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4 years ago
Here's the harvest I picked tonight: 7 cucumbers, 2 squash and our first zucchini. It's amazing how big zucchini gets in no time at all. I've had my eye on this one all week and I knew it'd be ready today after I watered the garden last night. We really need a good rain, this garden requires a lot of water! May is a dry month in Florida, beautiful weather though so I shouldn't complain. As soon as we have our rain barrel irrigation system, it won't be a problem.
I can't describe how rewarding it is to find my produce is ready to pick as I'm walking around the garden. We have been so blessed to have literally NO bugs and NO wildlife attack any of our plants. The only issue so far has been the powdery mildew on our yellow squash, which has affected it's production. I've tried Volck Oil spray, yet the leaves are still have white spots. The spots get bigger, the leaf starts to yellow and curls up on the edges, then turns brown and looks awful. I've been cutting the diseased leaves off all of my plants, it just looks awful. I've read not to put anything with disease, fungus or chemicals (herbicides, pesticides) into the compost pile, so these leaves go directly into our burn pit. The plants have produced only those two yellow squash so far, the rest grow to about 3 inches long and fall off the plant. That's what we get for buying the squash plant at Wal-Mart, against our better judgment. Yes, I know... it was a terrible idea. If I get another squash between the two of those plants it'll be a miracle. Meanwhile, I'm watering, fertilizing, spraying, trimming and hoping for the best.
I want to start plants from heirloom seed next year, we just didn't have time between moving in this house and starting a garden all at once. There are a lot of things I want to do next season... I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to space the monstrous zucchini plants out a bit further, with something that grows tall, like pole beans or sweet corn running up in between. I didn't realize how much planning it takes to master the art of garden design. Truly, it's an art. I expected the learning curve to be steep and for our first season, I think everything is coming along very well. It helps to read, read and read more gardening books and magazines - that's how we got things going. I also need make time to visit other gardeners and LISTEN to their advice. I've found that people who like plants want to tell you about them. I find myself doing this all the time. Well, watch out Ziptie Ranch, we're coming soon! Have a warm cup of lemongrass tea and a comfy chair ready :)
Because Pickles Are Tasty
I love pickles!!! Cucumbers are good but pickles are good x 100. I expanded upon the basic recipe from my previous post, "Refrigerator Dill Pickles" and they turned out looking delicious. I haven't tasted one yet because it takes a little while for the flavors to soak in, about 24 hours according to the recipe... While I'm waiting, I figured I'd update the blog here with some of the latest info. We are swimming in cucumbers. Two of our plants are producing at once, which leaves me busy making pickles and another delicious summer treat, cucumbers and onions. See pics for full-color, mouthwatering illustrations. Who knew mouthwatering was one word?
For those who are curious, here's how I made the pickles. This is a variation of the recipe I had, which left out some essential info (trial and error, anyone?) so I'll explain this in detail.
Here's what you'll need...
- 3 sterile quart jars with lids (not necessarily lids for sealing, this is the non-canning recipe)
- 5-6 fully ripened, normal-sized cucumbers. We do not have a "pickling" cucumber plant, these are just regular, plain-ol' cukes
- 1 red or yellow onion, your choice
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 6 sprigs of fresh dill
- 1 cup of canning salt
- 1 quart of water
- 1 quart of distilled white vinegar
Here's how...
1. Slice the cucumbers in half lengthwise and then into quarters, they should look like spears and fit into the jars nicely.2. While you're in the slicing mood, go ahead and chop that onion. I don't think size matters, I left mine kind of chunky because Bryon loves onions and they'll be easier for me to stay away from.
3. Slice the garlic cloves into halves or quarters.
4. Now that everything is sliced and diced, you can get the water, vinegar and salt boiling on the stove. I made the mistake of starting the heat before I started chopping and it was ready to go before I was finished. I used a 3 quart saucepan and it worked really well.
5. While the water/vinegar/salt mixture is heating up, start building the jars. I found it's much easier to lay the jars on their side and pile the cuke spears in there. Otherwise they're leaning over on the sides and it's hard to get them all in the jar. 1-2 cukes should fit in a quart jar. Once your jar is filled with cukes, add the onion, garlic and a couple sprigs of dill right on top.
6. Is it boiling yet? Once you have a rolling boil, use a 2 cup measuring cup (with a HANDLE!!!) to scoop out some liquid and pour it in the jar. Scooping hot water is not the easiest thing to do, watch out for drips, spills and splashes on your hands. I made a huge mess on the stove, thankfully it's a glass-top and easy to clean. You want to leave a bit of breathing room, don't fill it all the way. Leave about an inch to half inch at the top. Fill all of the jars and there may be a little bit of liquid left over, that's OK. I had a spear left over too, so I threw it in there and let it soak for a couple minutes to taste it. YUMMY!!!!!! Oh was it ever delicious.
7. Screw on the caps and let cool. One of my jars made a seal, the other two didn't. I don't think it matters. The original recipe says to wait 24 hours before you eat them and they'll store up to 3 months. I wouldn't test that 3 months business, just eat the pickles!!! If it didn't seal, it's probably not safe to store them more than 2 weeks.
Re-Using Trash to Grow Plants
This isn't a new idea to me, we use anything we can find for container gardening. Trashed nursery pots, old patio chairs, metal antique watering cans, broken rubbermaid tubs, finder's keeper's and now a plant is growing in there. With just a little bit of love and some spray paint, you can find all kinds of creative containers using things you would have thrown out in the garbage. I just got my latest Better Homes & Gardens e-newsletter with an inspiring slideshow of ideas. I hadn't thought of a wire wastebasket or old paint cans, not yet! We actually have an old lampshade laying around and now I can't wait to make a planter. Check out the BHG slideshow for yourself, it's short and sweet so you don't need a lot of time. In fact, since you're still reading I am sure you have plenty of time to look.
We've noticed a few unwanted guests coming in our house lately and one or two spiders is too many for me. Venomous or not, I hate all spiders. Until yesterday I'd seen only the daddy long legs type but a small black and red one was climbing up the wall near Ryot's food bowl and it looked very ferocious. Not a black widow, don't worry. I know how to spot those. I freaked out and smashed it, not feeling one ounce of remorse. Black and red spiders are exceptionally repulsive so I wanted to know what kind it was, just in case it was venomous. Turns out this one was a red spotted ant mimic spider and although it probably would bite, it doesn't kill people. Good to know. I've heard there are a lot of scorpions around the area here in Palm Coast. I just hope I never see one, that'd be worse than a spider. So I did more research to find a way to keep these nasty abominations out in the woods where they belong and further away from my nice, fluffy pillow. Here's a quick and easy recipe that I'm going to try.
Keep Bugs Outside Recipe
Ingredients- 1 can of chewing tobacco, any flavor
- 1 gallon of boiling water
- A small bottle of lemon dish soap
Add the chaw to boiling water and set aside until it cools. Strain liquid into a clean container. With the ratio of 1 cup liquid to 1/2 cup soap, use either a hose-end sprayer or a gallon sprayer and spray the perimeter of your house and patio. This is supposed to keep all types of creepy crawlies out of the house.
1/2 cup sounds like too much soap to me, I am going to try using more water and see if it will spray liquid instead of bubbles. I'll post an update after I make it to the store and actually remember to buy chaw.
I also read about Thai Lemongrass which is a natural mosquito repellent, similar to citronella except you don't have to light 5600 candles AFTER you noticed the mosquitoes were biting. This plant keeps them away all the time so you don't even have to worry about itching and scratching. If you want to rub some of the plant juice on exposed skin, that works just as well as bug spray. An added bonus for me was the goofy acronym HOMeR on the Web site I link to above... Halfway down the page you get the global warming mindwarp nonsense, which was also laughable. Can't wait to try some Thai Lemongrass though, I hate skeeters!!!
ASNAP is what I call my bird feeder and the small wren bird house is the Public Aviary Nesting Facility (PANF). Birds are helpful because in addition to the seed we provide, they also eat insects out of the garden. My bird feeder is attracting a family of cardinals, which I call "cheepies" because they cheep nonstop when they're coming in for a meal. The male and female cardinals are regulars, I've seen them visit the feeder at all hours of the day. There are two males that get along pretty well together, I'd guess they are either brothers or just happy swinger birds. We also noticed a very big male blue jay, a pair of doves and one woodpecker that digs furiously through the seed apparently looking for his favorite. The woodpecker is kind of violent with the feeder, seed just goes flying everywhere. Thankfully the cardinals are always right behind him cleaning up his mess and eating the spilled seed in the yard. I could go into detail making a comparison between the habits of these birds and people who receive free food from our many social welfare programs, but I'll save that for another blog post now that we have a blog. You'd be glad to know that Ryot really loves the birds, I made an effort to be sure the feeder was in full view from one of his most comfortable window ledges.
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