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Vegetable Vow

Category: Gardening | Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:12 am

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Like most people with a vegetable garden I enjoy giving away the excess. To me there is something fulfilling about giving fresh vegetables to someone who normally wouldn't get them. Lately though, I'm finding that I am being a little more cautious about who I give them to.

For example, a co-worker mentioned that she would like to have some squash so I brought it in the next day. I didn't really think about it again until almost a week later. I asked her how the squash turned out and she said rather nonchalantly, "We haven't cooked it yet."

A few days later I mentioned it again and got the same response. I know that squash doesn't last forever in the refrigerator so to keep from having to hear that she threw it out I just stopped asking.

The other day she asked me if she could have some more squash. I asked if they ever ate the first batch that I brought in. She said yes, but to be honest I wasn't convinced that she was actually telling me the truth.

It's crazy that I'm being so protective over vegetables that I'm actually questioning the integrity of my co-workers. It's not like a young man is asking for my daughter's hand in marriage (although I have experienced that and it does have its similarities). Maybe I should come up with some kind of vegetable vow. I could have the prospective suitor recite it and if they refuse then they don't get anything:

I (name here) do solemnly vow to store this vegetable properly until it can be prepared for consumption. I promise to take care of it and eat it quickly, not allowing it to go bad in my refrigerator. I further vow that I will eat all of it and not throw any away, so help me God.

Of course I'm kidding. I would never make someone take a vow before giving them vegetables... well... hmm... it's not such a bad idea.

Last edited: Wed Jun 11, 2014 1:30 pm

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Talking Gardening

Category: Gardening | Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:10 am

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On March 31st we had a graduation party for my youngest son. We were expecting quite a few people so I marked off a parking lot out in the open area by the garden.

I was working on getting some of the minor party details done when my son came in, "Dad, you need to get out to the garden. Some guy is really interested in it and he's asking me all kinds of questions that I can't answer."

Hmm... talk gardening or work on mundane party stuff? Flash Gordon couldn't have gotten to the garden any faster than I did. I was expecting someone older, but what I found was a young man in his early twenties. I was immediately bombarded with questions about nearly every plant that I was growing. He was especially interested in the giant orange amaranth (which sadly got knocked over by heavy winds this past weekend). He also wanted to know about the bees, but he had no desire to actually go near the hives.

We talked for a while as we walked every row, but eventually I had to get back to the party. It was nice to see someone so young who was interested and excited about the garden. It gives me hope that gardening will continue on well after I can no longer do it (which I hope is a long, long way off).

This blog entry has been viewed 486 times

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Sunflowers

Category: Gardening | Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 12:48 pm

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This is the second year that I have grown sunflowers in the garden. The simple pleasure of seeing them every day makes me wonder what took me so long to start growing them. In addition to seeing them I also enjoy taking pictures. Here are a couple:


More sunflowers ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )


Early Morning Sunflowers ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






Sunflower ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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Sunflowers U-Clip

Category: Gardening | Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:30 am

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On a couple of different occasions I have tried rather unsuccessfully to make a little bit of money from my gardening efforts. Wouldn't it be awesome to pull on the gardening gloves and head out to the garden every day instead of driving to some dreary workplace? It's a romantic notion, but one that I have entertained often.

Well, one of my relatives has found a way to make a little bit of money from growing sunflowers. He's not getting rich and I'm sure he's not going to be quitting his day job, but I think his idea is pretty clever.

It started about four years ago when he decided to plow up a small plot and throw out a bag of black oil sunflower seeds to see if they would come up. You know, the kind you can buy at Walmart for bird seed. They did come up and before long people were stopping and asking if they could clip the flowers. He started charging one dollar for three sunflowers and the people just kept coming.

Every year since he has planted his little sunflower plot. It is all self service and operates on the honor system. He has a table with a payment box and he even provides the cutters.

It is only about a half mile from my house, so I rode over there yesterday and took a couple of pictures.



Sunflowers U-Clip ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






Sunflower Plot ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






Sunflower Plot 2 ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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Korean Hyssop Update

Category: Gardening | Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 10:30 am

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As promised, here are pictures of the Korean Hyssop in bloom. The plant is about 3 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. The bees are all over it.


Korean Hyssop In Bloom ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )


Korean Hyssop In Bloom ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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WEEDS: Friend or Foe?

Category: Gardening | Posted: Tue May 13, 2014 10:28 am

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Over the years my attitude toward weeds in the garden has changed. I used to hoe them until my back hurt until I realized that mulching helped keep them down. But even with mulching the weeds still managed to pop up. So, I started pulling them by hand, putting them in a 5 gallon bucket and hauling them to the compost pile.

Then, I had a gardening epiphany. Why haul the weeds away to the compost pile when I could simply pull them and put them right back into the garden? That would prevent me from carrying around the five gallon bucket and also put a small amount of green manure right back onto my plants. So, I started doing that a few years ago and so far it works just fine.

STEP 1: This is the easy part. Find the weeds.

STEP 2: Pull the weeds. I don't let them get very big, although if they are too small they are difficult to pull up. If I wait too long and the weeds start to take over I'll pull out the trusty hoe.

STEP 3: Place the weeds on top of the soil/mulch right at the base of your plants.

That's all there is to it. Not everyone wants to spend time in the gardening pulling weeds so this technique might not be for everyone. Personally, I rather enjoy the work and I especially like getting my hands in the dirt. I guess it's that little boy in me trying to come out.

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Gardener's Anonymous

Category: Gardening | Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:38 am

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If there were such an organization as Gardener's Anonymous I would be part of it.

"Hello, my name is Tom and I am a gardenholic."

There are some classic signs of being a gardenholic. I would invite you to read them and see if you fit into this category:

SIGNS:
- You have problems at work or school because of your gardening, such as being late or not going at all.

- After gardening you can't remember what happened while you were gardening (blackouts).

- You keep gardening even though you have health problems that are made worse by your actions.

- Your friends or family members are worried about your gardening.

- You cannot quit gardening or control how much you garden.

- You have withdrawal symptoms when you stop gardening. These include feeling sick to your stomach, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety.

- You have given up other activities so you can garden.

- You garden in the morning, are often gardening for long periods of time, or garden alone.

- You worry that you won't get enough gardening for an evening or weekend.

- You have physical signs of gardening dependence, such as weight loss or redness of the nose and cheeks (better known as sunburn), or a recurring problem of dirt under the fingernails.



Last edited: Tue Jun 03, 2014 3:12 pm

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The Little Plant That Could

Category: Gardening | Posted: Tue May 06, 2014 10:26 am

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A number of weeks back I came across a lonely tomato plant growing in the flower bed right beside the entrance to my work place. How it got there I'm not sure, but I rescued it and took it home with me that afternoon. This is what it looked like then:





I put it in a pot with some good soil and before long it was looking good and ready to transplant into the garden.

I was so proud the day that I put it in the ground, but it was short lived because when I came out the next day a cutworm had done what cutworms do. Devastated, I just left it where it was.

A few days later I noticed a leaf coming out of the ground. The tomato plant was still alive. I wrapped it to protect it from the cutworms and this is what it looks like today:


Unknown tomato plant ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





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Allium Nigrum

Category: Gardening | Posted: Sun May 04, 2014 1:27 pm

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I bought these sedum bulbs on clearance last year. I kept them in the refrigerator over the winter and then put them in the ground this past March.


CORRECTION: Turns out these are ALLIUM NIGRUM and not sedum. My apologies if I confused anyone.



Sedum in the garden ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )






Sedum ( photo / image / picture from eclecticgarden's Garden )





Last edited: Tue May 06, 2014 12:24 am

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My Grandmother

Category: Gardening | Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 1:53 pm

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I wrote a little about my grandfather yesterday, but he wouldn't have been able to be a farmer if it weren't for my grandmother. She went to work at an early age as a telephone operator and eventually retired in the early eighties. It was her steady income that helped them through the tough times of being a farmer.

She worked the late shift, 11:00pm to 7:00am for many, many years. As a boy, I remember spending the night with my grandfather so we could go hunting in the morning and I would get to sleep with him because she was always at work.

My grandmother loved to can and I spent a lot of time helping her pick the vegetables, prepare them and then put them up in jars.

She passed away in January of 2003 at the age of 79. Even in the previous year, at the age of 78, she had us out in the tomato field picking tomatoes so that we could put them up. She sat in the car most of the time to stay out of the heat, but she was so happy to be back out in the tomato field again.

If she were here now she would already be scanning the paper for U-pick fields and getting her jars ready.

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