Holmes on Homes

I am not sure if anyone has ever watched the show called "Holmes on Homes".  The show is about people who have a problem with the house (leaks, cracked drywall, etc.) and the expert, Mike Holmes, is brought in to diagnose the problem.  Many times the house looks great cosmetically but the underlying structure is bad.

What does this have to do with my garden?  If the underlying structure (soil) in your house (garden) is not right, all the paint, furniture and decorations (fertilizers and pesticides) will only mask what really matters for long term sustainability of your house (garden).  If the foundation is rotten the house will eventually collapse.

I was reading a press release today from Monsanto regarding the extension of rights to corn seed technology.  They were talking about how the corn rootworm has become a real problem for farmers.  Their answer is genetically modified seed that will tolerate pesticides and roundup.  The foundation is crumbling (soil) and they are told by Monsanto to throw on another coat of paint (pesticides and weed killers).  Really?

The soil is the foundation that needs to be strong to support a truly beautiful house.

Eating from the garden

It is always fun when you have all the ingredients fresh from your garden for a favorite summer salad.  Here is one for cabbage.  This is great for hot weather because there is no mayonnaise in it.

Stay Crisp Slaw

8 c. shredded cabbage (cut with a knife)
2 c. shredded carrots
1 green or red pepper cut in thin strips
1/2 c. chopped onion
Mix and sprinkle with 1/2 c. cold water

Dressing-
Soften 1 envelope unflavored gelatin in 1/4 c. cold water
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. vinegar
2 t. celery seed
1/4 t. pepper
1  1/2 t. salt
Mix all ingredients together except gelatin and bring to a boil. Stir in softened gelatin.  Cool until slightly thickened.  Beat well and gradually add 2/3 c. salad oil. 

Drain vegetables then add dressing tossingly lightly until all vegetables are coated.

Flowers

Fresh flowers are one of the best parts of summer.

Living Wreath of impatiens

Part of my cutting garden -

Summer Pictures

I apologize for not posting sooner.  Life gets busy.  I have been dealing with a major case of bacterial leaf spot.  I think that it came in on a pepper plant that I purchased.  I have been spraying with copper fungicide and it appears that I won't loose my pepper plants.  We also had a ground hog that got into the garden one night and dug three holes and ate the top leaves off the bean plants.  They will survive, he didn't. 

Corn

Lima Beans

Black Krim Tomato

Carrots

First Red Pepper

Potatoes

Too busy to post

Spring has hit with full force and I am trying to stay ahead of all the things that need to be done.  Here are a few pictures.  I will try to post more this week.

Viola wreath

April 30

May 10

new deer fence

I had to wait until we installed the deer fence to trellis the peas.  I continued covering the row every night because the deer would have enjoyed the fresh greens without saving any for us!  I was finally able to put up the trellis for the peas, now they need to start growing vertically.  They haven't bloomed yet so they still have time to climb.



Baby chicks

The chicks have hatched.  We have 3 male and 2 female chicks.  The outlet that the incubator was plugged into at Ashley's school apparently had a short.  The heat was off for an unknown amount of time.  The eggs were supposed to hatch on Thursday, March 31.  On Friday, with no indication of any pipping, we thought they were all dead.  I went to the school in the afternoon to pick up the eggs and I was excited to see one egg was pipped.  I brought the eggs home and we had 5 hatch on Saturday.  The others were all formed but died at some point before they hatched.  The kids at school were thrilled to be able to see the 5 chicks on Tuesday. 

Chicks never stay small long!  This is a video at 10 days.  They are already trying to fly.  We are going to hatch a dozen eggs again so that Jenna's boys can experience chicks when they visit on Memorial Day weekend.

Kitchen Garden

 About three years ago, I decided to start a "kitchen" garden outside my back door.  The space was never developed with any major landscaping and I needed an herb garden that was closer than my main garden.  The idea has grown and changed a little bit every year.  It initially started as a place for herbs that was convenient to access as I was cooking.  That purpose has been fulfilled.  I have chives, cilantro, oregano, thyme, dill, italian parsley, curley parsley, basil, marjoram, tarragon, sage, rosemary and a bay leaf plant.  I know that bay leaf is not supposed to survive in our climate but my garden is a microclimate.  It is protected from the north winds and has a southern exposure.  The bay leaf dies back in the winter but increases its size each summer.

  Last year I started toying with an eye pleasing planting arrangement.  It is hard to tell from the pictures but the rows are diagonal.  I have lettuce, spinach, radishes and onions in the diagonal rows.  I planted small softball size cabbage at the back of the rows.  I will plant one grape tomato and one small pepper plant behind the cabbage.  I also had nasturtium filling in the space at the very back.  It is dry six inches from the foundation because of the roof overhang.  The nasturtium thrived in the dry soil and supplied flowers for garnish and salads.

The onions were planted last fall as bulbs and the spinach was sown in the fall.  The spinach only had about two true leaves when the cold weather settled in.  I wasn't sure if they would survive the snow and cold but the onions are looking good and I am picking spinach.  I will do that again in the fall.