The little garden

Good morning!

This week around my little container garden I transplanted some potatoes. I don't know if they will survive, not sure if you should even do that, but we'll see. They were in a little bucket that was way too small for them. :( Anyway, here is hoping they will survive!

I also fertilized and watered my two little tangerine trees that I had received for Christmas a couple of years ago. They seem to be doing ok and even have a couple of little blooms on them. I don't expect fruit for another year or so though. We also had a surprise tangerine tree show up next to or old oak tree in the front of the house. No one even noticed the littel thing until this year. It has the sweetest fruit on it ever! Thank you little birdies for depositing that little seed. ;)

The strawberries are doing well although not producing, lol. They are a pretty plant.

My nephews and niece were on Spring Break last week so we went to the water park. It was fun and I got some good joint therapy in by swimming the lazy river. We packed our lunches and ate by the main pool and people watched. The kids went down most of the slides and had a blast. Back to school for them today though.

I have my grandson during the week now as my daughter had to go back to work. :( It was hard on her but I think she is adjusting and has a goal to work towards now. She wants to be a SAHM and be able to be with him every day. He is a good baby and a joy to be with. We also have a Baptism date coming up in June. It is going to be extra special because we are having a family reunion the same weekend so he will have extra family there that normally would not be able to make it.

I guess that is about it for now. No pictures today as my camera needs a good charging but next time. Click on the button below to join in the Ban Hop or just to check out what everyone is up to. Have a wonderful week!!

Here we go again...

Another week has slipped me by, lol. I have been so busy, just being busy! How was your Easter/Passover? Ours was delightful! The whole family came over and we enjoyed time together. The TV was off and it was ever so nice! My niece wanted her hair braided in little braids all over her head so my daughter and sister sat her down and about 4-5 hours later it was done! She has long blonde hair and is a tomboy and (being a pre-teen) would rather not brush it, lol. They did take a break for dinner, feedings and bathrooms though. ;)

We had a yummy spiral ham, scalloped potatoes, artichoke & tomato casserole and angel eggs! My daughter also made a great Easter cake. Everything was very yummy!

Saturday I sewed a lot. I made a nursing cover for my daughter (she left the other at the mall accidentally), 2 car seat covers and 3 table runners for my mom. They were all fairly easy but I had to make a few adjustments yesterday on the nursing cover when my daughter was here. She loves it though and it matches her car seat cover for her car seat. J

The garden is not looking so good. I don't know; I must just be one of those people, lol. You know the ones with a black thumb? I have one tomato plant that gave me five tomatoes and then just died. They were small paste tomatoes and were good though. I did try something though and so far it has worked! I have seen a lot of people restarting celery and green onions so I thought I would give it a try and it worked! I had tried once before but the green onions died, but this go around it looks like they took! Can you see them there in the dirt? There are six of them. One or two are doing a lot better than the others, but hopefully they will continue to grow. We don’t eat them too much around here but it would be nice to have when we wanted them.  

For the last week the weather has been absolutely beautiful! I went out this morning to a wonderful 65 degrees. It will get up to 83 later and hopefully the humidity will stay away. We are having to water though for lack of rain. We have well water so we aren’t as restricted as others but we are careful not to over water.

Potatoes

Tomatoes

The herbs seem to be doing really well. I use the herbs quite regularly in cooking. I made scalloped potatoes for Easter dinner and used the fresh thyme, yummy! I still need to get to the garden center and get some more herb plants though. I do so much better with herbs than vegetables.

The Strawberries are really growing big and looking so pretty. I love a plant that will reproduce from its self, lol.

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That is it for around here. I hope everyone was a stupendous week! This post is linked up to the Barn Hop.

Have a great week!

Barn Hop #24

This week for the Barn hop, I did some freezing. I froze some corn on the cob and yellow squash. The squash has been so yummy right now that I couldn't resist; and I just have to have some for the 'winter'!

I also canned some peaches! Not a whole lot but about 4 quarts of whole peaches. I am so excited to be able to do this. I don’t have pictures because my daughter is using my camera to take “baby bump” pictures, lol. We have been looking at cameras to replace the one I have and for baby pictures when he gets here. Any suggestions?

My spring/summer garden is kaput for this year, but we are getting the beds ready for fall. I will be planting broccoli, cauliflower, pole beans and lettuces this week and next week from seeds. These need to go in now according to my planting guide. J I want to replace some of my herbs & put them into pots. I think they will do much better individually rather than in a bed. I know some have noticed a change in the air with fall coming, but not here in FL., lol. It seems to be just as hot as always. It is fine though, it can always be worse (Texas) and I feel blessed by just being able to do what I am doing. Success or fail. It is all a learning experience.

Head over to the Barn Hop by clicking the button above. Happy Homesteading!

Dinner

I am the cook in the house. But sometimes I get so tired of cooking and eating meat; so I decided to cook some veggies for dinner! It was so simple too. I made a Cauliflower casserole, baked tomatoes & mom had made a broccoli casserole. I didn't get pictures because it was gone in a flash, but yummy, it was! I have the Cauliflower recipe on my recipe page, but the baked tomatoes recipe is below. Enjoy.

Baked tomatoes
6-8 Medium tomatoes, washed and sliced about 1/2 " thick
Bread crumbs, about 1/2 c
Shredded parmesan cheese, same, 1/2 c or so
Olive oil, 1/4 c ?
Oregano, 1 Tblsp

All you do it slice the tomatoes about 1/2 inches thick. I got 3 slices per tomato, if that helps. Then you mix the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese & oregano in a bowl. Place some of the bread crumb mixture on top of each tomato and then drizzle with olive oil. Bake in the oven about 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

Of course, you can change this up any way you want. Use basil instead of oregano or use some Asiago cheese instead. Use more cheese and less bread crumbs, etc.

It is really yummy and your family will love it! Enjoy!

Barn Hop #22

Time for the Barn Hop!

I really don’t have much to report on the garden front. I do have one green bean plant that is plugging away.

…and some beautiful Hunan peppers. These were done with seed and I am very proud of them. J

An assortment of veggies. The little tomato and potatoes are all mine.

And last, but not least, my little kitty keeping cool in the nice porcelain sink.

Mom & I are going out today to replant the Marigolds in boxes by the front door and move the garden dirt (bags) over to the new area to prepare for the fall garden. I am counting on the ‘animals’ not coming that close to the house (fingers crossed). Also moving the Rain barrel. It isn’t too full so it can be done fairly easy. It makes the most sense anyway; the compost pile is over there, lol.

The watermelon plant is still growing and has blooms, but no watermelons as of yet. Pumpkin is doing the same, but no fruit. The rest of the potatoes will be dug this week and I am going to replant the tomatoes. So I am going to move it all over to the new area. I am hoping they perk up and make me some fruit, lolol.

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Happy Homesteading! Have a wonderful week.

Barn Hop #21

Garden Update for the Barn Hop!.

I have been planning my fall garden and have about 2 weeks to get the soil and garden area ready for seeds. It is way hot still but I am going to give it a shot for the veggies that can be planted in August. :) I love to use the Growveg.com website to plan my garden. It is only $25 per year and I think, worth it. The program will remember my spring garden and warn me if I am going to replant something in the same space rather than rotating the crops among other things. It is really fun to play with. Anyone with snow in their future could plan to their hearts content waiting for spring time. :)

My potatoes did well this year. I was happy because it was my first shot & I am definitely going to plant them again next spring but I will plant a lot more plants. I didn’t get a ton of them, but overall, I am very happy with the outcome. These are some of the Yukon Golds. I haven't dug the "Red Cloud" as of yet. My little niece is on vacation this week and she wants to help dig them up so I will wait for her to get back. :) I highly recommend Wood Prairie farms, if anyone is interested, for the spring planting.



I had a small watermelon on my vine, but an animal snuck in again and ate it. Boo. It is totally my fault, but I have learned a lot this year and hopefully, next spring, the garden will be better. My tomatoes tried, they really did, but I got them out too late and I think the heat got to them. The beans, pumpkins and peppers too. I did notice that a lot of my plants closer to the house did better so I will be moving them closer in the fall and then again the spring. I think the animals are afraid to come close to the house so that is a good deterrent. :) Fencing will also be added and I have definitely decided to build some kind of square foot gardening boxes. I tried the "bed in a bag" method and it worked, but not well for me.  

I have decided not to have bees for now. I miss them though. I loved watching them in the sunlight, and knowing how hard they work and all the good they bring to the world really inspires me. I may reconsider down the road, but for now I am not bringing them back. I love reading about all of your adventures with them so for now, that will have to do. Luckily, I still have a local honey source. :)

I really wanted to make the trip to Seven Springs, PA for the Mother Earth Fair, but am not sure I will be able to make it. If not this year, then perhaps next year will do it. :)

Click on the button above to join in the fun!  

Happy Homesteading! Have a wonderful week.

Barn Hop #20!

It has been a while for me, but I thought I would join in this week. Things around here have been so hot. My garden is all but gone. I didn't get much out of it this season, but that is ok. It is all a learning process for me. I did get a few potatoes so far this week and there are more to come! :)

It has also been wet around here and the ground has produced a lot of these...

All kinds of those as a matter of fact. Red ones, orange ones, white ones and brown ones. I would like to check out a book to see if any are edible.

That is about it around here for now. We have had lots of family in this month with more to come and have taken a few little day trips. I am going to start planning my fall garden very soon.

Thanks for reading. To join in the Barn Hop, go here.

Barn Hop #16

It's that time of the week again. The Barn Hop! Click on the button above to check out what everyone is doing this week and to link up your post!

I have another garden update. My garden is doing the weirdest things lately. I think it is too hot, but you tell me, is any of this normal?

My baby corn. I mean really, is it really supposed to look like this? lolol. I seriously did not expect to harvest any corn, but it has been fun watching it grow. The birds can enjoy these little kernels.
This stalk is about two feet tall.

Next up is the strangest of the garden wonders. My tomato(?) in my potato bags! Look at this little thing? It looks like a tomato, but it is growing on the potato plant!! What is going on? LOL
the first picture is close up and the second you can see it below right. It is only about the size of a dime.

Next up are just pictures...

bean blossoms, I love them!

beans hiding underneath

Red pepper. looks like the bloom fell off so hopefully I will get a pepper soon.

Almost ready to eat. I don't think it will make it in to the house. I have been waiting a long time for this.

These are hunan peppers again. There are tons of blooms on them. :)

Pretty Dill.

These aren't veggies, but mom found them growing wild. So she pulled them up and stuck them into a bucket. They are called Frangipani's (Plumaria) and they have a very pretty fragrant flower. They make Hawaiian Lei's out them.  

That is about it for our little place. Have a wonderful week!

Barn Hop #15

Garden Update!

My garden; what a mess, lol. I am going to get out there this week and really make it shine. I have to tell you that I have had something get into my garden at night. I need a fence, but being unemployed it is not on the menu yet. My sister has a pool fince she is going to loan me but for now...we have all kinds of 'things' in the garden. And it is working! HAHA. We have badminton rackets, balls, gnomes, plants with shiny foil, poles, and obscene looking piece of coral and other various things. Whatever works! BUT the damage is: they pulled up my beans from seed so i had to buy some new ones. they pulled up my cucumber but I was able to save it. However, it is not doing much so it has probably been scarred for life. They pulled out all of my sweet potato slips, pepper and a coupld of small tomato plants, also some mini bells peppers and destroyed the nasturtiums. I think that is it. :(

So, back to what IS going on in the garden...

The Hunan Peppers are looking good. Buds and little babies all over most of the plants. I have found out they like lots of water.  We haven’t had much rain so I am watering most every day. At least we have a well and no water bill. J

The Dill is getting ready to go to seed, but I don't mind one bit. It is yummy and I threw some in my shrimp the other night.

These bean plants are doing so well and they are from last fall! Look at them go! The one below is new due to the animals.

What is up with my parsley? If you look real close, in the middle, the leaves are real thin and different looking. I followed this stalk and it is indeed part of the parsley! I have never seen anything like it, have you? We'll call it mutant parsley from now on. ;)

Tiny broccoli plant from last fall also. (I have issues with pulling up old plants, can you tell)? It actually looks like it is starting to come back...even though it is 98 degrees almost every day, go figure. 

Cucumber in the middle, lol. Poor little thing.

Watermelon is going strong. See the badminton racket? lol

The potatoes are doing real well, the bloomed so now we are just waiting for them to die back! :) I am sure we still have a ways to wait but we are almost there. I hope they turn out ok. Seems like this garden is weirding out on me, lol

 These are Stupice tomatoes!

Can you see that little white-ish yellow kernel? I guess it is a kernel. I have never tried to grow corn so I am not sure what (or even if) I will get. The animals pulled out most of this too. I put them back in and they would do well only to be pulled out again *sigh*. I finally gave up and just let it be. So far (with all our 'yard art') they have left them alone.

Beans!

Squash. Now I see everyone else is already canning theirs, lol. This too got pulled out and was replaced - late, so I am not even sure it will survive the heat. We'll see.

Green pepper

Obscene looking coral, lol. I purposely did not get a close up shot. You will just have to guess. :)

Glacier Tomatoes

Little bitty cabbage (leaves mostly).

The bugs got to this, but the middle seems to be doing ok and it looks like the bugs have stopped. I read somewhere that you can tie it up and try to make it make itself into a ball of cabbage.

Who knows what is going on, but it has been interesting (and maddeningly frustrating) to say the least. *sigh*

Now you can see why I am SO envious of everyone’s gardens, lol. Mine is the schleprock of all gardens. ;)

I am not giving up though. It is all practice, right? I have learned a lot already and can improve on that for my fall garden.

Have fun at the Barn Hop today!