Suburban Gardening

I posted a discussion thread on the Modern Victory Garden's forum asking the best spacing for garden hoops. While I know I live in Texas and have about a zero percentage chance of snow in the winter (don't be jealous), but we do get some freezing rain and some nights that it will drip just at the freezing level. I am thinking a little protection would not hurt.

I am also thinking that these will also help me at of the times of the year. Such as in the late spring when the birds are attacking all of my tomato plants, a little bird netting would not hurt. Also in the summer in the blazing heat (we have 60 days over 100 degrees in the past 3 months) a little light shade cloth will go a long way.

I am starting this a little early, as I know that while the weather is a little warmer, the PVC will bend a little easier. When PVC is cold, it doesn't really bend, and really tends to shatter! Pieces of PVC flying at your eyes is never a good thing.

HERE IS THE PLAN:

○ Drive 2 foot rebar into the ground just on the inner edge of the raised beds

○ Every Four Feet, based on the advice received above.

○ Carefully bend the 8 foot pieces of the into place.

I put in one to see if this will work "as planned" and seems to be good. Here is a quick picture of it.

I will post the finished product next weekend, when I pick up the rest of the supplies and get them into place.

Until Next Time!!

SG

So I do have some things happening inthe garden and around the house.

The bad part is, my computer took an unexpected crash.  So I am struggling to get it back up and running and recovering/recreating some of my items on it.

Please bear with me a few days.  I promise, I will be right back.

As I mentioned on an earlier post, my first job was at a Chinese Restaurant.  Well, really, my FIRST job was a summer camp counselor, but my first REAL job was in a Chinese Restaurant.

As this was a small family run establishment, I often ate real Cinese food.  Let me be clear, this was not the stuff on the Americanized Chinese menus, but the real stuff.  One of the most common items was actaully KimChi, while I know that techincally Korean, we often ate it.

I was playing on the blogs, and as always, one blog lead me to another, and to another, and then I stubbled upon The Subsistence Pattern.  An there it was....a kimchi recipe.  While I read it, it didn't sound exactly like to one I ate growing up, but it seemed like a good recipe, so I decided to try it.  The stuff you get in the jars at the grocery store just were not right....

Here is the link directly to his recipe...Kimchi Recipe on The Subsistence Pattern.

 I work for a hotel, so I asked the storeroom clerk, if they had any gallon size glass jar that I could have...they were happy to give me one.  If you read the comments on the recipe, you will see a little debate forming over plastic containers verses glass.  Once I made it up, I transferred it into two smaller quart size mason jars to store in the fridge, while I eat it up!

It turned out great....the good part about making it yourself, you control it....a little more spice, a little less salt, more ginger.....

NEXT TIME:  I will make it with Brocoli stems.  That is the other way we often made it at the restaurant.  While the American-Chinese cooking has a lot of brocoli, it rarely used the stems.  We would slice these up about a quarter inch thick and make it into kimchi.  

Oh the childhood memories......

Until next time

SG

I read a number of blogs, and the ones that seem to draw me in the most are the postings in reference to chickens. I have no clue why, but I have now decided that if (when) we move to a larger plot outside the city, I am going to want chickens. Both for eggs as well as for meat.

I often love to read the posts that Heather does on her blog, Idaho Small Goat Garden. She has only recently gotten into the world of chickens, and I love to read the discoveries and adventures that she and her family encounter.....

Then out of the blue, I received an email from the mother of an old roommate, who wrote us about her recent shipment of chicks she received. I thought I would share.

-----Original Message-----

From: Brenda

Subject: New Additions

Here are the 29 new little chicks. All of the names follow. Don't forget to

share with XXXX.

Love from your "Heartless Mother"

From left to right and some you may not see.

* KFC

* Barbecue

* Noodle

* Dumpling

* Catchatori

* Quiche

* Pot Pie

* Curry

* Fried

* Soup

* Kung Pao

* Ala King

* Spicy Shredded

* Sweet & Sour

* Baked

* Dressing

* Stuffing

* Egg Drop Soup

* Salad

* Egg Foo Yong

* Terriyaki

* Smoked

* Crispy

* Gravy

* Stew

* Smothered

* Shake & Bake

* Casserole

* Breaded

I hope you got a laugh out of it as I did......well until next time

SG

So I am a little behind on my posting, but wanted to share anyways.  Better later than never.

The garden is very much on the bare side.  After ripping out the final tomatoes, the only things left are my herb garden and some peppers (oh and one watermelon vine).  The heat finally took out everything else.

I was able to harvest a little more than 12 oz. (cleaned and picked off the stems) of Basil.  As my last batch was dried (thanks Granny for the microwave idea) and I am still using it, I decided to take advice of The Modern Victory Garden and make some pesto for freezing.

I put the basil in my food processor along with a little olive oil and some Italian cheese. In the end I ended up with a large amount of pesto, that I zip-locked and froze. When needed, I will pull it out, cut off the amount I need, and put it back in the freezer.

From the harvest picture about, you will see a few habinero peppers and some ripe (red ripe) jalepenos.  I decided to combine that with some cider vinger, diced onions (left from my harvest months ago) through the blender and cooked it on the stove until a little thich with some salt.  I added a little more cider vinger (as it boiled out).  Then I bottled it for some SPICY hot sauce.  It turned out great.  I have been putting it on my grilled chicken.  I am told it will keep in the refrigerator for about six months. 

I expect it to be gone in a few weeks.....only one bottle of it....perfect for the 5 harinero and 8 or so jalapenos.

The only other thing that seems to be producing well in the herb garden is some ginger root I planted in April or so.  I need to do a little more research, but I just bought some from the grocery store and popped it in the ground.  I love fresh ginger, so I hope it turns out well.  My first job was in a Chinese Resturant, and I am hoping to adapt a recipe for the Ginger Dumpling sauce that I am able to can and put up for use anytime.  I will eat this sauce on EVERYTHING (plus it make a great marinade).

Thanks for reading.  As always I appreciate any comments left!

SG

It has been a very odd year.  While I am just now coming upon my one year mark of moving to San Antonio, it is hard to figure out this weather.

We have had only about 1/2 inch of rain in two months, and we have been over 100 degrees for about the same amount of time.  We are in water restrictions because of a drought....and no end in sight!

It is so bad, I planted potatoes, and in two days they EXPLODED in the ground, just like if you had microwaved it a little too long.  It was the craziest thing I had ever seen!

Well, just about everything died in the garden.....here is where I pulled out all the old tomato plants, as well as a few lingering green bean plants.

Here was the pile for the dump....remember, I really have a small garden

The only things remaining in the garden at the moment are

• a watermelon vine, that refused to be trellis trained,
• Two Okra plants, still producing two to three pods a week (see the blossom below),
• one jalapeno pepper plant that I forgot I ever had in there, buried in between some tomato plants
• one tomato plant (unknown variety) that SEEMS to be hanging on.

Here is a picture of the okra blossom, I love the simple yellow flower with burgundy coloring in the center.

Here is all that is left of the garden.....

I even posted on the discussion board at the Modern Victory Garden asking for advice of planting in this hot weather.....the censesus was it was a "break" before the fall plantings.

As I was pulling the tomato plants and general garden clean up, I did go ahead and harvest the few green tomatoes (mostly pear shaped) along with the okra and a few peppers for the forgotten plant.....

Shoot!  a week earlier, and one more Okra, I could have entered them into the Down on the Allotment's picture contest!!   (Congrats to Modern Victory Garden for her carrots).

So I have cleaned up the garden, spread a little compost that I have ready, and spread some hay as mulch, and hope for a break in the weather.

Then Saturday I listen to the local garden talk show on the radio, and they are saying that this comng weekend is when we plant the fall tomatoes, peppers, squash and pumkins to be ready by Thanksgiving time.  So I am looking forward to going to the nursery and finding out exactly which varieties I should start from seed now, to get it going.  I am stoked (excited) !!!!!!

Well that is my update so far...

Stay tuned, I hope I can get something going in the garden soon!!!

I am still here, but the lack of posts is really because it is CRAZY hot here in South Texas.

My garden is looking very bare.  We have had over 100 degree days for about a month now.  Today was the first day we have had any trace of rain in about a month and a half.....

I will do a large post this weekend, so please stay tuned!!

So it was time, the potato plants were all dead.  I was worried as I never got any blooms on the plants as everyone else's blog were talking about.

I was pleasantly surprised from the Great Potato Experiment.

If you remember from one of my first blog entries, I just popped two red potatoes in the ground with no clue on how they will come out.  Only after the fact did I learn that you needed to build up the soil around the potatoes for any type of harvest, so I added a cardboard box.  I am all about recycling.  In the end the box just degraded away (hopefully improving the soil in the process).

Well I am pleased to say we got 3.5 pounds of nice red potatoes to enjoy.  A few small seed potatoes for next year's planting.

Here are the pictures taken while I was harvesting them (sorry some of them are a little dark, it was starting to get a little late, and I don't have the best digital camera).

I will be starting my next potato planting next weekend.  This time it will be in a 24" high pot that is about 18" round.  I am hoping they will do a little better in there.

I have been working a ton of hours at work, so I have been a little behind on all the home chores (which I was reminded of last evening)....so I am playing a little catch up on my harvest updates.

MY FIRST TOMATO!!! 

This was Wendesday's harvest.  The tomato came in at 6 oz..  I harvested the three canalopes (actually one fell right off the vine as I was standing there, so I figured it was time and they were quite heavy.  They weighed a total of a womping 14 pounds, 10 oz. .  Then two large okra.  This put me well over my annual goal of 20 lbs. 

The tomato was delicious!!!!!  a little warm, sliced up with a tiny bit of salt.  It was perfectly ripe.  The melons were so juicy that they were even dripping on the counter top in the picture.

My Goal was only 20 pounds, as it was my first year really, really tending to my garden, so I will just have to continue on to see my total year end weight, and add 10% to 20% to it for next year's goals.....

I apologize for the imagine, my digital camera went AWOL, so this came from a camera phone, not the best quality, but it does show the harvest.  Also forgive the dirty counter, I literally just finished cleaning and chopping up the harvest....sorry mom!

Thursday night's harvest include kolrabi and 2 small yellow pear tomatos, and one green tomato that I accidentally knocked off the vine while attempting to fix them...I'll explain in a moment.     This harvest included 10oz of small kolrabi, 1oz Yellow Pear Tomatos and 6oz green tomato.  TOTAL FOR TODAY:  17oz.

In the garden, all my tomato plants, cages and all, fell over, in the process creating a domino affect (or is it effect, I always get confused).  All 6 tomatos were basically laying on the ground on top of each other.  I got them all straightened back up and tied the cages to the fence for added support.  In the process knocked off one green tomato....it is ripening on the window sill for now.

On Saturday evening, we harvested basil (6 oz of it!!!!, I am not sure what I am going to do with all of it), 1 single yellow pear tomato, and 2 more okra (1oz).

I have only two okra plants, but each are kicking off an okra every four days or so...I think I am going to have to start pickling some to give to friends. 

So another item we finished yesterday is we vacuum packed a Ham & Bean soup for the freezer.  We will love this in the fall and winter.  While I can not take credit for all the ingredents in the soup, it is taking fresh items, and saving it for later.

2 bags of fresh Balck Eyed Peas, from our favorite farmer's market stand (Oak Hill Farms at the Pearl Brewery's Farmer's Market)

1 left over ham bone, I threw in the freezer last Christmas

about a dozen or so "pearl onions" or at least that is what I call them from my garden.

All thrown in the Crockpot all day with a little water.  in the end, we ended up with three large food saver bags weighing in at almost 7 and a half pounds of soup. (It only cost us $2.00 for all the beans).

UPDATE ON TROPICALIZATION

We also continued the "TROPICALIZATION PROJECT"  yesterday evening.  I will give you a little preview in the picture below.....I will post details tonight or tomorrow.  Other than some of the banana plants, this whole thing is RECYCLED AND/OR REUSED!!  It is not close to being done yet, but we are working in 102 degree heat, so everything is in spirts.

Until next time!!!!

First, I wanted to annouce that a new feature has been added to the site.  The Garden Calendar.  You can see it  by using the link above labeled of all things...Calendar.  Here I am noting my Harvest days, planting days, and the misc tasks such as fertiziling.

I wish I had thougth of this, but I have to admit, I explored another site from Annie's Granny's Blog Roll and stumbled upon The Modern Victory Garden.  In reading this site, I found tons of information, as well as other similarities.  For example:  we are both accountants, she is a CFO and I am a Director of Finance.  Both love gardening, we are different climates, but techincally we both use the same web host. 

Check out her site, chat on the discussion boards, and enjoy!!! 

Another small shout out.....I love to support the local farmers.  Whatever I can not grow for us, I will get from the local farmers.  The newest farmer's market here in San Antonio is the Pearl Brewery's Farm to Market that occurs every Saturday.  They are picky on who they allow to set up as vendors, all must be in local driving distance, and have quality products. 

The other nice thing they do is have local chef's come in to do cooking demostrations with the local products.  Last week the Chef produced Goat Cheese stuffed Squash Blossoms served on a bed of Roasted Eggplant cavier.  It was to die for, but the easiest thing to make.  I will post the receipe here a little later.  You can check out Chef McMullin at his restaurant's website here.

As for my favorite vendors there....Oak Hill Farms  for all our vegatable, herb and fruit needs and Scott Enterprises, which does local farm rasied tilapia.  I have to tell you this is better than ANYTHING you can get at the store. 

Well, that is all for now.  My garden is kind of running on its own for now.  I just direct sowed some corn with cabbage interplanted into the new raised bed I put in over Memorial Day.  It is a little late in the season, but I just can't stand to have an empty spot in the garden that is not producing.  Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Until next time!!!

SG