Nourish the garden, nourish the soul.

Wake up, spring's a comin'!!!!

2012-02-10T05:49:00.001-08:00

Hello Garden Gals and Guys!!!!

It's been awhile, hasn't it?! I trust that everyone had an enjoyable Christmas (or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc.) and wonderful New Year!

I don't know about you, but I'm done with winter. I was done the day after Christmas! I'm ready for spring to come in all her glory!

There's a new development in Big Fat Earth. I went to visit Cathy and we talked about last year's growing season and what we would like to do this year. When I pulled up to the farm, there was an assault on my visual senses!

Last year, this was the view as I stood at the top of the garden and looked down:

See the lovely tree line? A lovely, peaceful oasis, right?

Take a gander at what I saw when I visited this past Saturday:

Yes...the tree line is gone. There is a new housing development coming up just beyond the property line. I knew it was coming. I guess it was just a shock because I hadn't seen my lovely garden space since September. Here's more of the madness:

Now below is a more close-up view. It's a good little walk down right to the edge of the land. At least it's not right on top of the garden....but still too close, darnit!!!

Developers....ya gotta love 'em.....NOT!!!!! Well, I am thankful that I still have land to grow on. Maybe I'll just get a REALLY huge piece of paper and have my daughter paint a nice farm scene to hang as my backdrop! I can just see my garden slowly awakening, wiping the winter from her sleep eyes and saying "ahhhhh spr.....what the hell?!"

But enough of that. A few developers won't stop me! The seed catalogs have been pouring in since December and hubby, the kids and I will be choosing what we want to grow this year.

Last year's watermelons were such a success that this year I want to grow a variety called rattlesnake that is more of an oblong shape with light green stripes throughout. One watermelon can grow up to 200 pounds!!! Yup, you read that right!

Well, until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy garden thoughts!!!!!

Fall Garden To Do's

2011-09-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Hello garden gals and guys! Well, as of 11:44AM yesterday (Wednesday), the season of fall is officially upon us. I love it! The smell of fireplaces burning, the leaves changing colors, caramel apples and Halloween!

This is the perfect weather to do some garden cleanup and get your gardens/yards ready for the winter months. I know a lot of you are flower gardeners so I am including things for you to do as well. Here is a checklist for all you flower gardeners of things you should do before winter comes. For all my veggie gardeners out there here's your checklist.

You might find that some of the things to do on each list are the same....and if you do both flowers and veggies...well then....you've got a lot of work to do!

My big garden has been tilled (thanks, Cathy!). Now that just leaves my backyard garden that I have to clean up. I will probably do that Sunday afternoon.

You may be asking "is she done planting?" "will there be any more blog posts?" Well, not to worry. I'll still be entertaining you with posts. What's on tap: planting garlic in October (yes, that's the time to plant garlic, I'll do a whole post on it, don't worry); building a cold frame to plant some winter lettuce; and book reviews on some really great gardening books!

Until next time garden gals and guys.....

Happy garden thoughts!

The Dirty Life....

2011-09-08T05:45:00.001-07:00

Hello garden gals and guys! My blog is about all things farming, so I thought I'd share a book that I read today. It's called The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love by Kristin Kimball.

Now before you decide not read it, let me tell you that this is one woman's account of how she fell into farming--literally--and the ups and downs that she and her husband faced as they started their new farm.

I read the book in about three days but could have easily read it in one weekend! It was entertaining, educational and just downright funny in some spots. If you've ever thought about having a farm, this book gives you an eye-opening look at what it really takes to run one. Give it a read! There should be a copy at your local library.

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys! Until next time.....

happy garden thoughts!

Oh No she DIDN'T!!!!!

2011-08-28T04:02:00.000-07:00

So...I know I just sent a blog out yesterday but I just had to share this experience.

You all know that I end each blog with either "happy gardening" or "happy garden thoughts" (when the garden season is over or not yet begun).

*Ahem* Well apparently I guess I am just a little too happy and Ms. Thing--otherwise known as Irene--tried to do my happy hind parts in.

Yes, we weathered the storm last night. Just a lot of rain and wind. I didn't know it but my hubby said the power went out for about 30 seconds at around 11:45pm. I didn't even know...I was fast asleep. Well, I woke up this mornin' just happy (see....there's that word again) that things didn't get crazy.

Then my phone rings. It's 6:00AM. I'm thinking it's my parents calling to see if we are OK. Nope. It's my neighbor Steve. Here's how the conversation went down:

Me: "Hey Steve!" (I saw his name on the caller ID)
Steve: "Hey, honey, I'm sorry about the damage to your cage."
Me (inside voice): Oh damn, what the (&$#(&#(& happened now?!
Me(outside voice): "What do you mean?"
Steve: "My tree fell on your garden cage."
Me: (silence as I run to the back window) "Oh. I see it. OK. It just looks like the branches are leaning on the chicken wire. None of the beams are broken."
Steve: "Honey, we are getting that tree removed as soon as possible and will pay for any damage."
Me: "Aww thanks, Steve."

Then I went outside to get a closer look to be sure there was no damage and here is what I saw:

As I took this picture I said in my Diva attitude voice: "Irene, no you didn't just try to take out my cage!"

I don't need to remind y'all of what happened to my cage during Snowmageddon:

Well, I immediately get "happy" again to spite her! The roots from that tree always kept me from planting deep on the left side of the cage and it also blocks out the morning sun.

So I guess I should be thanking Irene. Yeah, whateverrrrrr! She still tried to do my cage in!

Well, I'm going to read more about hydroponics, y'all!

Until next time.....

Don't worry....be HAPPY!!

Season's End

2011-08-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Yes garden gals and guys...the time has come for the growing season to end...at least outside (more on that later).

As I sit here awaiting Irene's arrival (and not looking forward to it at all) I thought this would be a good time to revisit some of the happiest moments in this year's growing season.

Of course the moment that wins the number one spot is being able to have a 5,000 square foot garden thanks to the generosity of Cathy, Tiff, Lauren and Kevin!

I loved, loved, loved having a 5,000 square foot garden to grow in. I finally had all the space I needed to grow an ample supply of food. A heartfelt thank you to all of your for allowing me to grow there and come and go as I pleased. It was such a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to growing there again next year, if you'll have me!

Here was the garden in its humble beginning:

I won't bother to show you what it looks like now...let's just say it's a hot mess...as my garden always seems to be at the end of a growing season.

Now, I've grown plenty of tomatoes and other veggies over the last six years, but I have to say the moment that runs a close second for me is...yup....my watermelons! This was the first year that I was able to grow those Georgia hams successfully! I think it is due to the fact that I was able to dedicate an entire patch to those melons and just let them spread out wherever they pleased!

I harvest twelve of these beauties and every one was good, although the last four were smaller than the ones in the picture above.

My proudest moment is when my two youngest children wanted to start their own gardens "to be like momma":

Every year I learn new things when I garden. This year, thanks to the New Farmer Trainee program, I learned first hand how much work goes into growing food for CSAs and farmer's markets.

I can say now that I am well-prepared to take on the task of starting my own CSA. Everything has to be meticulously planned from the buying of seeds in January, to the careful planning of succession plantings to be sure that your crop doesn't come in all at once. The things I learned "down on the farm" were invaluable and will be used throughout my lifetime.

Now, do I have any regrets? Yes. I should have invested in row covers for my peppers and cantaloupes. The stink bugs made minced meat out of those crops. Almost every bell pepper had large brown spots from where those varmints had done their damage.

The only other thing I think I would change is to grow about half of the tomato plants that I grew. You may remember that I had 130 of them! I think 65 would have been a better number. But there were a lot of delicious dishes made with those maters!!

I shall miss the homemade salsa, caprese, and taco salads!! Yeah.....you can buy store tomatoes, but unless they are local and vine-ripened they won't taste the same.

Well, I think this is all for now garden gals and guys. But this isn't farewell! I am currently reading on hydroponics and I think I am going to try an indoor garden experiment. Don't worry...I'll blog all about it!

I hope you all had as wonderful a summer and growing season as I did!!

Until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy garden thoughts!!

The Spider on the web.....

2011-08-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

and I don't mean the Internet! Working in the farmer trainee program, I am always learning something new. Well, this past Tuesday, Jack took us over to harvest basil for the CSA. But before we began, he grabbed a stink bug and brought us over to an area of the basil where a spider about as big as my hand had a web. Here is a picture of it:

He then found a stink bug (easy to do) and threw it into the web. At first the spider wouldn't move and I almost didn't get the video because I stopped filming. But then he (or maybe she) moved and I just stood there in awe.

Click on the spider video to your right to see what happened (sorry I couldn't embed the video within the blog...it's a long story).

Here is the link to the video in case you can't see it here on the blog.

Until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy gardening!

More of the harvest....

2011-08-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hello garden gals and guys!

The heat of summer can be brutal on plants but my cantaloupe plants finally decided to grace me with some fruit. Very sweet!

Here is my youngest boy helping me put some of the harvest in the truck:

He's a hard worker!

You may think that now is the time for gardens to start slowing down, but now is the time to start seeds or buy seedlings (if you can find them) of those cold season crops. Broccoli, kale, chard, collards, celery, and lettuce will all provide a nice fall harvest if you get them in the ground now! They love the cooler weather that is just around the corner!

I planted some lettuce seedlings and some celery in my backyard garden and we had a nice rain yesterday evening that gave them a cool drink.

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys. Short and sweet.

Until next time....

Happy gardening!!

Watermelon Widow

2011-08-04T09:06:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be short and sweet. Went to check on my watermelons yesterday. Grabbed one to turn it over and check the underside for that nice yellow color and yes...there she was...a black widow spider.

I'm thankful for three things:

1) That I have watched enough documentaries with my husband to know what one looks like
2) That I had gloves on
3) That she didn't bite me because my gloves were not thick ones

That ended my day in the garden about five minutes after I got there. I don't even remember if the watermelon was ripe yet. In fact, my husband may have to go harvest that watermelon...and all others for that matter!

Until next time....if there is one.....

Proud Mama announces the arrival of her.....

2011-07-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

WATERMELONS!!!!!!

YEAH! I have tried for several years to grow watermelons with no success. Yesterday, in addition to harvesting literally about 30 pounds of tomatoes, I went to check on my babies. There were four that were ready!!!! Hubby and I sampled some early this morning after letting it cool in the fridge over night and oh how sweet it is!!

Here's proud mama with her babies:

Here they are again:

Each one of those babies weighs a good 20 pounds! You should have seen my daughter and I struggling to carry these things to the car! It was definitely funny!

Here's the maters:

I kid you not when I say that each of those bags weighed as much as one of the watermelons! I was afraid that the plastic bag was going to break!

I'm so proud and feel so very blessed to have grown my very own watermelons! I think my Grandpa is up in Heaven smiling down on my harvest.

There are still about ten watermelons left in the garden that should be ready within the next week or two.

Now I'm going to figure out what to do with all those maters!

Until next time garden gals and guys....

Very Happy Gardening!!

A little bug, a lot of harvest

2011-07-14T05:56:00.000-07:00

Hello there garden gals and guys. While I was working on the farm as part of my trainee program, I got a really good first-hand education about bugs. I've read about them and seen pictures of them, but now I've seen them first hand and I want to share them with you!

OK, if you grow tomatoes, you may have come across a tomato hornworm. I never have until this week. You may have had them and just not known it because they blend very well with the tomato plant foliage. But if you've ever gone out to your garden and seen a tomato stem stripped entirely of its foliage, that is from a tomato hornworm!

Here is a picture of one:

Gross, isn't it? But a good thing if you have hornworms. The best thing to do is to leave this insect be if it's like this. This is a good example of beneficial bugs taking care of the bad ones.
That picture is the best advertisement for not using chemicals in your garden.

That hornworm has eggs laid in it from a braconid wasp. This wasp lays its eggs in the hornworm, which kills the hornworm. Those eggs then hatch and the new wasps find more hornworms. Yay!

Next up, a Mexican bean beetle. These little yellow critters love string bean plants. They basically destroy the foliage and eat the flowers off of the plant before any fruit can form. Best method of control: squishing them (double yuck).

This picture is the best I could do...they are a little on the small side. Click on the picture...it's that little yellow dot:

Here is a harlequin bug:

Now this bug will destroy cabbage plants or any other plant in the brassica family. They can destroy an entire crop if they aren't controlled. They suck the sap out of the plants causing them to wilt and then die.

So there's your bug education folks!

Now on to more pleasant things. Here's some pictures of my latest harvest. Onions (a little small but they looked like they were starting to rot on the outside so I harvested them while they were still good):

And here are some of my maters:

And here's a tomato and basil dish I made:

And here's a shot of one of my watermelons. Her name is Lucy. I've got about 15 in the garden about this size:

That's all for now garden gals and guys! Until next time....

Happy gardening!

First Harvest

2011-07-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hello there garden gals and guys! Yup...it's the fourth of July and I have maters!!! They say that if you have maters by the 4th you will have a good harvest all summer long!

This blog is going to be short and sweet because I believe the pictures will do the talking. Let me just say that I counted 23 Crimson Sweet watermelons growing in the big garden and I can't wait until harvest time!! There must be over 100 tomatoes on the vines too and the bigger ones will be ripening any day now!!

My cantaloupes aren't doing as well, but having my own watermelons will certainly make up for it!

Here are pictures of the harvest so far:

Cantaloupe:

Pablo Ancho peppers....very hot!

Zucchini:

Pepper and cukes:

Basil:

Watermelons:

Sungold cherry maters. I am getting a pint of these every other day now. They are SOOOO sweet:

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys! Until next time....

Happy gardening!

Farmer Travels

2011-07-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Hello there garden gals and guys! I just got back from visiting my parents in North Carolina.

Before I begin let me just say that the links in this entry will open in the same window. Just hit your browser's back button to come back to the blog entry (or wait until you are finished reading to click the links).

Okay...now....while I was there I decided to google farms in the area and came across an organic farm about 15 minutes from where my folks live. It's called the Plum Granny Farm.

Of course I had to stop in and see if I could get a tour. I had to work up the nerve first, because I wasn't comfortable with walking up to a total stranger, but I am so glad that I did. Ray and Cheryl were more than gracious and gave me a two-hour tour of the 50+ acre farm, complete with gifts to come home with!

Here's the sign when you first approach the farm:

The farm spans both sides of the street. Here is the view standing near the farm house looking across the country road:

That little house there is a bee hive. Ray is an expert beekeeper and has several hives on the farm.

I just LOVE the bathtub that has been turned into a flower bed...and it's PURPLE...my favorite color!!

Here is a shot of the the farmhouse as seen from the driveway:

Plum Granny Farm grows (as I quote from their site so as not to leave anything out) "...raspberries, blackberries, garlic, ginger, specialty veggies, herbs and cut flowers". The whole farm was just amazing to me, but here are some things that just really stood out.

First...the blackberries. Oh my gosh. I was right back on my grandma's farm again when Ray let me pick a blackberry to taste. Here is one of the berry fields:

Ok, the next really awesome thing was the garlic, well actually the way they harvest the garlic. Ray had just purchased an undercutter blade the day I was there and attached it to his tractor. They loosened a 200 foot bed of garlic in about seven minutes! Now for those of you that have harvested garlic the old-fashioned way, I'm sure you are in awe just as I was. I felt myself making the "Tim the toolman Taylor" grunt as I listened to Ray talk about how it works.

Here is the undercutter blade on the tractor:

And here's another shot with the blade raised a bit to give perspective (and that's Ray, the friendly farmer, in the background):

Basically that blade gets lowered into the soil about two inches below the base of the garlic bulbs. Then Ray drove the tractor very slowly as someone behind him made sure the blade stayed positioned properly.

Once he got to the end of the row, the work was done...well mostly! And the garlic came out like butter! Here is the bed of garlic that he went through with the blade. What you can't see that clearly is how the bed looks kind of dug up and loosened:

Having just spent a few hours on the farm (in the trainee program) harvesting garlic the old-fashioned way, I was very much in awe of this process. I can't wait to share this with Jack and Becky!

OK...here's another cool thing about the farm. Plum Granny Farm used to be a tobacco farm. Well, Ray and Cheryl use an old tobacco shed to cure their garlic! I think that is a most ingenious way to re-purpose a farm building (and save money too!).

If you've ever been in an old tobacco shed (I was in one on one of my daughter's field trips), there are logs that run the width of the shed up above your head. The tobacco leaves were laid across these logs to dry.

Well, Ray and Cheryl ran heavy duty deer netting across these logs and they lay their garlic on that netting (and on some shelves that they acquired) and the garlic cures in that shed.

Here is a pik from the doorway of the shed. If you look towards the top of the picture you can see the deer netting. At the back of the picture you can see the extra shelves that they use when the space above is full:

OK...here's the other really neat thing. Every farmer that grows to sell needs a cooler. Well, they got an army storage unit from a guy on Craigslist. It really makes the perfect cooler! Here is the unit:

And here is the inside of the unit:

That square hole is where an air conditioning unit will be placed. That A/C unit will be hooked to a Coolbot unit that will regulate the unit and keep their produce and a perfectly cooled temperature (click the coolbot link to read more about what coolbot does).

Farming takes a lot of creative thinking and ingenuity and Ray and Cheryl really have mastered finding affordable ways to farm the land.

Here's a pik of Cheryl who had to leave about half way through the tour to fill a berry order (ahhh a farmer's work is never done):

And when I got back to my car, some of these lilies we saw in the field were wrapped beautifully and sitting on my car waiting to surprise me:

Ray and Cheryl, thank you so much for your graciousness and being willing to share all that you know with me. I had such a wonderful time, I didn't want the tour to end.

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys!

Until next time.....

Happy gardening!!

Summer garden ramblings....

2011-06-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

Hello again garden gals and guys! Well, the summer heat is finally upon us. Combine that with the rain and what do you get? Yup....weeds! Yuck. I didn't go to my garden for a week and the result was five hours worth of weeding in the big garden.

My daughter--my secret garden weapon--even gave up on me after about 20 minutes and instead chose to take my picture before she was invited to go for a swim in the pool that was right by the garden. So I got to watch her swim while I toiled in the heat. Something about that is not fair.

Here I am in the tomato patch:

Here is what the beds looked like before I got to them:

Here is a good garden lesson. Ever heard of flea beetles on eggplants? Maybe you haven't, but have you ever seen your eggplant leaves full of tiny pinholes like this?

Well, let's take a closer look. You see those tiny black dots? They hop when you try to touch them. Those are flea beetles and this is what they look like up close:

The cure? I spray with insecticidal soap. But don't rush to the store to buy it. Just get a bottle sprayer and put a dash of dish washing soap (the kind you use in the sink not in a dishwasher). Mix well and spray.

Be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves (where it seems all bugs like to hide). Or you can give the plants a good spray of water with the hose which will knock those beetles off.

Either remedy works but you also have to be diligent about watching for more beetles.

Here are some piks of fruit in the garden...boy I can't wait til harvest time!

Zucchini (and did you know you could EAT those flowers? Yup! You can dip them in egg batter and fry them. Some people stuff them with cheese first. The flower tastes sort of like a cucumber)

Big Beef Tomatoes:

Cantaloupe (it's about the size of a golf ball now):

Cucumber (that one is more than ready for picking!):

Down on the farm.....

OK...so I know this is a long blog post but there's so much to tell you! Remember that I work on a farm as part of a farmer trainee program? Well this week we did a lot of things but what you may find most interesting is the garlic harvest. This is Jack using a pitch fork to lo0sen the garlic in the dirt:

That garlic was planted last October, by the way. Jes and I then went behind him and gently pulled the garlic from the ground and this is what it looks like freshly harvested:

Garlic is easy to grow! You should try it! October is the time to plant to get a nice summer harvest. If you don't know how to plant it you can Google it OR you can wait until October and read my blog post about it (hey....I have to keep you coming back for more, don't I?)

One last thing before I say so long. It's a garden tip for you! Now that the garden is under way and the plants are fruiting you probably think I can just sit back and watch everything grow, right? Nope!

Now is the time to get seeds started for a nice fall harvest. Broccoli, kale, chard, lettuce, cabbage...you can start those all from seed now and then transplant them into the garden in August for a nice October harvest!

Ok...now that's really it. And my hands are tired! Until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy gardening!

Harvesting yummy goodness....

2011-06-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

Hello again garden gals and guys! This entry is going to be short and sweet (no pun intended...or maybe it was). My strawberry plants are finally producing and giving me about four to five big, sweet strawberries every day. I love harvesting strawberries.

You walk out there just expecting to see how things are growing and then you catch a glimpse of red that whispers "psssst!!! over here!" And you lift up a leaf and surprise! They are SO sweet and delicious!! Sometimes they don't make it into the kitchen to share with the kids. I love just standing there in the warmth of the sun and eating a fresh strawberry that I grew in my own garden.

Here is a picture of one of the berries hiding on the vine (oh and since adding the straw mulch and putting the vines on top of it...no slugs! Ahhhh Diva Gardener 1, slugs 0):

Here is just one day's harvest (uh huh....now you see why I don't always run in the house to share!):

And here is my oldest boy harvesting his favorite--scallions. We have used these in our eggs and even in a nice mussels dish that my mom made while she was visiting:

He's really getting into eating fresh mommy-grown produce. He's awaiting the peaches on the peach tree with desperation! :o)

Well that's all for now folks! I'll be going to the big garden to weed and check things out so you'll be seeing another post soon!

Until next time....

Happy gardening!

IFO Sightings (Identified Fruiting Objects)

2011-06-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

IFOs have been spotted in my garden! Yes...garden gals and guys identified fruiting objects have been spotted and I am SO happy to see them!

Before I begin, let me tell you about a new feature to my blog. Fat Earth now has mobile phone viewing compatibility, so if you are viewing this on your cell phone you will be able to see the blog in a special format that will fit your screen! Yay!

I went to the big garden to water and weed and of course to bug patrol (have to watch for stink bugs ...and I did *gulp* see one on my pepper plant). As I was looking at my maters, I noticed some tiny little fruits!

These are my sungolds which are cherry tomatoes:

There are about thirty or so that I saw and many more flowers as well. I am hopeful that there will be a bumper crop of all kinds of maters!

Here is a picture of the sungold plants. They are getting so big! I need to stake them, I know.

And here is a picture of three Big Beef maters happily growing on the vine:

As I walked merrily over to the cantaloupe patch I spotted these babies:

The peppers are also doing quite well. Lots of flowers but no fruit yet:

Here's a funny one for you. I left some spindly looking tomatoes, a pepper and some basil in pots that just didn't seem to be doing well. I forgot to throw them away and they just sat there. Well, they've busted through the pots and are rooted in the ground....AND doing quite well I might add! I call them "the forgotten ones". They are like my little garden mafia:

I figure if they are thriving I'll let them be!

Now on to the creepy crawlies. Ick. This first little guy was camera shy. Every time I tried to take a picture he would go to the underside of a leaf. I finally said "I just want a picture" and then he came up on the leaf and I think he smiled for me:

Now....ever wondered what a Colorado potato beetle looked like? Wonder no more. I killed two of these in my garden and checked the undersides of leaves to be sure they left no eggs:

They feed on tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and other plants. They feed on the leaves and will totally decimate your crops! The females are very prolific and can lay up to 800 eggs on the undersides of leaves. The eggs are usually orange and are in clusters. So if you see this bug any where near your garden, kill it! Then check the undersides of your plants for eggs and if you see any you need to put your garden gloves on and smoosh those eggs!

Potatoes, Green Beans and Compost

2011-06-07T04:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again Garden Gals and Guys! This weekend's weather was beautiful and I used Saturday to do a little maintenance to my backyard garden and keep my mind occupied.

My lettuce looked beautiful and I was all set to harvest it to eat and give away. However, I had a sampling of it and in just a day's time it went from sweet to bitter. So here it is before I dug it all up:

It broke my heart to have to throw all that away. But then I thought about a free compost bin that I got a while back and...well....more on that later in the post.

While digging up the lettuce, I noticed a few more scallions ready for picking so my trusty garden weapon harvested them for me. How do you know when they are ready? Well, when they are about the size of your pinkie finger (I have small pinkie fingers):

Those scallions were yummy cut up in some home fries we made over the weekend!

OK, so here are the garden beds on the left all cleared out (except for scallions):

Remember I told you that I was using the SPIN gardening technique. So now, these beds will be used to grow new crops. But first, the soil has to be amended and so I got some mushroom compost to add some nutrients back into my soil:

I worked it in well into the top three inches of soil (which wasn't hard to do since the beds were so nice and soft):

Notice I'm using my walkways and not walking in the beds. This keeps the soil from compacting. Compacted soil is a no-no for plant roots!

I decided to plant green beans in the bed all the way on the left and potatoes in the half bed next to the scallions. No, it's not too late to plant potatoes (for commercial growers, yes...for your family...no).

So, once again, my secret garden weapon got some potatoes from my pantry. She found ones that had "eyes" (sprouts) on them. Then we cut them so that each piece had at least one eye:

While she was busy carefully cutting, I dug a trench for the spuds:

All you have to do to plant is space them about two inches apart with the "eyes" facing up:

Then do the potato dance. You straddle the bed and gently sweep the dirt from either side over the potatoes:

That's it! Then, once the potatoes sprout, I will let the stem get to about two inches and will start to hill them (I'll blog about it when I do it, don't worry).

OK...now remember that lettuce that I was so upset about wasting? Well, it shall return to the garden.....as compost....eventually.

I decided to start a compost pile. I won't waste a whole lot of time explaining because you can google how to do it. But basically you need brown stuff (dead stuff). I grabbed a lot of leaves from along my fence line. I then put them in the compost bin:

Leaves won't break down as efficiently if they aren't shredded. So I had my hubby get the weed-whacker out and shred them:

Next, you have to add some green stuff (garden cuttings, fresh cut grass--but not if you use fertilizer, scraps from your kitchen--no meats, bones oily or greasy foods). Ahhh...so my lettuce (and spinach stems by the way) will not go to waste afterall:

Then I watered the compost pile. You want it to be moist, but not soggy. It should be about the consistency of a damp, wrung-out sponge:

Then give it a good mixing:

That's it! Now you turn it about once a week and make sure that it stays moist. If it develops an odor, it's not getting enough oxygen, which means you aren't turning it enough. A good compost pile really has no smell to it (well, unless you are composting manure). This will break down over the next month or two and I should have some nice compost to add to my garden in the heat of summer!

See, composting is easy. There are all kinds of bins you can buy, so if you are really interested in composting, give it a Google!

Oh...and here are my green beans freshly transplanted:

And that's it for this time garden gals and guys! Now I'm off to decide what to plant in that middle garden bed!

Until next time....

Happy gardening!

Scapes, Snakes, Peaches and 130

2011-06-02T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hello garden gals and guys! Let me just say welcome to my newest followers! Fat Earth is now up to 34 faithful garden followers and that makes me SO happy!!

I'm sure you are wondering if I am just one sandwich short of a picnic based on my subject, but each word is a topic for my garden.

Let's start with scapes. So I am learning a lot in the Maryland New Farmer Trainee program. It's a lot of hard work, but what I am learning really can't have a value placed on it.

Okay, so hard neck varieties of garlic produce scapes, which are flower shoots. They start out growing straight up. When they have totally curled, they can be picked.

Here I am in the garlic field harvesting scapes:

Here is the scape on the garlic plant:

Here is the scape harvested:

These things are DELICIOUS! When you pick them, if you put your finger on the end and taste the juice...of course, it's garlic-flavored! Amazing! You can make a pesto with them, or cut them up and put them in eggs, on baked potatoes, whatever you want! Just...ummm....have some tic-tacs on hand. I ate several on the farm and when hubby came home and gave me a kiss he said "wow...you've been eating garlic!" But I digress.

Next topic...snakes. Let's just get this over with. So I went to my big garden to water it and was happily walking along looking at my plants and admiring how much they've grown. I notice this awful SMELL like putrid dead flesh. "Maybe Lauren and Kevin put manure down in their garden," I think to myself.

I continue walking along...in my FLIP-FLOPS...no didn't have on my muck boots...I wanted to feel the dirt on my feet....mistake. I go to kick what I think is oh just some stick out of the way. It's a dead snake. My brain registers this slowly and then...wait...that's a SNAKE! I think it touched my foot! Flip flops go one way I head the other.

Oh the screams that could be heard all over Maryland I'm sure. OK...and one, JUST ONE bad word. I try to regroup...plug in my sprinkler and then give the dead snake (it got caught in the deer netting around the garden) a wide birth as I go to turn on the water. Kevin, who rents the house on the land I am farming comes out to say hello, and I tell him the deal.

He saves the day. Here he is using my garden knife to cut the nasty thing from the netting:

And here is the nasty thang (yes I said "thang"). Had to be about four feet long:

Will DivaGardener EVER go back in the garden in flip flops? I think we all know the answer to that question.

OK...on to better things. My peaches. It seems some sort of bug is getting to some of my peaches. They haven't all been infected yet so I bought an organic spray specifically for fruit trees and I am going to give it a spray. I need everyone's garden prayers that all will be well and we will actually eat some peaches this year!

Last topic: 130. What in the world, right? Well, while I was in the big garden (and after I recovered from the nasty snake) I counted the number of tomato plants in my garden bed. YES....130! Wow! I didn't know I had planted that many! I think we'll definitely have a few tomatoes this year! That number doesn't include the eight I have growing here at home.

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys! Until next time....

Happy Gardening!

Growth and First Harvest!!

2011-05-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hello again garden gals and guys! The weather has been getting hotter and things have been starting to take off, which I am glad to see because DivaGardener was gettin' a little worried about her chilluns! :o)

First order of the day was taking baby peaches of the branches of Nathan (my peach tree y'all). I've been doing some research and you are supposed to thin out the fruit so that the tree can put more energy into less fruit which makes them bigger and sweeter. So here is what I pulled off (don't worry there are still PLENTY left on the tree):

And here is Nathan after it's all done (I kept the ladder there to distinguish him from the rest of the trees in my neighbor's yard):

And here's Lil' Fat Earth! Momma is so proud of her babies!

Collards:

Right side of garden with collards at the top, peppers and tomatoes in the middle and onions and strawberries at the bottom:

Scallions, anyone? They are almost ready for harvest!

We will NOT discuss what the slugs have been doing to my strawberries those little (&#$(&#(&#(&*(#!!!! But I put down some organic slug pellets so hopefully the rest of the berries will thrive:

OK...now here's the best part. We harvested lettuce and spinach from the garden and had our first garden salad last week! Yummy! It was so good we went back in for a second harvest and made another batch.

Freshly cut greens:

My secret garden weapon washing the greens...awwww she's so cute...but I digress....

Salad is served!

I dressed it with just a little pepper, onion and garlic powder and Italian dressing (mangia! mangia!) and it was delicioso!! Vive Bene! Oh, ahem....sorry...channelling my Grandma Carmela. :o)

Well, that's all for now folks.

Until next time....

Happy gardening!

Big Fat Earth is finished!!!

2011-05-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello again garden gals and guys! I've been telling you about the big garden that I am planting and I know you've been waiting for pictures so here they are! I call this garden Big Fat Earth...well, because it's MUCH bigger than my garden at home which is now Little Fat Earth! :o)

I am sooooo excited about everything that's growing!! We've got: Crimson Sweet watermelons; Gold Star cantaloupes; bell peppers; habaneros (really hot peppers); cucumbers (straight eights and a variety that grows in a bush); tomatoes (too many varieties to name but I have cherries, beefsteak types and romas); eggplant; zucchini; onions; Sweet Georgia collards; basil; oregano; and parsley!

Well, enough talk here are the pictures! This first one is the land after it was tilled--5000 square feet of wonderful soil! This was before the gardening began:

This is me and my secret garden weapon beginning to build the mounds:

While we working, the chickens came over for a visit:

Let me tell you a little about what I was doing. I broke the 5,000 square feet up into four rectangles, with each rectangle consisting of about nine to ten long mounds. Each mound row has several plants in it.

I did the rest of the work alone, which is why it took soooo long to finish. OK, this is the tomato rectangle, sans tomatoes (hey....it took a LONG time to just dig those beds!):

Here is a view from the middle of the garden looking at the completed cantaloupe patch (rectangle closest to you) and partially completed watermelon patch:

I then dug another rectangle for peppers, eggplants, onions and cucumbers. I left a nice wide rectangle in between the watermelon and cantaloupe patches to give them room to sprawl and crawl.

Here are several piks of the plants in the ground. Yeah, they are small but they are going to shoot up quickly now that the heat is startin' to kick in!

This is one of my watermelon plants:

This is my miscellaneous patch (the cukes, peppers, onions and eggplants although you can't see the onions in this shot):

(In my best southern drawl) Here's them Georgia collards:

Here is the watermelon patch:

Another shot of the beds:

Then the mulching began. Tote that barge, lift that bale!

I mulched the melon beds first because, according to my dear hubby, they are the most important crops!

Melon beds completed:

Mulching the tomato bed:

OK and this is me planting sweet potatoes in the bed in between the cantaloupe and miscellaneous beds:

And that's it folks! It took about two weeks to get it all done and mulched. Now I just have to watch for cucumber beetles and stink bugs and care for these babies til harvest time!

Stay tuned though because I harvested lettuce from Little Fat Earth and I'll be showin' you what's growin' on here on the home front!

Until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy gardening!!!!

Mother's Day in the garden

2011-05-10T01:50:00.000-07:00

Well, hello again garden gals and guys! This weekend was a very busy one for Fat Earth. The garden is now planted and I changed a couple of beds from radishes and turnips to some different edibles that my family will enjoy more.

Come on in the garden with me and have a look! Here is a shot of me and my daughter. She's my secret garden weapon! Everything looks SO yummy. I just can't wait for harvest time!

Now, I changed that bed from kale and radishes to an entire bed of collards. Turns out that hubby isn't that crazy about radishes and the kale was so small that we decided to do the collard transplants that I bought.

Here is my spinach bed. I had direct-seeded spinach but it just didn't come up. So I went to my favorite farm and bought some. Ahhh....that is much better. As my old friend Popeye would say: "I yam what I yam and I love me spinachk!" Hey...yams.....hmmmm. Oh ok, sorry, here's the pik:

This bed was supposed to be for cantaloupes, but is now strawberries with onions in the middle (onions like to grow with strawberries...or at least that's what I read so we'll see). Don't worry! I will plant the cantaloupes at the big garden (more on that in just a bit):

And this was THE best part of my whole mother's day weekend. My kids wanted their own gardens and so we went to Lowe's and bought these "My First Garden" raised beds. We filled them with compost and started digging:

They planted some onions, bush cucumbers, chives, spinach, one tomato plant each and a flower. Ahhhhh my little farmers in the making!

I spent Sunday making the beds in the 5,000 square feet of growing space on loan to me at Myrtle Woods. My daughter and I got about eight beds dug and incorporated some humus and manure into them.

I won't tell you too much...just look for another blog in a few more days with all the juicy details! What's that you say? At least tell you what I'm growing there? Well, waiting in the wings are watermelon, honey dew melon, cantaloupe, a whole lot of maters, sweet peppers, hot peppers--habaneros (thanks "pepper man" for the great tip on where to buy some great plants!), zucchini, cucumbers and onions! Yup...there's gonna be a bumper crop this year!!

Oh....and a great big shout out to Cathy and her husband Tiff for tilling up all that land for me...and for allowing me to farm at Myrtle Woods! Everyone there is SO warm and friendly!

Well, until next time garden gals and guys!

Happy gardening!

It is finished.....well, almost

2011-05-01T04:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Garden Gals and Guys! I see I have a new follower! Welcome aboard! We're almost to 30 followers and that makes me so happy! Together we will continue to grow!

OK, now on to the news. Many of you may remember that my cage collapsed during snowmageddon. We rebuilt it that spring and while the chicken wire at the bottom was still in tact, the chicken wire on the top had to be removed and replaced.

Well, we finally replaced it! Now, it still has to be zip tied and rough edges trimmed with tin snips but after an entire day of backbreaking labor, we were too tired to do that. But here she is....Fat Earth!

I must send a shout to my wonderful hubby because we were both broken and tired when it was all over. He got sunburn and my shoulder popped out of place (yes it still hurts). But we got 'er done!

Here are some piks of my lettuce and radish babies that are doing quite well now! And you should have seen my husband trying to bring the chicken wire across the top of the cage and not step on my babies....it was entertaining!

Here are the radishes (they need to be thinned out to give them room to grow and I will do that today...possibly):

Here is my lettuce. This is black seeded simpson:

And this lettuce is called silvia...it's more of a red lettuce:

Oh! And here's what I have waiting to go in the ground on Mother's Day! There are several types of tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, zucchini, sweet peppers, hot peppers, basil, oregano and parsley! And what you don't see are some wonderful scallion bulbs that are waiting in my garage to be planted! Is your mouth watering yet?

AND HERE'S THE BIG NEWS: Fat Earth is now expanding! I put out an ad on Craigslist asking if anyone had a half acre to an acre of land that they would be willing to lease to me. Well, I now have a nice-sized garden plot awaiting me at Myrtle Woods! I will be sure to post pictures of it and tell you more about it once I have the beds made! So I will really have LOTS to harvest for my family this year! I can't wait to get started!

Be sure to watch your email for my weekly blog blasts!

Until next time garden gals and guys.....happy gardening

Down on the farm

2011-04-22T02:43:00.001-07:00

Happy Earth Day everyone! I know I just posted a blog entry yesterday but I promised to let you see what I'm up to in my farmer trainee program. What better way is there to celebrate Earth Day than to post about working with the Earth!

This is a picture of the field from the back end. The whole field is about five acres. The area in the forefront is one of the large beds of potatoes. The upper left corner closest to the treeline is another large bed of potatoes. We planted fingerling potatoes (they are shaped just like long fingers) and red potatoes.

We also placed hay around the strawberries to give them a nice bed to lay on as they grow and to provide a barrier between the berries and the soil.

You can see the mulch on the strawberry bed directly in front of where my farm partner is covering up potatoes.

So, here's something you can try for Earth Day. If you have some potatoes that have sprouted and you are getting ready to throw them away....don't! Those sprouts are called "eyes". Cut the potato in half and be sure that there's at least one eye in each half.

Now, you can either plant the potato in a large pot or you can plant them in the ground. If you plant them in the ground just dig a shallow trench and place the potato with the eye pointing up in the trench. Cover and let it grow. As the sprouts get taller, continue to hill the dirt up around the plant. Hilling the dirt provides the environment for the potatoes to grow in. If you plant your potatoes now, you'll have your own fresh crop of potatoes in July!

If you are planting the potatoes in a pot, there's a little more to it. But not much, so don't be scared. Here's a great link to some step by step directions.

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys. Do something great for Mother Earth today and until next time....happy gardening!

Houston, we have blossoms!

2011-04-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like spring has finally sprung in my back yard. The garden is busy sprouting and Nathan (that's my peach tree to your left) has lots of beautiful pink blooms.

Speaking of Nathan, this is year six for him so theoretically this is the year that I can harvest peaches from this tree. I'll keep you posted on how that goes (or should I say grows). Someone told me I should threaten him with a chainsaw and he'll grow me some peaches for sure! Hmmmm....alright Nathan, you've been warned! :o)

You know that I was so worried about my garden sprouting. I planted four different types of lettuce, some radishes and turnips, spinach and kale. Well, they are supposed to sprout in about 7-14 days. Well after day 15 I didn't see not one little thing and I thought maybe all the cold had just killed the seeds.

Well, my garden likes to play little tricks on me just like my husband and kids do. I went out with seeds in hand ready to start over and low and behold there were all these little sprouts! I had to wait another week to be able to get pictures of them (they were so tiny) but here they are!

That's a ground level view of them growing. Here's another shot taken looking down directly upon them:

Both of the pictures above are of my lettuce. My spinach is just starting to sprout and is still too tiny....my camera focuses more on the dirt than on the sprouts. Same with the carrots, radish and kale. They are a little more shy than the lettuce, I guess.

My tomato plants are looking good and getting nice and tall. I also bought 15 strawberry plants and got six tomato plants from the farm I am working on as part of my farmer training. They are planted behind the garage and so far they are doing really well...even with the cold nights. I gave them each a nice helping of some lobster compost. Yup....ground up lobster shells....I bought it of course. Lobster compost is high in calcium which tomatoes LOVE!

I'll be posting again in another day or so to show you all some pictures of the farm that I am working on. I'm there every Tuesday and the past three weeks it has rained but...well...you'll just have to read my next post to find out what I've been busy doing down on the farm!

Hey....I gotta get you to read my post about it somehow and what's better than a little teasing!

Until next time garden gals and guys.....happy gardening!

Let the SPINning begin!

2011-04-01T04:18:00.001-07:00

Hello garden gals and guys! Remember I said that I was going to try a new method of gardening called "SPIN" gardening? Well the process has begun!

This past Monday I went out into my garden and dug up four 2 foot by fourteen foot beds with a one foot walk way in between them. I then dug two smaller beds in the space I had left. I direct-seeded (put the seeds directly into the ground) four different types of lettuce, spinach, kale, turnips, radishes and carrots.

SPIN stands for Small Plot Intensive gardening and the idea behind it is to have each bed produce not just one but several crops throughout the season. The idea is that you can have produce from your garden starting in May (when most people are just beginning to plant) and reap harvests all the way through fall.

Each one of my garden beds will grow several crops throughout the season. Once the lettuce is harvested and the weather is too warm for another lettuce crop, I will pull out the leftovers, amend the soil with some organice compost and plant my tomato seedlings which are growing quite nicely in my laundry room! The spinach bed will be come a cucumber bed, the kale and turnips will turn to beans. I'm not sure what crop I will put in my carrots/radish bed...probably peppers.

Since I don't have a lot of space, each one of my beds is divided in half to be able to grow two crops within a single bed.

I think this is going to be my best garden yet! I am looking forward to saving lots of money and feeding my family nutritious, fresh and chemical free fruits and veggies!

Here is a picture of my garden with the beds all dug and planted:

It doesn't look like much more than soil right now, but I will post piks as my new seedlings start to sprout. I'm nervously awaiting these little sprouts as I have never direct-seeded before. I've always grown from seed inside and then transplanted!

Oh and here is a picture of my tomato seedlings:

Some of the seeds never sprouted but I'll work with what I've got...and they look good. In fact, I just gave them their first seawood fertilizer feeding and they look strong and healthy.

If you have any questions about SPIN gardening or about my garden in general, leave a comment or send me an email!

OH! I almost forgot. I finally finished my classes for the New Farmer Trainee Program. Now the real work begins starting April 5th, as I get on the farm and get dirty! I'll be blogging about that too so stay tuned!

Until next time garden gals and guys....happy gardening!

Seeds: Charts and starts!

2011-03-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since my last post. But I haven't forgotten about my faithful garden followers! Spring is almost here which means I am busy ramping up for the new growing season.

I am getting some tomato seeds started today and planting spinach and kale in my garden this weekend (yup...they can go in the ground....they like the cool weather). I'm a little behind schedule, but we had a major car repair that put a bit of a monkey wrench in my planting plans.

Have you ever made a seed starting chart? Maybe you're thinking "I don't need one" or "I don't know what that is." Well a seed chart helps you to plan out when you should start your seeds. Why should you do this? Ahhhhhh my friends, to make sure that your plants have enough time to soak in the sun and produce those delicious fruits and veggies before fall descends upon you!

I don't want to make this a boring blog and explain it all. Instead I'll give you a link to a great website that explains how to make one and even gives a template to use to make your own. It is the very same template that I am using!

Better Hens and Gardens is the website and here is the link. If you have any questions you can always leave a comment or email me!

I'm sure you are wondering what I am growing this year so here it is:

Tomatoes: Brandywine Red, Baxter's Bush Cherry, Beefsteak and Supersweet 100's
Spinach: Space Hybrid
Lettuce: Silvia and Salad Bowl
Kale: Red Winter
Cantaloupe: Crenshaw
Cucumber: Marketmore
Carrots: Nantes Half Long
Herbs: Sweet Basil. Oregano

Well, that's all for now garden gals and guys! Remember, if you are starting seeds indoors, now is the time to get them started!

On the farm front, my new farmer trainee classes have been going very well. It's a little hard on my body to be in class until 8:30 at night (hey! my day starts at 3:30AM!!!) but it's well worth it.

I've been learning so much! I can't wait until I actually start working on the farm in April! I'll be sure to blog about every bit of it.

Until next time garden gals and guys....happy gardening!!

2011-02-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

2011 will be the year of the vegetable garden! It has been declared…by me of, course! If you are going to buy your seeds from a catalog, this is the time to make your purchases. If you wait until April or May, most of the seeds that you may want to order will be gone.

You may ask “why so early?” Well, just remember, you have farmers that are buying their seeds now to begin growing them in greenhouses. They need to be able to bring those delicious fruits and veggies you love to market early in the spring (when most gardens haven’t even begun to produce).

What kind of seeds should you buy? To answer that question, you need only ask yourself what you like to eat. If you like tomatoes, buy tomato seeds. If you like cucumbers, buy cucumber seeds. If you like squash, buy squash seeds. You get the point, right? If you grow what you like to eat you are more likely to tend your garden regularly and harvest that fruit when it’s ready.

There are lots of great catalogs out there to choose from. Don’t get seed catalogs? Don’t worry, most companies that sell seeds have online stores as well. I buy organic seeds because I don’t like genetically modified seeds. A few of my favorites are: Johnny’s Selected Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com); The Natural Gardening Company www.naturalgardening.com); Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com); and Abundant Life Seeds (www.abundantlifeseeds.com).

Pay attention to the spacing needs of the seeds you order. Most catalogs will tell you how large your plants will grow. Some will even say if the plant will thrive in small spaces or containers. If you aren’t sure about a seed, you can always give the company a call. There’s always a knowledgeable customer service representative that is ready to help you make the best choice for your garden space.

Now you have a few places to order seeds from…so get to it! Remember, you can always email me with questions at arussell@teamdtri.com or leave a comment here on my blog. I will be sure to respond. Email me pictures of your garden too….I’d love to see what you’ve got growin’!

Until next time garden gals and guys….

Happy garden thoughts!

2011-01-17T04:26:00.000-08:00

Hello Garden Gals and Guys and welcome to my two new followers!

This is going to be another exciting growing season for us all! I hope to share new tips with everyone and keep you up-to-date on what I am doing this year.

This weekend I attended the Future Harvest-CASA conference and learned a lot of great things that are going to help me in my quest to become a full-time farmer.

I learned about a fabulous new technique called SPIN farming and I am excited to see how it will turn out. For those of you that are local, I will be selling veggies right out of my garden, so be sure to check the blog to see what's ready for harvest!

This is the year of meat! I have decided to take the Charcutepalooza (pronounced shar-coo-ta-pa-loo-za) challenge. Take the challenge with me! Click the link above or the picture to the left to learn more about it (after you've finished reading my blog of course!)

I met Cathy at the conference this weekend and she is truly delightful. She has lots of great stuff on her site....too much to mention in one blog entry. For those of you that are local to the DC area, she also has a list of classes on her site that she offers in her very own kitchen!

I'll be posting pictures of recipes that I make and making your mouths water for sure!

There's been another exciting development for me. I have been accepted into the Maryland New Farmer Trainee program! Starting in February, I will be taking classes to learn about small-scale fruit and vegetable production. Then, in early April, I will work one six-hour day a week on an actual farm. This is what I have been waiting for! I'll be getting hands-on knowledge about farming and it's going to be so much fun!

I'll be posting lots of interesting blogs this year, folks! You don't want to miss it! Be sure to tell your friends and family about Fat Earth. It's going to be a great year and my blog is going to give you every exciting detail! I'd love to see you become a follower if you haven't already!

Until next time garden gals and guys....

Happy garden thoughts!

Testing, testing....

2011-01-13T08:17:00.001-08:00

OK, I admit it. I’ve never had my soil tested before. My reasoning was simple: I add compost to my soil every year in the spring and shredded leaves every fall. That’s enough, right? Wrong.

Last year was not a good year for my garden. It wasn’t very productive at all and I did everything right. In all honesty, I never bothered to get my soil tested because I didn’t want to spend the money or take the time to mail out the soil (there are no soil labs in Maryland) and wait for results.

Well, I was visiting the Co-op store in my neighborhood looking for a soil test kit. I decided that I was going to try and test the soil myself. One of the staff members informed me that I could have my soil tested there for five dollars and get the results in a few minutes. I was sold.

I rushed home, gathered my soil and went right back to the co-op. I gave them the soil and within a few minutes, the secret to why my garden wasn’t doing well was revealed: the nutrients in my soil were low. The pH of my soil was fine, in fact it was right where it needed to be (6.5…neutral…which is the best for a veggie garden). However my soil nutrient levels were very, very low.

I asked how this could be since I add compost to my soil every year. I learned the answer quickly. Compost feeds the beneficial microbes in the soil and keeps your soil healthy, but it doesn’t necessarily give your plants the food they need. If you garden in a small space like I do, nutrients are very important to good plant growth.

I was told what to buy to remedy the nutrient deficiency. For me, it’s as simple as an organic fertilizer that I will turn into the top two inches of soil, and some lobster compost to add to each planting hole for my tomatoes (tomatoes need lots of calcium and lobster compost is finely ground lobster shells which are a great source of calcium).

I also need to feed the plants several times throughout the growing season: when first transplanted into the garden; when flowers set on the plants; and when the first fruits appear. Organic fertilizers don’t last long, so if there are heavy rains, you may even need to feed the plants a little more often than this.

If you are going to have your soil checked here’s what you need to do:

Push any mulch on your garden bed to the side

Dig down about two inches deep and collect a soil sample (do this in several areas of your garden and combine them together into a Ziploc bag)

Send it to a soil lab (or if you feel like taking a little drive you can come to the co-op in Glen Burnie!) and find out what your soil needs.

Add recommended nutrients to your soil

You will need a baseball-sized amount of soil in order to get accurate results.

Soil testing is not just for vegetable gardens! You can have your lawn’s soil tested as well. So if you’ve got a problem spot that won’t grow grass, a soil test is well worth the investment (even if you have to send it away to a lab). Just be sure to specify whether the soil test is for a garden or lawn because the nutrient recommendations can vary for each.

Check with your local garden center or favorite nursery center to see if they offer soil analysis. I promise it will be worth the investment.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at arussell@teamdtri.com.

Until next time garden gals and guys….

Happy garden thoughts!

Take the garden pledge!!!

2011-01-03T06:03:00.000-08:00

Happy new year!!! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I pray that 2011 will be a prosperous one for us all.

I was thinking about what I could blog about and didn't want to talk about the seed catalogs that have been dropping through my mail slot every day (even though I LOVE getting them!).

So I started to think what I could write about. I thought about the Grow It Eat It initiative and the classes that I have taught on vegetable gardening. I remember a lot of people saying "I'm going to start a garden next year" and then it hit me. What would happen if everyone who reads this helped just one person plant a garden--whatever the size--this year? And then what would happen if the person you helped, helped someone else? The possibilities are endless!

So here's my challenge. I even made my own graphic for it! My personal pledge this year is to help at least one person start a garden. It can be just a few plants in containers, a small raised bed, or a nice-sized garden (whatever that may be).

There's no place to sign up, it's just a personal pledge and I'd love to hear from everyone when they've accomplished their goal! I have two people in mind already that have been saying they are going to plant a garden for at least three years.

Is there anyone out there willing to take this pledge with me? I think it's going to be lots of fun!

So here's to 2011 and greener gardens for all!

Until next time....happy garden thoughts!

Nighty, night garden

2010-10-25T15:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I haven't made a post since August. My garden disappointed me this year. I did not get the usual yield that I normally would get. I think it was a combination of the extreme heat plus too much rain all at once. I also didn't put horse manure in my garden in early spring and work it into the soil. Nonetheless, I did get two cantaloupes, a whole mess of hot peppers, some cucumbers, okra, tomatoes, eggplant, and yes...even carrots.

But, alas, it is time to put the garden to bed for the winter. I'll add some soil amendments to it this coming weekend to replenish my soil's nutrients for next year.

So I went out into the garden, which I hadn't visited since late August. It was a mess...warning...this is not for the faint-hearted:

I told you it was a hot mess! I had a lot of work to do. I thought that I was only going in there to clean out dead plants, surely there was nothing left to harvest, right? Oh my garden friends, I couldn't have been more wrong!

To start, I harvested some short, fat carrots that I had forgotten I planted. The tomato plants that I placed around them grew so large they totally covered the carrot plants. I went to pull what I thought were weeds and out came this:

I specifically chose a short, stubby cultivar so that it would grow well in my soil, which is not the most friable in certain spots even with digging.

But that's not all my friends...yes there is more! Remember my habanero plants that refused to grow tall and were even more stubborn about sharing their blossoms? Well, there are little baby habanero peppers all over my plants! I am hoping that they will continue to grow and maybe I can harvest them by the first freeze. Here are the little darlins:

But wait! There's still more. I found a few more tomatoes and even some eggplants!

This is what my jungle looked like after it was all cleaned out:

This is my garden trash that eerily resembles Madame Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock (don't believe me...look at the comparison):

And this is what my legs felt like later that day after I took a bath:

But it was all worth it...and it will stop hurting when the pain is gone! LOL

My garden is now cleaned out. I'll have to think of some things to blog about now...maybe I can still get some raised beds in and do some garlic and onions before it gets too cold.

Thanks so much for sharing my summer with me! It's been a fun ride with ups and downs along the way.

Until next time, y'all!

Happy gardening...or happy garden thoughts.....

Welcome to the jungle!!!!!

2010-08-13T15:02:00.001-07:00

Yes, my garden is a hot mess! It's been too hot to go out there and tend to things. But I harvested so many tomatoes (cherry, plum and sandwich types), lots of peppers (bell, jalapeno, chili and cherry bomb).

I also harvested an eggplant. I made tacos today and used some garden fresh tomatoes as one of our toppings. They were so sweet and warm. Oh it was yummy!

As you can see--or not see for all the foliage--I have a lot of basil that I need to pick. I think a nice pesto to go with some of my maters is certainly in order. Soon, another gardening season will be coming to a close. But for now, I have a watchful eye on the only two cantaloupes I have growing this year. One should be ready in another week or so. While my garden was a bit stingy this year with its harvest, I am thankful to have received the bounty that I did today. Take a look!

Yes, that is all from today's harvest. I am going to freeze the peppers and take some of the maters to my mother-in-law. I wish my parents lived closer so that I could give the eggplant and some maters to my mom (sorry, Mom).

I may try my hand at some fall plantings, but honestly it's a little past the date to get a harvest before the frost. But I'm not giving up on my garden just yet. I think there's still another harvest or two of maters out there.

I'll give it until the end of August. Me thinks my next blog will most likely be on amending the soil....oh....and maybe planting some garlic and onions to overwinter and be ready for spring!

Well, this is all for now. Until next time garden gals and guys!

Happy gardening!

The cherries are coming, the cherries are coming!

2010-08-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes that is. Over the past couple of days I have picked two large bowls of cherry tomatoes. My garden, I'm ashamed to say, looks a hot mess but at least I've got some cherry maters! They are SO sweet...almost like eating a sweet grape...or cherry!

I spied two eggplants that are just about ready to come off the vine and the two cantaloupes that I have are doing nicely. There are a lot of plum tomatoes and sandwich type tomatoes that are very green. I have pulled a few pineapple tomatoes from the vine....delish!

As for my peppers....well those sweet banana peppers...someone mislabeled them. I cut one up to put in my salad and popped a slice into my mouth expecting a sweet peppery flavor. Ummm....NOT! They are spicy! Glad I discovered that before putting them into my salad.

My habaneros have very few leaves but no flowers. I don't think I'll be getting any fruit from there. Didn't notice any flowers on my ghost peppers either. Oh well.

The beginning of August always marks the slowing down of the gardening season for me. But this is also the time when you can begin to make fall plantings of your cold crops: broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, collards, kale, etc. I may have to start some seeds and give the fall gardening a try. I've never done it before.

I'll be doing another post after I clean up my garden this weekend.

So until next time!

Happy gardening!

Recipes, recipes, recipes!

2010-07-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would shake the blog up a bit by sharing a recipe that I like. In fact, I made it fresh just for you! I wish you were here to taste it!

This is a cucumber salad recipe from Paula Deen.

Ingredients:

2 Cucumbers (peeled and sliced thin)
1 tsp. salt (I used sea salt instead of regular salt)
1 tsp. vinegar
1/2 c. mayo
1/4 c. sour cream
1 tbsp. dill weed
dash of pepper

Peel your cucumbers and then soak them on a paper towel.

Slice them and then put back on the paper towel. This gets out all the extra water so that your salad won't be runny.

Place them in a bowl and then add the salt and vinegar (I used red vinegar but white vinegar is fine):

Next add the sour cream,mayo, dill and black pepper:

Mix and enjoy!

And speaking of great recipes, the wife of a good friend of mine has just published a cookbook!!! It's full of wonderful recipes! If you get a chance, please take a look and if you like what you see, please support her by purchasing a copy. It's called Cooking from the Heart. She's an amazing cook so you won't be sorry if you get a copy!

If you do happen to purchase the books, please use the link above. Other online sellers have the wrong copy of the book (it's a long story).

Well, until next time garden gals and guys.

Happy gardening!

Cruisin' for Cantaloupes

2010-07-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

I just love garden surprises! I go out into my garden just to say hello to my plants and then bing! There it is! Today it was a cantaloupe that is about the size of a grapefruit.

Did you know that cantaloupe is the only fruit that will slip from the vine when it is ready? So harvesting it is basically fool proof. You can also smell cantaloupes from several feet away when they are ripe. It's a very sweet smell that makes your mouth water!

But that smell also attracts fruit flies and ants. So keep an eye on your cantaloupes as they come close to maturity. Last summer, one of my lopes was almost destroyed by a gaggle of ants that found their way to my precious produce.

Below is a picture of that very cantaloupe. I had to cut the top part off where the ants had gotten to it, but it was still able to be salvaged....and boy was it sweet:

Cantaloupes are probably my hubby's most favorite thing that comes from the garden. Here's another garden nugget that you may not know about: they have lots of potassium and are great for lowering your blood pressure! Who says sweet treats aren't good for you?!

Well this is all for now garden gals and guys. Until next time!

Happy gardening!

Tomato harvest!!

2010-07-23T06:37:00.001-07:00

I have finally picked my first batch of tomatoes. The large ones are pineapple tomatoes and the others, of course, are cherry tomatoes.

The pineapple tomatoes were so sweet! I normally don't like the taste of a tomato by itself but this was more like eating a peach than a tomato!

I harvested some more sweet banana peppers too. I have to find some recipes for all these peppers.

The garden is looking pretty good, even though I lost my cucumber plants. Things are still very slow to ripen and I have a lot of green tomatoes still refusing to turn red. I also spied an eggplant that should be ready for pickin' soon.

In the meantime, here is what I did with my pineapple maters....a refreshing spinach salad:

Until next time, garden gals and guys!

Happy gardening!

July harvest

2010-07-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Hey there garden gals and guys! Yes, it's been a while since my last post. I noticed I have three new followers to my blog! Welcome, welcome to you all! I am glad that you've joined my little piece of fat earth!

Now that I have properly welcomed my newest garden buddies, let me just say that my garden is frustrating me just a little. One of my cucumber plants bit the dust and it looks as if the other will as well. Thankfully, I was able to harvest a handful of cukes and I even added one to my salad last night. Quite tasty!

I will be thankful for what I do have: a handful of cukes, two little cherry maters, two green peppers, some banana peppers and some collards.

There are lots of maters out there growing on the vines, they are just taking their sweet time ripening. My habanero plants that I grew from seed are growing very, very slowly. Still no flowers on them yet.

Here's a pik of the garden now. This is only the left side. I have to get back out there and tend to it a bit, so this blog is gonna be short and sweet.

Usually my garden is much more prolific by this time of year. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the farmers market after all. But if not, my family and I will enjoy whatever God decides to provide from the land.

Yeah, this garden blog isn't as upbeat as all the rest. But that's gardening...you grow some, you lose some!

Until next time ya'll!

Happy gardenin'!

June harvest and a string bean recipe

2010-07-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

Happy July! Yesterday was the last day of June and I got a small harvest out of my garden that consisted of several sweet banana peppers and two more okra.

Now here's the real treat. Last week, I took all my beans that I harvested and made string beans with lemon zest. This is a recipe that I got from the show Down Home with the Neely's. It's very simple.

Lemon Zest String Beans

Ingredients:

2 lbs. string beans (cleaned and ends chopped off)
one lemon
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
two cloves of garlic (chopped)
2 tbsp. olive oil
3 tbsp. butter

Boil water with a pinch of salt. Take two pounds of string beans and add to boiling water. Cook for one and a half minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

In a frying pan heat the olive oil and butter. Add the chopped garlic and red pepper flakes and saute over medium flame. Add your string beans and stir with tongs for about two or three minutes.

Remove from frying pan and add the zest of one lemon. Serve!

It will look like this:

I then added this to my dinner plate of ribs and macaroni and cheese...YUMMY!

There you have it! There's nothing like enjoying fresh veggies from your own garden. Until next time garden gals and guys.....

Happy gardening!!

Harvesting okra

2010-06-26T04:39:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful, early Saturday morning. Join me as I harvest some okra, won't you? I have never grown okra before, so when a friend asked me how to harvest it, I had to do some research.

I'm glad that I did. Okra grows very quickly. In fact, it grows so quickly that its pods are ready to harvest only four to five days after you see the initial flower.

Okra needs to be harvested when it is four to five inches long. If you let it get any longer than that it becomes tough, woody and pretty much inedible.

So here we go with step by step instructions.

First, measure the okra to be sure that it's at least four to five inches long. If you feel comfortable eyeballing it, be my guest, but I am no good at estimating. :o) This okra was exactly five inches from the base of the pod to the tip.

Using a sharp pair of garden shears, cut the okra from the stem about 1/4 of an inch below the pod base. Do not try to snap or break the okra from the stem. This can damage the main stem of the plant.

That's it! Easy, right? And remember to get in the habit of harvesting your okra regularly. Harvesting the okra actually stimulates the plant into producing more pods.

In other garden news, my cucumbers are coming along quite nicely! Here's a snapshot of one of my baby cukes:

Beans and okra

2010-06-21T05:32:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is! My first harvest of the season....string beans! I got a handful of beauties and I think I may cook them up for dinner tonight. In fact, I'm going to find a yummy recipe and then write a blog about it. What fun that is going to be!

Here's a useful tip about beans. When you see ones that are ready to pull, go ahead and pull them. Harvesting the beans actually stimulates the plant to produce more flowers, which means more beans!

While I was busy picking my beans, I noticed that my okra had some new leaves, so I decided to go and check them out.

Guess what I found while I was being nosy? Yup! Baby okra on the plant! Here's what okra looks like growing in the garden:

Go ahead....say "awwwww isn't it cute!" I have never grown okra before so watching it grow is so interesting to me. There are only about seven leaves on the plant, so I wasn't expecting there to be any fruit on it yet.

A lot of plants set flowers and then the fruit or vegetable grows where the flower is. Well, I'm not sure about other types of okra, but this particular variety does not have flowers. Just leaves.

Here's one more picture. My hubby, unbeknownst to me, took a picture of me at work in my garden paradise. It gives a great view of my garden from up high. You can see my cucumbers behind me in the cages really starting to take off! I've got lots of baby cukes out there. Yummy!

Until next time, garden gals and guys.

Happy gardening!

Simple pleasures

2010-06-14T05:21:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love going into my garden each morning to see what has changed since the day before. The most simple things bring so much joy to my heart.

Having a garden--of any kind--really makes you stop and appreciate the simple beauty that God puts in everything.

Today, as I walked through my garden, I noticed that my sunflowers are blooming. I see now why they are called sunflowers. As they open up, their yellow color bursts forth like a beautiful sunrise:

Not too far from my sunflower I spotted a dew drop on one of my collard leaves. It reminded me of a song that my Grandma Mattie used to sing:

" I come to the garden alone. While the dew is still on the roses. And the voice I hear falling on my ear. The Son of God discloses. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known."

It gave me much peace and I just sat there and stared at it for a while. It reminded me of the newness and freshness that God gives us each day:

And as if there wasn't enough joy already in my heart, I spied my very first tomato fruit on one of my mater plants!! This is my Pineapple tomato:

Yay! I have faith that there are many more to come!!!!

Well, I hope my words today have brought you much joy, peace and inspiration! Until next time...

Happy gardening!

Hose Repair

2010-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Okay garden gals and guys, here's our first lesson in repair. This may seem very simplistic to some but for those that may not know how to do it, now you will know! What is it you ask? Hose repair!

My sprayer nozzle was stuck on my hose. I could not remove it for anything in the world. Not even the WD-40 worked...and that works on everything! I was in Lowe's and was looking at new hoses. I am a very frugal gardener and I just didn't want to drop thirty bucks on a new hose. Then I noticed these male couplers with three photos above them showing how to repair a hose. I said to myself "self, you can do this."

So I spent just a little over one dollar on a male coupler (they have female couplers too, if that is the end that you need).

It was as easy as one, two, three! I don't consider myself a handy person, so if I can do it so can you.

Here's what you will need:

-coupler (male or female.....male if you need to screw something onto it...female if you need to screw it onto something).
-a sharp razor
-screwdriver
-old hose (obviously...ha ha ha)

Here we go:

The old hose (I got the bright idea to make this a blog after I cut it, so yes it's already cut...but pretend it's not).

Next, get your razor and cut just a little below the metal and remove:

Tip: there may be water in the hose...thankfully there was just a wee bit. But if you had the hose running, you may want to let it sit for a while.....or prepare to get really wet....if it's hot I say go for getting wet!

Next, get your coupler:

Then, use a phillips head screwdriver to take screws out of the clamp to release the actual coupler. Sorry, couldn't get a shot of this...you know my hands shake and I couldn't unscrew the screws and hold the camera steady. :o)

Next, screw the coupler down into the hose:

Tip: this part takes some doing...you have to really twist it down into the hose. You may want to wear gloves to get a better grip on the coupler and keep from hurting your hands.

Next, place the clamp over the new coupler and screw the screws back in on each side. Make sure it's nice and tight...but don't strip the screws.:

Next, get your shiny new nozzle and drool over it for a minute (okay...you don't have to do this part, but humor me):

Final step: twist new nozzle onto new coupler. Viola! You have a working hose again!

There you have it!

New coupler: $1.76
New nozzle: I don't know, it was a gift
Feeling I got when I fixed it myself: priceless

June in my garden

2010-06-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

I sit here at my computer with my garden gear on complete with floppy, wide-brimmed white garden hat and I'm smiling because it's June in my garden. That means that my plants have flowers and soon will begin to set fruit.

Things are really growing nicely. I have little yellow buds on quite a few of my mater plants. They are a very welcome addition to my garden scene because I know those delicious maters are not far behind!

I added shallot bulbs to my growing list and they have begun to sprout. They look almost like grass
as they wave their green arms and say hello to their cucumber neighbors behind them.

Shallots are a very sweet, mild onion that really add a wonderful flavor to any recipe. I sometimes replace regular onions with shallots because of their mild sweetness.

I added two pepper plants to my garden this past weekend. The cultivar is 'bhut jolokia' otherwise known as 'the ghost pepper'. This pepper measures over one million on the Scoville scale. You literally could take just a pencil tip amount of one of these and make any recipe extremely hot and spicy. Speaking of peppers, my habanero seedlings (the third picture) are doing very well. I grew these from seed in March. All eight of them survived! They are only about two inches tall, but very healthy. I wonder why they are growing so slowly? Maybe that slow growth is what makes them so spicy!

My bell peppers are ringing in the month of June quite nicely. I love the smell of a freshly cut pepper. It takes me immediately to the smells and sounds of Thanksgiving day and time spent with my family making foods that nourish the body and comfort the soul.

I just love all the green in my garden and the splashes of orange and yellow against the brown soil. I really could just stay in my garden all day and find something new that I didn't see before.

Below is another tomato plant with flowers on it. My camera wanted to focus on the purple basil and other plants in the background. One of these days I need to get a better quality camera. But alas, I work with what I have.

Movin' on down the line in pictures we have my okra plants. I started these from seed as well. Okra seems to be another slow grower, but will be well worth the wait. A lot of people don't like okra, and I count myself among that crowd unless it is sliced up in some gumbo!

Here is my first casualty of Fat Earth. This is one of my Georgia collards that I grew from seed. I was wondering why my slug intervention was not working. It turns out it wasn't slugs eating away at my greens, it was a cabbage worm...and he took the time to poop all over one of my leaves. I pulled this plant out and threw it in the garbage. I don't think my other collards will make it. They are all just eaten to death. That makes me sad.

If I was a bug eater, that worm would have SO been sauteed with some onions and a little salt and pepper.

If the collards are the only plants that succumb to a disease or insect attack, I will count myself blessed.

Well garden gals and guys, this is Audra Russell...............good day!

Peaches and compost....not necessarily in that order

2010-06-02T05:35:00.001-07:00

These are some of the many peaches on my dwarf peach tree this year. This is the third growing season for my tree. It's not supposed to give me ripe peaches until year five, but I don't know...these peaches are looking pretty good so far!

I went out into my garden and put down a layer of compost that I bought from the local farmer's cooperative in Glen Burnie. It feeds my plants, but more importantly feeds my soil, which feeds my plants. :o)

My garden took four bags of this stuff...which didn't smell too great. Suddenly I felt I was at a horse farm! I only made a thin layer, sort of a top dressing. I usually work my compost into the soil before I plant, but time got away from me this year.
It's been a week since I applied the compost and manure mixture and I must say my plants are LOVING it! Everything looks so healthy and green and I've even got some baby peppers on one of my plants.

I am excited about this growing season. At last count, I had twenty five tomato plants (of different varieties, of course); twenty pepper plants; ten cucumber plants; two watermelon plants (those are planted in a nice, sunny bed behind my garage); four cantaloupe plants; eight shallot bulbs; four chives; two radish plants; eight collard plants; and I can't even count all the herbs in my garden! Sheesh! But I love going out every day and looking at my babies.

On another note, I went to the farmers market this weekend where I will be a vendor come the end of June/beginning of July. It's a quaint market and the vendors were all so very friendly. I am so looking forward to being there! Don't worry, I'll post lots of piks of my farmers market adventure!

For now, I leave you with an aerial view of my garden with a layer of fresh compost:

Until next time.....happy gardening!

The first harvest of my 2010 garden!

2010-05-27T15:18:00.000-07:00

So here it is! The very first harvested crop from my garden. One beautiful strawberry. It was so shiny, it almost looked fake. My hubby and I shared it and boy was it sweet! Yummy! There are lots of other berries out there and I can't wait for them to ripen.

I was poking around the garden looking for any other signs of fruit. Low and behold a wee baby pepper is growing:

I tried to get my camera to focus on it. It wanted to focus on the ground instead. I tried to use my own hand as a backdrop, but my hands were just not steady enough. But you can see the baby fruit pretty well. The garden is slowly but surely coming to life.

I plan to get some compost this weekend and give the ground a good feeding. Here's hoping for a fruitful harvest!

Until next time, happy gardening!

Now the real fun begins!

2010-05-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

Well, there I am! Tilling my garden. I don't normally advocate tilling, but so many weeds had grown in my garden that it would have taken me at least half a day to get my soil ready.

So I tilled....and tilled. The good news is I saw lots of worms and I think only one or two got (gulp) killed (sorry guys!). A moment of silence for the worms please.....

OK. So once the tilling was finished, the real fun began! I got to plant all of my crops! Unfortunately only a few of the beautiful seedlings I grew made it into the garden. All of the delays from weather to illnesses kept my seedlings indoors too long and they just were not happy.

The good news is that I was able to buy some wonderful seedlings from the store to supplement what was lost. So this is what my garden looked like after I finished tilling. Ahhh! All of that wonderful soil! So rich and brown. I took all the grass that I tilled and started a compost pile in that yellow recycle bin you see there (it's coming along nicely).

What survived from my seedlings grown indoors were: okra, several tomato plants, habanero peppers, carrots, sage, lemon balm, various basil cultivars and some radishes. Not bad at all.

I bought more tomato, cucumber, eggplant, bush bean, lima bean, bell pepper, cantaloupe and watermelon plants. I have twenty five tomato plants that are a mix of romas, cherries and sandwich types. I lost count of how many pepper plants I have. There are eight cucumber plants, four cantaloupe plants and four watermelon plants. I also planted shallots, a really sweet type of onion that is SO delicious! This is my shallot bed:

It's small, but I am not really planning to sell these at the market. I just wanted to have them on hand for some recipes that I love to make!

My garden is now full and I am looking forward to seeing my babies grow and produce a great harvest. I have so much packed into my garden that I had to plant some of the tomato plants on the outside of my cage.

I also planted the watermelons in a nice bed that I prepared behind my garage. They really need room to sprawl. I haven't had much success with them in years past. Here's hoping I can grow ones that would make my Grandpa Nathan proud!!! Here are some photos of my crops growing. They don't look like very much now, but when they get growing, boy will they look wonderful!!! There are lima beans and various types of peppers and few mater plants squeezed in. There's also some chocolate mint that came back from last year growing outside of the cage and two strawberry plants growing in containers:

I'll be posting pictures as my garden continues to grow. The rain this weekend was a welcome addition to my garden. I always love it when God provides the water so that I can save on my water bill!

Well my garden gals and guys, this is it for now! I'll keep you posted as my garden grows! I'll be starting the farmers market hopefully sometime in late June. I'll be posting pictures on that as well!

Until next time, happy gardening!!!!

Up from the ashes

2010-05-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last blog. This past weekend was a busy weekend for my garden and, as promised, I am writing to tell you that my garden cage is fixed...well, almost. This is what Snowmageddon 2010 did to my beautiful cage.

The main beams survived but the ceiling supports snapped. My baby is all overgrown with weeds. But that didn't stop us.

The first day (Friday) was spent prepping for the build, taking down the ceiling beams and cutting away the old chicken wire. That took us about two hours. My wonderful husband then straightened up the main structure of the cage. The damage really wasn't that bad (which is what he kept telling me...but I'm his wife and it's my job NOT to believe him).

After the main supports were straightened, I started to smile and that was the first time I really knew that I would have my garden cage back!

To rebuild the cage, we decided to use 4x4's to give the structure a little more strength. It took my stepson and I to hold up the beams while my husband screwed them into place with metal brackets. That's the other change, we used three inch galvanized, outdoor screws instead of nails. Using a drill to secure the beams to the frame saved a lot of time and elbow grease.

Here is hubby putting in the last of the screws on the second beam that we installed. The weather could not have been better. It was about 70 degrees and boy was it windy! But we couldn't complain because that wind kept us from getting too hot.

We worked from about 10am until about six that evening. My allergies gave me no rest, so I sneezed as I worked (just call me Sneezy).

At the end of the day, we were sore and tired, but the result was well worth it:

The structure is complete. Now all that is left is to put the door back on and wrap the top half and the ceiling in new chicken wire....oh and get out all of the weeds and then plant, of course!

So, there you have it! I would say "it is finished" but it's not quite yet. But it's finished enough for me to hear the choir angels sing.

Until next time, happy gardening!

Planting at the Governor's mansion

2010-04-22T05:39:00.000-07:00

OK, this blog is not about my garden but I had so much fun I had to write about it. As you all know, I am a master gardener and I work on the Grow It Eat It project. Saturday, my daughter came with me for the official planting ceremony at the Governor's mansion.

The First Lady of Maryland was there and the Grow It Eat It project received a proclamation from the Governor declaring April as Grow It Eat It month.

The event had a really nice showing of master gardeners, staff from the Governor's office, the University of Maryland extension office and the Department of Agriculture. Everyone chipped in and planted a variety of greens in the garden. Adrianna was so excited to help me plant. She got to meet the Governor and First Lady of Maryland and jumped on the trampoline with their son, Jack.

We had a wonderful time and I am so proud to be a part of this project. The photo above is courtesy of the Governor's Press Office. You can see all the photos here. Click on 'MORE' under Maryland Grow It Eat It.

Until next time. Happy gardening!

It's transfer time....again.

2010-04-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

Ah, it's good to be back! I haven't posted for two weeks. My seedlings are growing very nicely. I had to transfer my okra and sugar snap peas into larger pots.

They are growing by leaps and bounds. I placed the sugar snap peas in one gallon pots and gently tied them to two foot stakes to give them a little support. As you can see, my cat gave me her personal approval...AFTER checking my work.

I also placed my okra into larger flower pots. I think they are going to do very well. They look very strong. They were a bit leggy, but I just buried the stems, so I think they will be alright. Okra plants are heat lovers, so I have to keep these beauties thriving indoors until mid-May or June 1st.

Speaking of thriving, there are plans in the works to get the garden cage repaired this weekend! I will be sure to post lots of pictures of the rebuild. I am relieved that we are finally getting this done as my cold crops need to get in the ground and grow nice and big for the market!

Ok, back to the plants. I have been saving all of my eggshells. Eggshells are a great source of calcium for tomato plants. You don't have to do anything special with them, just let them dry out on a paper towel. I usually throw them in the hole with the tomato plants at transplanting time. However, this time, I crushed some of them up very finely and sprinkled them on the soil around my tomato plants.

Here's a little growing tip for your plants. You may be tempted to plant tomato, pepper or cucumber plants outdoors now since all of the garden centers are selling them. In a word: DON'T. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watermelons, eggplants, cantaloupes and others are heat loving plants.
Although the days are starting to warm up, nighttime temperatures are still in the low 30s and 40s and can kill your plants quickly. The only plants that can go out in the garden now are cold loving plants like lettuces, radishes, spinach, kale, collards, and mustard greens.

That's all for now folks! Until next time....happy garden thoughts!

Spreading my roots

2010-04-05T09:14:00.001-07:00

Yes, the time has come to move on....into bigger pots, that is. My little baby seedlings have matured quite a bit.

I had to transfer them to larger plant trays because they outgrew the plant cells they were in because their roots need a little more room to grow.

When I was transferring my carrots, I noticed that the leaves on one of the plants had not completely released from the seed. It is in the shape of a perfect heart!

I see it as God's way of telling me He loves me so much. It really touched my heart.

You'll be happy to know that the seedlings are doing very well and growing just as they should. I am getting ready to begin my second planting of everything to extend my growing season throughout the summer. It's called succession planting. A simple explanation is that you start a second set of seeds of whatever you are growing two weeks after you plant your first set of seeds.

Planting this way ensures that you have a continuous crop to harvest throughout the summer season and, if you plan it right, into the fall.

Now that I am going to be selling at the Cheverly Community market, I want to be sure to have enough produce for my family and the market!

Well, this is all for now garden gals and guys!

Until next time....happy gardening!

This little piggy goes to the market!

2010-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

OK so last year I wanted to sell at the farmers market. When I wrote to the person that is in charge of several of the local ones in my area, she turned her nose up at me and said my garden is too small.

I was hurt and knew that I had enough veggies to sell at a market. Well, that summer I just ate what I grew.

Well, my little garden is listed on Local Harvest (www.localharvest.org) and yesterday I got an email from the market manager for the Cheverly Community Market. She invited me to be a vendor at her market!

Needless to say I am very excited! I shared my trial with her of trying to sell at a market last year (and also sent her the link to my blog). She told me that I am an inspiration and that my story needs to be told. That made me feel so very special!

So there you have it folks! Lord willing I will be a vendor at the Cheverly Community Market. Yay! I will be sure to blog about the experience. My dream is finally coming together!

Water Wisdom

2010-03-26T05:20:00.000-07:00

On this wet and rainy day I find it appropriate to share a little water wisdom with my garden friends. This tip is not just for your vegetable garden--it applies to your lawn as well.

Let's start with a true or false question. You should water your lawn once a day, especially when the weather gets really hot. True, right? Nope! Your garden (or lawn) only needs one inch of water a week--that's all.

Water your garden and lawn deeply once a week and your garden and lawn will thank you for it. You may think this will not work. Trust me....I have tried both. When you water frequently, the roots of your plants and grasses don't have to work to get their water. They become lazy and the roots stay very shallow, remaining in the top one to two inches of your soil. When really hot weather comes--or heaven forbid--a drought, your plants die or have a very tough time.

Why is this? Because the frequent watering has trained those roots to remain shallow, spreading outwards through the soil. When you water deeply, but LESS often, your plants and grass will start to send their roots DOWN deeper into the soil to find an alternate source of water. If the roots go down deep and find another source of water, they will draw from that source when the weather is hot and dry and be much healthier and more drought resistant.

Remember, healthy plants mean plants that are more resistant to plant diseases. OK, I hear your next question: "what do you mean when you say water deeply?" OK. It's so simple you will laugh. Get an old tuna can. Place it in the center of your garden (or lawn). Turn on your sprinkler and forget about it for a little while. When that tuna can is full of water, that's it! You have given your garden/lawn all the water it needs for a week.

Now you must train yourself NOT to give in to the temptation to water again. You are training those roots! This is root boot camp! Yell at those roots! Tell 'em to dig deep! No more wussy roots and weak, sickly plants!

Now, where is my cold medicine? :o)

Until next time! Happy garden thoughts!

Spring has sprung and so have my seeds!!

2010-03-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

So I have a sore throat and stuffy nose and a fever and I should be in bed. But I just have to share pictures of my sprouts. Quite a few things are a growin' in the Russell household and I even received a generous loan of a shelf lighting system to grow my little darlins' under!

I find it quite poetic that some of my little food producers sprouted on the first day of spring! I am still waiting on okra, habaneros, pumpkins and some of my herbs to sprout, but they can be slow sprouters.

This is so exciting! You know I find such wonder in starting seeds. Some of the seeds, like the ones for beans and cucumbers and cantaloupes are good sized seeds. But seeds for tomatoes and carrots and a lot of the herbs are so tiny, some not much bigger than the point of a pencil. It's amazing to see these little seeds sprout and grow and produce fruits and vegetables that are literally a thousand times the size of the seed itself.

You can definitely see God's awesome power at work in the garden. I often think of the verse about having faith the size of a mustard seed. See the period at the end of that last sentence? That is literally the size of a mustard seed. Really! I have planted them before. I always learn so much about God and faith when I plant my seeds and watch them grow every year.

The garden is such a wondrous place! Well, enough of my rambling for now. Until next time!

Happy garden thoughts!

Seed starting has begun!

2010-03-17T12:06:00.000-07:00

OK, I know it's only been one day since I last posted, but I started my seeds and wanted to share! First, I gathered all the supplies I would need: bucket to mix seed starting mix, plant markers, plant trays, seeds, seed starting mix and a little bit of worm castings to give my seeds a little extra food.

My adventure began by pouring the seed starting mix into my bucket and then adding some water. I added little bits at a time, mixing as I went, until the soil mix was the consistency of a damp sponge. When you squeeze it in your hand, it should hold together in a ball but crumble easily and no water should drain out of it--see a damp sponge. Once it's all mixed up, put it in your planting trays. I bought some inexpensive ones from Anne Arundel County Farmer's Co-op. Do not pack the soil down. Remember, you want to leave air in there for those soon-to-be baby roots to be able to grow.

The next thing I did was take plant labels and write the names of my seeds. I stuck them in each tray BEFORE planting my seeds (I don't trust my mind enough to remember what goes where). Once that was done, I followed the instructions on the seed packets, planting two or three seeds per cell. I have three trays like this one now full of seeds. I put the lids on them to seal in moisture and watered them from the bottom of the tray. Now here's the trick. Forget about putting these trays in that sunny window sill. No, no, no! The temperature fluctuates too much and dips down below 50 degrees at night. Remember seedlings need heat. So place them on a heat mat, or if you don't have one, the top of your refrigerator will do. Once you see sprouts, remove the lid, and place them under a grow light. I bought one from a seed catalog, but you can make your own with lights from your local garden center. Leave those babies under that light with no more than an inch between the seedling and the light. This makes for nice short, stocky seedlings which is what we want. This is why the windowsill is not a good place for them (besides the temperature fluctuations). If the light source is not close, your seedlings will become leggy (tall and thin) because they are trying so hard to reach for the light.

That's it! You have started your seeds! The most important thing to remember is not to over water them. Feel the soil--oh go on and stick your finger down in there! Don't be afraid. If it feels dry, then water. However, if you feel moisture in there, let them be. It's okay to let the seedlings dry a little between waterings. If you water too much, your seedlings will die from a disease called damping off (more about that later).

Well, this is all for now folks! Stay tuned as I bring you more pictures of our sprouts! Come on, seeds!

The world according to Mike McGrath

2010-03-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my garden career! I got to meet Mike McGrath, host of the national public radio show "You Bet Your Garden". He lectured on the seven secrets to successful organic gardening. But if you are thinking "a lecture...how boring" you haven't heard him speak. He is full of knowledge and makes you laugh--hard--while imparting his garden wisdom.

I was afraid to approach him for a picture, but I did it anyway and he was so very happy to oblige! His lecture confirmed some practices I was already using and gave me some tips for things I also need to add to my repertoire to enhance my organic practices. To sum it all up, use raised beds, feed your soil (I'm talkin' compost yaul), invite beneficial insects into your garden, birds are your friends, have something in constant bloom all the time, mulch against weeds, water wisely and (the most important tip) HAVE FUN!

Mike has two great books out. One is called You Bet Your Tomatoes and the other is Mike McGrath's Book of Compost. He autographed both books for me and even said I was "quite a tomato"....awww thanks, Mike, I'm blushing!

If you want more nuggets on each of these tips, shoot me an email and I will be glad to share! This is all for now. Hey, what do you expect? It's a blog!

Until next time happy garden thoughts!!

Silly for Seeds

2010-02-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

It's time to start dusting off those garden tools! I feel as if the growing season has officially started. How can I feel that way with all the snow on the ground? Well, because yesterday I ordered some of my seeds! Yay! I have to order them a little at a time but I wanted to get a jump on the seeds that sell most quickly.

So here's what will be arriving in a few days:

Tomatoes:
Sweet Baby Girls (cherry type)
Tomatoberry (size and shape of a strawberry)
Rutgers Jersey (a sandwich type and a tribute to my homestate--Go Jersey!)
Roma (a tribute to my grandmother and my Italian heritage)

Cantaloupe: Ambrosia hybrid; Cucumber (Streamliner hybrid); Hot Pepper Caribbean Red (habanero); Mint: chocolate mint. I also bought some tomato seeds that will supposedly produce plants that reach 8 feet tall in 90 days and produce 60 pounds of tomatoes...each!

In my next round of purchases I will be buying the rest of my herbs, carrots, onions, garlic and potatoes. Sounds like too much for 300 square feet, but with the my space saving tricks, I'll be able to grow it all! I am excited at what this year's garden is going to bring!! It's going to be an exciting growing season! Be sure to become a follower so you can watch my garden grow!

Until next time....happy garden thoughts!

What becomes of the broken garden?

2010-02-11T05:19:00.001-08:00

The worst snow storm on record. I was ready. Went out and got plenty of groceries (I was all out so I wasn't going just for the snow), filled the car up with gas and was even ready for a power outage (which thank God I did not have). I didn't think of one thing: the garden cage.

I still recall the horror clearly. After the snow had passed my husband looked out the window and said "I was afraid this would happen." My heart sank. I took a few deep breaths and then looked outside. Yup. The weight of the snow on the chicken wire collapsed the roof of my garden cage. Now, I was not a physics major as my husband was, so the fact that the cage might collapse didn't dawn on me. I gave him a dirty look and said "if you thought this was going to happen you could have told me....I would have gone out and cut the chicken wire from the roof of the cage!" Of course I know this wasn't his fault. But someone had to be the target of my misdirected anger and that cowardly snow miser certainly was nowhere to be found.

I cried. Yes, I really did. My husband said "the main supports are fine. We'll go out, cut down the roof before the next snowstorm and in the spring I will make it better and stronger and bigger." Bigger? Ohhhhhh I'm planning what to do with those extra square feet already!

So though my heart feels much like my beautiful garden cage looks. I know that she shall rise again like the Phoenix. The positive in all this--besides the extra square feet I will be getting? It will give me LOTS to blog about!

But in the meantime, if you see this guy....tell him I'd like to have a word with him.

Until next time. Happy garden thoughts!

Garden Planning

2010-02-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

I'm not much for drawing out a garden plan on graph paper like some gardeners do. However, I do like to write down what I want to grow to be sure I'm getting everything I need for the season. It is important to have some kind of garden plan so that you don't end up buying every seed (or plant) you see--and growing too much.

A good tip if this is your first garden is to grow what you like to eat. So if you love romaine lettuce and cucumbers....grow them! It's totally up to you. Just remember to start small. Some plants, like tomatoes and cucumbers, can get really big and if you plant a lot it can become overwhelming as you get into the peak of the summer season.

Here is my seed list for this year:

Tomatoes - Italian ice, pear, rutgers jersey (a sandwich type), tomatoberry (size and shape of strawberries) and sweet baby girls (cherry tomatoes).

Peppers - bell, habanero

Spinach - regular and strawberry spinach (has edible berries at the base of the plant)

Herbs - chocolate mint, boxwood basil (grows in a bush and has very small leaves--great for containers), sweet basil, chives, mint, sage, thyme, oregano

Garlic, collards, cucumbers, okra, sugar snap peas, potatoes, radishes, cantaloupes, onion

And that's it! More than enough to keep me busy for the growing season! Until the next post....happy garden thoughts!

Seed Silly

2010-01-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

It's almost February and seed catalogs have been rolling in for almost a month now. Seed catalogs mean one thing to me.....winter will soon be bidding us adieu and it will soon be time for me to start my seeds (indoors, of course) and watch new life sprout that will soon be warmly welcomed by my garden.

My garden cage looks so lonely out there in the cold, but soon I will find myself escaping into her inspiring beauty, feeling the dirt beneath my fingers and watching my little seedlings grow and bring forth their harvests. It's such an amazing thing to watch a tiny little seed say hello to the world and then produce food that is about 100 times the side of the seed.

Every year I grow something new. This year it's radishes and tomatoberries--tomatoes the size and shape of strawberries. I can't wait to start ordering my seeds. I am going to try a method new to me called square foot gardening. I am always looking for ways to maximize my garden space and I believe that this method is going to make the most efficient use of my space.

I hope you'll follow my blog! You'll be in for quite a ride! What's coming up? Blogs and videos on how to build the square foot garden raised beds; starting my seeds; transplanting seedlings; how to make compost--and more!

Post your comments, ask your questions and I'll be sure to answer! And you'll be getting tips and advice from a certified Master Gardener!

Until next time, my faithful followers....happy garden thoughts!