My Almost Harvest

August 9, 2010

I can’t believe it’s mid-August and I’m writing a blog post about my “almost” harvest. The really wet spring set us back  a lot.

Beans

My twelve green bean plants (the only ones that came up out of 3 rows – after replanting 3 times) finally have blossoms and are almost ready to produce some beans. (I’m salivating as I write this – I love fresh green beans!)

Melons

The first of the cantaloupes are so close to being ripe! But still – it’s an almost harvest. We do have watermelon that will be picked this week – there are only 2 on the entire plant – but I’m thankful for them both!

(Note the piece of cardboard sticking out under the mulch? That really did the trick to keep the grass down!  We need a another layer of grass on the whole thing – but overall – I am so pleased with how it worked!)

Corn

The sweet corn is coming – even though the stalks looked stunted and pitiful. It sure is hard to wait for that fresh corn on the cob – but we’re almost there.

I am really proud of the fact that that I still have recognizable corn and bean rows! The kids have done a fairly good job keeping up with the grass and weeds. By this time most years, we have to walk through some pretty tall weeds to find the sweet corn. (Not that it’s weed free – but at least the corn is taller and you can see the dirt between the rows! :) )

Pepper

Finally! Something I can harvest! The hot peppers are loving this tropical weather and have really started putting on. The little ones make the best poppers in the world – pretty mild with just a little kick. The longer ones pack a little heat. Yum!

I wish I remembered what their names are – but since I replaced so many with whatever hot peppers I could find – I have no idea what’s out there right now. I’m just glad to have something to pick!

We also saw one Roma tomato that is almost ripe and 2 sweet peppers that are gaining in size.

It’s coming!  If I can just be patient a little longer, there will be fresh produce gracing my table and filling the jars on my shelf!

Please let it be soon!

For more garden inspiration, head on over to The Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , | Comments (10)

What’s With the Dead Plants?

July 28, 2010

Mostly Dead Plants Just look at what I got at the grocery store!

What? You’re not impressed?

My husband wasn’t either – until I told him they were free! :)

You still might question what possessed me to bring home some mostly dead plants – even if they are free.

I’m so glad you asked!

First of all – they’re perennials. That means that they will come back year after year from the roots.

These have already blossomed for the year and have died back – leaving behind seed pods full of seeds – which is the second reason I grabbed them.

So not only can I plant the roots, I can harvest those seed pods and plant them as well.

And plant them I will – all of them!

My plan is to plant some of them in my flower garden, and the rest of them – and all the seeds I can gather – will be planted and sprinkled into the deep ditch in the front of the house.

This ditch is too deep to be mowed safely, so I’ve been trying to get wildflowers started in it. Ideally – the plants will naturalize and I will have my own beautiful wildflower garden.

But for now – I am thrilled with my free plants!

Sometimes a little knowledge can  turn what others see as trash into a real treasure!

I’ve linked this post up with Works For Wednesday over at We Are That Family.

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening, Thrifty Ideas | Tagged , , | Comments (9)

Operation: Save the Garden

July 5, 2010

It stopped raining. Finally.

We’ve now had an entire week of gorgeous weather – mid 80′s – low humidity and a light breeze.  :)

The farmer’s are making hay as fast as they can – and we set out to save the garden.

You may remember my grass-covered corn patch of a week ago. Well – look at it now!

We worked really hard to find the buried corn! It had some hail damage and 3 rows had to replanted – but it’s growing!

Remember the watermelon and cantaloupe plants that I transplanted to replace the ones that never came up? They were covered with grass as well.

Tall grass.

Impossible to weed it all grass.

Made me want to cry to look at it grass.

So we got creative! We took cardboard boxes, cut out a hole and slid them over the plants. Then we took hoes and chopped the grass down around the plants and covered the entire area with cardboard boxes. The whole thing.

We used every cardboard box on the farm. Toward the end the kids were even dumping things out of boxes and ripping them down. It was a last ditch desperate attempt.  But we did it.

Then we covered them all with grass clippings. The kids said it was kind of like laying carpet! It looks great and so far it’s working with just a few stray blades of grass peaking through where the cardboard pieces meet.

And those yellow looking tomatoes? most of them have greened up beautifully – and I even have a couple of blossoms! :)

I lost several pepper plants, but still have a few that look pretty good.  I even have one baby jalapeno pepper growing.

Things are most definitely looking up!

I’ve linked this post up at The Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , | Comments (5)

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

June 15, 2010

It’s raining, it’s pouring…  but this old woman is not snoring – she’s fretting and frustrated!

We have seriously had too much rain. The National Weather Service reported that we have had over 11 inches already in June. That averages out to almost an inch a day. Over 6 of those came at once on the infamous Chuck Norris Saturday – and we haven’t dried out since.

The weather radio seems stuck. “A chance of rain before midnight, some locally heavy. A chance of rain after midnight…”

It’s become almost a joke. Almost.

Your heart goes out to the farmers who should be finishing up their first cutting of hay and starting their second.

Garden Flood

It also goes out to my poor garden. My tomatoes and peppers have been in for almost three weeks now and they are not growing. They look yellowed and forlorn. Shall we talk about my green beans?! They have also been in for 3 weeks. Only 4 seeds germinated. I guess I’ll replant for the third time.

Garden River

Don’t I have a lovely river running through it?!  I guess I shouldn’t complain – some farmers can almost float a bass boat in their fields.

Grass

And here is my corn patch -overtaken by grass – it seems to like the wet weather. Trust me – there is corn growing in there – somewhere.

But all is not lost! There are still things to be thankful for. The cool wet weather has meant a longer and more abundant asparagus harvest and the red raspberries are just coming on now. We had our first wild black raspberry this week – and I see one lone blossom on one hearty pepper plant.

YEAH

Let’s count some more blessings… the corn germinated pretty well and looks good (if we can just get the grass out of it!) The local Amish store had several nice watermelon and cantaloupe plants for sale that replaced everything the ones that didn’t come up from seed (which would be all of them!)

And the rain just stopped for today. The sun is out and the birds are singing.

If only this would last….

I’ve linked this post up over at the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

By Country Gal | Posted in Gardening, Spring | Tagged , , , , | Comments (9)

Fresh Strawberry Pie

June 11, 2010

Strawberry Pie Thanks again to the goodness of friends (love you Stan and Dorothy!) we picked another huge strawberry patch this week.

This time, though, it was the end of the season and the berries were much smaller and not as numerous.

They were, however, really tasty! :)

After picking, we followed tradition by taking some of the biggest and nicest berries, washing them and then dipping them first in sour cream then brown sugar.

Delicious.

Then the kids started hulling (it only took part if one movie this time!) while I made the crust for our fresh strawberry pie.

I hesitated to share this recipe since I thought everybody in the world had a fresh strawberry pie recipe. But I was wrong.

I discovered friends a few weeks ago who had never heard of it. Poor things.

So in their honor- here is one of our favorite summertime treats.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 – 9 inch baked pie crust
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons corn starch
2 Tablespoons white corn syrup
strawberry jello
1 quart fresh strawberries

Combine water, sugar, corn starch, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of strawberry jello.

Cool, then add the strawberries and mix gently.

Pour into the baked and cooked pie shell. Refrigerate.

Serve with whipped cream.

You can get fancy with the strawberries and set them up nicely – but with five kids who don’t really care what it looks like as long as there’s a lot of it – I normally don’t take the time.

This is also delicious with fresh raspberries or fresh peaches. Just substitute the appropriate flavor of jello.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up at Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

By Country Gal | Posted in Cooking and Food, Gardening, Harvesting, Pies | Tagged , , | Comments (9)