Tukie's Tomatoes

One of my friends gave me three heirloom tomatoes. Black Prince on the right, Dixie Yellow Giant on the left. There is assorted basil in the middle. The third tomato, Mortgage Lifter is in my main tomato row and will be posted soon.

Thanks Tukie.

My Favorite Podcasts

I know that many of you have ipods and or listen to podcasts. Missus Wookie asked me to list my favorite podcasts You can subscribe to any of these through itunes and all are free. Here goes:

Spiritual Development podcast

• 1 Year Daily Audio Bible Reading through the Bible in a year. Something I have committed to myself to do many times but have never followed through. But this podcast has made it do able.

Gardening podcasts:

• coopette.com- Alternative Kitchen Garden A delightful podcast from a British woman who has a backyard garden complete with growdome and chickens. She experiments constantly and is really fun to listen to.
• The Gestalt Gardener From Mississippi. Felder Rushing is just plain fun to listen too and has good tips about southern gardening. When asked can you plant a poinsetta outside in Mississppi his answer is yes, but it will die with the first freeze.
  
• You Bet Your Garden From Pensylvania. He is a little coarse but totally committed to being organic in addition to being very entertaining.
• Master Gardener From Georgia. Some very interesting topical discussions, iris, hosta, roof gardening etc.

Home/Life Management podcasts

• BTR: Flylady This is flylady's call in radio show and is also available on Blog Talk Radio. This puts reality and grace into the flylady "system" and has helped me with perspective and balance.
• BTR: Simply Organized This podcast is done by a Certified Professional Organizer (whatever that really means). She gives really good ideas for organizing, decluttering and more. This show has a different focus than flylady and gives good tips for dealing with certian situations.
  
• GTD Virtual Study Group A confrence call study group which explores GTD and how different people use this too in their own lives. Some session are focused on using certian gagdgets better. Some interview/Q&A sessions with big names in GTD.
• David Allen Company Podcast Good podcasts about the basics of GTD and some interesting discussion of good tricks to use. David Allen is on several of the shows.
• 43 Folders I recomend this podcast with some reservations. Merlin Mann used coarse, sometimes explicit language. But the GTD ideas on this podcast are excellent especially the Productive Talk Compilation from 11/06.

Astronomy podcasts

• The 365 Days of Astronomy Short daily podcasts that explore the length and breadth of Astronomy. These podcasts are done by different individuals who are interested in all aspects of Astronomy. Very interesting.
• Astronomy Cast A longer weekly podcast that more deeply explores Astronomy topics.

Cooking podcast

• APM: The Splendid Table If you are interested in food, the history of food and or cooking you will enjoy this podcast.

That's all of them. Hope you will enjoy some of these.

Broccoli Raisin Salad

Someone asked for this recipe so I'm posting it here. It is a family favorite and usually a hit with even kids who do not like broccoli

1 lb bunch broccoli, broken into bite sized pieces, chop the stem too
1/2 cup Raisins
4 slices cooked bacon, chopped (optional)
1/4 to 1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts(optional) I sometimes use pecans

Dressing
1/2 cup mayonaise
2 T sugar
2 T red wine vinegar

Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Combine dressings ingredients in a small bowl. Pour dressing over the salad, stir. Refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight. Serve and enjoy.

An easy fruit we can grow that Bright Eyes likes.

We have finally found a fruit that is easy to grow and Bright Eyes likes. It is ground cherries. They look like underdeveloped tomatillos, with the paper husk still closed. But they are sweeter. The variety I have is called pineapple and there are definite pineapple notes to their flavor. The big things is that they are not more difficult to grow than tomatoes or peppers. I will definitely have to plant more next year.

The Garden Grows

I went outside to walk around the vegetable garden and to pick some sunflowers. Pick is really not the right work as they are much taller than I am and I cannot even reach high enought to cut the biggest flowers.


The pepper plants seem to have doubled in size since I look at them earlier this week and I know the tomato plants have added at least a foot each. So many green tomatoes, I should fry some tonight.

Still a long way from cucumbers. The last of the lettuce has bolted. But the broccoli is still making sideshoots, though the flavor is not what it was earlier in the season. The ground cherries are full of their peculiar fruit and hopefully will be tasty.


The garlic is ready to be harvested and hung up to dry. I think I got the garlic and the leeks mixed. If it has a bulb and smells like garlic it must be garlic if not it must be leek. They look identical to me above ground.


Hope your gardens are growing well.

Titanic's last secrets : the further adventures of shadow divers John Chatterton and Richie Kohler

I just finished reading this book by Bradford Matsen. It is a fascinating read with lots of stuff about deep sea diving, submersibles, the history of the White Star Line, ship building and inside info about the logistics of putting diving projects together. It tells a new part of the Titanic tragedy.

I am not a Titanic buff but have read a couple of books about it. With the exception of a small section when they detailed the history of the White Star Line, it is a well paced book that drew me on to the end.

My First "Weekly" Review

I don't know if many of you know it but I have been studying GTD(David Allen's system for Getting Things Done) for the past month or so. I have listened through the book in both abridged and unabridged form, listened to many related podcasts and spent time getting in to empty and downloading my brain(GTD terms for making decisions about what you will do with what is in every "inbox" in your life, and transferring all the things that float around in your brain onto paper or into a digital storage system.
I now have many lists with titles like Areas of Focus, Someday/Maybe, Projects. Tickler and the all important context based Next Actions. My brain feels significantly lighter now that all that stuff is out of it and I can be more in the moment.

But this system, and I think any system that will work, hinges on doing a regular review. I have scheduled doing my "weekly" review for the past 3 weeks and finally today I sat down with my timer and reviewed all my lists and updated my next actions. It is so good to have a list of things to do at my computer even if I don't have the brainpower to remember it at the moment. Or my list @Home 15 minutes or Less which is full of short things that just need to be done that I usually think of when I am not at home.

Well this has been a bit of a rambling post. I do highly recommend GTD and am adapting one of Flylady's phrases to help me use it well.

GTD done imperfectly still blessed my psyche.

Planted Corn, Pumpkin, Gourds and Assorted Melons

Yesterday we sowed seed for Corn, Pumpkin, Gourds and assorted melons(old melon seed, most probably will do nothing) These are at my father in laws and I hope he enjoys watching them grow.

Tuesday I began mulching my vegetable garden beds with straw. I hope this is not a mistake. I might be weeding out wheat seed before too long.

My tomatoes are now about 3ft tall and full of flowers and young fruit. Peppers are only about 1ft and are growing strong now that the days are hot. The Eggplant is full of holes from flea beetles and I should spray it with liquid kelp to help it recover. Weeds are coming on strong with morning glory trying to take over the world.

I will edit my varieties list to include what I planted today.

Varities 2009

Since I posted the varieties I planted last year it seems right to do it again this year. So here goes....

I sure did not have a complete list last year. I should do better this year as I am trying keep my garden notes here.

Here is what I have planted so far-

Swiss Chard
Bright Orange

Peas
Sugarsnap Star (did not do well but the spring was quite warm, the ones we did get tasted great)

Broccoli
Early Dividend (from Walmart), have already harvested the main heads and will have side shoots to harvest for a while

Lettuce
Jericho(dead seed), Plato II(dead seed), Little River Blend(yummy, will eat some today), Sucrine(nice and sweet even with a warm spring)

Spinach
Erste Erste(first to bolt), Avon(second to bolt), Olympia( still good)
Leeks
American Flag

Tomatoes
Early Girl, Pompeii, Big Beef, Better Boy, Raad Red, Sungold, Dixie Yellow Giant, Black Prince, Mortgage Lifter (I only have one plant of each except Raad red, and was given the last three unexpectedly)

Pepper
Roumanian Rainbow(grew last year and had wonderful taste but where can I get seeds? I was only able to get one seed to germinate this year.), Italian Sweet, College 64L(Anaheim type), Gourmet(Orange bell), YumYum ( mini bell), Lemon Drop(hot with citrus notes, at least that is what the catalog said)

Eggplant
Listada de Gandia

Ground Cherry
Pineapple(has anyone ever tried these, I'll let you know how we like them)

Pole Bean
Scarlet Emperor( to grow on trellis on side of house, hope it attracts hummingbirds, will probably only harvest beans when dry but we will see)

Herbs
Oregano(pink flowering), Cilantro(bolted already), Basil-cinnamon and Italian pesto, Parsley-favorit and gigante

Flowers
Sweet pea- fragrantissma, Coreopsis-presto(flowering right now), Nicotiana-Eau de Cologne, Alyssiam-rosie 0'day(blooming beautifully), Orange Cosmos, Zinnias, Calendula, Red and Pink Poppies(wonderful in their variety, surprises every day as new buds open)

Cucumber
Dive, Summer Dance

Corn
Honey and Cream

Pumpkin
Baby Bear

Gourd
Corsican

Melon(just 2 or 3 old seeds of each)
Trocadero, Gallery Galia, Earlidew Honeydew, Solid Gold Cantaloupe, Tiger

Starting Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant

5-31-09

As I was going through my gardening notes this morning I decided to start trying to keep them here instead of in assorted notebooks where they are hard to find and a search can take days.

Starting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant-

This year I started my early tomatoes(Early Girl) on 1-26-09. That worked well and I will repeat it. I don’t mind handling a couple of huge tomato plants to have good tomatoes early.

I started my main crop of tomatoes on 3-3-09 and this was a little too early as the tomatoes grew too big for my light available before I could plant them out and I had to do an emergency give away before my peppers were ready to plant up. I also need to give one application of liquid kelp when I pot them up and then wait until 2 weeks before they go out to give more. I should start my main crop of tomatoes about two weeks later (~March 15th).

I started my peppers and eggplant on 3-24-09. This seemed a little too late and next year I should start them with the tomatoes on ~March 15th.

Varieties

The varieties I am growing this year are:

Peas
Super Sugarsnap

Leeks
American Flag

Tomatoes
Glacier, Pompeii, Big Beef, Better Boy, Raad Red, Sprite, New Big Dwarf

Pepper
Roumanian Rainbow, Italian Sweet, College 64L(Anaheim type), Admiral Golden, Baby Bell(it the seeds will germinate)

Eggplant
Listada de Gandia

Herbs
Oregano(pink flowering), Cilantro, Basil:sweet- scented basil trio- Italian pesto- opal

Flowers
Sweet pea- fragrantissma, Coreopsis-presto, Nicotiana-Eau de Cologne

Will add more as I pull out the seed packets

Anticipating Spring, Starting Seeds

I just came up from the basement and am full of thoughts of the coming spring. In that basement on top of my upright freezer are containers full of this years peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and a few assorted flowers and herbs though those categories often overlap. Outside under a layer of floating row cover are spinach, collards, kale, and bulbing fennel, leeks, and broccoli(I didn't start that from seed) which I will plant into the ground late next week.

A while ago I read that when dealing with plants you should only change one thing a week. This weeks change for the early spring plants in inside to protected outside. Next week I will plant them in the ground and keep them covered. About a week after that I will remove the covers. This technique seems to work very well and I have lost many fewer plants since observing it.

Seed starting has been another area of learning through failure. Four years ago I tried to start seeds without a fluorescent light, put one seed in each 2" soil block. I had poor germination and leggy plants which meant a lot of wasted space. The transplants were decent but it took a lot of energy to set them out every warm day.

The next year I got a 2 tube four foot long shop light and a timer for it. I still did most everything else the same. Wasted space where seeds did not germinate and took a lot of time making the soil blocks and gently watering them. Had very good transplants. I did a lot of setting plants out on warm days to harden them off and let my peppers get too cold but had good plants and good crops that year.

Last year I got a second shop light, decided to use yogurt cups we had saved instead of soil blocks and had read about germinating seed in paper towel. These steps considerably reduced the time and space need and produced transplants that looked better than you could buy. I also had read about the one thing a week and heard that you should not set tomato plants and pepper plants out until night time temperatures are consistently 50 and 55 degrees respectively.

This year I have taken all the learning from previous years and worked on fitting seed starting into small bits of time here and there. I have also been thoughtful about how many transplants I want to raise. I will plant 10 pepper plants and 14 tomato plants, so I want to grow on about twice that number and will only pot up that many sprouted seeds.

I'm really looking forward to Spring and Summer this year.

I'm back at least for tonight.

As I look at this blog it seems like I have been away forever. Over a year with nothing new and yet so much happening in our lives. San is now a freshman in high school And Go is going strong in 2nd grade. The past year has been full of heaviness and disapointment and honestly depression, but somehow this fall brings renewed hope and pressing into believing God is not done with us. May this really be a new season for me personally and for my family as a whole.

Vegetable Garden Layout 2006

The Vegetable Garden, June 2nd

I thought it was about time to give an update of my vegetable garden.

I overwintered some broccoli, cabbage, kale and lettuce under floating row covers and some spinach and more kale without covers. The broccoli and cabbage were on the bitter side, ok cooled but not good raw. The Kale in both places was very good and the lettuce was my first lettuce sucess. Beautiful sweet, crisp, dark green heads of romaine lettuce, Plato II variety if anyone is interested. All of this was picked early this spring with the last lettuce that was overwintered harvested on May 1st.

The middle of march I planted 9 of each: cauliflower, cabbage and broccli transplants from walmart and kale that I had started from seed. The cauliflower produced 8 very small heads(3-4 to a meal) and one larger one, I planted them too close and left them out too long but will try more in the fall. The cabbage is ready now. We have harvested 3 heads and have 5 more out there, one plant did not produce a head. The broccoli is also coming in and we have harvested 5 heads with the others ready soon.

Sugar Snap peas were delicious and are now done. The 7 tomato plants, and one volunteer near the house are growing well. Take a look at my garden plan to see what I have planted. This is the most detailed garden plan I have ever done.

I saw the first zuchinni flower today and hope that means I will get a few squash before the vine borers get the plants, I will try spraying Bt every few days and see if that helps.

The Plant Swap

On Sunday May 7th I joined a group of enthusiastic gardeners at the Mountian Maddness Plant Swap. It had been posted on freecycle. It was great to meet a group of people as into gardening and seeing things grow as I am. I took a carload of extra seedlings that I had started and other plants. It was amazing to come home with 22 different plants, some of which I has been looking at in the nurseries and not letting myself buy.

I had a great time and hope there will be another swap in the fall. I have already potted up two heuchera in anticipation.

I'm Back

After a difficult 6 months I think I am back. I will try to give updates in various areas of life over the next weeks.

From October to March I spent several days a week with my friend as she dying of cancer. She died peacefully in her sleep on March 3rd. She suffered a lot those few months and I feel privledged to have been able to help make it a little easier. She is now in heaven and can see Jesus face to face. And all those things of life that were beyond understanding make sense to her.

The past month or so have been spent recovering and bringing our own household and garden back in order. My next post will probably be a garden update with pictures.

The Garden, 10/23/05

Today I harvested all the tomatoes and cut up the plants to put in the compost. I now have an underbed box more than half full of green tomatoes on top of a shelf in the basement. The ones I don't turn into fried green tomatoes should ripen slowly over then next month or so. I will let you know when to last one is rotten or eaten.

As the temperature tonight is supposed to be near freezing, I put floating row cover over the letttuce and carrot seedling that are just growing their first true leaves. I think I planted them too late, but we will see. The other things I planted at the same time, turnips, mache, mesculin mix, will have to fend for themselves. I am still trying to get the hand of fall and winter gardening.

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These are pictures of some of the butterflies that visited the zinnias today. There were also Monarch butterflies but Ich did not get any pictures of them this time. I'm sure we will try again another time if the cold does not kill the zinnias

A walk through the garden

The summer garden is nearing its end. This weekend I took down the strings that supported the cucumbers and melon and pole beans. I left the yard-long beans. Amazingly they are still blooming and slowly producing. We have not had our first frost yet and none are forecasted this week. Days in the 70's and nights in the 50's. Wonderful early fall weather.

I dug up my lemon grass and will plant about 15 pieces in large soil blocks, the start of my herb business, I think. And I will try to divide my oregano, mother-of-thyme, lemon thyme, and mints so have some of those to sell next year. I have a book about propagating herbs on hold at the library and should get it this week.



The zinnas and marigold look beautiful, thought I will plant different marigolds next year the ones I have now are too tall. The tomatoes are full of green tomatoes with one ripening every day or so. I will harvest all the green ones and wrap them in newspaper when a real frost threatens. There are 2 or three yellow bell peppers and 3 or 4 ichiban eggplants that I can harvest anytime but they keep better on the vine that in the refrigerator. And there is more basil than I know what to do with. I have already dried all I need and we never used the pesto I made last year so I will skip that this year. I might just pick some to give away.







I changed my flower box from geranium and lantana to pansys with daffidil bulbs planted under them. I hope that works good. The pansys sure look nice. I have mother-of-thyme planted in the corner of the box,spilling over and lemon thyme in the back. I really like the softening they give the box. I should take a picture and put it here.

My fall garden is doing well. I have an abundance of salad greens: turnip greens, mizuna mustard, swiss chard,assorted lettuces, and one spinach plant. There is also broccoli, cauliflower and savoy cabbage that will mature this winter but I do not know which is which as the foot tall plants all look alike and I did not label them. I will find out eventually.

About a week ago I sowed seed for my winter garden, I probably should have done it earlier but at least it is in and we are having a warm October. I think everything has sprouted- carrots, lettuce, turnips(for greens), mizuna, kale, spinach, mache. I think that is all. I have also ordered 15 feet of floating row cover and will cover these crops when I get it to help them get a good start before it gets colder. I might even put blankets over them if we have really cold weather this winter. This is by far the most in season extending that I have ever done.

PS Disregard the dates on the photos, the camera was set wrong, all pictures were actually taken Oct 19, 2005. Oops.

Walking down a road I thought I never would

Have you ever read Robert Frost's poem " The Road Not Taken".
It begins:
"Two roads diverged in a yellow woodand
and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;......"
I learned this poem in Junior High and have often thought of it since.

Now in life I stand looking down a road I thought/hoped I would never have to take. A dear friend of mine has cancer and the prospects do not look too good. And though part of me would like to walk away and find and easier road I know I could not live with myself if I refuse to walk close to her on this journey. I know about quick death and will write more about that on the 29th, but have not experienced slow death.

Lord, help me to be what I need to be to her and to my family during this time.

Sometimes we get to choose the road, sometimes it is chosen for us.