[ gardening ] :: garden update

Sadly, I haven't done a whole lot in the garden this week. The Hubs was out of town and I had to grade tests all week...yuck!

We did get a new little sprinkler for the garden bed, as well as 10 bags of dirt (yay!). The garden is looking a little crap-tastic at the moment. Check it out:

I'll fill in that hole tomorrow and plant my Brussels sprouts. I was going to pull my pepper plants since they started dropping flowers last week, but since the weather has been dry and in the 80's all week, they've started producing again. My okra plants are making monster size fruit (8-10" long) that got so big I fed them to the dogs. They had a nice vegetable snack yesterday afternoon.

My sugar snap peas are super happy...I can't believe how fast they grow.

And my rashes are looking radish-y (finally!). I'm growing French Breakfast Radishes and Red Cherry Radishes. I was hoping that the radish greens would be good for cooking, but they're really fuzzy and not too appetizing.

Gardening wouldn't be complete without my Demon Dogs. They got so busted last night when we came home from the Duluth Fall Festival. As we pulled up the driveway, we saw this little guy bolt out from under our back gate. We call him Little Dog.

Sometimes the Demon Dogs have unauthorized dog parties and Little Dog squeezes under the gate or through the fence (our dogs are just too big to get through), and has a blast with my pups. He also comes in through the doggie door, too. Unfortunately, his owners don't put a collar or ID tag on him (so I can't return him to his owners) and he likes to go on freedom runs to my house. Whatever. He's a sweet pup.

But look at what these a**holes did. Remember those 9 pounds of apples I got from Aldi? They pulled a 3 lb bag off of the kitchen counter (somehow) and dragged them out into the yard. I'm also missing a bag of bananas, so they had quite a little feast!

Look, ma! Green balls.

I was going to see if I could salvage any of the apples, but they all had puncture marks or bites taken out of them. Typical. Granny Smith apples are Emma's favorite.

This one has the good flavor.

As mad as I want to be, the whole this is really comical. They have dog parties and get into shenanigans. They eat fruit. Weirdos!

On the positive side of things, the Demon Dogs went to the vet yesterday. He said they look really good (ideal weight, glossy coat, very active), and it's probably due to the insane amount of fruits and veggies they eat. I think the dogs are just sticking to doctor's orders. Who can blame them?

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: fall has arrived!

It's fall! My favorite season has arrived, and my cool-weather crops are finally deciding to grow.

I was feeling especially farmer-ish on Saturday with the cooler weather we're having here in Georgia. We got a ton of rain that afternoon (that I got to drive through on the interstate...not fun), so I decided it would be the perfect time to check up on my sugar snap peas and plant some radishes.

It's completely amazing how quickly these things germinate. I got these seeds from Botanical Interests, and let me tell you - it's worth the extra $1 to buy from them instead of the crap seeds they carry at the home improvement stores. I may need to transplant some of these to another container since I overplanted the containers...I honestly was not expecting such a high germination rate!

I'm doing a little experiment with my peas this fall to see which type of trellis they will grow on best. I used bailing twine (polypropylene) and tomato cages as a basis of support. We'll see how it goes!

 I got some Swiss Chard from a garden center last week, and it's doing remarkably well considering it got smooshed in the back of my care with a 50-lb bag of dirt. This stuff is indestructible...

...and gorgeous! I planted it fairly close together since I plan on harvesting and eating the leaves when they are smaller (think baby spinach). Like most greens, they get tougher and more bitter the longer they are on the plant. The smaller leaves will be delicious as salad greens, but once they get more bumpy and tough I'll wilt and saute them.

My Purple Dragon carrots finally germinated! If you squint really hard, you can see them in the top bucket. The middle bucket has Red Chantenay carrots, and the bottom has Scarlet Nantes carrots. I'll need to thin the bottom bucket soon, and then I can use the carrot tops in a recipe. Did you know they are edible? They taste a bit like parsley.

More pictures coming soon! I'll be finishing up my newest garden bed soon.

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: carrot buckets + new pictures

Whew! What a busy week in the garden. I have to say, my carrot bucket experiment is going quite well. The seeds are germinating well, so in a few months we will have a bunch of carrots.

I planted orange carrots, first, then a type of red carrot (yes, red), and then Purple Dragon Carrots. They are going to look so cool!

The bush beans will be ready to be picked in about a week. I was so worried that they wouldn't  produce until it got too cold. I think that this September weather in GA, 90 degrees and no rain, is doing them some good. My okra and pepper plants are loving it, too. They'll probably be happily producing until it dips below 70 degrees...in October.

In other news, I started to set some seedlings out into the garden bed. The Demon Dogs were very disappointed. They thought that since it was a garden bed they could sleep in it. *sigh* Norman was moping around yesterday when I filed the space with cauliflower and broccoli plants and took away his lounging area. So sad for him...not.

Emma is guilty by association.

It serves him right! I thought I had a big problem with slugs last week. I would come outside in the morning and my seedlings would be eaten down to a stub. I sprayed, I pelleted, but no luck. It was odd to me too, that this was all happening on the deck - why would slugs be climbing up onto the deck just for my seedlings?

Because it wasn't slugs. It was Norman. My fruit-and-veggie-loving dog. I caved and bought some mature seedlings from Pike Nursery and Lowes to replace what he had nibbled on. All in all, I spent about $25 on Brussels sprouts, 'Georgia' collards, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard,

Should I mention that I can grow collards easily, but my dogs ate the seed packet while I was outside planting one day? Seeds are delicious, apparently. My surviving seedlings (basil, a few cabbage, a few kale) were placed out in the garden to fend for themselves.

Luckily, the herbs that I have planted  around the veggie garden is doing well. I cut back my mine last month and it has come back "fluffier" than ever!

 And finally, I found this guy (girl? they're hermaphrodites) in my garden. A 12 inch long Planarian. I guess they're commonly called flatworms? Anyway, it freaked me out enough that I tossed it over the fence into the driveway. They're virtually indestructible so I didn't feel too bad.

Planarians: the stuff of nightmares!

- Maggie White

[ entertainment ] :: sunday funday!

Today is a great day for some free fun, yard work, and delicious Salsa Verde Chicken!

We have had a busy weekend of clearing out our brush pile. It was exhausting but had to be done since the opossums that stroll through the neighborhood think it's a nice place to call home. Our Demon Dogs decided to pick a fight with a opossum on Friday night and lost. They had a blast (typical hound dogs) and walked away with a few nicks and bites.

The Beagle paradise. A fenced, half-acre of forest.

I'm pretty sure the neighbors think we're a bunch of rednecks. After all, our hounds were going bonkers, I was yelling for The Hubs to get my rifle (in case the opossum was severely injured) and a flash light, and screaming, "Get the opossum! Get the opossum!" Plus, today we had a good ol' fashioned bon fire in the yard. Yep. The neighbors must love us.

But seriously, the whole cut-and-burn-the-backyard brought out the inner pyromaniac in me. The Hubs was a little nervous, eying me like like I was Aerys Targaryen or something. I'm pretty sure he mumbled something about "The Mad King" under his breath.

Other than our back yard shenanigans, we had a rousing lazy day of watching movie. Our favorite movie was Rise of The Guardians. Yes - it's another kid's movie, but it was free to watch on TV and actually really good. I'm fairly certain that these animated flicks are really made for the adults that bring the kids to them, and not actually the children. I also forced The Hubs to watch Fiddler on the Roof. (A musical! Mua ha ha ha!)

We had an awesome time watching the Falcons game at Taco Mac with Gillybean and her new beau. Rise up! (That was a shameless plug to show The Hubs that I'm trying to care about football. In reality, he bribed me with pumpkin-flavored beer and cheese dip to watch the game with him.)

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: backyard photos + new bed

I had a busy week in the garden! Check out what I picked up from Lowe's on Tuesday morning:

20 bags of top soil. Oh boy! I had a fabulous morning filling my newly build raised garden beds. I extended an old 4' x 4' bed to be a 4' x 20' bed. First, I dug out the clay soil and put down a layer of newspaper. Do miserly gals pay for weed-barriers or landscaping fabric? Heck no.

Next, I mixed in a layer of compost and topsoil, and then spread about 6" of topsoil on top. You can see that my bush beans are loving it!

The Garden Inspection Team approved. Norman peed on my bush beans. Hopefully the extra Nitrogen will do them well. 

Emma (front) & Norman (back) inspecting the new bed.

Update: The bush beans loved being urinated on. They started blooming this week and have cute little 1" bean pods.

 

In other news, the first round of fall crops are starting to sprout. These baby radishes better hurry up and grow into something delicious. I can't wait to roast them, or slice them thin into salads!

The September strawberries are blooming, so we should have a few pints of fresh berries soon. Unless Norman and the birds eat them again! I didn't get to harvest any berries in May because my weird dog loves fruit.

The carrots are sprouting, too. I'm doing what I call "The Carrot-In-A-Bucket Experiment." Once they get a little bigger, I'll thin them out so we can eat the young carrot roots and carrot tops. Delish!

Finally, my one lonely Irish Cobbler potato. She'll be going in a potato-tower, so hopefully I can increase my yield of 'taters this fall. We're not big potato eaters, so I might just save the spuds to re-use as seed potatoes in the spring.

Well, that's it for now! Sometime this week I'll pull my tomato plants (they're looking sad) and plant something else in their place. Maybe red cabbage? I need to figure out how to use a few pints of green cherry tomatoes...perhaps a tomato relish, or I could fry them! The basil is starting to get woody as well, so fresh pesto is on the menu this week, too.

- Maggie White

[ gardening ] :: this week's bounty

Every morning, and each evening, I walk out to my garden to see what goodies I can pick. I started growing vegetables this summer and started with just 4 tomato plants, 2 okra, and 12 pepper plants (banana, jalapeno, and bell pepper). I had some zucchini squash growing, but I am the only person in Georgia who cannot grow squash. It's mostly due to the fact that my dog, Norman, likes to eat squash, squash blossoms, and apparently squash leaves. (I came home one day and he had eaten an entire 4'x4' plot of plants).

Should I mention that he also likes to roll in the herbs around my veggie garden? Lemon thyme is his favorite. He says it has the good nose-flavor.

This sad, little thyme plant has grown to be quite "fluffy" looking and about 18" around. Maybe Norm has magical plant-growing powers?

The rain has finally let up this week, so the tomatoes are getting a chance to ripen. I'm hoping that the peppers grow a bit bigger too, since the rain seems to have stunted their development and they are not as spicy as they should be!

Not pictured: the 7 banana peppers, 14 cherry tomatoes, and 1 okra I picked this morning.

These tomatoes will be delicious in an Israeli couscous dish my mom shared with me, and the okra will be awesome with some stewed tomatoes over rice. Yum!

[ gardening ] :: a close-up tour

I am obsessed with my garden.

So obsessed, that I will go out, iPhone in hand, and take pictures. Then I go inside (where the lighting is better) and Instagram them. All of them. Half of my friends hate me.

But I can't help it! There is just so much beauty outside if you look close enough. Here are a few of my favorites from this past summer.

Coreopsis thrives in the Georgia heat.

The daylilies did quite well this year.

Can you believe an iPhone took this detailed shot?

Okra flower. Check out that pollen!

Petunias look so delicate but they're tough little flowers!

Tomatoes and lemon thyme.

I took hundreds of photos and had to cull it down to just a few. Can you tell that I like taking pictures of flowers? I love being able to see the different textures of the flower, and especially the detail in the pollen granules. The Hubs jokingly calls this flower porn (biology joke!). I have an inkling that I'll be doing more amateur iPhone photography this fall!

- Maggie White