Detailed garden update.

 Blessings Darlings!

Today ... like most days this week ... the forecast has been 'today will be much cooler than yesterday was'.  Today ... like EVERY day this week ... the forecast LIED.  It's still hot and miserable out.

My plan in the garden this year was to try to match most of what the garden produced with the amount of veggies that we eat fresh, other than my experiments with growing potatoes and dry beans.  I'm doing okay at that goal!  Yay!  Not all of the success has been because I planned well, tho'.

We haven't gotten ANY tomatoes from the plants I purposely put in yet.  We're eating the ones off one of the volunteer tomato plants.  I have no idea what its genetics are, but it's putting out about 8 oz round fruit.  Hell, one of the plants I bought and planted (pink brandywine) hasn't even set fruit yet!

I've only planted two plots of green beans this year - we had WAY too many green beans for eating last year, and I didn't want to mess with canning them this year.  I only planted the second plot late, two weeks ago, so we've not gotten any from that plot.   But since I wasn't after beans-for-canning, I planted my favorite bush beans this year - Contender beans. Last year I planted my second favorite, Tendergreen beans.  Both produce for a longer period of time than green bean varieties for selling or canning, such as Jade.  Now every few days, altho' I expect that patch to be played out, I still harvest at least a pound of beans.  ALMOST too much for us.  The second plot has half the number of plants in it (and can be protected from frost, since I did plant them a little late.)

When we get a cool day, I'll harvest the potatoes, and evaluate that harvest.  I put in 15 seed potatoes of Yukon Gold.  I'd rather have put in some russet potatoes, but this was the only option at the store at the time.  Things got SERIOUSLY sold out due to folks suddenly gardening due to Coronavirus this year!  I didn't to a great job of making sure that the potatolings were covered by straw to protect them from the sun over the season, so I'm sure that I'm going to have a problem with some of them being too green to eat (the green produces toxins), but it's still going to be interesting.

I lost the one grey squash zucchini to bacterial wilt, but got 3 squash off of it before it died.  The ONE yellow crookneck heritage squash has been producing more than we've been able to eat.  This is with using it for stir-fries, raw slices for dips, zoodles in place of pasta, and just cooking and eating it as a 'regular' veggie.  The plant is now dying off, slowly but very surely, so we won't be getting much more from it.  My husband is grateful for that.

Turnip and beets were about perfect.  Put in 12 or 15 of each of them.  Rutabagas ... I don't do well with those.  They didn't survive transplanting.  The 'volunteer' dill - I had one scrawny plant last year, so I just let it go to seed, and it gave me 1 plant this year - is doing well, but I'm letting it seed itself again.  If I get enough plants next year, and put in some Jade or other canning beans, I'll use some for dilly beans.  And maybe for dill pickles - this year I've not gotten any cucs yet but do hope I'll get a few from my late planting.  I've gotten enough basil for fresh use (barely) and to dry some for the winter, but not enough for the Spawn to make and freeze pesto.  Parsley has stayed alive, but not grown enough to harvest and use.  I've harvested lots of spearmint, oregano, thyme, and sage.  Rosemary is ... limping.  I'll be happy if it survives the winter.

The one bell pepper is doing okay, but not great.  The hot peppers are producing tons of peppers - I might skip growing them next year, and just smoke or dry these.  Next year I want more sweet peppers and maybe some shishitos, I really loved those last year.

I put my back into today.

Blessings Darlings!

I'm more functional today than I was yesterday.  I suppose that isn't saying much.  But it's well before noon, I've gotten almost all my minimum level of exercise in, done dishes, and am about to hang laundry.  I've eaten enough to take my meds.  

We got an unexpected downpour last night.  Chubby Hubby was awake during it, but didn't notice it, tho' I talked with him about the local lightning hits.  He was surprised to find water in the basement this morning.  At least I don't have to water the garden today, and maybe there will be more fireflies tonight.  They've been scarce the last few nights.

Mashed a lot of squash bug eggs, and one squash bug.  Cut down a lot of crap growing on the garden fence line.  Did tomato bondage.  Removed the grew squash plant that was rapidly dying of bacterial wilt, will bag it later.

Hot and steamy out.  Want to cool off before thinning the swiss chard and clearing area for next green bean planting.

There certainly were more fireflies tonight. 

Worked a lot in the garden today.  Did a lot with weights.  My back is not thrilled.  I'm going to bed. Or to do dishes then go to bed.  And do evening offerings sometime before bed as well. 

Good night.

Frondly, Fern

Pop corn apocalypse. Popcalypse?

Blessings Darlings!

Like most folks, my husband and I are trying to live as normally as possible during the coronavirus pandemic.  For him, normal includes having popcorn twice a week.

My husband and I are getting up there in age, and like horses - you can tell that in our teeth.   If you read this blog for a while, you know I finally had 4 teeth broken teeth pulled last year.  My husband, a decade older than I am, lives in fear of his teeth breaking.  As a result, he's very picky about what popcorn he eats.  He cares about both flavor and 'fluffy pop' ratio - he is afraid he'll grab a handful of popcorn, start chewing it, and break a tooth on a hard half-popper or totally unpopped kernel.  So the only popcorn he'll eat in the house is Orville Reddenbacher's regular (not microwave) yellow popcorn.  Even OR's white popcorn is veboten. 

Alas, I've not been able to find any for well over a month.  Not in the 2 stores that I usually buy it at, and not online.  Our jar of it is running low.  Sure, he can replace the salty crunchy carbs with chips.  But those are even pricier than the OR Popcorn, as well as fattier.  We had a 'come to Dagda' talk about it yesterday, and if it comes to it, he'll be frying his own tortilla chips out of fresh soft corn tortillas (they are totally available in the stores still, and we can make those at home as well.)  And he only needs them twice a week.

Meanwhile, governments (Federal Executive and many Republican state govs, including, of course WV) and trying to 'open the states'.  The folks who say that they are 'prolife' are so fucking happy to sacrific1e the born to the economy ... when it won't even actually help the economy. 

Did the grocery pick up thing at Walmart today.  Worked in the garden a lot, too, putting more root crop sprouts in the ground, adding straw to the potato hills, and transplanted some basil (tho' it really is a bit too early for that.) 

A container that has some pepper seeds in it, but lost it's identifying stick, is sprouting.  I have no idea what to do with them.  At least it means that some of the seeds are alive.  Alive I tell you, ALIVE!!!!

Frondly, Fern

From Garden to Oven.

Blessings Darlings!

I have a lot of 'weeds' in my garden right now.  It's too early for most things to be planted, let alone producing ... unless you count the weeds.  As it happens, I DO count the weeds.

So I went out earlier today and harvested a colander full of 'wild greens', mostly chickweed, but some purple dead nettle was in the bunch.  Brought 'em in, cleaned 'em, chopped 'em, threw the lot of 'em in a big saute pan.  With a metal handle.  Then I went back outside, to the onions that had over wintered.  They have huge amounts of green onion action, but that's not what I harvested.  I harvested the onion snapes - the long stemmed onion flower buds.  Saving the thin tops and actual flower buds, I chopped the thick lower stems and threw them in the pan.  Added salt, pepper, and the NOT extra virgin olive oil I use for sauteing.  Once they were soft, I added diced canned tomatoes, some gorgonzola crumbles, and 8 well beaten eggs.  The frittata is now in the oven.

I'm probably the only one in the household that will eat this.  The Spawn doesn't like onions, the Chubby Hubby isn't enamored with gorgonzola, and both are suspicious of me and my wild greens.  But I expect wonders from it.  [later that morning - I was right.  About me loving it, CH not liking the gorgonzola, and the Spawn not being thrilled with the onions.  But the Spawn also thought there were too many greens in it.]

Plague deaths in the US have topped 1000 each of the last two days.  We're still at least 10 days from peak cases, and  longer than that from peak deaths - and those estimates are for WITH total social distancing compliance.  The asshole PM of England has Covid 19 so bad that he's hospitalized - after he fucking BRAGGED about going around shaking people's hands.  OTOH, Queen Elizabeth II gave quite an inspiring speech about getting thru' it.

We spent quality family time today working in the garden, until the backs of us two old farts told us to stop.  It only took one hour to get to that point.  Still, we got a lot accomplished.  The onions are mostly planted, and I should be able to FINALLY start the potatoes ... tomorrow or whenever I get permission from my back to do it. 

After the potatoes are in, I get to work more on topping the garden with the manure/straw mix, and start transplanting the  started seeds.  I'll begin with the radishes and go from there.  And I have a lot more seeds that I need to start. 

My back is NOT going to be amused. 

Let's see - also did laundry and line dried it.  Did two batches of dishes.  Baked bread. 

Let's finish with a song, suggested by Byron Ballard  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ixbah9u234

Frondly, Fern