Garden

I planted my garden this year and then we had one last freeze, which killed a couple of my tomato plants.  I replanted those and then last night we got a nice and hard rain.  I am hoping the rain didn't uproot some of the new seeds I put in this week.

We have items planted in both the garden and in pots this year.  In pots on the porch we have:  potatoes, arugula, baby carrots, spinach, apple mint, and chili's.  In the garden we have roma tomatoes, husky cherry red tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, spicy bell peppers, green bell peppers, purple bell peppers, string beans, and snow peas.

This year we planted things we love to eat and cook with, so I can't wait for everything to be ready.

Garden

My garden is beginning to bloom.  I now have Yellow Pear tomatoes, Red Cherry tomatoes, snow peas, bell peppers, and cayenne peppers that have fruit on them.  The cucumbers have began to bloom, but no fruit just yet.  Although hubby has done 99% of the work, I still call it my garden.  He is actually the one with the green thumb in the family.

Time Flies

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted.  So much has happened and I haven't even written about any of it.  Here are some of the highlights since my last post.

• We had lots of trick-or-treaters come to our house on Halloween.  I love seeing all of the little kids.  This year the Transformer Bumblebee and Thor were the hot costumes.
• I had a deshed treatment done on my lab mix and the groomer brushed her so aggressively that her whole back and her legs raw and bleeding.  Thankfully no special vet treatment was needed and she is back to normal now.
• We came home one day to see a cute little hawk sitting in our flower bed.  As soon as we tried to pick up the phone to take a picture, he flew away.  He was so regal looking just hanging out in the  yard.
• Our garden has exploded with peppers (jalapeno and cayenne).  We picked so many that we gave the neighbors a bag weighing over 2 pounds.  There are still tons of baby peppers on the plants.  My cherry tomato plant is doing great too; it has about 50 little tomatoes that we are waiting to ripen.
• My nephew turned 3 and like a bad Aunt, I totally forgot to send him a card.
• Hubby and I have really gotten back in to Geocaching.  Our goal is to get 100 finds per month.  So far, we are right on track.

Those are the highlights, but mostly I have just been focused on work and completing the required report for my master's project before the semester ends on 11/30.

Picked a Peck of Peppers

Most of us have heard the children's story of Peter Piper who picked a peck of pickled peppers, but how much is a peck?  It took me a little while to figure it out, but a peck is 2 gallons.  Ironically, today hubby truly picked a peck of peppers from our garden - a combination of jalapeno and cayenne.  We have so many peppers that we packed 5 quart bags to take to people at work and we still added quite a few to our freezer.  Our plants still have so many on there that we will probably pick another peck in a couple of days.

Birds After the Garden

Today we decided to go to the bookstore and just kick back for a while.  When we got home, I noticed a cherry tomato from the garden laying in the yard.  A bird had pulled it off and eaten half of it before leaving it behind.  There was a second one they had munched on as well.  We decided to go ahead and pick all of the ripe veggies before the birds got more and ended up picking 3 jalapeno peppers, 4 cayenne peppers, 12 cherry tomatoes, and 6 cucumbers.  The garden is doing so well.  I have some spaghetti squash I am watching, but just haven't gotten the timing right on when to pick those yet.

My Grandparents Would Be Proud

I grew up in the country and my grandparents would always have a garden that would help them with their grocery needs for the family.  In fact, in later years, my grandfather would take some of his fruits and vegetables and sell them on the roadside.  As a kid, I hated being in the garden.  I liked very little of the stuff that came out of the garden, so I didn't want to help - I still had to help, but I really didn't want to.  Now as an adult, I really like gardening and wish I had paid more attention to what my grandparents were trying to show me.  I still am not a fan of all of the items that come out of the garden, but I like seeing the things I planted grow.  Today I spent my morning volunteering at the farmer's market and spent the afternoon working in our garden picking spaghetti squash, onions, tomatoes, and jalapenos.  I think if my grandparents could see my garden, they would be very proud.

Garden - Zuchinni Squash

Today we got our first zucchini squash out of our garden.  In a couple of days I have a few jalapeno peppers that will be ready to pick and I also have little cherry tomatoes, cayenne's, bell peppers, and spaghetti squash.  The cucumbers have lots of blooms, but no baby cucumbers yet. 

Growing Nicely

Everything is growing nicely.

Garden Pictures



There are 2 plots. Each are 4x6 with a 3ft walk in between.



Basil and Cilantro are looking good.  Just waiting on the Oregano.





The is the plot on the left.  It has Heirloom tomato, cayene, chives, onions, peas, zuchinni, and corn.  All have made an appearance.  The other plot has cherry tomato, bell peppers, jalapeno, garlic, spaghetti squash and cucumbers.  All of them have peaked out as well.  Sorry, the pic of the right plot didn't turn out well.

The Lavender in the front is looking good.







The daylilies out front are getting ready to bloom.

 



Even the mystery plant is doing well.



Busy Gardening Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend, but got a lot accomplished.  On Saturday, we planted the majority of the garden.  Now we have corn, peas, zucchini, cayenne peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, cucumbers, spaghetti squash, chives, oregano, basil, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and red heirloom tomatoes.

On Sunday, we went to the City Wide Garage Sale with friends and had a good time.  I only bought a couple of things (some pillow shams, jade chopsticks, some books, and hubby bought some old money).  Then when we got home, we realized we forgot to plant the onions and garlic, so we planted those as well.

The garden looks great and I will have to post some pics when everything gets a little bigger.

Garden

This weekend, hubby put out the second garden plot and set up the additional fencing.  It is going to look really nice when it is done.  He also uncovered the flowers out front so they can begin peeking through.  I am really excited about getting a garden going.  I just need to get myself and my time better organized.

Locked Out and Bit by a Spider

Yesterday was a crazy day. My brother and nephew headed to my mothers house for the day, so hubby and I took advantage of that and decided to mow the lawn. I also had a conference call for work that I needed to participate in, so it worked out well. The conference call was at 1:30pm, so about 1pm I had gone in the house to check the time and refill our water bottle. I stepped outside to take hubby the water and tell him that I needed to go prep for the call. Just as I was headed back inside, I realized that I had locked the door behind me. I was now completely locked out of the house. I went next door to use the phone (of course my phone was locked in the house too) and call my sister-in-law who has a spare key. Thankfully my brother-in-law was home and was able to bring over the key quickly (they only live a couple of miles away). I was able to get in the house just in the nick of time for the conference call.

After the lawn was done, we went to the back to trim back a tomato plant that was totally out of control. At some point during this process, I got bit on the wrist by what we think may have been a spider. We are not sure what bit me, but it was all red and puffy and hurt like crazy. Our garden does have wolf spiders, so we think it may have been one of those. This morning, my wrist is just sore like I sprained it, but the majority of the redness is gone and you can see the spot where the bite was. Oddly, there is only one little hole and not two as I would have expected from a spider, so maybe it was something else that got me. I am allergic to most insect bites, so who knows what it may have been.

Today, my brother and nephew return and they are bringing my Mom with them to visit. They will all be here for a few days and then they will take her back home. We are going to take Mom to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum while she is here. I think she and my brother will both enjoy the museum.

Beer, Tomatoes, and Jalapenos

Beer, tomatoes, and jalapenos. What do these three things have in common? My dog, Riley, loves them. Yesterday after work I went outside with a beer and kicked around in the yard a bit before checking out the garden. Instantly when hubby or I picked up the beer, she did a "sit" and "watch me" (this is what she was trained to do before she could get a treat). She was so intent on getting a drink, nothing could break her focus. So, hubby have her a little of beer and she was in heaven. Then when we went to the garden, there were lots of jalapenos to be picked. As soon as she saw the first jalapeno, she instantly did her commands. She was very disappointed as there were no jalapenos to be shared. Then on to the beans and cucumbers which she has no interest in, but was almost drooling on herself when we got to the tomatoes. Hubby gave her one of the tomatoes and she was a happy doggy. It is a good thing I have my garden fenced or she would be out there eating all of my veggies.

Yellow Pear Heirloom Tomato Plant

One of the plants is my garden is a yellow pear heirloom tomato plant. I have no experience with these plants, but decided to give it a shot this year. Well, I had no idea how large it would get. This plant is over 5 feet tall and about 4 feet wide (it would be wider if I didn't have it caged in). This plant is crowding out the other tomato plant and 2 of my jalapeno plants. I don't think I will plant this one again next year. We finally got some ripe tomatoes off of this plant and they are okay, but not fantastic.

Jalapeno Peppers

I have several jalapeno pepper plants and they seem to be struggling and until today I couldn't figure out why. They continually looked like they were being eaten, but they had no bugs on them, they have been getting plenty water, have lots of blooms, but never any baby jalapeno peppers. Today I was outside checking my garden and was so excited because there was a baby pepper plant about 3/4 of an inch long. Two seconds later - literally - I hear this crunching sound and look over to see Riley eating my baby jalapeno! I scolded her, which I rarely do - hubby is the disciplinarian, and now I am off to Lowe's to get some fencing to go around my plants.

My Garden: Before and After

This was my garden when I first planted it.


This is my garden now. There are two tomato plants, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, lima beans, snow peas, cucumbers, and green beans. All growing nicely.

Vegetables & Flowers

I got my first vegetables from my garden today. I was able to pick 6 snow pea pods. Everything is looking great and I think in the next few weeks I will see lots of veggies. Also my first daylily bloomed today. They are looking so pretty and there are lots more that are close to opening. My neighbor really wants me to give her a cutting off of the daylily next year, but I am going to have to think about it - I kind of like being the only one on the block with daylilies.

Back to Work

Vacation was way too quick, but I did get a lot accomplished for just a day and a half. I managed to get the data portion of my school project done, we purchased a new TV, I had some dental work done, and I got my garden plot finished. Unfortunately, it all went by to fast.

No Gardening Today

Today I was going to plant the veggies in my garden, but that will have to wait. The weather is supposed to be close to freezing this weekend and when I got up (actually when the dogs woke me up), it was pouring rain outside. I still have a hanging pepper plant that I might be able to work on; if not, there is plenty I can do inside. I am also going to venture out today to purchase some trellises; I want to plant some mandevilla or something that will climb on them near the house.

My Garden

This weekend we set up a garden spot for our vegetable garden. We have the 4ft by 6ft frame set up with most of the soil in there. I just need a little more soil and to plant my veggies.