In Disguise

Here it is - finished! My ugly blue food barrel is now this lovely looking rain barrel. The spigot is hidden at bottom left with hose attached. The only modification I may make is to buy another set of blocks to raise it up just a little more. The higher it is, the more gravity works for you and the better hose "pressure" you get (not that there's any true water pressure going on here).

This area I chose is a place where a lot of water runs off the roof. I'm used to getting a big hole in the sand in this spot, so it was the choice place for the barrel. Now most people put these under their gutter downspouts but we don't have a gutter system on the house, so this little corner works like a charm.

As you can see in the second picture, it's placed directly under the 90-degree corner where the walls meet. I am going to add a pretty copper rain chain that will hang from the roof and down to the barrel, to more directly catch the water, but that's on order from Amazon.com and I'm still waiting for it to arrive. However, my barrel is already 90 percent full from just one hour of rain yesterday!

Overall I'm so happy with how it turned out. I really wanted a rain barrel but I didn't want the ugliness that can some times accompany one, but I think the paint and the plants have made it look quite nice. Not bad for free (not counting the $25.00 I spent on spray paint)!

Go on clouds - drop your rain, I am ready for the same!

Rainbow of Colors

It's time to start pickling some peppers!

Tonight I had enough peppers to fill a mason jar, so I decided I better get busy chopping them up and pickling them before they go to waste. I decided to mix all three types of peppers for an interesting blend (sweet yellow banana, red banana, and my one jalapeno). They make such a beautiful rainbow of colors in the jar! I know they look canned but technically they're not. I don't go through all the trouble of boiling jars, etc., etc. After all, there's only one jar, so I'm probably going to eat them all in the next few weeks anyway. So, I just pickle them and then keep them in the refrigerator. That way they last about three months and they're so great in salads!

It's so easy to do! Here's my pickling recipe:

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Pickling Juice:

2 cups white vinegar

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

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Place all pickling ingredients in a pot and bring to a rolling boil.

Place peppers in jar(s).

Pour in pickling juice and let cool.

Place in fridge and leave for one week.

Enjoy!

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Rainbow of colors in my fridge, pickling, pickling now.

I just love your look and smell and taste you see, and how!

Over a Barrel

So, exciting news this week! Last Saturday was my rain barrel class through the Hillsborough County Extension Service, and yes this big ugly blue barrel is mine! China was helping me clean it out. Now all the barrels are food grade, so whatever was in there is completely safe, but when we drove it home in the car I wondered how many people thought we were transporting toxic waste! So we cleaned it out with vinegar and water, though it really wasn't all that dirty. The great thing is that the wonderful people at the extension service already drilled a hole and installed the spigot, so that was one less thing Bill and I had to do. The instructor did show us how to do it though, so if I get a second barrel I'll know what to do! Bill went to the class with me, which made it all the more fun. We were able to walk around their beautiful garden before the class. You would never guess when looking at the building that there is a gorgeous courtyard in the back complete with lighted gazebo, pond, and wonderful plants. We really enjoyed the morning.

Now I'm in the process of painting my barrel. I'm spray painting it with that special paint for plastic. Then we'll have to set it up in place to catch water. Will keep you posted with some more pictures as this project progresses.

Roll out the barrel
Roll out the barrel for rain
Roll out the barrel
For this drought has been a pain
Roll out the barrel
Roll out the barrel today
Now is the time to roll out the barrel for here comes the rain!

In Memory

There comes a time every year when I start to feel the garden is overtaking me. That such time is now. The tomatoes are bigger than me and literally engulf me when I go to water them, but this is a good kind of overtaking. My grandpa asked me today why they were so big and I honestly don't know. They must be the indeterminate kind that just grow and grow and grow until they're done and dead. They still have a little bit of fungus but I think they're so big and strong that they're overcoming that on their own. So I must say that the self-watering planter and special soil mix will be worth repeating next year - I just won't use the leftover mulch!

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Now, the bad news. Little Dill is gone. Dill has not done well since being re-potted. Something about the pot I chose he did not like and so he began a progressive decline. Last weekend I transplanted him into a different kind of pot in hopes of saving him but, alas, it was not meant to be. And that's not all, my beautiful chamomile have done the same thing. I think I over-watered them a couple weeks ago. I have to be very careful with them in the self-watering pots. They like moist but not wet soil and if I completely fill the water reservoirs it turns out to be too much. However, one or two of the four might make it through, but that's still to be determined.

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My peppers are in abundance, so I think I'll be pickling peppers soon. When I do I'll be sure to blog it, as that is part of the fun. Meanwhile...

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I'll be in the garden

Hope that you can find

me in the vines

looking for tomatoes

or peppers for to dine

Harvest Time!

Well, you are looking at the very first picked tomato of the season and, wow, did it taste good! I know we've all heard it and said it, but let me say it again - Store bought tomatoes can in no way compare to homegrown. For the first time ever I noticed that they even smell different. Maybe I need to have a blindfold smell test (would I need to be blindfolded for that?). Well, you know what I mean. Can Lisa tell the difference between homegrown tomatoes and store bought tomatoes by smell alone?...

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Anyway, it looks like I have a really big harvest this year. So I'm looking forward to much yumminess!

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Ode to the homegrown tomato

To you no other compares

In the grocery store

you're extinct you are so rare!

Birthday Garden

So for my birthday on Thursday Bill and I took a day trip to Epcot to see the flower festival. While there we toured the high tech garden of hydroponics and aeroponics, and this very perfect looking vegetable garden. I wonder how many people and how much machinery it takes to have the perfect garden...mmm

Check out our pics if you like:

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4-30 was so special
off to Epcot we did go
they let me in for free
on my birthday, don't you know

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!