Just Enough

I harvested what there was of the cilantro yesterday.  Sister Caprice came over and used this bouquet with some peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and lime to whip up some fresh salsa to have with burgers.  I'm hopeful I can get at least one more round before it gets toasty.  Love that fresh cilantro smell and do believe it made the salsa taste even better.

Worm Bin Update: a work in progress

The worm bin was going fantastically...diligent red wigglers pouncing on anything organic thrown their way and producing rich, black compost I couldn't wait to use quicker than I'd expected.  Then the fruit flies hit, not too bad in small amounts, but I'm just trying to keep it small, because I don't want them at all--not even in the laundry room.  I'd wipe down the sides of the bin with vinegar and make sure things were draining properly, but each time I opened the bin there seemed to be more, meaning they also had found a happy habitat.  After some reading I've decided that just maybe the problem is not enough dry matter along with all the produce and whatnot being thrown in.  So today I added any spare cardboard I could round up.  Like I said...this is a work in progress.  Hopefully I can get everything back in balance again.

*problem solved...after reading up on the issue I discovered its important to always have a layer of cardboard or newspaper to cover produce scraps going in--no more fruit flies.

Things that are Working With the Garden

Today is Rain Day at work...a day built into the school year calendar for the possibility of flash flooding and so much rain that the power is knocked out.  It used to happen often enough, but not this year, so today I was granted the privilege of being home all day on a Friday at the end of April.

Of course time has been spent in the garden.  I was able to harvest some nice fat beets I will pickle, more radishes, a handful of peas, and then one green bush bean.  I have had such problems with bush beans being eaten by birds and cats that I am ready to go to only pole, which for some reason are never bothered. 

The video is of the East Garden.  The West Garden is still in the baby stage.  In fact this evening I'm making some cloches for some plants over there. It took me three times to film this...I finally got lucky and found a span of time that a Huey wasn't flying over.

Wonderful day, if anything the garden has reminded me to be patient, good things are to be had if one waits just a bit longer. 

broccoli...it seems to be doing well--I think I'm one of the only gardeners that hasn't been very lucky with broccoli

German Chamomile...pretty, delicate flowers

grapes!

lots of sunflowers opening up

I got impatient and decided to pull a few carrots to see how they were doing.  I really want carrots and I've been worried the soil isn't lose enough where they are.  If I wait a bit longer I'll get some.

this bushy green bowl holds today's harvest...pulled a Chinese radish just to see how they are doing...still too
soon, but I'm going to try the little guy in a salad so it doesn't go to waste

Last of the Lettuce

Yes, its been hot lately.  Things have been busy too. Tonight it feels so good to go outside under the stars and work in the garden.  I'm hoping that as the next few weeks pass production time will hit full swing.  That means lots of water to help everything along.  Daily or twice a day artificial rain showers are a must.  I greatly admire the Hohokam and others who got this to work 700 years ago down here...or course they did have the rivers running then for their irrigation, but it's no lie that it was a lot of work.  The lettuce is wrapping up...this is the mizuna and then the other stuff {deer tongue and red velvet} has already been harvested.  I have been very impressed with the greens.  Lots of watering tonight under the stars.

Herb Boxes

cilantro, sage, oregano, and hopefully lemon balm in the boxes...basil and thyme other places, and of course that dill
No mint...can't stand the stuff, maybe it was getting too much of a concentrated smell of it on the Bower's mint farm on the Missouri or too many trips in an air tight pickup cab on trips to Mitchell with some good guys who loved their wintergreen skoal, but it won't be found in my garden.

I've tried something new with my herbs this season.  I'm not sure if it'll be a permanent technique in my gardens, but right now it serves its purpose.  Lots of cilantro and sage going and oregano trying.  I've been frustrated with my lemon balm.  The stuff is suppose to grow like weeds, but not here.

Anyways, my herbs are doing okay.  I'm dreaming of the day that they overflow like weeds.  Basil is said to do well in Zone 9...mine is off to a good start.  I'm not sold on the blocks.  In my next life I might just stick to pots and then maybe some tin cans??  Or maybe just the good old ground.

Hot day in the garden for sure.  Good day for that okra to grow.

Bought a Luxury Item

I bought a sprinkler hose today.  I've never had anything like this...in fact a hose is honestly a luxury item.  As the garden has grown in size and the watering needs have increased it has gotten harder to make sure the plants have what they need {its just so unbelievably dry}.  When I went shopping I was looking for a good old fashinoed soaker hose, but there weren't any, so I got the sprinkler version {100 feet of it}.  Getting it all layed out so it was spraying where it needed to was quite the trick and I got more than a little wet, but it was 99* out so it felt great {this weekend is our heat wave days, and then it should cool down to the high 80's}.  It's doing the job and I can hear the plants sighing in relief. 

A little flood irrigation taking place
in the picture...red velvet lettuce I'm finishing off this weekend and Chinese radishes...the onions and French breakfasts are hanging out on the edges

Here are some other garden pictures from the big watering session...

not sure about the progress of the corn bed...we'll see if I can get everything to grow and produce....

three headed sunflower...hope it starts to perk up

more sunflowers just getting started

dill going to flower!

lemon basil is doing great

my young Boothby Blond Cucumbers are looking pretty good

I Have Peas

No news to report, except that its been a busy and tedious week with testing.  Sorry for the lack of posts, but testing takes so much energy that by the time 3:00 hits I've been completely worn out.  Confining 10 and 11 year olds in their chairs for 4 hours and then having to referee the rest of the day is quite the task at times...that I got done but it took a lot of energy.

The garden has been getting a lot of water.  It will cool down to the 80's soon, just don't want things to fry before that.  I do have peas to report.  These are the first few, and plenty more are on the way.  Yum.

More Cosmos

Yes, I do have other flowers planted, but right now the cosmos are the only thing blooming.  They're doing a spectacular job of it too, as you can see by the pictures I took last Sunday!  So here's the latest batch of cosmos....it's so sad to think about them wilting away when I'm not home to enjoy them.  Think I have it bad for these cosmos.

Sharna, I can't wait to see your flowers when they get going!

Finally Some Spuds

I ordered some potatoes way back in December from Johnny's, and they finally came today {I begged them to ship them earlier, but no go}.  Next time I'm making sure to lay aside my own seed potatoes!  When UPS pulls up I get an ear full from the dogs; Lenny and Charlie are used to sounding up the alarm when company pulls up being uncivilized country dogs.  I'm planning on maybe adding a few unique heirloom varieties in the fall perhaps if I can get another order in, but honestly I'm perfectly happy with my Yukon Gold and Pontiac Red, which I'm sure will be very tasty.  The potatoes are being grown in a converted trash can grow tower.  This will be a new experience, so stay tuned on how this goes.  I have to work extra hard for my depth around here.  Sweet potatoes are in one of the larger wood planter boxes and carrots will be as well, and this tower makes a lot of sense.  Can't wait to be turning up some of my own potatoes before long.

yukon gold

Under-the-Bed Expedition

Funny things can be found under the bed around here!  Bridget comes inside often times during the day to stretch her legs.  She's used to hopping around a classroom and being loved on by kids, so I've always tried to replace that since moving where she couldn't be a part of the school scene anymore.  She's not afraid of loud noises, dogs, cats, you name it...and she can find some interesting places to explore.

can you believe this gal is 5 yrs. old this spring

This post has nothing to do with gardening except for the fact that Bridget enjoys coming inside out of the garden once in a while...

Cabbage On Its Way

I'm impressed with my cabbage.  It's looking beautiful and I don't get enough moisture to worry about splitting heads and such.  I wish I'd planted more, but will have to wait until September to start a new batch. 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has been growing on me.  Now I have an almost 100% heirloom garden minus a few Asian greens and my sweet peas I'm trying to finish up, and Baker Creek has been the place to go and quite the inspiration.  The varieties available are stunning and their customer service beyond awesome.  I had a question about cross pollination of my varieties of peppers and they quickly found someone who could help me.  They're super fast at shipping {and its only about $3.50}, and they even include a free surprise seed package in each order; quite the nice surprise indeed.  I've been slowly buying up my year supply of seeds thinking ahead to what I plan on growing through the many garden season available down here in zone 9 and believe I have things all finalized {will post a grow list at the start of each "season", promise}. 

In one of my orders I received a packet of premium late flat Dutch cabbage seeds.  This will be an excellent variety to start in September and they're going to get huge.  The large flat cabbages are suppose to be some of the oldest varieties and I'm really looking forward to growing this.  Did you know that cabbage was thought to have been brought to Europe via the Celts as they traversed from Asia onward, and that the Roman soldiers used to carry cabbage on their treks to battle because it kept so well as food, but also to bind wounds with the leafs {just a few things I learned while reading The Heirloom Life Gardener}.  Will be starting my flat Dutch the last week of July to make sure they have four to six true leafs.  They'll also be in my classroom window instead of at the house, because it won't be cool enough to start these in my own window, however the school will be running their air chillier allowing me to grow many things needing those cooler temperatures to germinate well {yes, this is a lead in to some of the awesome things I have planned with my 4th graders this coming year...not all of these plants will be coming home}.

But for now I'm envisioning what I'm going to do with the few red cabbage heads I'll be harvesting soon.  Red cabbage recipes anyone?

note the little holes...think insect damage has stopped for now...
Neem's oil and a round of buttermilk and flower spray have been all I've
had to do so far in the garden

Smooth vs. Toothed Leafs

I've had some time to think minus the daily blur...

There's a lot of things being home will allow.  Hearing preschool aged and younger children play in the neighborhood backyards while their older counterparts are busy at school is magical, listening to NPR programs at their actual scheduled times kind of feels like quite the indulgence.  Then, of course there's the inevitable turn of my mind towards cool things I can do with my 10 and 11 year olds as the school year finishes up, plus the excitement of planning for next years 9 and 10 year olds-doing a lot of that {one year makes such a difference!}.  Look what I've been pondering...


Prehistoric Climate Change and Why It Matters Today

...smooth versus toothed leafs of course!

I love what the Smithsonian has to offer online.  Its just not in the budget to actually go to the Smithsonian with my students, let alone many of the great museums around locally.  But we can get a taste of a visit.  Stuff like the smooth versus toothed leaf talk can lead to so many other things...writing stories about what it might be like if the temps changed 10 degrees, sorting smooth and toothed trees in the tree field guide, staging a fossil dig, pressing leafs, skits about what life may be like, career investigations {lots of kids say they want to do this, of course, after seeing someone digging up fossils}...you get the idea.  Those kids that love numbers even get off on the equations presented in the little museum segment {yeah, there are kids whose brains love and see the world through numbers!}.

The gist of this leaf thing is that sawtooth edged leafs equal a cooler climate and smooth edged leafs are found in warmer climates.  As the temperature average goes up as a result of more CO2 in the atmosphere there will be less sawtooth varieties and more smooth.  Think of what that means.  I love this stuff.

Next year we may even have some actual trees the class can go look at.

grape sawtooth leafs

raspberry sawtooth leafs

Lemon leaf...I thought for sure the lemon would be
smooth, but are those teeth?  Maybe its just my tree and its difficulties.....

Good To Be Alive...Sunflower Edition

This sunflower is, I think, one of the teddy bear sunflowers because its about half the size of the other ones.  And it's getting ready to bloom!

Creeping Up

I get dizzy looking at all the green in this picture.  There's so much concentrated here compared to elsewhere it almost hurts my eyes!  It has me thinking Minnesota and late spring for sure.  I love this little, energetic pole bean who has already started its climb-the first one.  These are the Cherokees and I can't wait until they produce a wall of green and then get so high up on their climbing area that I need to put up additional oportunities in the form of cloths line.  I'm also experimenting with a purple Thai bean that I'm excited about, but they're still in the sprout stage.  The heat has me nervous, but I'm trying to breathe about it all.  The thought of my garden going crispy induces nightmares, but hopefully by planting carefully things will go well.  I've been reducing watering to toughen things up some now that we're past the seedling stage, and by the time the real heat comes of course lettuce and other greens will be finished up.  The thought of continuing to see green through the summer is a hopeful dream I really want to come true!

Laundry Day

Jewel on a laundry day a bit ago...there are lots of laundry days around here!
The garden is all dirt, backyard and front and desert all dirt.  So much dirt.