RAIN!!!

Okay, so we got some rain last night. Torrents of it! The weather gauge says 1.45 inches for yesterday, and then another 0.43 inches this morning. And boy, did we need it! A lot of trees down around here, one near my home, but no one hurt, so that's good.
I went out this morning and checked on things and saw that some of my staked tomatoes got blown sideways, but I'm gonna have to wait till the soil dries a little before I try to set them up again.
My bell peppers were gorgeous plants but had only 1 pepper on 8 different varieties, so I tried the Epsom salt thing. I added 1 tablespoon Epsom salt to 1 gallon of water and watered all my pepper plants. That was about 4 or 5 days ago, and I have tons of new blossoms on all the peppers! Could be a coincidence---I guess I'll never know for sure. 
I have my cucumbers growing up an old snow fence, and the very first cuke grew into the fence and I had to cut it out. I found another one today like that, and I snapped a picture:

Cucumber in bondage!

I had to break it in half to get it out! I put it back together for the picture. 


Then there's my Great Pumpkin. I just took this one last night:

The Great Pumpkin

I took the picture longways on my phone and can't get it to turn here. I'm just not that tech-savvy! Someday maybe I'll figure it out. Anyway, that's a softball on top for perspective. And it's still got another 3 months to go.....


I got a bunch of beets from a friend and I'm gonna pickle them, probably on Saturday. My sister-in-law and I are going berry picking on Saturday too, so we'll be busy! I want to freeze a bunch of blackberries and make some preserves and a cobbler for the "Dear Husband." Probably do a few for my parents as well.
Found two (count them!) pole beans this morning too. Hopefully they'll be producing a lot more. We like them with ham and potatoes, just boiled like that. Not a very exciting recipe, but very good!


Happy Gardening!

Musings....& My First Posted Pictures

Okay, so it's back to nearly 100-degree temperatures here in Northeast Ohio, and of course no rain. I even read in the paper today that conditions are a lot like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, only that because we use better farming practices, we're not subjected to the great dust storms like they had back then. Odd that we're in the middle of a worldwide deep recession (depression?), just like the 1930s, and we're having a major drought, just like the 1930s. 

German Queen tomato

I harvested a large German Queen tomato yesterday.

Soon-to-be 300-lb pumpkin--I hope!

And I've been watching this pumpkin that's supposed to get to 300 pounds. This picture is about a week old--the thing's about twice this size now!

I picked a cucumber today. Just one, cuz the rest are still a little small. Here's a recipe for sour cream & dill cucumbers, really old fashioned--my grandmother used to make these, and my mom still does:

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

2 Cucumbers

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon fresh dill, roughly chopped

1/4 cup sour cream

Peel and slice cucumbers about 1/4" thick. Spread out and salt cucumbers (both sides); allow to drain through a sieve for about 20-30 minutes, then rinse well with cold water. Mix in dill and onions, then fold in sour cream. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to let flavors develop. The sour cream gets thinned out by the juices of the cucumbers and onions and is very refreshing with sliced tomatoes for lunch or dinner.

I'm reading All New Square Foot Gardening and wishing I'd had this book in March, before I bought a bunch of dirt that turned out to be mostly clay and put it in my raised beds. I'm going to have to add peat moss and vermiculite this fall when I take everything out. Gotta make the best of the situation. I'm still having a ball gardening!

So what about you? What's your story? How'd you get into playing in the dirt?

New blog....

New blog....

I've been inspired by Gardener of Eden and her lovely gardens and plots. Jealous, but inspired! Here in Northeast Ohio, we've been teased with just a few drops of rain. I've been watering nearly every day.

About My Garden

I have three raised beds that measure 4' x 16' and one raised bed that's 4' x 4'. I use the square-foot gardening method--at least, I try to. I'm still figuring it out. But I'm having a heckuva good time doing it! 


We just moved to the house last October, and  my dad and I built the raised beds ourselves this past March. By the time I got some dirt and amended it a little, it was April. I tried to get some peas going, but I think we were too hot this year, cuz they kind of fizzled and never really got going. However, I persevered and began with other seeds and transplants, namely peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, zucchini, radishes, tomatillos, onions, shallots, muskmelons, tons of basil (you can never have too much basil!), pumpkins (one's supposed to get to 300 lbs!), honeydew, beets, broccoli, and pole beans, and my little 4 x 4 has San Marzano tomatoes. I threw a few flowers in there too, to attract the beneficial insects. Then I have a little 4' diameter herb garden with a pot of rosemary sitting on a stump in the center and surrounded by different herbs, like dill, cilantro, lemon balm, catnip, oregano, and more that I can't think of right now. My sister-in-law and I traded seeds and plants, so we built up quite a store to put in. Tried the potatoes (Yukon Gold) in a barrel thing too. It seems to be working out okay, although I started late and it's not ready to dig up yet. 


I'm fairly new to this. I've had a few plants over the years (I'm 50), but never a garden this big. I'm having a ball though! I've put up cauliflower pickles, beets, and strawberry preserves; frozen about 40 lbs of peaches (Fancy Lady--excellent flavor!) and 20 lbs of blueberries from a local pick-your-own farm; going to freeze some of the stuff I get from Amish country (or "Amishville," as my daughter calls it), and hopefully get some of my own stuff in my freezer or canning jars as well. We've been eating the tomatoes and basil so far, and the broccoli is done for now. I put some Ruby Red Swiss chard in today (July 15) and some more beets. I threw down some more seed for broccoli a few days ago, but I can't tell if it's gonna take or not. Probably too hot. 

Interesting Things--to Me, Anyway

The surprising thing is what my kids have asked me to plant. My older daughter (20) wanted the Swiss chard, which I've never even had before, and some honeydew; my younger daughter (14) wanted the broccoli. Seriously, with the stuff they eat today, I never thought a teenager would want broccoli! She helped me plant it and harvest it though. My son (23) lives out of state, but he wanted eggplant. I told him if he came home and fixed for me, I'd plant it. Unfortunately, he couldn't get time off from work to garden several hundred miles away. <Sigh!>


My older daughter is a chef. She had to try new foods all the time at the cooking school she attended, so that's why she likes some of the different veggies and fruits. She loves fried cornmeal mush, too, an old-fashion dish my mother makes. You put it in a loaf pan and then when it's solid, you slice it thin and fry it in butter, then add syrup. I mean, really, who wouldn't like that?

Fall Planting

I'm planning on putting in some peas, beans, beets, and a few other things for the fall. Plans change day-to-day, depending on what's coming up or done in the beds. 

Next Year's Garden

Yes, I've already started planning next year's garden. I've really got the fever bad!