Patty's Peweevian Acre

Happy Fall

2006-10-07T22:48:00.000-04:00

I can't believe the leaves are falling already. I raked a huge pile for Bailey to jump in after school yesterday -- leaf pile pictures are an annual tradition around here. Actually though I hate fallen leaves. We have 5 massive maples along the side of our property line and leaves are tracked in the house all winter. There are so many it is impossible to rake or mow them all -- and they've really only begun to fall the trees aren't even beginning to look bare. At least someone enjoys them.

Sweet stuff

2006-10-05T06:50:00.000-04:00

I haven't been doing much in the garden other than a bit of clean up -- though the weather this week has been sunny and in the 80s. I did dig some sweet potatoes though. Most were small to normal size, but one was huge and round -- It reminded me of the size of a baby's head for some bizarre reason. I've baked one and made a couple into fries. I may try my hand at sweet potato pie -- Bailey may eat it if she thinks it's pumpkin.

Other than the sweeties the garden is pretty much over. The new seeds I planted are coming along - except for the lettuce (I can't raise a second crop of lettuce apparently -- it's the second year in a row), I still need to put in the garlic. I bought a head, but can't remember where I put it. Hopefully the weather will hold until the weekend so I can do some major clean-up. I may put some solarizing covers on some beds to kill the weed seeds and soil bugaboos. I heard it can work if you leave them on all fall/winter/early spring. If I don't work this weekend, the next time I turn around it will be Thanksgiving!

High water

2006-09-24T12:46:00.000-04:00

We lucked out compared to others in Louisville metro -- just about an inch of water in part of our unfinished basement and some water leaking through the bathroom window because of loose flashing. The creek is just rushing -- the power of water is really amazing. A huge fallen log that had gone most of the way across the creek -- about 3 feet in diameter and about 10 feet long is totally gone I can't see it anywhere for the about 100 yards I can see downstream. There are giant rocks upended and moved from their usual spots as well. I took Bailey down for a little object lesson in why she should stay away from the creek after it rains.

The other side of this is that a heavy rain lets me do my little good deed for the day. I usually take the opportunity to pick up all the broken glass and trash that washes downstream. It is amazing the stuff people toss or that has turned up after years -- I swear I found a piece of an old cast-iron porcelain clad sink as well as a whole grocery bag of glass. When we first moved here I pulled about a pick-up load of scrap metal - bedsprings old fencing, a bicycle and tire rims from the creek. I'm always amazed there is still more. I figure every piece I remove is one less accident waiting to happen. One bonus is there is a mysterious supply of old bricks that keep washing downstream -- perfect for the path I am putting in between my blackberry rows. Oh, and yes, that is someone's patio cushion hanging in the tree.

Florida Weave

2006-09-19T08:07:00.000-04:00

Note to self -- next season try the Florida Weave trellising technique on my tomatoes. There are no tomato cages to deal with and prop up half-way through the season and the only cost is a few metal T-posts and twine. Of course, I have to grow decent tomatoes to make a good test of the method. If you want to see the method in action (and a truly awesome veggie harvest) check out the Dirt Sun Rain Blog.

The new blogger beta has turned into a bit of a pain. All of a sudden I can't comment on any other blogs. I'm not sure if it is that I just can't comment on non-beta blogs or what -- but how can you tell, and I write the comment and try to publish before it tells me I can't. Hopefully it won't continue too long -- since once you've gone beta you can't go back.

Feels like fall

2006-09-15T15:33:00.000-04:00

Check out this cool spider I found
in the front yard today -- luckily before I stuck my big fat hand in to
pull weeds. I've never seen one like it. It was quite large too.

We had a few days of heavy rain last week and on the other
side of it, the weather has begun to cool down a bit. I went out and
pulled weeds and cut off big hunks of creeping phlox that were creeping
down over the driveway and put some in the drainage ditch next to the
road and some other "problem areas. I love that stuff -- you don't even
have to dig, just toss some on a patch of dirt and water it in. I also
noticed that my winter garden seeds have sprouted -- and have done it
much more quickly with better germination rates that in the spring. It
remains to be seen whether anything will come of them.

Aside from cooling the temps, the rain did one other thing -- caused my goliath of a hyacinth bean vine to snap my stick tuteur.
It's all in a heap, though the vine itself still looks perfectly
healthy and is still reaching up. It reminds me of this book I just
finished -- The Ruins by Scott Smith -- about this creepy and sentient vine that takes over this Mexican mountain top and has developed a taste for tourists.

I also did what I thought was a good days work this past weekend and got my shed cleaned out. Organizing can be so satisfying -- unfortunately it all goes to hell again too quickly. Before and after pics.

Fall Garden

2006-09-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

The weather was perfect on Sunday so I spent the day in the garden -- I'm still feeling it in my arms. I got out the Mantis to till up a few beds for fall seeds, but the stupid thing was not cooperating. Steve got it to start long enough to till the large bed, from which I had just pulled a ton of potatoes. Then when I took my hand off the throttle to move it to the next bed it stopped and was just as hard to start. It stopped again and I couldn't get it going again. I'm not sure if it's the carburator, old gas or what. I'll have to drain it and put in fresh gas/oil mix and see. I hate picky maintenance stuff. I wish stuff would just work when you wanted it to.

At any rate, I got 4 beds done and seeded -- a few things I know probably won't work but hey - I had the seeds. I put in some Pinetree Gardens Winter blend lettuce, Meridia Overwintering carrots, Swiss Chard, Detroit Yellow Beets, Peas and I had a packet of 45 day Cool Breeze cucumbers, so I thought I'd give a few of those a shot -- you never know. I may set up a little coldframe for the lettuce. I had saved one of my shower doors when I took them off the tub for just this purpose. It has a nice handle and everything and is about the right size for the small bed I put the lettuce in. I still need to put in my garlic and put down some foxglove and forget-me-not seeds that you're supposed to start in the fall.

Another benefit of working in the garden was that it helped me figure out what to do with it next year. The perennial area is so blah -- I think it has too much shade. The butterfly bushes grow like crazy though, so I think I will just go with it and do another couple of those and make that entire area bb bushes with just a few daylilies in front and move the rest of the perennials to the front when I move out those sickly roses to the back where they will get more attention.

Oh - I also made my Jalopeno Relish -- I ate some with cream cheese and crackers and it was quite good -- kind of sweet and sour. I used about 30 green and 10 red jalopenos and 2 onions chopped (my hands still sting this morning) put them in a large pot cover with boiling water and let sit 5 minutes - drain and return to pot. Add 2 cups vinegar, 2 cups sugar and 3tbs salt, bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes. I then put all the peppers and most of the liquid into my food processor for a few pulses, because I wanted it a bit finer, then loaded it in a big jar. The sweet & sour effect was quite nice with a little bit of heat -- and it wasn't too fiery even with all the peppers. The original Ball 1922 recipe called for 12 green and 12 red bell peppers and 12 onions but was otherwise the same.

My favorite summer treats

2006-09-02T19:55:00.000-04:00

I just realized that summer was almost over and I hadn't made my favorite thing --- a Tomato and Cheese Galette from my Baking With Julia book. It has a crust with corn meal in it and almost a full stick of butter. The topping is monterey jack with slivered basil leaves topped with slices of plum tomato. So good. My tomato plants are so sad now though, I just hope I'll get enough to make another one. The Jolly Elves are the only ones producing.

I also made some more Jalopeno poppers. And I found a recipe for pepper relish in a 1922 Ball Blue Book that I'm going to adapt for hot peppers -- I have a full colander of peppers and I can't possibly eat that many poppers (well I could, but I'd regret it). Also in the book was an interesting recipe for pickled Nasturtiums -- the seed pods left after it flowers can be pickled and used as a substitute for capers.

Hot salsa

2006-08-24T07:39:00.000-04:00

My neighbor gave me a packet of this salsa mix for canning -- cheating I know, but my kids won't eat my fresh uncooked salsa and a little "fast food" processing (and packing it into old salsa jars might just trick them into thinking it's from the store. I didn't strain out the seeds though, so I don't know how tricky I'm actually being. It didn't yield enough to worry about hot water processing, so I just stuck it in the fridge.

The weather has been gorgeous - and not too humid - so I've spent no few hours in the garden over the past couple of days pulling wheelbarrow loads of weed out of beds and pathways. It looks almost passable now. I'm thinking about breaking out the Mantis and tilling some newly empty beds to replant for fall -- I still have enough good weather left and God knows I have enough seeds.
I've also been pouring over my stock of old garden magazines and books looking for ideas for next year. I'd like to make some major changes, but it seems like so much work -- and expense. I suppose I could launch a major nursery operation for the perennials I would need. and put down layers of newspaper and mulch to kill off the grass by spring. Patience is also my problem. It's hard to envision the end product while making due with tiny plants and piecemeal design. Well, I'm going to try to actually develop an overall plan before digging in. I spent a lot of time planning the layout of my herb/veg garden, but not so much its placement. I plopped it in the middle of the yard -- just extending the old veg patch the previous owners left. With the result being that it visually cuts off the yard, making it seem much smaller. I do want to break up the yard, but in a way that keeps pulling the eye back. Maybe I'll start with clearing out the brush growth along the creek -- I'd really love to be able to see the natural limestone/sandstone walls that edge the creek and that would do a lot to visually extend our space -- we do own the land to about 20 feet beyond the far bank of the creek. Here's a little slide show that walks your through the yard - from the view from the deck, back behind the garden, down to and in the creek and up toward the house from the far side of the garden. All my wasted spaces crying out for love (and cash and labor).

Crazy Hyacinth Bean Vine

2006-08-20T22:29:00.000-04:00

This vine is reaching out its tentacles with a view to world domination. If you check my archives you might see the bare, 10-12 foot tuteur teepee thingy I built a few months back. 2 Hyacinth bean plants have totally swamped it and are spreading toward the beans and the potatoes. So much for the "Death Square."

Speaking of potatoes I dug some today and found 11 from one plant! My usual yield from one plant is about 6. I wonder how long you can leave them in the ground once the vine withers? I'd hate to have to dig them all at once -- they'd go bad for sure.

Fruits of my labor

2006-08-18T22:26:00.000-04:00

I'm back. I've been ignoring this blog a bit in favor of the one I just launched about my eBay business. At any rate, I have been doing a bit a weeding, but mostly enjoying my harvest. Check out these gorgeous tomatoes. They were supposed to be Mr. Stripeys, but they didn't develop any stripes -- just the most lovely peachy-yellow color. They're delicious to boot -- I've been eating a lot of tomato sandwiches standing over the sink to catch the drips.

I also have to show off my dinner from the other evening -- my golden baby belles (some no bigger than a quarter) stuffed with herbed cream cheese and topped with black olive slices, my Jolly Elf tomatoes and some green beans vinagrette. Yum. Tonight I fried up a bunch of sweet red Italian peppers, onions and Italian sausage. I also tried slow roasting my romas -- so rich, like eating a spoonful of tomato paste. I think I'll roast some peppers to save tomorrow -- I have a giant bowl of jalopenos.

Finally moving again

2006-08-13T14:23:00.000-04:00

I have been too ashamed to post anything. I have been really neglecting things outside -- mostly heat and humidity related, partly because I've been obsessing about growing my ebay business with a few marketing ploys. I finally did get out there for a few hours and cleared about 7 wheelbarrow loads of weeds from the herb/flower garden. I also harvested a sack of tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash. I have been making plenty of my favorite salsa fresca but I have quite a few peppers and squash I haven't gotten to yet. I'm going to make a big tray of poppers this afternoon. I need to make some squash and oregano or freeze some squash soon too. I had some beautiful Italian red peppers that I fried up with Italian sausage the other day I need to pick up some more sausage for subs.

I've also been thinking of moving my garden around to better fit my yard. I'd keep the herb garden where it is, but turn it into an annual flower/butterfly garden, then move the fruit/veggies all along the right side of the yard. If I'm going to change things up, I need to do it before I'm too decrepit to wield a shovel.

Back from vacation -- Yikes

2006-08-04T21:21:00.000-04:00

We'll I returned from Michigan to find weeds had triumphed and my automatic sprinkler set up failed -- the water just squirted out from around the gasket. Per usual, I have found myself to be a fair (but not too fair) weather gardener. As the temps went into the 90s and held, I stayed inside. For a few days it wasn't much cooler inside - but that's another story. Weeds (and Hyacinth bean vine) must love the heat because they flourished while my cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and lettuce gave up the ghost.

I had to spend one day getting my front yard into shape -- the rose hedge looked awful and the shrubs were all overgrown and the hostas weed-ridden. Plus we're still technically on vacation so I used up valuable weeding time going with the fam to the Newport Aquarium (we got to pet sharks - very cool), to the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom water park and to various movies. All good stall tactics in 98 degree weather.

I have harvested more green beans, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes -- though I am disappointed with the tomatoes -- small, not many and not too flavorful. I had such high hopes for this year and I feel like a flop. Maybe next year I'll give up and plant the whole thing with annual flowers! Well, I suppose not. I did go out and weed a bit tonight. I suppose I'll clear out the dead stuff, add a bit of compost and get it ready to plant for a fall garden. Usually things are going so well into September that I don't have the space for fall plantings. The power of positive thinking, right?

First Tomato

2006-07-21T19:49:00.000-04:00

I finally had my first ripe tomato today -- just cherry-sized, but it was good. We're going to Michigan for 5 days -- they'll all be sure to ripen when I'm gone. As well as these cute little peppers. They are the Golden Baby Belles that I started from seed -- so cute. I've been harvesting tons of giant jalapenos and have put them to good use making poppers. I found a recipe that bakes them instead of deep frying. I also made a nice yellow squash soup and a salad nicoise -- I have many green beans to use.
I have my automated sprinkler set up and need to move all my potted plants into the garden so they don't die. Of course it is coming down buckets right now. I'll probably come back to an overgrown weed patch full of club-like squash and tough beans, but what are you gonna do. Be back on Thursday!

Things that fly

2006-07-16T22:59:00.000-04:00

My butterfly bushes are finally in bloom and are attracting many butterflies and enormous bees. Until I saw the antennae I thought this one was a tiny hummingbird. I do wish I had one with more colorful flowers -- but they were here when I got here. It's 90 degrees and incredibly humid, so I didn't get into the garden today. I had pulled onions and picked some more peppers last night, so I made the green salsa today. It was quite good and extra spicy -- I used about a dozen jalapenos (or is it jalopenos) and a few green tomatos (or is it tomatoes?) an onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a (sadly) store-bought red pepper for color. You cook it all up with some cider vinegar and salt then hot water process the jars. I made 2 jars and actually ate one warm without the water processing. A bit of sour cream mixed in cut the heat. Might have been a little vinegar-y. The second jar might be a bit mellower if I can stand to wait and let the flavors set up. I am a fool for salsa so I don't know if I'll make it.

Veggie Overload

2006-07-15T22:09:00.000-04:00

Well I made it through a week as a Girl Scout day camp counselor relatively unscathed. Actually, I probably had more fun than Bailey did -- you're not allowed to have your own kid in your unit. Each unit leader was given pretty free reign outside of a few scheduled activities so we did a lot of hiking and creek walking. It was tiring though, I was also a bus monitor and had to be at the bus by 7:45 a.m. and couldn't leave until everyone was picked up in the afternoon. It was hectic, hot and humid. The camp, Camp Shanituck in Bullitt County, Ky, just south of Louisville was pretty and mostly shady. Anyway -- my garden didn't suffer too much from the neglect. I got a chance to pick beans and cucumbers in the evenings. I also made my yellow squash with the oregano and chicken broth for dinner one night -- this time I added some grape tomatos and tossed it with pasta.

I froze green beans and edamame today. I also made 2 little containers of pesto and froze one of those. I'm not sure that I like my basil. I have 3 sizes of basil in my basil patch -- normal large-leaf basil that volunteered from plants 2 years ago, small leaf Summerlong basil (I liked it better last year, it seems the leaves were slightly bigger) and some mutant basil with leaves that are so tiny it's ridiculous. The small leaves are very time consuming to strip -- my pesto had more than a few stms processed in. I've never dried basil before -- I may give that a try -- maybe with the oregano as well. I'm still steadily adding cucumbers to my refrigerator pickle crock. I was looking in a Mediterranean cookbook I have and may try some Tzitliki (?) Greek cucumbers in a yogurt and garlic sauce. It's hard to figure out what to do with all this bounty. I also found a couple of intriguing zucchini recipes - one for zucchini lasagna - using long strips of zucchini instead of noodles - and one for a zucchini and basil muffin.

My next challenge is to figure out what to do with all my jalapenos. I wound up with 4 jalapeno plants out of my 7 pepper plants because I couldn't remember which was which when 2 bit the dust and I wanted to make sure I had some for salsa. Unfortunately timing is not my friend this year since my tomatos are about 3 weeks behind I usually pick the first one by the second week in July. I looked up a recipe for green tomato and jalapeno salsa that I may try. I'm also dying to get some cream cheese and make some poppers. Now my question is -- will the tomatos ripen before the plants keel over entirely -- they look pretty sad.

I did get out there and weed some this evening. We had quite a storm last night so the ground was wet and it was pretty easy to pull the quickweed that had taken over. I have some Swiss Chard and Yellow Beet, as well as more carrot and Heatwave lettuce I'd like to put in, but I'm not sure if I should wait til it's a bit cooler.

So many Daylilies

2006-07-09T10:16:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure exactly what the deal is this year -- but I seem to have many more varieties of daylilies. I spread them around quite a bit this year -- it may just be that I just now able to see them. Previously I just had a few light pink, many bright yellow some with the rust and yellow and your standard orange. This year there are red, pale yellow, I saw one purple, and some new multicolor ones from 3 "bonus" plants I received with an order from Wayside Gardens a couple of years ago - blooming for the first time. There is a huge Daylilies-only nursery here in town -- I should check it out.

Edamame Yum!

2006-07-06T20:34:00.000-04:00

I just had my first batch of edamame beans from my garden -- actually from anywhere - I've never eaten, much less grown them. At any rate -- so good. The variety I planted is Beer Friend. They are so sweet and nutty. There's mo pic because I gobbled them all up. I boiled them in salted water for 5 mins then popped them out of the shells and salted them a bit more. Excellent.

happy fourth

2006-07-04T14:16:00.000-04:00

It's hot and humid with a thunderstorm on the horizon for the Fourth here. Luckily we did a few fireworks last night. Still getting ready for a party at the neighbor's today though it may be a wash out.
In the garden, my Kwintus Pole Beans are starting to come in -- they are actually Romano beans. I've never made them before but I found a nice recipe on an organic farm's websiteRomano bean ragout. I made it again today as a salad to take to the party.

This pic's for you Meredith. My dad and brother were visiting for the weekend so I could make some of the stuff I'd been making for myself for a more appreciative audience. Dad will eat anything. Aside from the beans I also made the golden beets and greens and some pickles. He also took home a big bag of herbs, beans, cucumbers and garlic.

Aside from the visit I've been distracted from gardening -- the kids found a "fishing hole" a spring-fed part of the creek full of little fish and have caught and released quite a few -- monitoring this has kept Nola and I busy - her son Anthony is the other fisherman involved. Maggie helps. Otherwise - the Japanese Beetles have started munching on the beans, I have a few yellow squash starting to set fruit, the green beans are producing steadily, we are picking a few blackberries and I've picked a few jalapenos -- though one of my plants fell over.

TO DO LIST:
1) Weed
2) Weed
3) Weed

I love refrigerator pickles

2006-06-25T23:19:00.000-04:00

I made my first batch of refrigerator pickles today. They are the reason I plant cucumbers at all. I used this cute little vintage crock that just wouldn't sell on eBay. I decided to keep it since it is so perfect for my pickles. This batch is made with a cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp pickling salt, 2 chopped cloves garlic and some celery seed. It seems I change recipes every year trying to reach pickle nirvana -- I like them a little sweet, a little garlicky and a little hot. I'll try adding red pepper flakes to the next batch.

Unfortunately the pickles aren't made with my cucumbers. I swapped some garlic and sugar snaps with my neighbor for 2 cucumbers, a yellow squash and a cabbage from her garden. It is nice to have a gardening neighbor to trade varieties with. I had to pull out half my cucumbers today -- they had been looking so good -- then boom wilted leaves. Cucumber blight. Apparently there is no way to save them, just pull out the plant and dispose of it, before all the plants are infected. It's carried by that little striped Cucumber beetle. Hopefully it won't get all my plants. It got them last year, but I did move them to the other side of the garden this year. Oh well. I'll just have to hope Nola has a banner crop.

How's it growin'

2006-06-22T00:39:00.000-04:00

Here's what it looked like today -- shot up quite a bit since the last photo. Today I did work a little fertilizer around the tomatoes and peppers -- we'll see if it makes any difference. I have been quite good about going out every morning and weeding one or two squares. The humidity has finally set in though, so we'll see if I can keep it up.

Love those root crops

2006-06-22T00:23:00.000-04:00

I seem to be having the best luck with my root crops this year -- though I did finally notice a few tomatoes actually starting on my sickly plants. Anyway -- I dug my first few garlic heads and have them hanging in the shed to cure. I couldn't resist cracking one open though and trying it -- sauteed 2 sliced cloves in olive oil and tossed with pasta and fresh basil -- so good. The heads came out very well -- nice and large considering I planted run-of-the-mill grocery store garlic last October. I still have about 6 more heads to pull -- what to do with all the garlic is now the question -- considering no one else in the house likes it (what a surprise).

They do, however, like carrots. I was thining my over-wintering Meridia carrots (supposed to take 150 days to mature) and pulled out these 6-inch long beauties. They have a great flavor too -- better than the Short and Sweet I also planted. I started a couple more rows of carrots - one in front of the tomatoes and another where I pulled some potatoes last week -- at least everyone will eat them. I have had a small success though. Emma actually eats the Bibb lettuce without complaint -- baby steps.

Golden beets

2006-06-16T21:10:00.000-04:00

I know I am over-blogging but I just had to post about these beets. I pulled three golden beets today -- I should have left them a bit longer they weren't very big, but I couldn't resist. The rosy-gold color of the peel is so pretty -- I should take one to the paint store to get the color mixed. Anyway -- I roasted the beets in foil (425 for about 35 mins) til they were soft and sauteed the chopped greens in olive oil with a clove of garlic. Added the sliced beets at the end and tossed it all with a bit of balsamic vinegar with a tsp of sugar mixed in. I am not a person who usually eats cooked greens, but this was one of the more delicious things I have ever eaten. Note to self -- plant many more golden beets.

Sensei RIP

2006-06-16T14:35:00.000-04:00

Poor Sensei. Maggie finally got ahold of the big koi. I found a shower of scales and a tail at the bottom of the pond this morning when I went to feed them. Maggie must have gotten her when she jumped in yesterday. I thought they were both goners, but Bailey went out and saw little Ninja II swimming around. I'm going to try to get Steve to retrieve the tail -- I don't think I can quite deal with that little chore. I'll spare you the pond photo.

Field Trip

2006-06-15T17:31:00.000-04:00

Bailey, Maggie and I took a drive today to Bernheim Forest & Arboreteum in Claremont, KY -- about 20 miles south of Louisville. It is a terrific place with kind of a split personality -- part manicured looking lakes, gardens and collections of hollies and other types of shrubs -- all neatly labeled -- and part wilderness with miles of trails for hiking. We took in a bit of both. Leashed dogs are allowed, so Maggie was able to come with us, though she pulled so hard I thought she was going to choke. We hiked a 1.3 mile trail - a loop so we couldn't get lost - though it seemed like more since it was virtually straight up then nearly straight down. It was nice since we didn't see a single soul until we got back to the trail head -- very serene, lots of green filtered light. Bailey didn't complain (which was surprising since she fell a few times when we were on the downhill side)and I didn't have a stroke on the way up (also surprising the way my heart was pounding). We then drove down for a walk around the garden and lake. There was a nice Garden Gazebo -- all enclosed -- that reminded me of a view at Mt. Vernon -- must be the cupola -- and about 100 geese at the lake.

Not too much was in bloom, though I did find a few interesting plants and combinations. The first pic is a dwarf sage - I have a little sage collection myself, but I haven't seen that variety. The second is Stokes Aster and the third (the darker feathery foliage on the left) is Arkansas Amsonia and the last is a tall bellflower. Bailey was particulary impressed by all the tall grass in the Quiet Garden.

They have a great little visitor's center with an ice cream shop and interactive teaching displays. The building itself is a teaching tool with information about building structures that are more in tune with the environment. It has a planted, living roof to decrease run-off and to off-set the green space lost when the building was constructed. It operates with available-daylight-only lighting and they were busy constructing holding tanks for run-off water to use to flush toilets and other gray-water chores. The parking lot was even constructed so run-off was channeled through an area planted with mushrooms that break down the oil and other petroleum in the water into carbon dioxide (I think that is what it was -- well something good anyway).

Perfect weather

2006-06-13T00:48:00.000-04:00

For some reason the humidity has stayed away and we had just a beautiful day after some thunderstorms this weekend. I took advantage of the damp ground to pull a ton of weeds -- I also went thru the strawberries and got out most of the rotten ones -- there are still some good ones coming on. Things seem to be growing a bit better -- the cucumbers are looking okay -- with a few flowers starting, the beans as well. I have a pepper plant with a good sized jalapeno on it (though the plant itself isn't more than 12 inches tall). My experimental artichoke has even started to take off. There were a few potato plants that had withered -- I pulled them up and got 3 cute little potatoes. I had them for lunch with some parsley, a bunch of blanched sugar snap peas and a salad of garden lettuce and radishes. I felt quite virtuous after such a healthy (and free) lunch -- but totally made up for it with a big plate of nachos for dinner.

My neighbor is on vacation and I've been looking after her garden -- I must say I totally have zucchini envy. Hers are gorgeous and huge -- mine are puny and washed-out looking. And these lush tomatoes -- for the record -- are my leftover Brandy Boy seedlings. None of mine survived. I will have to get a few of hers to see what they taste like.