2 Years Later...

Hello everyone! It's been two years since my last post. I'll admit I fell off the blogging bandwagon, but I'm re-energized and ready to go! I planted corn and two tomato plants last week and will plant green beans and cucumbers in the next couple of weeks. We had 5 inches of rain on Thursday and Friday and I was worried the corn had washed away. Doesn't look that way though and it's starting to come up. It was such a beautiful day today and I was able to take a few pictures. The first two pictures below are of the corn.

April Fools?

Just wanted to post a quick update on the garden. So far so good on everything but the squash. The plants are huge and there are a ton of small squash, but they aren't getting bigger because the bee's have abandoned me. No bee's = no squash pollination. I'm hoping it's just a cruel April Fool's joke and they will come back soon. The first picture below was planting day and the second picture is what they look like now.

Eggplant are growing and starting to flower. Shouldn't be too much longer until I have a few baby eggplant starting to show.

 Tomatoes are starting to fruit. Here's a few cherry tomatoes that will be ready in a week or so.

I planted the corn a couple of weeks ago and am very happy with it's growth so far. I need to run by the feed store tomorrow after work to pick up a bag of 32-0-0 (high nitrogen) fertilizer and give it a good side dressing this weekend. The pictures below are in sequence. First picture was a week or so after planting. The second and third pictures were taken today

Here is the garlic I planted back in November. I'm hoping it will be ready in a month or two. Not really sure though because this is my first attempt at growing garlic. It's hard to resist the urge to pull up a stalk to see how far along it is, but I'll wait for the garlic to tell me when it's ready to be pulled up.

Last but not least, just another reason why I love living out in the country. A quick 10 minute walk around the property nets me a handful of fresh dewberries.

Spring Is In the Air

Hello! Hope you all are well. I figured it was time for an update. In my previous post I mentioned I was going to try my hand at growing my own vegetable plants. Well, I did and it worked! I planted squash, eggplant, cucumber and tomato seeds on January 22nd. In hindsight, I should have planted the squash and cucumber seeds about a month after the eggplant and tomatoes. They grew really fast, but luckily it appears our Winter has come to an abrupt end. Because of this, I was able to move the squash outside earlier than normal. I transplanted them into raised beds on Saturday, March 3rd and the eggplant and tomatoes on Saturday March 10th. I decided to plant these in my raised beds so they will be easy to cover just in case we get a surprise frost. It seems unlikely at this point, but stranger things have happened. Below are a few pictures of my light setup and the growing stages of the squash and eggplant.

The squash have been in the ground for a week now and they look great. Every plant is blooming. I've planted 9 squash, 9 eggplant, and 12 tomatoes outside so far. We've had quite a bit of rain lately and the garden is still to wet to for the second round of tilling. Once I can get the ground ready I'll plant the corn, cucumbers, pinkeye purple hull peas, watermelon, and cantaloupe seeds. This is the plan and hopefully the weather will cooperate. I'll try and post another update next month, when hopefully the peas and corn are coming up. Take care!

Calamondin - An Explosion of Flavor

Hello friends! It's been a while since my last post, but Spring is right around the corner and I'm getting excited about the upcoming gardening season. I have a couple of ongoing projects right now. I'm putting a fence around my garden to keep out the monsters (dogs) who like to play "chase" in the middle of my vegetables. I'm also going to try and grow all of my vegetables from seed this year. Last year I spent $50+ on plants and I've vowed not to do that again since there is an alternative. I have a wire shelving unit in my closet and I've hung fluorescent lights to simulate sunlight. My seeds have arrived and I've set my planting date as January 28th. In case you were wondering where the seeds came from, I ordered online from Trade Winds Fruit (www.tradewindsfruit.com). I highly recommend this company if you are looking for vegetable seeds. Because my order was over $10.00, I did not have to pay for shipping. They took less than a week to arrive and were neatly packaged and labeled. I'll keep you updated on the quest to grow my own vegetable plants.

Let's get to the meat of this blog post, the lovely Calamondin. If you love tart citrus you will love the Calamondin. To me, it tastes like a cross between a Satsuma and Lemon. The peel is sweet and the segments are sour. It may just be the perfect fruit, but that's just my humble opinion. I know you can make all sorts of tasty desserts using the fruit, but I like to just slice them in half and eat them raw. Sadly, the ones I ate in the picture below did not come from my tree. My Calamondin tree has only been in the ground for a year. I purchased my tree from Burris Farm Market in Loxley and hope to plant one or two more this year.

Cooler Weather Makes Me Happy

Hello all! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. After my summer garden finally died from the oppressive heat, I had a break from the garden while waiting on Fall to arrive. About a month or so ago I planted Lima Beans and Turnip Greens for my fall crop. I built a trellis for the Lima Beans out of plastic lattice and metal t-post. It's held up well and I'm hoping the beans will be ready mid-November. The turnip greens have not fared so well. I planted three 25' rows of Turnip Greens, but the dogs decided to have play time in the garden a couple of days after I planted them and the seed was scattered everywhere. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. My project this Winter will be to fence in the garden. I did have some Turnips come up but they are not in a nice, neat row like I prefer.

I drove down to the local feed store last Saturday and bought one Celeste Fig and two Meyer Lemon trees. Here is a list of the fruit trees I've planted over the last two years: 2 Fig, 2 Meyer Lemon, 1 Calamondin, 1 Satsuma, 2 Apple, 1 Plum, 1 Peach. I still would like to plant another Peach and Satsuma.

Last but not least, I've been making pickles. Lots and lots of pickles! Some friends went to the U-Pick farm in Lucedale last weekend and brought me back a case of Boston pickling cucumbers. I've made 13 quarts and 2 pints so far. I still have some cucumbers left so I should get another 5 quarts or so this weekend. Thank you Sean and Amber! Below are some pictures of my progress over the last few months:

 

Dog Days of Summer

Hey everyone...hope you all are well. It's been a while since I've updated so I wanted to show you what I have left in the garden. Everything has pretty much played out except for the watermelon and eggplant. Tonight I picked my first watermelon from the garden. I was so worried that it wouldn't but I was pleasantly suprised...shocked actually. I have about a dozen in various stages of growth, so hopefully they will be as good as this one was. I planted two varieties: Charleston Gray and Jubilee. The one show below is the Charleston Gray, 25-30 lbs.

The other thing I've been working is strawberry fig preserves. My mom and I have canned more than a dozen jars. I've more of a Bama Apple Jelly kind of girl, but I've discovered that the strawberry fig preserves are fantastic on toast. That's about all I have going on right now. If it will every rain, I will be able to till the section of the garden where the corn was. I went to the feed store this weekend and bought some Lima pole beans and I'm ready to get those in the ground for the fall crop. I'm also trying to decide and plan what to put in the ground this fall. So far, all I've decided on is turnips. Any ideas?

FarmVille Lite

I'm now enjoying the fruits of my labor. The only bad thing is it's hot, hot, and hot outside. Yesterday evening I picked zipper peas. I shelled, blanched, and put them in the freezer. I only have two quart size bags. I now know that next year I need to plant a few extra rows. Today I picked the corn. I ended up with about 55 small ears. They have been shucked, blanched, and are already in the freezer. I think next time I may try the G90 variety as they produce bigger ears and from everything I have read, have a great taste. All in all though, I am very happy with the corn. This should last us through the winter. A big thanks to my mom for helping me put the corn and peas up!

Here is a picture I took during the blanching process:

Here are three eggplants I picked yesterday. I plan on slicing, breading, and freezing for future Eggplant Parmesan:

 

Last but not least, here is picture of the tomatoes I've picked the last few days. My tomatoes have been great. I think I've had a tomato sammich almost every day this week.

Also, my watermelons are doing great. I have several cantaloupe sized ones right now, but they still have a long ways to go. My plan for this weekend is to mulch the corn stalks using the lawn mower and till them back into the ground. In a couple of weeks I will be hopefully be planting Butter or Lima beans in that same spot.