It's Started...

Now the time has come that I will have to think of something to do with all this summer squash! I will make zucchini bread, stuffed squash, stir fry...humm...what else can I do? Give me ideas! I think I am going to try to slice and dry some for soup this winter. Ron, is the solar dryer ready?

Curly Willow

We planted a new tree in the front yard last year. The previous one just up and died. I think it got too much water. It was an Acacia and they are native to Australia. Our front yard is rather damp so not a good combination. We needed a tree that likes its feet wet so did some research into trees that need lots of water and decided on the willow...then saw a Curly Willow. The branches of this variety are used in floral arrangements. The tree is now showing some real growth and getting branches with lots of unique shapes. I did some trimming of the lower branches and noticed that some of them close to the ground were beginning to get roots. So I took some of those branches I trimmed off and put them in water. Now the roots are really long. I am going to try to pot up some of these and see if I can start some new baby trees. I'll keep you posted!

Garden Closeups

Little baby green beans have shown up this week. They are so tiny but will grow fast and in a week or so we can pick some.

This is the only bell pepper I see that is of any size. All the rest are little marbles.

Two pea pods. They are now reaching for the sixth wire.

The Kohlrabi is a vegetable that few people are familiar with. They taste like a very mild turnip and are crisp and crunchy but grow above the ground. We always eat them raw in salads or with dip. We had the first mess of beet greens this week. With lime juice they were wonderful. I see tiny cucumbers coming along.

Baby Giant Pumpkins...We Hope!

The giant pumpkin vines are glowing fast. They are spreading all over and have set on little baby pumpkins. Soon we will have to decide which ones to keep and remove all the rest. We have put dirt on the long vines and they will grow additional roots there.

What a Week...

We have been doing lots of maintenance kind of things around here this week. First we discovered a big soggy spot in the garden...a hose must be leaking. Well, not so much...it was a main water line. We dug out the pipe and found the parts we would need to fix it. And wonder of wonders we actually found the parts we needed in our garden shed. That is a first! Usually, a PVC project requires at least one trip to OSH. These things always take longer and are more complicated than you first think, but it is now fixed and water is flowing to the garden again. Then we worked on Johnny's fence and put in a new gate. Also moved a big pile of chips that some tree cutters kindly dumped by our front gate. We told them to dump them by the BARN gate! Oh well, they are now spread out and will help discourage weeds. Finally, we trimmed the hedge down by the garden and moved the rest of the compost pile. Somewhere in there, I trimmed Johnny's hoofs and took Lumpkin to the vet. He was not happy to get in the pet taxi but did very well once he realized he had no choice.

He had some funny black spots that appeared on his nose. I found out they are Lentigo Simplex and not uncommon on orange tabby cats. He has them on his lips and gums too and probably will get more as he ages. Who knew that?

Shee... what a week!

First Yellow Summer Squash

We picked the first yellow summer squash. My goal is to use it at this small tender stage and not to let it get ahead of us. Of course the big ones are good stuffed. The zucchini is about two inches long and will be ready soon too. I love to make zucchini bread.

Apricot Tart

I made an apricot tart for desert last night. What a great way to end the day!

Flavorella Plumcot

We planted this tree two years ago and had a small crop already this year. It looks much like an apricot but has the texture of a plum. I can't decide if it tastes more like an apricot or a plum but it is good! The David Wilson Nursery tag says, "Flavorella Plumcot - Medium sized fruit with translucent golden color, light red blush and slight pubescence; ripens in late May to early June. Excellent flavor with firm, juicy flesh. (250 hours) Pollinizer required." We also planted a Pluot tree in the orchard but it hasn't had fruit yet. I am anxious to see how they compare.

Another Week

It's Tuesday again and time for the weekly garden pictures. The tomatoes have over grown the straw, so soon we will spread out the last bale. Almost every plant has blossoms and some have little green tomatoes. We have many varieties including some heritage plants.

The green beans are just about to bloom. Once they do it won't be long before we will have wonderful yummy little fillet beans.

I searched all around for signs of little baby snap peas and I didn't find any. I know they will be coming soon. The plants are now close to the fourth horizontal wire. I find that an easy way to check their growth. It is amazing how they wrap their coiling tendrils around the wire. How do they do that? Come on little peas...show us some pods!

The corn is finally showing some progress. I had to replant some of it because it didn't germinate very well and I suspect ghopers ate some seeds. AND... then gophers pulled some of the new sprouts down their holes. They are such pests! But despite it all, I think we will have a good crop and maybe it is a good thing that it won't all be ready to pick at the same time. I can hardly wait until we cook our own corn on the grill.

So, things are looking good. Cucumbers and peppers are coming along well. The beets are almost big enough that I can pick some beet greens. I planted fennel this year for the first time. If anyone knows of special ways to use it, please leave me a note in comments. I would love to hear from you.

Bread Baking Day

Ron and I take turns baking bread. He likes to bake no knead rustic bread which uses a small amount of yeast and takes 18 to 24 hours of rising time. I bake whole grain bread using more yeast and ready to eat in about 5 hours. They are both good...just different. Today was my day to bake. I used a combination of whole wheat flour, corn meal, barley, 10 grain cereal, wheat germ, rye and white flour. The Kitchen Aide mixer and dough hook does a good job of getting it mixed up. With the hard part done, it rises until double in size and I put it into the pans and let it rise again and bake. Of course the aroma of the bread rising and then baking is a reward of its own but then you get to eat it too. This is truly one of life's great pleasures!

Grilling Time

We put some veggies and burgers on the grill this evening. Oh, they were so good. Hubby did a wonderful job of getting them just right!

Soon these little baby summer squash will be big enough to be on the grill too. I can hardly wait. A couple more weeks and I bet some will be big enough to pick. Yeah!!

Apricot Tree #2

We have been eating apricots from our tree this week and lamenting the fact that there were not very many. I hadn't gone over to the second tree to check it out for some time. Well, it looks like we will be having plenty of apricots! The two trees are different varieties so they do not ripen at the same time, which is a good thing. Hubby has been talking about building a solar food drier. I think he should get that done so we can save some of these apricots for eating this winter. In just a few more weeks these will be ready!

Blueberries

We have several blueberry plants and the berries are now ripening. They are so good. It is a rather time consuming job to pick them but well worth it. We put them on cereal in the morning or as an evening snack with ice cream. Wonderful!

Giant Pumpkins

Last year Hubby planted giant pumpkins and he grew one that measured to be about 350 pounds! We are going to try again this year and maybe we can grow an even bigger one. We saved seeds from last years biggest and have planted them up by the water tanks. They will get more sun up there. Ron got the tractor and brought up several bucket loads of wonderful compost. Thanks to Johnny and his big horse friends next door, the plants will certainly have very rich soil to provide them all the nutrients they need. Now, with lots of water and sunshine, let's see how big we can get these pumpkins!

Straw for the Tomatoes

Yesterday we went to our Farm Supply and got bales of straw to put around the tomatoes. We have tried several methods of keeping tomatoes off the ground. Cages sort of work until they fall over from the weight of the plant. Wire on both sides works but is very time consuming. If you just let them grow on the ground, many of them rot. So over the years we have found that letting them sprawl on top of straw is the best for us. Today we spread out the first batch of straw and we will add more as the plants get bigger.

Bay Laurel Tree

About 15 years ago, we planted a Bay Laurel Tree in a pot. We have re potted this tree twice now, each time increasing the size of the pot. We haven't bought bay leaves in all these years because we just go out on the patio and pick our own. The leaves can be used fresh if a very mild flavor is what you want, but mostly I use them after drying. I pick a batch and let them dry until they are very brittle before storing them in a jar. We love them in Navy Bean soup!

There is no snooze button...

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast." -Author unknown.

I have found this out the hard way. If I don't get moving fast enough, they take matters into their own hands...uh, paws.

Rain Drops!

We woke up to a wonderful surprise...rain drops. It was a nice warm rain and we only got about a quarter inch but it was so refreshing. Johnny loved it too. Instead of staying in the barn, he just stood out and had himself a little shower! We opened the french door and the kitties sat inside and looked at stuff outside. I don't know what they saw - birds, bugs - something out there sure fascinated them. About 10:00 the rain quit and I went out and planted radishes and basil. The garden looked so fresh and green. I also moved some Zinnia seedlings that had come up as volunteers between the rows. Zinnias were my Mom's favorite flower to put in the garden with the vegetables. I feel like she sent me a special message with these perky little plants so I moved them to one of the beds. Patsy ran around and checked out each and every puddle. I think everyone enjoyed this unexpected rain!

Cat Grass

Patches and Lumpkin are enjoying the grass in the pot. It is a delight to watch them chewing on the new shoots. After a few days, I switch it with a second pot and put this one outside to recover.

It's Been Over a Month

We planted the garden a little over a month ago. The tomatoes are growing fast. Everything else is coming along nicely too. The green peppers have blooms. We have been eating radishes every day and can plant a second crop of them soon. They are fun to grow because they are ready to harvest so fast. I replanted some of the corn and now see the new shoots peeking through. We thinned the dill and I used those little plants in our salad this evening. It had a wonderful fresh taste. I am so anxious to have all this stuff ready to eat. Grow garden...grow!

Apricots are Ready to Pick

We picked the first apricots of the season today. They were so good. The birds have discovered them so I picked some to fully ripen inside. Oh, I am so happy to have the summer fruit ripening. The nectarine tree is loaded so we have that to look forward to also. Yeah!!!