Everything But Gardening

March has been so very, very full!

So Far, So Good

The pepper project I started a few days ago is a success so far...almost too much of a success.   I didn't check the bags due to the business of getting back to school and all the other things that get in the way of checking baggies of pepper seeds.  Then today in the middle of teaching it popped into my head that I should probably check these guys out when I got home.  Sure enough, the seeds are sprouting--but now most of the seeds have secured themselves to the paper towel pretty good.  I tried to tweeze their delicate baby roots off the towel, but it was too risky.  Instead, I'm going to cut out each seed with the small bit of paper towel its attached to and plant them this weekend.  Hopefully this means peppers!

But look!  I have a sprout--a sweet yellow stuffing has decided to make a go of it!  I may have more peppers than I anticipated.

Sugar Daddy and Baby White

This planter finally decided to bloom.  The other one towards the porch is still thinking about it.  I love walking by these every day coming home from work.  Petunias have a special place in my heart along with lilacs and four o'clocks...lots of happy memories wrapped up in them.

Shallot Substitute

I pulled up the rest of my failed onions last week and then brainstormed how to use them.  Then, when I saw the recipe for mushroom and kale pie that called for shallots I thought why not?  I can't say that I followed the recipe exactly.  I didn't have enough parmesan, so I threw in some mozzarella and then added cauliflower-which the recipe didn't even call for-and used plain old ordinary button mushrooms because I had bought a bunch on sale and needed to use them up.  Otherwise I stayed true to form.  The kitchen has to be one of my favorite ways to unwind after a day at work next to spending time in the garden.

Granted, all that came from the garden were my little defunct onions, but it was a crowd pleaser.  I love pie in any form and and this one is a definite must make again.  I'm attempting the Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie from the same Kitchen Window post to share later on this week at a get together.

Part of planning for the move to Zone 3b includes looking forward to growing kale and other cool weather greens.  The two varieties I will be comparing this year {yes, this year!} are Baker Creek's Marrow Stem and Russian Red-Ragged Jack. Don't even get me started on garlic.  As you may remember, I'm dreaming of that too.

Along with the pie there was baked eggplant as a side {not from the garden...you can see mine has a way to go...not sprouting quite yet and something that will go in this summer's garden}.  I have some Pandora and Cambodian giant planned.

Damage Control

I'm down to one little plant light which you can see below doesn't quite do the job.  This week I'm going to try to rectify this seed starting tragedy.   Tomatoes are actually starting to sprout quite decently despite my bungling, but not the peppers.  Remembering something I saw a while ago posted on Daphne's Dandelions I put some pepper seeds in some ziplock bags on a wet paper towel.  We'll see what comes of that--I would like to have a few pepper plants of some certain varieties available this summer.  Due to the neglect of seedlings last fall I have no pepper plants of those varieties right now and am lucky to have two tomatoes.  I ended up breaking down and buying one at Lowe's.  This one I believe is a sweet gypsy pepper.

As you can see from the picture above Jewel almost insured that they would not be planted.  On my way outside to harden these guys off I got distracted and set them down.  Luckily I came back in the room before she tackled them, but it was close.  To say Jewel has been excited to see me out in the garden again would be an understatement.  Although she is terrific at destroying plants, there has not been a time in the last three years that I've gardened that Jewel has not also been outside with me. She was so thrilled to see me grab my sandals and straw hat that she could not contain herself.  I'll have to try to capture some more Jewel gardening pictures this year.

This guy needs to be hung with probably another on just like it to effectively do the job...usually I don't use the plastic "greenhouse" lids, bit it has been a lazy way of keeping my seeds warm and laying the light on top--my bigger light has finally burnt out its "bulbs" and it has proven hard to find replacements in my area, but this little guy was available for $10.  I would love to set something up like my sister's on a large shop light. 

I'm hopeful this will get these guys going...

but the tomatoes are starting to do well, lots of new one's trying to peek up as well as some others well on their way to sprouting...tomatoes are my favorite thing to start from seed

Progress...little by little

At the beginning of February at basketball practice {most of you already know I coached a middle school team again this year} I went to catch/stop a misfired ball that was headed towards a player's head and received a direct hit to tip of a finger.  Taking it as just a jam I didn't think too much of it until it started to hurt even more a few weeks after the injury.  It got so that I could not think of using that hand {of course it was my right hand} without a lot of pain--the kind that makes it very hard to think straight.  I tried to let my students write for me as much as possible on the boards, and of course use the left hand as much as possible.  It all sounds very ridiculous now.  Life has been busy lately and the hand injury was the least of my concerns.  I knew the injury was in need of some TLC,  but didn't take the time for it.  If anything, this week off has been about remembering that I shouldn't wait until things can't wait anymore.  Turns out it was a broken knuckle that is totally broken and not healing correctly.  Now it's splinted and propped and iced...something how such a minor thing can hurt so much!

At first I was thinking that this issue would slow down getting the garden back together--something on the top of the agenda during this week off of work.  All that rye {the grass/out of control cover crop growing wild in the garden since early January} would take some work to remove.  It was probably a blessing in disguise!  I don't take the heat well and with the temperatures up in the high 80's and 90's for the first time this year I probably would have done myself in working non-stop weeding and planting.  Instead I've been tackling small portions at a time {mostly one handed}.  Things have been very manageable this way, and if things aren't as neat and tidy as they should be or if I have to take more time later on to get those weeds I've missed so be it.

What you see up above is a finally planted sweet potato bed {sunflower sprouts at the end being guarded from veracious birds} and a sun eagerly waiting being covered again by another round of climbing vines--in this case patty pan summer squash.  Progress.

What you see below is someone who has an excuse to sit back and take it easy inside reading seed catalogs and taking in stuff like this {I swear this was not the inspiration for the video lesson projects--we started those earlier this month}, plus this and this, finish reading this, and go out to a movie, chill during a birthday celebration, and refill those bird feeders.  Progress of a different kind!

Sand Hill catalog here...they offer quite a variety of Orpingtons

and then the niece has been plenty of help relaxing...

One Quick Rabbit in the Garden

Ophelia the silver fox in all her stealth sleekness

This rabbit had me scanning the garden last week around 5 a.m. still in my pj's with a flashlight in hand.  It's very hard to find a black rabbit in the dark, especially one as fast as the new silver fox addition...that name silver fox now makes me think of stealth  super power endowed rabbits. 

The young rabbit gals have been bunking out together in a sort of rabbit playpen at the end of the garden.  They love it for the space and seem to like chilling out together in rabbit harmony, but one is an explorer at heart and can't help but leave the company of friends for the opportunity to explore new lands--especially ones offering loads of fresh lettuce.  Little silver fox stayed happy for a few days in the "playpen", then she started mysteriously getting out of the enclosure.  I've come to the conclusion she can go over, under, and through the wire that the pen is made out of.

With this rabbit in mind I had to laugh the other night at the National Geographic article claiming the demise of Neanderthals may have been caused by fast rabbits.  Catching that little silver fox is like catching a wild rabbit, so I think if push comes to shove I'm swifter and smarter than prehistoric humanoids. 

Neanderthals Done in by Rabbits?  Prey May Have Been Too Swift to Stalk

Garden hopping will not be a permanent pass time, but we are looking forward to having more space to build in  room for running around this summer.

notice the blur of ears at the bottom of the picture as the other gals sedately occupy the garden

and look at that stance...ready to bolt

Just Two Tomatoes

This spring I'm just planting two tomatoes...the two who decided to actually grow despite some major neglect.  There's just enough time to actually get something out of them before it gets too hot.  The other tomatoes I have getting started are just little sprouts and will go up north in June.

One is a Granny Cantrell German Red which I can't wait to try.  Baker Creek says..."This meaty, beefsteak-type tomato is named after Lettie Cantrell, who received seeds from a soldier returning from Germany during World War II.  She grew this tomato in the hills of eastern Kentucky for many years.  This was her favorite tomato and the only one she grew. Each year she saved seeds from the largest tomatoes, some of which reached 2 1/2 lbs.  Our growers find it to be quite productive."

The other is the infamous Cherokee Purple so of course I don't need to say anything more.

I'm so glad these two brave tomatoes decided to carry on without me through December and January!

Granny Cantrell and Cherokee Purple getting adjusted to things outside

Seeds Saved: Louisiana 16" Okra

It was a good thing I saved so much of my 16" okra.  This year it's not offered by Baker Creek, but I have a supply!  Last growing season I fell in love with this variety.  For some reason I've never thought to save okra seeds--but seed saving has become a new mission, and so I thought this okra was as good a place to start as any.  Now I will never buy okra seeds again after that first initial package for a variety.  Of course this 16" okra is an extreme variety when it comes to size, but today, as I broke open the first dried pod I counted over 50 seeds--I have about 20 pods dried and ready for collection.

Part of me is very curious about whether I saved these seeds the correct way...having so many seeds of a favorite variety for "free" seems too good to be true.  So, I've decided to plant some {well more than some} along the perimeter of the west garden along the sunniest area by the block wall.  The next few days are suppose to be very warm--perfect for okra sprouting.

starting some snow pea seeds, collecting some okra, and getting ready to crush some egg shells for tomato planting purposes

about 50 nice looking seeds throughout one pod, only a few tiny duds

hopefully I'll be able to get a few more plants going soon

More Rabbits in the Garden

This would be two of the female show rabbits...Clementine and Pearl.  As you can see, they have been enjoying the salad buffet.

I'm getting ready to boot them out of the garden though.  Lots of clean up and planting planned for today.

Then there's the one that has already left the garden...

The State of Things

Posts have been few and far between for a while {read the 2012-2013 school year}.  After about November I ran out of time for anything but lettuce.  This is the state of things this fine morning--the first of my week long Spring Break vacation.  I've actually turned the rabbits loose in the garden the past few days to help themselves to the leftovers.  Nelson, one of the new show rabbits, thought that meant the potted planters as well.

I was able to collect a few more of my favorite Jaune D'Or Ovale radishes and then pulled the rest of my experimental onions that never got quite the size they should have {resulting in my self tutorial on long and short day onions}.  Even though the onions are small--some aren't even remotely oniony--I'm sure I can put them to good use this week in something.

This week I'll be putting in a few things for this March through May desert growing time slot.  Some of those things will include of course some more lettuce, but also some summer squash varieties, beets, beans, and some more peas along with another round of flowers {think zinnias!}.  I'm also tossing a few sweet potato sprouts in the ground.

Temperatures will be getting warm before I know it.  It's actually going to get to the high 80's and low 90's for a few days at the end of the week, but then luckily cool off after that.  This year I get double the spring time action though...how lucky can a person get, really!?  This week will also find me planning for something BIG...a move to Zone 3b, more on that later though!

A whole week off feels like a breath of fresh air, and a whole week off to play in the dirt is just what is in order for this tired teacher...just what's in order for a recharge.  More on the varieties going in the ground and the new garden layout soon....