Getting Ready For 2013 Garden

   I just took a couple of shots of my almost empty garden. Its still about 4 weeks before my last frost date of may 10. I just wanted to show the placement of the beds and the two new 5'x16' beds at the end of the potager/garden. We still want to till the two new beds one more time yet.

The new beds are off to the left, outside the fence, Below you can see the three 4x8 beds in the center with the 2' wide bed then runs in a "U" shape around the perimeter. There are about 2 and 1/2 ft walkways between. 

       Then we will start on the irrigation plans. In the drawing below you see the pvc irrigation pipe done in yellow. We are leaving to take my DGD back home in Myrtle Beach then when we return, I hope to get this done. I also hung new sachets of Milorganite around the perimeter of my back yard to renew my deer protection.

Making Plans For The 2013 Garden

        Well, I have been itching to get back into the garden again.......already. It did so poorly last year due to the drought conditions. I have started researching the seeds I want for next years garden. On this page I am going to keep track of what I am planning on growing next year to help me remember what I want to keep growing from year to year, and to track performance. Thats the only way I can keep notes and not lose them,lol.
        I recently found Osborne Seed company and made the following purchase:
BEANS
1. Pole Bean, Stringless Blue Lake S7
2. Pole Bean, Fortex   I cant wait to try this one, I have read lots of great comments and high praise from  those growing them in the forums

Fortex bean courtesy of Osborne Seed

3. Bush Bean, Lewis    Last yr I grew a late planting of bush bean Jade. It did very well, and tasted very
        good. It was a thin mild tasting bean. I still may purchase them again, but wanted to try some others.

Tomato:
These seeds I already have, I dont know which or how many of these I will start  yet.
1. Ananas Noir
2. Campbell's seeds
3. Burpee Big Boy
4. Beefsteak
5. Early Girl
6. Ladybug
7. Isis Candy
8. Mortgage Lifter
9. Black Krim
10. Brandywine
11. Black Plum
12. Sungold Cherry
13. Big Sungold Select
14. Giant Belgium
15. Caspian Pink
16. Heirloom Chianti Rose
17. Big Beef
18. Marvel Stripe
19. Green Zebra
20. Pineapple
21. Beefy Boy
22. Parks Whopper

Tomato Brandywine Red courtesy of Osborne Seed

Those I am considering ordering:
1. Kelloggs breakfast
2. Ultimate Opener
3. Country Taste
4. Opalka....can't wait to try this herloom paste with all the rave reviews
5. Marianna's Peace
6. Omar's Lebanese
7. Stupice

Tips From Farmer Pat

    I was talking to my sister today and she telling her how poorly my vegetable garden did this year. She was bragging about how well her husband Pat's garden always does. She said his peppers are always huge and very productive. Out of 4 plants this year, I got a grand total of .......are you ready?.........wait for it.......
4 small peppers. So I called her house later today and since he wasnt home, I left a message. Farmer Pat, as I have teasingly started calling him, called me back later. I am going to note the tips he gave me here for future use. I write notes everywhere and can never find them again. I seriously doubt i can lose them from here. I hope!
     His very first recommendation was to get a Soil  Sample. So I plan on checking with my county extension agency next week about this. His further recommendations are based on what he has learned from gardening that have helped him in his soil in our area.
1. Lime the garden area this fall
2. Since last years garden did so well with the addition of a large amount of mostly composted Horse  
    Manure, I am going to do the same for next yr.
3.Plant Garlic in October.
4. Lime again in March or April
5. Plant Onions and cabbage in March or April. Cover cabbage with a milk jug if there is to be a heavy
    frost.
6. Pull garlic in July, then plant beans there.
7. For the green beans, sprinkle on bone meal over planting area, then plow under, or just sprinkle on top
    after planting. Also prepare the area now in the Fall by applying bone meal.
8. For Bell Peppers, he recommended applying Epsom Salts and Potash at planting about 6" out from  
    plant, around it in a circle during planting, then once a month. Or use a 5-10-10 fertilizer instead. First
    number being nitrogen, then sodium, and then potash.
9. For the corn, he said to use a 10-10-10 fertilizer 2 times during growing season. Also he said to dig a
    small hole about 1/2" to 1" deep, and plant 3-4 seeds. Then later thin to 2 strong plants. Also he has
    waited till corn was up about a couple of feet, then plant half runner beans around them.
10. He said for any underground bulbing type veggies use Bone Meal. Such as for Beets.
11. For the strawberries, he recommends covering them with straw for the winter, and then in spring,
      pulling it back some from each plant and applying nitrogen. Also to mow over the June bearing plants as
      soon as they are done producing.
12. For blight on tomatoes, he said I could use Sevin Dust, or mix a 1 capfull of bleach, and a gallon of
      water to spray the tomatoes.
He also generously offered to help me out next year if I needed. Farmer Pat, be prepared for a call or two...or three.

AreThese Tomato Seedlings?

I planted several different heirloom tomatoes last yr along with a couple early girl. I had so much problems with tomato hornworms and stinkbugs, I got very few fit to eat. Needless to say, a LOT fell to the ground. Now this same 4'x8' bed is full to the brim of these little seedlings. They appear, and smell like tomato plants. I dont know what to do with them. I thought at first they were marigolds, and was going to just leave a few sturdy ones, but now after they have gotten bigger and I smelled the leaves, I am pretty sure they are tomatoes. I hate to destroy them, but there is no way I have room for a few hundred tomato plants,lol. I didnt know the seeds would survive winter.

A Day Of Excesses

       Today was really a bad day for me to have taken on so much. The fibromyalgia has been acting up for the past 4 days. I have been feeling exhausted most of the day. On top of that I havent been sleeping again. Last night I got about 4 hours. This morning started out fair. I did some cleaning, had my kitchen cleaned and scrubbed in the bathrooms some. Then I decided I wanted to do some baking. I have been jotting down some recipes from allrecipes.com/ . I love this place. You get reviews, and can adjust your recipes according to servings.I started out this morning with making ten 8 oz jars of Strawberry & White Peach Jam. My first jam in a long time. It was going to be just strawberry, then I thought, "What the Heck!, I have some white peaches I just bought, so I will add a couple of them". Aside from a few screw ups in steps, everything was going pretty well. That is until my daughter called wanting me to make a phone call for her while the strawberries were boiling. Let me tell you, It doesnt take long for this stuff (in a too full pot) to violently boil over. All over my nice clean electric stove. Plus the burner is hot , and it gets cooked on, actually burnt on in some spots. The SMOKE is a flying! One thing in my favor, is that it is a smooth top. Took me OVER an hour to get that nonsense scrubbed, and scraped off with a blade. Aside from that, the jam turned out wonderful!

  When I am feeling so fatigued, I dont think clearly, and frequently screw things up. get sidetracked etc...you know the drill. I should have quit there, I knew better, but I wanted a nice supper for my husband. I then burnt the green beans I had picked from the garden.....again. Then   I decided to concoct and make a couple of loaves of white bread. I read that by reducing the sugar, you can get a lighter, fluffier bread. So I put together a recipe that should have been fantastic. YEAAA, I said "should have been". It raised beautifully. Dough felt fantastic. But I baked it too long. Crust got a little too brown, and too thick. It still tasted great tho, especially with that fresh jam :)

        Then I decided to make a meatloaf to go with the bread.....Wait a minute...Didnt I just say "I should have stopped" a little ways back? I guess I missed that. here we go again, back to allrecipes.com. Did a little research on favorite recipes, and came up with THIS one. But I changed several things, and came up with my own recipe which I will post below. This was hands down, the  MOST best tasting meatloaf I have ever had, including Cracker Barrel's.

Well, maybe my luck was turning. After all, this  worked out well. Then i fixed Mashed Potatoes. Another well made dish. Kind of hard to screw up mashed potatoes. But believe me I have done it. I burn a LOT of things by forgetting they are on the stove cooking, or falling asleep on the couch.
By this time, I was too tired to make the salad I had planned. I had even picked the lettuce from the garden too. So I just sliced up my first Early Girl to eat plain. What a SPECIAL treat that was!

While I was working on these things, my daughter and her daughter decided to make cookies. They made sugar cookies, and chocolate chip.

Now my nice clean kitchen is destroyed! More work to do..........

Meatloaf

Loaf:

3/4 cup Packed Brown Sugar

1 TB Worcestershire sauce

3/4 cup ketchup

2.25 Ib Hamburger

1/2 cup of milk

3 eggs

2 and 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 medium onion chopped fine

1/2 green pepper chopped fine

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 and 3/4 cup cracker crumbs

Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1 TB vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1 TB mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar ( my husband liked it this sweet, but I think I would have preffered a little less)

Combine loaf ingredients in a bowl. Dont overwork. Place into loaf pan or other dish and form into a loaf.
Combine your sauce ingredients and pour over loaf. Bake at 350° for about an hour and 10 minutes.Depending on your oven, you might want to check it in an hour.

                                                                White Bread
1 cup of warm water
1/3 cup of sugar
2 packs of yeast
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of warm milk
1/3 cup butter or vegetable oil
1 egg lightly beaten
6 cups flour ( I used unbleached King Arthur)

Mix together first 4 ingredients and set aside to allow yeast to activate. Then add the rest of the liquid ingredients. Measure in the flour, reserving the last cup to add in increments . Knead by hand for about 10 minutes, or about 5 minutes by electric mixer with dough hook, then finish by hand. (just my preference). Could be all done on machine. Pour small amount of oil in bowl, and grease bowl, then turn dough into bowl, greasing all of dough. Cover with towel, and let rise in warm area for about an hour or until doubled. then pan out into 2 loaves and allow to raise again till doubled. About 45 minutes. bake at 350° for about 25 minutes or until sounds hollow when tapped.

                                          Strawberry & White Peach Jam
4 cups mashed strawberries ( also put mine thru a blender so there were no large chunks)
1 cup mashed white peaches (blended with strawberries)
4 TB lemon juice
1 box sure jell pectin
7 cups of sugar
I just followed the directions that come in your Sure Jell box for cooking. Pour into jars, and seal by hot water bath.

Ten Days Of veggie Growth

   We were only gone for 11 days, but I couldnt believe the growth that had happened in the potager in that time. The Half Runner pole beans were HUGE! I last photographed them on June 15 ( we left on the 19th). This is what they looked like:

This is what I came home to on the 30th, just 15 days after the above photo was taken:

The tomatoes were determined they weren't going to be out done:

At most, some were about 3 feet tall. The Early Girl's only had 5-6 small green tomatoes on them. Now 15 days later, they are about 6' tall, and lots of Sungold Cherry tomatoes, and Brandywine have set on:

Now the tomatoes are staked, and everything weeded. I will take an updated pick today of the tomatoes, because they are now within a foot of the top of the 8' stakes that were pounded into the ground about a foot or so (which was as far as my husband could get them in the hard clay soil under the horse manure..

 

Bloomin Tuesday

  It's Bloomin Tuesday, and I have lots to contribute. Lots of things are new for me this year. So I am very thrilled at  all the little surprises I find every day.
My first Echinacea "Tiki Torch" bloom. I bought it late last year and it was too young to bloom yet.

This Rudbeckia is bloomin like gangbusters. I love the color varieties in every bloom.

Rose Mallow, first bloom from a winter sown plant.

Balloon Flower "Sentimental Blue". However this guy is twice as tall as it was last year. It must really be loving the horse manure that I top dressed the garden with in spring. last year it was only 6" tall. The flower is just in its "balloon" stage and has opened yet.

Lavatera "Pink Beauty". Another first blooms from a winter sown plant.

Lysimachia "Alexander". This is my second year for it. It is supposed to be variegated, but for some reason, half of the plant reverted back to a solid green. It is still pretty tho, but to be honest, I prefer the variegated.

Another Asiatic Lilly I got in the fall last year when Lowe's had them clearanced for a dollar. This is the first time I got to see my prize.

This is Stella d'Oro lily. I love the bright golden yellow of this plant. it just keeps getting prettier every year.

Lychnis. I received this from a Gardenweb friend last year. I love the bright jewel tone color.

Clematis Jackamani growing in with an un-identified white climbing rose.

Nicotiana "Hot Chocolate". This plant was started from seed by winter sowing, and planted Hunk-O-Seed style. As you can see there is a great variety of color here in these two blooming plants, But I think that is what makes them so pretty. While photographing them, I had forgotten about the wonderful scent Nicotiana has, until it hit me.

I have posted pics here of one of my favorite roses....Madame Isaac Pereire. This past winter I decided to try sowing some of her seeds for the first time. I have never grown roses from seed before. Most likely they will not be true to the parent, but so far the color matches.Here is mine now only 6" tall and getting ready to open. "I 'm not as young as I once was", oh wait thats one of my favorite songs,lol. Well anyway thats my excuse for not getting down on my knees and putting my nose to the ground to see if it smells as heavenly as Madame.

This is, I think, Nasturtium "Milkmaid". I planted several of these in the potager.I love the deep, blood red color of the blooms.

These are my first blooms on winter sown Catchfly. 

This is Rudbeckia "Tiger Eye Gold" that I rescued from Walmart's clearance pile. It was looking pretty ragged. I am surprised, Walmart doesnt usually discount their flowers. they always told me before that they return them. They must have changed their policy.

Petunia "Laura Bush" from winter sown seedling. I believe these are supposed to return every year. I am hoping.

Balsam Impatients. I havent grown these for many years. I remember how the pods "snap" open springing their seeds out. I cant wait to show my grand daughter.

These are the Hydrangea "Annabelle" grown from cuttings a few years ago. I love the bright white of these blooms.

White Yarrow

Shrimp Plant. This was grown from winter sown seeds as well. The flowers are rather small and non descript. But I like the foliage.

Another Asiatic Lilly I bought last fall on clearance. This one is a pretty white and called "Tiny Snowflake"

This is a pretty pink Hollyhock.

Malva "Mystic Merlin". I love the color of these.

Antirhinum "Rembrandt" grown from winter sown seeds. I hope these guys grow, cause in the pics on valueseeds.com they look to be at least a foot or so tall. This one blooming is only about 4-5" tall.

And updates on the potager....The first is my tomatoes. Early girl has green tomatoes on her about 2" across, the others just have some blooms.

The pole beans are growing very quickly as well.

This is a shot of the back of my house taken from the backyard over looking the top of the stone retaining wall.