Resist that gardening urge

Where I live here in Northern Indiana, we have received rain, rain and more rain plus the colder temperatures this spring. Does this sound like where you live? You may be wondering if you ever will be able to get to your garden ( and fields) to plant. Hopefully, the weather will soon cooperate so we can get to planting! I have been trying so hard to resist this gardening urge. It seems my garden starts to dry out a bit and then comes some more rain. I was very lucky a few weeks back to get my turnips, onions, lettuce, carrots, spinach and radishes planted and then worried myself sick when it never stopped raining. I was thinking I thought I probably planted for nothing as the seeds probably all washed away. The little seeds are sprouting now. This sure is a load off my mind now. Many gardeners are getting that itch to get out that tiller and work up there garden soil who wasn't as lucky as me to get that tilling done early before all this rain. Many areas are still soggy from snow melt and rain, making soils too wet to work. Here is a little bit of info on reasons to wait for the soil to dry out before planting in your garden. My dad who was a farmer and is an avid gardener once told me whether you use a tiller or just a garden spade, working wet soil can badly compact soil, and will have negative effects lasting for many years. Working wet soil will pack soil particles tightly leaving less room for water and air to penetrate. Compacted soil also makes it more difficult for plant roots and gardening equipment to move through the soil. The compression forms tight clumps of soil that become hard as rocks upon drying and are difficult to break up. This is especially true for those with clay like soil. Compacted soil soils also tend to drain more slowly, in turn delaying the ability to work the soil after the next rainfall. Once compacted, it will take many years to rebuild a healthy soil structure, requiring annual applications of organic matter, such as animal wastes or perhaps growing a green manure crop, such as annual rye or winter wheat. The best course of action is to prevent compaction in the first place. To determine if your garden's soil is dry enough to work, dig a trowel full of soil and squeeze it in your hand. Soil that crumbles through your fingers when squeezed is ready to garden. I have seen my dad do this numerous times when growing up. If however, the soil forms a muddy ball, give the soil another few days to dry and sample again later. In the meantime, you can soothe that gardening itch by sketching garden plans, making a shopping list for your local garden center and browsing online. I have most all my plants bought now including my seeds. I will be ready for action when the soil does dry enough to work.

Return to the bloggy world and planning my seed order

I have been thinking it's about time to start posting in this blog of mine again. After a rather extensive long bloggy break, It is time to get out of hibernation and get this old brain working again. This has been an extremely busy and interesting last few months in 2010. I might add, that these months have gone buy just way too fast for me. I am sure 2011 won't be any different. I have big plans for this year already. My bloggy world is no exception. I will be striving to give you postings everyday, well, at least a bit less sparse. After looking at the dates of my blog posts in 2010, they are little and far between. It's a little sad. I don't know if I even been missed. I apologise for being gone so long. I've missed you guys. I hope you haven't given up on me. It will take me awhile to get back into the blogging groove but, I am ever determined to do so. So what have I been doing the last few months? Well, I have accomplished quite a bit which of course makes me happy. With the holidays behind us, This month I have been using this time to get my spring garden planned out. You could say, I am a gardening enthusiast. Yep, I'm already thinking about spring. Are you as eager as I for Spring? It's time to empty my seed stash on the floor and see what I need to order for my spring planting. I have been looking at several seed catalogs and have decided to order through Gurneys this year. I have ordered through them in the past and have always had good luck with their seed and service. I will buy my plants, seed potatoes and onion sets at our local Rural King store. This year I hope to introduce some new varieties to the Herlan garden. My list is almost finished. I will be ready to send in my order by the beginning of next month. I am taking it one day at a time.

Menu Plan Monday 7/12/10

Here we go again, another Monday and another menu plan already. I hope all of you had a great week and weekend. Mine was a busy one for sure. As always, this time of year will do that to you. My garden is doing an amazing job of supplying us with plenty of fresh green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow crookneck squash at the moment. Yummy! However, I am having a bit of problem with some kind of animal, woodchuck.....maybe?....eating my beans and just leaving the end snip on the plant. Grrrrrrr......my squash seems to have some evidence of squash bugs also pooh! Anyone else having any problems with such pests? Friday I went to the blueberry farm and picked blueberries. I made a blueberry pie and blueberry zucchini bread after freezing 8- 1 1/2 pint and 3 quart containers of blueberries. This will be more than enough for DH and I considering we still have some left from last year. I also had an abundance of zucchini so I made 48 *whole wheat chocolate zucchini muffins in which I saved a few out for eating now and gave some away. I froze the rest for later. I was pooped after all that! Even though I was tired that didn't stop me from going fishing later that evening with DH. We caught 13 nice bluegill. This was good considering the fish here at the lake has had some kind of lockjaw lately. Saturday afternoon my dad joined us on the pontoon for a little fishing. We caught 38 nice ones. As for my menu this week it looks like it will have to be easy and simple. This is pretty much what I try to do every week anyways. Looks like another busy week ahead planned! Stop by orgjunkie for more menus!

MONDAY

BLT's

fresh cucumber slices

blueberry pie

TUESDAY

*summer stew ( This is very delicious and l look forward to this every year with my fresh green beans)

watermelon

WEDNESDAY

grilled pork chops

corn on the cob

garlic potatoes

THURSDAY

We will be going out

FRIDAY

grilled salmon with zucchini

brown rice

SATURDAY

chef salads

SUNDAY

On our own today!

SATURDAY

* Summer stew

This is something I basically made up consisting of fresh green beans, sliced onion, kielbasa sausage, bacon and red potatoes ( I leave the skin on and cut into bite size chunks) salt, pepper and all cooked together in fair amount of water until tender. Yum! Yum!

A llittle of this and that

If I am not posting as much anymore during the week, It is because I have been extremely busy like tending my garden, Oh my....with all the rain and warm weather the garden is growing crazy and so are the weeds. I have been trying to stay on top of it all which is a tackle in itself these days. Oh..how embarrassing to have a weedy garden. Weeds are a fact of life with a garden and they need to be pulled. Seriously, I have to be attentive to them. Turn your back on them and they are back in your garden! When I am not tending the garden I have been fishing and having coffee with my Dad. In fact, I went again this morning with him and we reeled in 47 beautiful bluegill. The rest of the day was spent helping clean fish dividing the bluegill between us. I put 4 containers full in the freezer for this winter. We had so much fun that we fished again early this evening. This time, DH went with us. We took home 50 fish. HA! This time DH received the honors of cleaning them. I put 4 more containers in the freezer. We are ever so thankful the Lord has blessed us once again with a mess of fish. I must not forget the quality time spent with my father. Oh yes, and then there is our pet rabbit. Why have a pet if you never spend any time caring for it? I got this hair brained idea a couple of days ago to let little Bunny Boo in the house. I carefully spread newspapers all over the floor in one room. I can't trust the little guy after he peed on my friend from down the road. Okay, I am so glad this lady has a sense of humour! Anyways Bunny Boo and our little Yorkie/shitzu played and played...chasing each other like they were playing tag and were best buddies. It was hilarious! Now, I am not making a habit of bringing my rabbit in the house all the time. I have however have been making a habit of spoiling the little guy. Okay, No more excuses. I promise to get on the bandwagon here soon. Just know I am okay. Maybe you can relate?

My garden is growing!

My veggies are growing! It has only been a mere week since I planted them and they are already poking themselves out of the ground.

These are my radishes!

my green onions....

and my mesclum mix!

Do you have a garden? How is your garden growing? I can hardly wait to enjoy a fresh green salad from these veggies! I first fell in love with the idea of growing my own veggies when I was still a quite young child. My father was a farmer, my mom was a stay at home mother and raised us 6 kids on only my dads income. We always had the necessities, and with my dad being a dairy farmer we always had milk and meat. When I were really little I can remember my parents having chickens for eggs also but, they always had a very large garden in which they grew all of our vegetables. Neat rows of carrots, lettuce, green beans, sweet corn. I am so glad my parent's enthusiasm for a large garden and growing all their veggies has rubbed off on me. Having my own garden and growing my own veggies, deciding which veggies to plant, preparing the ground, sowing and tending the plants and finally harvesting the produce and eating it is an activity I will always enjoy!

Busy as a bee

Earlier this week I mentioned I was going to play catch up. That's exactly what I have been doing. Having many undone tasks can only make things confusing and it really feels good to finally get caught up some. I have been busy doing things all day, doing, doing, doing, busy as a bee, flying from one project to another hoping to accomplish alot in my hive of activity. DH tilled our garden a couple of days ago and yesterday I couldn't wait to dig my hands in the soil and plant. I planted 2 hills of zucchini, 2 hills of summer yellow crookneck squash, 10 hills of potatoes, carrots, lettuce(leaf), spinach, green onions,thyme, dill, mesclum salad mix, chives and regular onions. I am waiting to plant my green beans, tomatoes, green and red peppers, sweet banana peppers, cucumbers and whatever else I decide. This weekend the temps are supposed to dip down in the thirty's at night. I have some flowers I need to plant and so I will wait a few days to plant them as well. Speaking of flowers my Iris's and peony's are bursting with blooms. I am afraid the lilacs around here are about done. It's a shame, they smell soooo.....good and they are here today, gone tomorrow. Who doesn't love fresh asparagus or a homemade rhubarb pie. I picked another bunch of asparagus from our bed and have enough now for dinner someday next week. I also picked some rhubarb and will make a fresh rhubarb pie tomorrow morning for our dinner tomorrow night. yummy! okay, I know I am on a diet, but, I can have a tiny piece maybe? This pie was to be made yesterday but, I never got to it. Our three sheds are just about all painted. We have just one more to. It's starting to look pretty good around the place now. DH says this weekend sounds like a good weekend weather wise to start painting inside the house. As you can see, it's been buzzing around here! Here is the recipe I use for my fresh rhubarb pie. It is absolutely delicious especially with a cup of coffee. Enjoy! http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fresh-Rhubarb-Pie/Detail.aspx
<>

Planting and growing garlic

I would like to grow some garlic for next year but, the weather here has been cold and rainy every time you turn around ugh! which makes it hard to get anything accomplished outside. I am hoping for a couple of nice days here yet this month to finish cleaning the garden and planting garlic. I love fresh garlic and use it often in recipes. To grow garlic, you first separate individual cloves from the garlic bulb. Leave some of the paper hulls on each. You choose a sunny garden location with rich well drained soil. Dig holes or rows approx 1-2 inches deep and plant cloves root side down, 4-6 inches apart in rows 1 1/2-2 ft. apart. Cover with fine soil. In northern climates you should put down 4-6 inches of mulch for winter protection. Garlic will begin growth in late fall or early spring. It is really easy as you can see. Next spring your garlic will begin top growth as soon as the weather starts to warm. The plants will grow vigorously into early summer and around late June you will notice growth cease and the plant greens will begin to yellow and lean over. This signals that the bulbs are ready for harvesting. Carefully dig up the soil and remove your garlic bulbs. You gently brush off soil. Do not wash the bulbs. Garlic can be stored in a warm room away from sunlight. It can last for many months. That's all there is to it to grow garlic. See I told you it was easy. So, there you have it fresh, delicious healthy garlic!

Making a worm bed

The Hubby and I have talked about making a worm bed for quite some time now. Having one can be handy when you get the notion to go fishing. You will have worms right there ready for you, and not to mention this is cheaper by far than going to the bait shop to buy them. The worms can make a great soil which is good for putting in pots or even spreading in the garden. The soil from the worms can be real rich and makes your plants thrive on them. So far we have 2 - 5 gallon buckets of worms started. They are rabbit manure worms compliments of my Dad. I add table scraps and dirt to the buckets. I don't use any meat or cheese. I just use fruits, veggies, even coffee grinds. I guess you could say I'm feeding the pet worms and I swear they are producing more worms in these buckets. The buckets are plastic so as not to attract alot of heat for summertime conditions. Sometimes I stir it up a little so it doesn't get hot. Now, of course these worms are doing okay in the buckets but, making a worm bed would be more of a permanent home for the worms. A worm bed is quite simple to make and requires very few materials and very little maintenance. Not only do we have all the materials needed but also have the perfect location. You need to choose a location that is not in direct sunlight all day long. This will make it easier to keep moisture in the worm bed. We can form the walls of our worm bed by creating a square with cinder blocks. Cinder blocks measuring 6" high, 4" wide and 8" long. We will butt the ends together making sure that the edges match up well. Then we will line the inside with thick landscaping plastic. This will cover the bottom and all sides. Shredded newspaper or cardboard in water will then be placed inside the bed, filling the worm bed halfway with paper. We will then pour enough compost or manure over the shredded paper to fill the worm bed to the top and mixing well. Covering the top of the bed we will use chicken wire or something like that. Covering it will keep critters out. Now, we can add the worms and let nature take its course. I am really looking forward to getting this worm bed made and having lots of our own worms to fish with.

Another garden update

Well it has been pretty lazy here in the Herlan household the past few days. I haven't worked in the garden the past week or two because of my allergies. Which somehow I am blessed with. so, staying in the house more in the air conditioning instead of working outside is what I have had to do. The garden is getting pretty much done sadly to say. My zucchini squash and summer squash, the cucumbers have all slowed down now quite a bit however we are still getting 1 or 2 cucumbers here or there. We had a very successful year for these and have given many to my sister and neighbors. Our tomatoes are ripening now at a very fast pace. Hubby and I picked a bushel full tonight to can up tomorrow morning. So many of my tomatoes this year has been getting blossom end rot and I have had to throw so much away. Right now, I am not sure if I will have any to make juice. However we will see.Blossom end rot is a very common problem on homegrown tomatoes. My dad has had the same problem with this also. It appears as a depressed brownish, rather dry rot, the size of a dime to a half dollar on the blossom end of the fruit. Has anyone else had this problem this year? The tomatoes we picked tonight we took to my friend Becky ( she lives 3 houses down the road from me)We will can the tomatoes together. It will be nice to have the help as tomatoes have never been my favorite to can because it can be so messy unlike green beans and not to mention more time consuming. And like Walter Cronkite used to say, That's the way it is this August 16, 2009!

Things I love Thursday

It is Things I love Thursday and one of the things I love is my garden and lots of fresh veggies. This year my garden has gone wild on me. I suppose it has been the weather I really don't know. This is the first year we have had so many cucumbers. They have spread into the beans and peppers and tomatoes. I have made dill pickles and I will probably make some sweet pickles here soon, we eaten fresh about every meal and given oodles away . My beans are the same way. I Made dilly pickled beans, canned some,I've given oodles away. Zucchini and yellow crookneck, I always have tons of that! I have made bread, bread, bread, eaten sauteed and casseroles and even made a pie. My tomatoes are loaded and starting to ripen. They were as tall as I was 5 ft 2". They have since fallen over some. I am thinking from the weight of all the tomatoes. It looks to be a bumper crop of them also. I love my peppers and wish I would of had room to plant more of them because they are loaded both bell and sweet banana. One particular pepper plant has a huge bell pepper. It is supposed to be a red pepper but is still green, very firm and large. It is my pride of all my peppers and I refuse to pick it until I have to. It measures....... drum roll please.....14 1/2 inches around and 5 inches tall. Love it! That would make one heck of a stuffed pepper!


<>

A very busy and productive weekend

I had a very busy and productive weekend. We fished out on the lake and caught 21 total, 7-8" bluegill These are now all put away in the freezer. Hubby bought some fresh peaches at a roadside stand in town and so I baked a fresh peach pie. I haven't made one of these for awhile. It was so very yummy. Besides the peach pie I made a zucchini pie for the first time. ( I have loads of zucchini to use) I froze 2 quart bags of beets. baked 6 loaves of zucchini bread, 4 blueberry and 2 plain. These are also in the freezer for later use. I also canned 14 quarts of dill pickles as you can see in the picture. These will taste real good this winter. Tuesday I plan to can green beans. I won't be canning as much beans this year because I still have about 40 quarts left from last year.

First of the season

Hubby came in the house and said "Look what I found"! Oh my, Our very first red ripe tomato from our garden! They are starting and I am ready! Yummmmm! There is nothing like a fresh ripe tomato from the garden.

Small Sunflowers

What is summer without sunflowers? My hubby bought these small sunflowers today for me from a man in town selling gladiolus and these small sunflowers from his truck in a parking lot. Aren't they gorgeous? Sunflower meaning is power, warmth, nourishment. Did you know? Sunflowers always point their blooms or face the rising sun in the east. I am thinking it would be neat to have a whole field of these growing. Sunflowers have it all!

It's Blueberry and Green bean time!

In spite of a summer head cold UGH! I got me some blueberries today! 8 lbs. of these beautiful blue berries. I will freeze most of them for later to use in smoothies, muffins, pancakes , ect. and save a few for fresh eating as well. Yummmm! These little berries are so good for you and loaded with antioxidants. To freeze the blueberries I lay them all out and pick out the overripe and ones not quite ripe. I then freeze in containers unwashed. I wash them before I use them. They remain a favorite for hubby and I. Today I also canned 7 pints of Dilly pickled Green Beans*. My green beans are really producing. I will be canning green beans but, not as much this year as, I still have 30 quarts left from last year and it is just the hubby and I. These Dilly pickled green beans* are supposed to be awesome so I thought I would give it a try.

* Dilly pickled Green Beans

4 lbs of Green Beans (approx)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (per jar)

1/2 tsp mustard seed (per jar)

1/2 dill seed ( per jar)

1 garlic clove ( per jar)

5 cups vinegar

5 cups water

1/2 cup salt

Clean your green beans & cut them to fit in your 1 pint canning jars.

Put pepper flakes, mustard seeds, dill seed, & garlic clove into the bottom of each jar.

Pack raw beans into jar. Make these as tight as you can, they will shrink when they cook.

Boil together the vinegar, water, and salt This is your brine.

Pour enough brine over the beans in each jar to cover completely while still leaving 1/4 inch head space. ( that's the empty space between the top of the food and the rim of the jar)

Wipe rim clean, then add lid and tighten. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Wait a minimum of 6-8 weeks before eating. They need to "marinate"

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Yes, Those are my tomato plants beside me. I am 5 ft. 2 in. My garden has gone crazy on me this year!

winter onions

We all plant our gardens in the spring but, you can also plant a fall and winter garden. If you love gardening, you are probably going to plant your winter garden in the same place you had your warm season garden. If you had a summer garden, you probably won't need very much extra work digging and preparing the soil .Some of your wonderful winter/cool season veggies are cabbage, carrots, parsnips, turnips, winter onions, collards ect. I've just acquired some winter onions/walking onions from my neighbor.They need a permanent home. I am thinking a winter garden would be nice. According to my neighbor, these onions self reproduce and winter over from year to year. I don't know much about about this onion but as you can see from the picture the bulbs range from tiny pea sized to bigger than a marble. These are in clusters at the top of the stiff stalk. You break these off before they topple over and separate them. Later you plant these for next years crop.In the fall I will plant the sets. Does anyone else know anything about these onions?

Garden Update

<

My garden is growing so nicely! I am really getting excited about all the fresh veggies. We should have alot by the looks of our garden. We have eaten fresh lettuce, radishes, and green onions from our garden already plus we have been sharing with others. This picture is one of my zucchini plants. See the little zucchinni? It is about the size of my thumb right now. I will have to keep an eye on it.

My tomatoes are so big! I can't wait for these! Yummmmm!

Do you see my little pepper?



I am thankful for our garden and for the bountiful veggies it has provided us and the veggies that it will provide us to come yet this summer!

Wild Strawberry : friend or foe

Wild strawberries, low to the ground, scraggly green, lighter than clover, but the leaves are similar in shape. As you can see from the picture they are taking over my flower bed. These spread like wildfire and whether it is a friend or foe depends on your point of view. I consider it a weed. It is one of those plants that I just have to pull out because it drives me crazy. They say it is an edible wild fruit. The berries are tiny and some say they are delicious except for my neighbor said the fruit was very sour. I haven't tried eating them nor I really care to. The last couple of years I have been pulling them up by hand. Quite frankly, this is quite impossible. You can't pull these fast enough. Something else is needed like a broad leaf herbicide and I am not too keen on that idea as, they are expensive, difficult to apply with accuracy, also drifting or leaching may occur and damage desirable plants. So what am I going to do you ask? My solution for now, will be to pull them all up by hand the sooner the better!

Wordless Wednesday

I don't believe you can call this wordless but this was taken a couple of weeks ago or so of hubby tilling the garden and I can honestly say as of this morning I have my whole garden planted. Just planted the last 2 rows of beans!!! Whoo-Hoo!

Garden Labels

Spring has finally sprung, and most of us has tilled and planted our garden or will be planting soon. Now that my yard sale is over I will be concentrating on my garden. I am a little behind this year but, I hope to have the garden tilled and some of my cool weather crops in like my green onions, potatoes, radishes and lettuce. So with that, I thought I would post a quick good tip. Do you need a way to label your plants or rows in the garden? Next time you are at a garage sale or thrift shop and see a white ( or any pale color) vinyl venetian blind, snap it up or maybe perhaps you already have an old one laying around. A single standard venetian blind will give you tons of labels that will last all summer that will withstand the elements. Just cut the string holding the slats apart, then cut each slat in half with a pair of scissors. ( the vinyl cuts easy) take each half and cut into 2 pieces in a diagonal. Now you have a perfect plant marker with a pointy end ready to stick in the soil. You simply write the information on the slat with a permanent marker.