Friday, May 23, 2014

Peach Pickin' Time

In the vegetable garden:
Here is an update on my tomatoes: So far so good on the red mulch. I have not done too much to them yet. I  put the toilet paper rolls around the base to prevent cutworms. I fertilized them with granule 10-10-10. This week I will trim off all the low growing stems and thin out the plant.


 early May
late May


    
beans
cucumbers


grapes

It's peach season! I have too many peaches. I have been on the internet for days looking for the tips on freezing, peeling and recipes.  I have 2 types of trees: La Peche and Florida King.  This year I did not have time to pluck off all the peaches that were growing too close, therefore, I have literally a thousand small peaches! Tips I have learned: peeling a thousand little peaches using the "preferred" method of boiling for 1 minute and then ice bath = total time suck! I mean all day for 2 qt size bags of peaches! So, the next round: picked them and left the skin on, froze them on a cookie sheet and then placed them in containers so you can just pull out and eat them individually. Pretty successful, I got a couple more bags. Third round: asking my mom to help peel them like apples (without boiling) and making premade peach pie filling.  Now, I have to share this tip that I discovered even though I haven't tested them thawed out yet. I bought tin foil pie plates, lined them with extra tin foil and saran wrap.  We peeled and cut all the peaches up and mixed the fresh peaches with Fruit Fresh, lemon, sugar and Tapioca. We filled each pie tin with the mixture and froze it. Apparently, when frozen you can place it in freezer bags and you have a premade pie ready for a fresh crust. You unwrap it and place in shell and it already fits your crust! That sounds awesome!  Here is a link to the recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=75611&origin=detail&servings=8&metric=false


first batch

second batch





Now for what's blooming in May:

wonderful smelling variegated Jasmine
multiplying onions

bee balm
ginger


oakleaf Hydrangea

yarrow


pomegranate


gladiolas

The coolest thing I saw in the garden this week was 2 little baby mockingbird fledglings in the rose garden. They were underneath the roses learning to forage.  Every few minutes the mom would come and give them something to eat, otherwise, she watched them from a high branch.

the mom had just perched next to the bushes they were ready for a handout!

Happy Gardening!
Nicki





















Thursday, May 8, 2014

Spring Vegetable Gardening: "Gardener's Paradox"

Vegetable Garden from back of house


It is that time again.  It is time for the "gardener's paradox".  Here is the paradox: I love this time of year. It is beautiful weather, no mosquitoes, green, things are sprouting, blooming and smelling good. I get to plant! I design my vegetable garden and plan new vegetables.  I can almost taste the juicy red tomatoes when I am planting. I am cleaning out beds and they look so nice. I mulch the beds after weeding and it feels like a good haircut. I take all those cuttings of begonias and impatience and add bits of color everywhere.  Now for the paradox...it is exhausting!  It is time consuming and physically hard work. It is preparing beds, working and amending the soil, deadheading, weeding, mulching, fertilizing and planting...and planting some more, then watering everything in.

But for now, I will share the good side of the paradox: designing and planting the vegetable garden.

Garden from gate

 
The side beds are 4x6 raised beds. Bottom bed: potatoes, spinach, carrots.
Top bed: lettuce, Kale



closer picture of carrots(left), spinach/lettuce (middle)and potatoes(right)



The left front bed is Asparagus 
The bed farthest left is green peppers and onions



closer look at green peppers and onions



My middle bed is two different beans with cucumbers on the end

In the middle of the fence I planted tall plants for pollination like hollyhocks, cilantro and zinnia




the beans growing up the fence


The back bed is tomatoes, fennel, sweet potatoes.  This year I am "trying" out this
red plastic mulch which is supposed to increase yield and size of tomatoes.




roma tomatoes


fennel




 The last bed is squash, pumpkins, zucchini and some marigolds for companion planting



Outside the fenced vegetable garden I have these delicious thornless Navajo and Quachita blackberry



blackberry forming

I have two peach trees La Peche and Florida King


For the more serious gardeners, I drew out my vegetable garden plan layout below. This garden has a picket fence around it with chicken wire stapled and dug down about 6 inches to keep armadillos out. (which by the way does NOT work when your kids leave the gate open!). I planted perennials and climbing roses around the outside. The beds are raised old pressurized wood ( 2x8). The smaller beds on the sides are 4ft x 6ft and the long ones in the middle and end are 4-6 ft x 18-20ft. I installed a drip and small sprinkler system for each bed and landscape fabric and pine straw are in the walkways.


If you have any questions about any of the design, types of plants, etc just leave a comment below or feel free to email.  I will be happy to share information or answer any questions.

 
Happy Gardening!
Nicki