sb158’s Valley Garden

sb158 | June 8, 2010

I haven’t posted any pics in a while, so I guess it’s time for an update. Things are definitely going better than they did last year. We had a nice t-storm last night, and I think everything grew a foot overnight! More storms possibly tonight, too. Amazing what a little thunder, lightening, and rain can do for a garden.

A growing cantaloupe

Can’t wait to eat this!
And some cukes



More tomato & cuke salad in the very near future.

The laundry hamper volunteer tomatoes keep chugging along. I’ve gotten more than 7 lbs. of tomatoes from these guys so far. Picked all of the almost ripe ones yesterday, as I knew it might rain and didn’t want the tomatoes to split.



And the tomatoes to go with the cukes…

This is a chile pequin (wild bird pepper) bush. These are really hot little buggers; you can see a ripe one if you look hard enough.



Hot stuff
This bush has quite a story. DH’s dad had a bush in front of his house that he babied for years. He used the peppers to make some wicked salsa, among other things. When he died, we dug up his bush and put it in a 5 gal bucket that we hauled around for years! I knew the bush would die when we moved back up north, so we gave it to hubby’s brother. He’s not what you’d call a gardener; he killed the poor thing!

Hubby’s been looking for a replacement ever since we moved back down here. A few months ago, we went to a family birthday in Hebbronville, and hubby found a bush in the yard. He says “We’re taking this home” as he grabs it and just yanks the poor thing out of the ground. He hands it to me and says “You can plant this, right?” I’m like “WTH am I supposed to do now?” So I wrapped it up in damp paper towels, put it in a baggie, and took it home. I cut it way back, put it in a gritty soil mix in a gallon pot, and covered the pot with a plastic bag. Kept it under my florescent lights and babied that sucker along. Much to my surprise, it didn’t die, and eventually started growing. Uncovered it gradually, and put it outside when it got warm. This spring I put it in the container, and it has done quite well, so far. It’s going to need a bigger container come fall, I think. Fascinating, right? LOL!

Had enough yet, or should I go on? Okay, you asked for it. This is my pitiful-looking Side-of-the-Stairs container garden. Looking pretty sad, aren’t they? The annual blanketflowers have just about had it, as have the bachelor’s buttons. I’m letting both go to seed so I can save some for next year. The jasmine is dropping leaves in self-defense (normal, I’m told), but there are still things growing.

Getting too hot for the Side-of the-Stairs flowers, I think.

These are cinnamon basil and a Mini-Rose morning glory I think I got from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It’s supposed to trail to about 3′; I like the variegated leaves, too. Very pretty little plant.

Cinnamon basil and MG

This has gotten long enough. I’ll leave the butterfly garden and hanging baskets for another time. TTYL…

Category: Veggies, containers | 1 Comment »
Tags: basil, containers, flowers, Tomatoes, Veggies, weather

sb158 | May 14, 2010

And Gold Bond Powder. Yesterday I posted about critters eating my melon leaves and what to do about it. One gardener wrote that she puffed Gold Bond Medicated Powder (the cheap store brand) on her melon leaves, and the cucumber beetles (or whatever critter was chowing down) left her plants alone. Apparently they didn’t like either the menthol or the powder. Figured it was worth a try. If it killed the plants, well, the bugs would have done that anyway, right? So I misted the leaves and dusted with powder, and it didn’t look like there were any new holes today. Couldn’t say for sure, so I cut all the chewed leaves off and dusted again. This way, I’ll know for sure if it worked or not. I’m hoping it does, cuz those critters decimated the poor melons last year. I’ll let you know.

Before I get on with the flowers, got a quick question. I’ve mentioned previously that we were thinking of moving into a bigger home here in the park. We’ve decided that since it’s unlikely we’ll be getting out of this god-forsaken Valley any time soon, we might as well buy something. There are a bunch of foreclosed homes down here, so we can probably find something nice that we can still afford. So, the question becomes, am I a total garden geek for spending until 3 am this morning “daydreaming” about how I want my garden when we actually do get a house? I mean, really. I have no idea at all what kind of space I’ll have, and here I am planning a garden already. What kind of sense does that make? LOL!

Pics and more inside

Category: Bugs, containers, flowers | 2 Comments »
Tags: Bugs, Butterfly Garden, containers, flowers, Gold Bond Powder

sb158 | May 4, 2010

Woo hoo! I managed to save my first ripening tomato from marauding mockingbirds by the timely application of bird netting, and picked it yesterday. It’s not a real big tomato, but it’s the first this year, and it’s mine!

Pics and more inside

Category: Veggies, containers, flowers | 2 Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Veggies

sb158 | April 29, 2010

Aside from the blooming blanketflowers, no earth-shaking developments today, unless you count the 4.0 earthquake in Alice, TX, the other day. From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times:
“ALICE, Texas (AP) – A small earthquake has rattled awake some residents in southeast Texas. A 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit an area near Alice, about 50 miles west of Corpus Christi, around 9:10 p.m. Saturday. No damage or injuries have been reported. But numerous residents felt the quake. A 3.8 magnitude quake was reported in Jim Wells County in March 1997.”
Still can’t figure this. Alice is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, and just about the last place one would expect an earthquake. I guess I don’t know enough about TX geology to say, but I wouldn’t think Alice would qualify as earthquake territory. Got a speeding ticket there once, more than 30 years ago. We were on our way from the Valley to San Antonio, in a new car DH hadn’t let me drive much. Wasn’t familiar with it, so I’m bopping along, and sure enough, they caught me. Everybody knows it’s a friggin’ speed trap up there, and I walked (drove) right into it. Really aggravated me. However, had DH been driving, he would have been going alot faster, and the fine would have been much bigger. First (and last) speeding ticket I ever got, though. Learned my lesson!

On to the blanketflowers. Pics and more inside

Category: Experimental, Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies, containers, flowers | 4 Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, roses

sb158 | April 23, 2010

Been busy all week with garden stuff, despite the lack of posts. Mostly just routine maintenance, watering, etc., but also seed starting and seedling babying. After a few really rainy days, it stopped raining and stayed cloudy and comparatively cool for a couple days. Today, however, is much more like our usual weather. Yukky hot and muggy…
Meanwhile, my daughter tells me that they had a whopper snowstorm in Colorado Springs, and her sons had a snow day. The boys enjoyed that, but the oldest one was not happy that now the last day of school won’t be until June 2.
Anyway. I’ve been germinating seeds using EG’s seed starting method, then planting them into yogurt cups and immediately putting them outside in a “nursery” spot. I figure they will start to grow in the conditions that they have to get used to, so the whole “hardening off” thing becomes a non-issue. So far, so good…

Pics and More Within

Category: Bugs, Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies, containers, flowers | No Comments »
Tags: Bugs, containers, flowers, Veggies, weather

sb158 | April 15, 2010

We live on a tiny, long. skinny mobile home lot in extreme S. TX. The soil is alkaline concrete clay, unless it rains. Then the soil turns into soggy, sticky, stick-to-your-shoes gunk. I haven’t got the energy to mess with it, so most of my garden is containers. I have a small L-shaped raised bed for veggies, though I grow a bunch of them in containers, too. Not much of a garden, really, but it makes me happy to think I’m a gardener. I’m working on making it prettier as arthritis, time, money, and weather allow.

It’s really windy and cloudy; we’ve had rain showers all week so far. The plants didn’t want to stand still and smile, so the pics might be a bit fuzzy. Here’s what’s in bloom in my yard this month:

Mouseover the thumb to see the big picture. Click for the really big pic.
These first three containers are in my side-of-the-stairs container garden.

This container has blue sage, a Blackie sweet potato vine, and yellow lantana.

Tahoka Daisy, alyssum, and Blue Daze convolvulous.

Pink ‘N’ Blue Bachelor Buttons.

Here’s my other container garden, so far:

Pink Laura Bush petunias ( a wonderfully fragrant and forgiving plant), Red Nikki mix nicotiana, more Blue Daze, and some gazania.

White Gazania.

Yellow gazania and some mums about to bloom.

Like I said, nothing special, but it’s mine…

Category: Garden Blog Bloom Day, containers, flowers | 8 Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, Garden Bloom Day

sb158 | April 10, 2010

Uh oh. Knew I shouldn’t have done it. But I had to. Needed to buy a dog chain that the puppy couldn’t break if tormented by evil cats, and it was just there. Couldn’t help it. It’s an addiction…

I bet you know what comes next. The garden dept at Lowe’s. Yup. Almost as bad as a book store. I needed stuff to make Al’s container mix, and a little batch of gritty mix for the herbs. When all was said and done, I spent about $80.00, cuz I needed seed-starting mix, vermiculite, perlite, orchid bark mix and on and on. Then of course there was the new hose nozzle – old one died – and, oh yea, the creeping lemon thyme, Provence lavender, marjoram, and rosemary I just had to have. And the garden magazine. And the seeds. Only 3 packs, I swear…SIGH…

To make things even worse, I had to lug all that potting soil, etc, to the truck cuz the helper lady was helping a lady even older than me. So I’m trying to manhandle that cart thing in the vague direction of my truck, and I wandered off without the bag with the dog chain in it. The whole reason (so I told myself) I went in the first place. Naturally I didn’t remember until I was pulling in the driveway, so I had to turn right around and go back after it. Was still there, no problem, but…

Oh well. Once I got home, I made a small batch of gritty mix and planted the herbs. I put the marjoram, lemon thyme, and creeping thyme I already had in one of the ceramic pots Hubby got me on clearance last fall, but I also took a little piece off each to try another experiment. Hubby bought one of those cheap little charcoal grills for something or other, but I think he only used it once. The top (pretty red) was just taking up space in the laundry room, so I took off the handles and grill supports, lined it with a piece of coco fiber mat to keep the soil marginally cooler, and filled that with gritty mix, too. I put the little pieces from the other herbs in it, and will plant the common thyme seeds I bought today, maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.

Once I got done with all that, it was getting dark, and I was starving. Forgot to eat lunch today, and breakfast was a long time ago. Called it quits for today, and made a left-over roasted chicken sandwich.

I know it ’s way late, but one little corner of my raised bed is close enough to the house that it gets some shade even in summer. I had a foot or so of space once I pulled out the borage, so I decided to take a chance and plant some lettuce and spinach. Between the house and the swiss chard next to it, the spot may get enough shade to let them grow, at least for a while. Some of it’s already sprouting – so far, so good. Also planted some carrots. May not do well, but all it cost to try was a few seeds.

Just a couple flowers:

Blue Larkspur

Blue Bachelor Button

Tired and gotta get up early to ride to McAllen and have breakfast with Hubby’s nephew and his wife. That’s all she wrote, for now…

Category: Seeds/Seed-starting, containers, flowers, herbs | 2 Comments »
Tags: containers, Experimental, flowers, herbs, seeds

sb158 | April 7, 2010

Dang, I hate those evil cats that hang around the dumpster by our place. Went out to water earlier, and one jumped right out of my side-of-the-stairs garden. It apparently parked itself in the big pot with a nicely-growing baby cosmos; needless to say, gotta replant now…
On top of that, it decided to torment the dog so much that she broke her brand-new tie-out line. We found her out on the highway dodging cars. Thankfully before she was road pizza!

I have a cookbook that used to belong to my mom’s mom; was printed in 1920-something. It’s got a lot of old-fashioned recipes, and sometimes I find just what I’m looking for. Wanted to use some navy beans and leftover ham tonight, so went recipe hunting. Finally looked in Grandma’s cookbook. Imagine my surprise when I found a baked bean recipe that had been quantity-adjusted in Grandma’s handwriting. Made me tear up a minute, then I smiled. And used the recipe…

Had to go hunting for a good cornbread recipe to go with the beans; none of the ones I have turned out especially good. Found one on About.com that sounded good. It has to be the best cornbread I have ever made. I used 2 Tablespoons of honey, and it was still very sweet. If you don’t like sweet cornbread, adjust the amount, or leave it out altogether. But it came out moist and light; not at all dry or heavy like cornbread can be.

The beans were good, too; least, I thought so…

Honey Buttermilk Cornbread

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

* 2 cups stone ground cornmeal
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 3/4 cup milk
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 1/4 cup melted butter, cooled

Preparation:
Heat oven to 400°. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan or spray with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, milk, honey, and melted butter.

Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until blended. Spread in the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

In garden news, yesterday the beans I planted with the repotted mums weren’t sprouting yet. Today they are starting to sprout. Got dill and cilantro sprouting, too. Probably already to hot to get much out of either, but the flowers will attract beneficials, so it’s all good. All the cukes and watermelons still looking good, so I really have to thin pretty soon.

Not much else new in the garden; just trying to keep up with the watering due to the hot wind…as usual…Supposed to get a cool front some time tonight with possible showers. Surely do hope so.

Category: Recipes and Cooking, Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies, containers, flowers | 1 Comment »
Tags: containers, cornbread, evil cats, flowers, seeds, Veggies

sb158 | April 6, 2010

A while ago, I read Annie’s Granny’s post about her beautiful buns and decided to try the recipe one of these days. Today turned out to be that day. I used a cup each of whole wheat, bread, and all-purpose flour and threw it all in the bread machine on the dough cycle. Lookin’ good so far. Going to make 4 sandwich rolls and some rolls for dinner, to go with the chicken I’ll throw in the roaster shortly. I’ll let you know how they come out.

On the garden front, I’m happy to report that all the baby cukes and watermelon I planted out the other day are thriving. This is good, but it means I have to murder 6 helpless little baby plants in very short order…I hate doing that. Sigh… The mums and gazania I did that day are looking great, too. No beans sprouting yet, though.

All my annual seeds I’ve been sticking in my containers are sprouting and growing like gangbusters so far. Looking forward to purty flowers, barring any of Mother Nature’s nasty tricks.

In my side-of-the stairs container garden, still have lots of alyssum, while the convolvulus and salvia are blooming nicely, too. Sat on the stairs for a minute, and noticed what a pretty picture the blue & white made. What do you think?

Also forgot to post this pic of my baby tomato the other day. Grown since then, but you get the idea…

Golf-ball sized and growing

That’s about it for now. I’ll let you know how the rolls came out…

Category: Veggies, bread-making, containers, flowers | 1 Comment »
Tags: bread-making, containers, flowers, Veggies

sb158 | April 3, 2010

Since today was marginally cooler, breezy, and, most helpful, fairly overcast, I decided it might be a good day to plant out the baby cukes and watermelon that have sprouted so far. Keeps them out of the hot sun while they settle. Planted out Marketmore and Tender Green burpless cukes and Crimson Sweet watermelon. I put all the sprouted seedling of each in the containers; if they all survive the move, I’ll thin in a few days. Despite the clouds, I still covered them with the cube-things to keep the sun off and minimize wind damage.

Then I decided I’d divide the mums (yea, I know, should’ve been done ’round about February) while I was taking advantage of the clouds. I bought two cushion mums last fall (clearance is a wonderful thing); they bloomed themselves out and grew all winter. Pretty much took over the container. Hate do do this, but to divide, you gotta massacre all those pretty mums-to-be. It actually hurt… Here’s a couple “before” pics:

And then (Guh! Feel like Norman Bates here) I took the pruners to all those buds. Still wincing. Here’s an after:

Dug out the plants; divided the yellow mum into 2 plants, but the burgundy mum seems more vigorous. Divided that one into 4 little plants. Now they look like this:

Thought about this last night when I should have been sleeping. Decided the mums would look nice in a 24″ window box with the extra gazanias I transplanted a few days ago. So here they are in the new home:

I put the other two new mums in gallon pots, then moved pots and box to a shady spot and started praying I didn’t kill anything.

Meanwhile, I put one of each back in the original pot. See, plenty of room for more plants now:

So, more it is. I planted a couple Scarlet Runner, French Filet, and KY Wonder pole beans in the back. Put a couple Hestia half-runner beans in front to (hopefully) trail nicely down the pot, then stuck in a few Medinah bush beans behind the mums. No idea if mums make good companions for beans. We shall see what we shall see.

The red Nikki Mix nicotiana is blooming. While I’m talking about annuals, I’d recommend you try the pink Laura Bush petunia (pics here) I got from Wildseed Farms. The catalog description says “Very low maintenance and forgives neglect.” and “Flowers are delightfully fragrant.” Both are true. They grew all winter with no help from me, and they smell absolutely wonderful. If I’d known they were such great flowers, I’d have planted a bunch more. You better believe I will come fall.

I think I’ve rambled on long enough for one day. TTYL…

Category: Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies, containers, flowers | No Comments »
Tags: containers, Dividing Mums, flowers, Green Beans, Veggies