Still here......

I know, I know. It has been a really loooooong time since I posted anything. But I'm still here. Slowly working on the garden, and still planning on getting chickens in the spring. So for now, I'll quickly post some pictures as to what is happening in the two garden plots.

At the community plot down the street I am trying out a few new items in my first ever over wintering project. Here we have two rows of fava beans, some garlic starting to sprout up, left over scallions still hanging on from the spring/summer season, and in the bottom corner two swiss chard plants.

community garden plot december 2012

I had planned build a hoop house over the plot this winter, but time just slipped by me. However, I needed to do something to protect the favas and garlic through the winter, so I went and got some straw to mulch the bed. Of course, I choose the windiest day of the year to lay down the straw, so I placed a few pieces of lattice over the bed to hopefully keep most of the straw in place till it rained a bit.

community garden plot december 2012

As to the garden in the backyard, it's doing ok. I planted some turnips which are doing really well. Turnips are pretty much my go to veggie at the moment. They are easy to grow and always seems to work out for me in both the early spring and fall. I also planted mustard greens and collard greens, which grew a bit, but then stopped growing all together. I still plan on harvesting a bit of those two in the coming weeks. I put out some cabbage, fennel, and kohrobi seeds that failed to really get going, so I'll try those again in the early spring.

backyard garden plot december 2012

Well, that's it for now. Time to walk down to the community garden plot and see how the straw is fairing.

hey little garden, why you so sad?????

my poor little garden. it's so sad. the hubby, champion for all things underdog, said it's never gonna improve if i don't stop talking crap about it and to give it a chance. i, of course, am ready to yank it all out and get ready for fall. but then he screams that it is only july and i should stop being so negative. so, i gave the little bugger some fish emulsion yesterday to see if it could bounce back from the terrible soil i planted it in and the retched heatwave we're having. only time will tell. i give it to mid august before i tear it up.

third round of the littlest harvest.  
the two cherokee purple tomatoes that we ate were awesome!!!!

the tomato and pepper plot.

peppers on the right.... soooo small and only two tiny peppers so far. 

thank goodness the juliet tomatoes are doing something.

waiting for the third cherokee purple to ripen.

very small green zebra.... waiting, waiting, waiting for them to also ripen.

plot #2: squash, one pepper, two eggplants.

one tiny little eggplant is a coming!!!!!!

hey, here's another one!!!!!!

the littlest harvest

like i said before, this year's backyard garden it a bit of a bust. but it's trying. it really is. as not to get to depressed about the situation, i am not weighing the produce this year (except that from the community garden plot, cause we are supposed to record it in the notebook down there). so here is the evidence from what i like to call the littlest harvest......

2 overly mature eggplants, 1 juliet tomato, 1 cherokee purple tomato.

i should note here, that this is my first year doing eggplant. the hubby loves them, i find them barely  tolerable, although the plants are pretty. which explains why i unknowingly took to long to harvest them and the bottoms started to turn yellow. i read that they may be to mature to eat at that point and very bitter. and boy they were right.... yuck!! so folks, take my word for it. if your white eggplant has started to turn yellow on the bottom, toss it into the compost. as for the cherokee purple tomato, i really wanted to let it ripen further on the vine, but it was my ONLY sizable tomato out there, and i was terribly concerned that the squirrels would get it. so, after standing in front of the tomato plant for about 10 minutes, rocking back and forth, debating should i pick it or shouldn't i, i went for it. i'll slice it later and let you know how it tasted. assuming that the neighbors haven't called the law in regards to the crazy lady outside in her rob hovering nervously over a tomato plant. 

a few days later.......

two, yes two, actual zucchini!!!!! and one small white eggplant.

all delicious!!!!!

today i harvested a handful of juliet tomatoes an another cherokee purple. there is also a one more small eggplant (along with one turning yellow.... sad face), a zucchini, and a yellow squash getting ready to be plucked sometime tomorrow (picture to follow soon). i'm thinking i will try to make some veggie chips with a yogurt or white bean dip..... we'll see.

patience is a virtue

hello there!!

(boy that was a busy busy two months.)

patience is a virtue, but i am no good at it. no good at all. but today i am taking a cue from mr. keebs and trying to not get to anxious that it is nearly the middle of may and not a single thing is planted in the new backyard garden.

i'll just wait here till your ready mamma.

plus, my raised beds did not turn out as pretty as i hoped they would. therefore, i have revised the goal for this year to simply be.... get the plants in the ground!!  i'll work on the aesthetics this winter.

so much to do in that little back yard.

i just gotta keep reminding myself that we have some fairly awesome farmer's markets here, so it will all be alright. no one is gonna starve. now i'm off to do a little unpacking in the new house!!!!!

getting some produce love from the garden in january!!!

it's been a little dry here lately, so i though i'd go out, check under the row cover, and water the fall garden. i really didn't expect to find much new going on. i knew the swiss chard had taken a hit the other night after the row cover had gotten blown off and a light snow fell on the exposed leaves. and i knew the the mustard greens were doing pretty good after i quickly reached under the covers two nights ago and picked some for our soup. but i really had no idea as to what was happening with the beets and turnips. well surprise, surprise!!!!!

look at that little garden grow!!!!!

it looks good from up here, let's take a closer look. 

what the heck!!!!

there are some turnips growing in there!!!

who knew?? not me. i wasn't expecting that at all. 

i was just gonna do a little watering. 

see the little bit of purple top peeking out.... that's me turnips!!

there was quite a few of them out there in various stages, 

so i just pulled out a few to see what they looked like. 

aren't they pretty!!??!!

the rest of the turnips i'll leave in the ground for awhile and harvest as needed. if we get more frost or a big freeze, in the end, that will just make them sweeter as the plant sends all it's sugars down to the roots for survival. and the row cover is proving to be useful at keeping the frost from damaging the green leaves. as for the beets, well, they were a failure. but if i remember correctly, i did not give them as much love as i did the turnips in the beginning, so i may only have myself to blame. i pulled up all the beets, which were growing in the middle, and that made it easier to water both the mustard greens and turnips, so c'est la vie. the swiss chard was looking a little sad under it's tent, so either the snow did it's deadly deed, or the soil was simply a little dry. i gave them some water, and with the temperatures rising a bit this week, we'll have to wait and see if they perk up over the next few days. stay turned!!

now just image what i can do once i get around to building cold frames and proper row cover!!!!

and i call him, BIG RED.....

(german johnson pink)

i didn't mean to pick him. he came off the vine when i was trying to clear out the three other big boys that the squirrels had decimated. i put him in the window with the other early picked tomatoes to ripen. (your really rolling the dice out there if you leave any orange on the vines for the squirrels to see.)  i'm sure he would be more tasty if left on the vine, however a "not as tasty" tomato is better than no tomato at all. and, when all was said and done (as seen above), he had no trouble coming into his own in the safe and sound confines of the kitchen.

in other news, it's been a weird summer in regards to our travel schedule. normally we rarely go anywhere, and hardly does anyone come visit us.  but, for the past year or so, it seems that's all we do. we hosted folks for thanksgiving and easter, my sister visited, we went to both memphis and chicago for extended weekends, spent over a week up north in michigan, my mommy is coming to visit next month (which is awesome 'cuz she hasn't seen any of the places i've lived in over 10 years, and has never met mr. keebs..), and i just now planned a trip out to portland for next month as well. this makes it somewhat difficult to keep tabs on posting, and with all the coming and going, makes it near impossible to track our household food spending, yet again, steering me off track with my 3G project.  but, what i do have for you at the moment is a tally of food harvested from my little backyard garden ranging from the dates 7/21 - 8/9, along with a few pix from along the way.

July 20th

July 21st

August 2nd

August 2nd

August 3rd

August 3rd

picked August 4th, photo taken August 11th

August 5th

August 9th

harvest totals for 7/21-8/9

amish paste: 3 lbs. 14.6 oz.

juliet: 1 lb. 14.2 oz.

sweet 100: 6.8 oz

german johnson pink: 13 oz.

green zebra: 3 lbs. 5.1 oz

lemon cukes: 2 lbs. 8.4oz.

giant marconi: 2 lbs. 0.5 oz.

banana peppers: 11.6 oz.

misc. red pepper: 4 oz.

garden salsa pepper: 1.1 oz.

golden bell peppers: 1 lb. 8.4 oz.

garden sunshine pepper: 1.2 oz.

quick harvest

last night's quick harvest to supplement produce already in the house. 

making black beans and canning pepper "ketchup."

1 onion

handful of sage leaves

6 springs of oregano

3 banana peppers (3.9 oz.)

3 giant marconi peppers (8.9 oz.)

backyard bonanza

mexican sour gherkins.

oh cheese and crackers y'all, the garden is producing pretty good today. 

luckily i got everything harvested and watered before it got really, really, really hot out there. 

now i just gotta start cooking, eating, and canning all the garden loot.

red chinese long beans, lemon cucumbers, and four kinds of tomatoes....

clockwise: green zebra, amish paste, juliet, and sweet 100.

and when they say long bean....

they ain't kidding.

(sorry about the focusing issue. 

but you get the idea.)



oops....
i almost forgot to post this picture of the goodies i harvested last thursday....

garden salsa and banana peppers, juliet tomatoes, and lemon cucumbers.

2011 Garden Harvest: a new blog page

(drying onions outback on my sun ministries picnic table.)

hello dear folks. i have added yet another page to this here blog. you can now look back at what i have harvested from the garden so far this year (well, at least, most of it). in the future i want to set up a weighting station in the garden to get a better, and more accurate, measure of how much food is being produced out there. till then, you can follow the harvest on the new 2011 Garden Harvest page.

enjoy,

and thanks for reading.

the dirty days and sweaty mornings are paying off!!!!!!

saturday night's supper plate.

well, would you look at that!!! the other night the hubby asked, "what are we having for supper?" my response was, "whatever you bring me from in the garden." needless to say, it was me who ventured out into the backyard to gather the grub. paired with a smoked pork chop from G&W (which btw, is like crack!! soooo delicious!!), we had mashed potatoes, sauteed swiss chard and onions, and a summer salad of lemon cucumber, two kinds of peppers, tomatoes, basil, and lemon balm. oh, and did i mention that ALL of the produce came out of my backyard garden. all the hard work is really starting to pay off with some yummy delicious food. food, glorious, homegrown food!!

a look back

for today's post i though it would be fun to take a look back and see a few pictures of my backyard garden thus far. so here we go......

southampton backyard garden, st. louis 2011

3/1: breaking ground

3/7: first plot cleared, tilled, and rock pathway put in.

3/9: fence up.

3/11: peas put in.

3/14: snow fall, my poor peas!!!!

3/26: another snow fall. 

what is going on!!!!

3/30: the peas survived!!!!

4/5: a full weeks work to clear, till, and put up the fence around second garden plot. 

i got this plot done fast due to my neighbor bringing over his power tiller and helping me.

4/6: potato sacks are in.

4/26: look at them grow!!!!

5/4: peas are doing good. 

still a few weeks away from putting the tomatoes out,but got the stake in place. 

5/4: view from the back porch.

5/12: onions are growing, some greens coming up, 

three sister garden in place, and some cukes in as well.

5/12: the three sister garden. 

it looks like i spaced things well doesn't it????

5/24: looking good.

6/2: store bought tomato and pepper starts are in and doing well.

rock path removed (to hard to control weeds between rocks) and coffee sack path created. 

6/2: weeded the onions and the paths, then laid down more coffee sacks.

things seem to be growing good and orderly at this point.

6/20: garden out of control!!!!!!!

6/24: some potatoes harvested to make room for the ever growing squash vines,

and weeds, weeds, weeds.

6/24: tomatoes and peppers growing well. always having to tie up the tomatoes. 

small plot to the left is going to be cleared out this week and summer squash seeds going in.

cause what i need is more crazy out of control squash vines... right??!!!??