hand in the pantry. By coincidence there was a recipe for strawberry vanilla cake on the side of Ms. Betty Crocker's cake mix. Now, like most recipes, I doctored it up and changed it a bit to fit what I had and what I wanted. This yummy cake has a strawberry jam filling in between the layers (suggestion of Betty Crocker) but I used lemon flavored frosting and decorated the cake with the remainder of my strawberries. Bill and I couldn't wait until dinner to try it, so we had a piece at lunch. I could hear him making yummy noises from the other room, so I guess we're in consensus that it's really good. However, I guess I've blown my dessert allowance for the rest of the day!

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What a sweet treat

Lemon and berries

but, oh, now how that sugar tarries!

Spring is Sprung!

I am happy to report that all the seedlings are now in their permanent homes. Bill and I spent this weekend putting up window boxes for the herbs (Mint, Chamomile, and Chives). Now I had not intended to buy window boxes this year but Gardeners' Supply was selling the ones I wanted for 75% off, so how could I refuse that? Overnight my little mint rhizomes have just perked up and are looking great. Not to mention that my previously dying spearmint all of the sudden is looking great again, so maybe it was just the cooler weather. Spearmint wanted to be warmer!

Check out my beautiful boxes:

So in the end my garden turned out much like the plan - window boxes included!

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Window boxes all in a row

for the seeds that I did sow

Now on cue, as if for show

Growing tall, the herbs I know

Pop Quiz

Can you name the fruit that
corresponds to these flowers?




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Here are your answers with
fruits in the same order as flowers.




How well did you do?
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Today's pop quiz
on flowers and fruit
was only for fun
and meant to be cute!

You've Come a Long Way Dilly

In case anyone was wondering, little Dill Pill did end up to be quite a good looking plant. He's still got some growing and bushing-out to do, but overall ended up really thriving. This is Fernleaf Dill, so eventually he'll be big and bushy instead of straight and tall like other dills. So the goods news is that I guess I will have fresh dill in my tuna salad after all!

Just think, this little guy was the runt of the litter, the troublesome child, all woe-is-me and what am I to do with this? Rember The Leaning Tower of Dill?

But hey, sometimes we start out slow and end up pretty good. Just think of yourself in high school. You've probably come a long way too!

So here he is

The comeback kid

Standing up and lookin' fit!

Jail Time

Well, my tomatoes are now behind bars! Bill and I finally got down to Lowe's and I was able to pick up some new tomato cages. My three from last year are all still in use (one on that lovely eggplant). Plus, compared to the ones I just purchased, my old ones are very puny! I didn't realize how dinky my old cages were until comparing them to these new ones. The new ones are at least 1.0 to 1.5 feet taller than my old ones, and that's a big deal. My tomatoes were always outgrowing their cages. Talk about an escape...

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Anyway, I got these guys just in time. As you can see, tomato #1 is already a pretty good size, and if you've ever tried to put a tomato cage on a too-large plant you know it's not easy. It's kind of like trying to put on your pants after you put on tennis shoes - it never goes very smoothly!

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Tomato cages all in a row

support the fruit as it does grow

Hold them up straight and tall

forming one big tomato wall!

Ouch!

So, it's time to be a meanie and start pinching! Tomato #1 has gotten big enough to start getting side shoots. These side shoots will make my tomato unyieldy if I don't pinch those little stems right out of there. Anywhere three shoots meet, it's time to pinch out the middle one, and so I did. In times past I have let these little guys go, and so my tomatoes were bushier and hard to keep staked. However, this year I really wanted to be able to have one strong stalk that I can stake to my bamboo canes, so I must be vigilent in my pinching! The stalk on this guy is really strong and this plant is quite vigorous compared to the other two - almost twice the size. Funny how identical seeds in identical conditions and yet one is so much stronger than the other...mmm...kind of like people...

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I hope that Spring has finally sprung, as we're finally back up into the 70s during the day and mid 50s at night. Tonight my baby herbs will have their first sleepover outside with the peppers and tomatoes. So the garden is starting to get exciting!!!

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Garden, garden, my how you've grown

I'm happy to call you all my own

You are looking great these days

It must be all those sunshine rays!

Now What?

Wow! So it looks like I'm really going to have a couple eggplants soon. So what now? I'm totally unfamiliar with eggplant. Yes, I know what it is but I've never bought one. I know you can make eggplant parmigana, though I'm not sure how eggplant substitutes for chicken (speaking from the chicken-person point of view anyway), and I know its considered a vegetable, but my cooking knowledge on the subject is very limited, so....

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Calling all recipes! Off to Google I go to find something that sounds yummy. Now considering that I'll probably be the only one in my house eating this (and that I have a very limited supply), I found the following recipe:

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Slamtastic Eggplant Sandwich

Submitted By: slamtastic
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Ready In: 20 Minutes
Servings: 4
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This warm and toasty sandwich is made with tender cooked eggplant, basil, garlic, mayonnaise, and feta cheese.

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Ingredients:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced
4 crusty sandwich rolls, split and toasted
1 bunch fresh basil leaves
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
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Directions:
1. Pour the oil into a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Place the eggplant slices in the heated pan and cook without moving until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Flip the eggplant and continue to cook until golden brown on the other side. Remove from heat.
2. Mix together the mayonnaise and garlic in a small bowl.
3. Lay the toasted rolls out, cut side up. Place the cooked eggplant on the bottom half of each roll. Layer the eggplant with fresh basil leaves and crumbled feta. Spread the garlic mayo very lightly over the cut side of the top each toasted roll. Place the tops on the prepared sandwich.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com

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My mouth is watering at the thought of the ingredients, so I guess that's a good sign. If anybody makes this, let me know if it was as good as it sounds.

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I have a while to wait

before this dish's date

to eat something so good

as purple eggplant food

Festival of Food

This past weekend was the yearly Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Now I grew up in Plant City, so we go every other year or so to have a good time and celebrate strawberries and other veggies from the garden (but mostly it's about the strawberries)! This particular vendor you see here is obviously celebrating the fact that our county is number one in the state for production of cucumbers - a fact of which I did not know, but find interestingly satisfying.

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Now we didn't just go for the food, though that's usually my favorite part. We also went to see a concert, as they have really great music at the festival every year. We got to see Third Day, which is a really popular contemporary Christian group. It was awesome, yes, remember the cheer : A-W-E-S-O-M-E...Sorry, sitting in the festival stadium has been giving me high school flashbacks!

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So, there is a song Third Day sings that encapsulates my sentiments about nature and the garden. Beautiful lyrics from the song You're Everywhere:

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Like the rain that falls to the earth below

Watering the seed to grow

So it is with Your precious word, O Lord

It won't return until I know that

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You're everywhere

You're everywhere

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Like the wind that blows no one really knows

From where it comes or where it goes

So it is with Your Holy Spirit, Lord

Falling down on us to show that

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(You're everywhere) Like the rain that's falling

(You're everywhere) Like the wind that's blowing

(You're everywhere) Like the sun upon my face

I feel the warmth in Your embrace

You are everywhere

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My Lord, now I truly know

That I could never go from Your presence

My God, Your are everywhere

From the lowest depths to the heavens

You're always there

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(You're everywhere) Like the rain that's falling
(You're everywhere) Like the wind that's blowing
(You're everywhere) Like the sun upon my face
I feel the warmth in Your embrace
You are everywhere

Bye Bye Basil

No, little Basil #1 is not dead, just adopted out to a good home! This little guy made the perfect gift at the perfect time, but I'll miss him. Of course I still have Basil #2, and a ton of seeds if I want to grow more. I have to admit, I've gotten pretty attached to these little guys. After all, I've cared for them since they were just wee little seeds! I guess I'm not cut out to be a foster parent of pets or children. If I get this attached to a plant, just imagine if I had to give back a pet or a child! Whew! My hat's off to anyone making that endeavor.

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Little plant, off you go

Little seed that I did sow

Hope you grow big and strong

Hope your life is very, very long!

Mint Update

So the mint cuttings are actually working. I have spearmint and peppermint leaves sprouting out of the rhizomes. This is a very good thing because my older plants are not looking any better. The attacker is still a mystery. I keep looking but they are stealthy little bugs. I think they're little Romulans with cloaking devices. If you're wondering if that's a new gardening term, it isn't. I'd tell you what it is, except then I'd have to admit that I can be a bit geeky sometimes! Moving on...

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Peppermint, spearmint

Junior Mints, York

I don't just grow mint for sport

Mint is one of the greatest of herbs

and bugs eating mine finds me greatly disturbed!