Journey11's 2016 garden journal

[journey11]

Manure is black gold. In AG, "experts" called it a waste product that livestock producers had to find a way to get rid of it. In their defense, use to be full of weed seeds that we had very few ways to control (& none of them good). Now, it's the best ticket in town with farmers paying for it.

Pepper mustard? Recipe? Love peppers, love mustard, what is not to like?

To us nawtherners, you a south but if the snooty southerners won't claim you, we will......

I'm forever grateful!

That link in the post above will take you to my recipe. Have made many batches of it over several years. It is to die for on a ham and cheese sandwich and we also use it for dipping mustard with summer sausage. The kids and I are chopping away at this pile of peppers and making some today.

What I did with my chickens was to park them over the garden in their "tractor" coop last winter. I bought these portable electric netting fences and that gave them run of the whole garden. I was afraid I they would pack the soil, but it came out nice and crumbly after tilled. Definitely going to soil test this fall though, because I think I have something going on with possibly a magnesium deficiency. Anything I put Epsom salts on (tomatoes and peppers ) did great, but I had weird yellowed leaves on many other plants. Like this okra...

 

[majorcatfish]

Today's haul from the pepper patch:
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This was what came off of just one plant!
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My little helpers picking beans and shelling dry ones for seed. They also hung in there and helped pick a lot of the peppers.
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And this was their reward for helping: 4 cans of shaving cream and food coloring.
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My big orange tabby, Milo, just made sure to get right under foot while I pulled weeds.
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It has been a gorgeous, perfect day to work in the garden! Only 78 degrees, breezy and sunny. The kids got in the swimming pool after they rinsed off the shaving cream. Way too cold for that, IMO, but they are resilient!

Gonna teach Ava how to waterbath can next week and we'll put up all those peppers starting Monday.

Exciting things going on in the bean patch, but I'll post those later on the bean thread as I get my pics and notes sorted out.

nice haul on the peppers,,,
shelling bean/peas is a tedious job but once done amazing what you have...good work ladies.
nothing like a shaving cream bath before jumping in the pool.....

dw put up about 8 pints of pepper rings this year.....love them
keep up the good work

 

[journey11]

I usually request to go fishing for my birthday, then dinner out. While stomping through the weeds looking for grasshoppers to use as bait, the girls and I found 3 monarch caterpillars. They are safely abiding in Ava's butterfly house now.

 

[Nyboy]

I see some cobalt glass in background LOL. hope you caught a whopper.

 

[journey11]

We only caught bluegills, but someone across the pond from us caught a huge catfish. The kids were excited anyway, said they like catching the little ones. Catching the grasshoppers was nearly as much fun. Wish I had thought to collect them from my garden instead, lol.

 

[journey11]

The first of our monarchs is all set to hatch...

If you look closely, you can see the crack opening!

The younger two that are still green have these magical little iridescent spots on them that practically glow. The chrysalis will start to turn black the day before they hatch. We've kept a close eye on the first one all day. I have never observed a monarch chrysalis before, if you can believe it. We have hatched many swallowtails though.

We went to the Arts and Crafts Fair last Friday and at an educational booth were given this piece of an oregano plant that was imported from Cuba. This is a plant that has a will to live! Yay! It's less like the Greek Oregano that I already had, which is a type of mint. This plant is more succulent. It smells wonderful. I will need to do a little research on it to find out what the difference is.

 

[journey11]

Ava found these two praying mantises hard at work on my Bronze Fennel yesterday. One was preparing to lay her egg sack! The other has hung around for several days now. The kids are outside watching it catch flies right now.

They turned to look at me as I took the picture, frowning sort of like a sour old grandpa who didn't want his picture taken. LOL.

 

[Nyboy]

My father told me many untruths as a kid. one was praying mantises where protected under the law. If you killed one you had to pay a fine or you would be sent to jail.

 

[journey11]

My father told me many untruths as a kid. one was praying mantises where protected under the law. If you killed one you had to pay a fine or you would be sent to jail.

I was told that too! I wonder if at some point maybe it was true?

 

[aftermidnight]

@journey11 your plant look like it may be Plectranthus amboinicus, lots of different common names, Cuban oregano, Indian borage, Indian mint, Mexican mint and several others. Will have to be protected in colder climates. If this is what your plant is it can be used as a culinary herb but quite often just grown as an ornamental.

Annette