Adding in a Weave

It's prom season here in Zone 6b, and you've never seen so much glitz, frilly prom dresses and hair weave going on. And so, in the spirit of the (prom) season, I've decided to add my very own weave.

The Classic Florida Weave

Every year I struggle with my tomatoes. The first year I bought the four foot galvanized round cages and ended up tying twine from them, up into the trees and twisting the tomato vines around them.

Because my tomatoes grew over 7 feet tall...

And last year, I bought the thin but heavy duty metal tomato towers, which fell over in heavy rain and uprooted a few tomato plants on their way down.

So I bought a few of these....

8 foot tall garden stakes, which you can get for a couple of dollars a piece at any home supply or garden store.

I shoved them in the ground, on at each end of the row...

And I put on in the middle, or you can put one after each plant...

And you grab yourself a bit of twine...

Tie the twine to one stake at the end of the row...

And begin to weave it on one side of the first tomato plant and on the other side of the next, then around the center stake and then back and forth until you reach the other end. Then wrap it a couple of times around the end stake and go back again, winding it around the opposite side of each plant on the way back.

Repeat this process as your tomatoes grow and it should create a nice wall of tomatoes.

Some people say you should pluck off those lower tomato leaves from the plants, but I never have. I heard one gardener say that the lower leaves block the sun out for the weeds. Sounds good to me...

What do you think? How do you manage your tomatoes?

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In which I can't help myself and am threatened by birds

They look like scrawny midget chickens.

Case in point...

Little headless, cute birds...

And once a day I poke my head up by the nest to see if they have all hatched.

And they have. Pathetic, little scrawny things made of nothing but eyes and tufts of wispy feathers. I just want to hold them up to my cheek and nuzzle them and blend worms in my coffee grinder for them...
I know, I took that a step too far. Sorry.

Hubby is the voice of reason in this relationship. Every time he sees me disappear up into the wisteria, with nothing but flip flops and wriggling legs sticking out, he gets that "tone." The one where he starts out with, "Dear." But it's an exasperated, "you're really cute but if you keep doing that the mom is either going to peck out your eyes or push her babies right out of the nest." Of course I would be there to catch them and raise them in the house in my very own version of Fly Away Home, bird shaped air-vehicle and all.

But they look tired so I guess I'll take hubby's advice and let them nap for a week or so in peace.

But I won't be far away...on my garden swing.

It's a piece of an old wagon or cart of some sort. I picked it up at an antique store for $10. It made the Perfect Garden Swing. Ever. Anywhere.

I love the old hinges on the sides, which were perfect for rope handles.

The hardware on the bottom was pretty fantastic as well. I love this find....

And no Garden Swing is complete without ribbons. Ah! it's my very own "Secret Garden" swing. I'm so very much in love...

The cutest thing you'll ever see...

The best thing about having a garden, filled with lush plants and bugs is the little critters that are attracted to it.

I have been waiting for weeks for this...


Tucked in the recesses of my wisteria is this little nest...

And tucked inside is this little fella...

And if you didn't say "Awwww!", you aren't human.
And if that doesn't melt your heart, cyborg, check out the little fella guarding his brother and sisters...

Pathetically adorable.

I can' wait to see the rest of his family. ^_^

Mother's Day Treats

Make that Mother's Day Weekend...

Which was awesome because I had both of my moms- the one that screamed at my fat head for hours while she tried to push me out of her body, and the one that let me marry her son, my Hubby- one on each arm, frolicking with me through Amish country celebrating the Rhubarb festival, albeit unknowingly at first, and maybe a bit sceptically as well, but once they started throwing rhubarb colored beads and drove the rhubarb race cart around the corner, we were hooked. Or maybe it was the 60 year old ladies on segways dressed as rhubarb fairies... Old ladies rock. And speaking of which...

I gave my Mommy her gift weeks ago, a planter filled with fun flowers bought at a garden show were we spent the day together, learning all manner of yard and garden things. But my Mom, I had given nothing, knowing we were going to have the following weekend together.

So I made her this little thing....

First I bought an old seed tray (you can get them for $2 or less at some antique stores)...

I got some marigolds and coleus at a greenhouse for cheap...

I cut some plastic netting I had on hand...

And I stapled it to the box...

And then I stuffed in some of the flowers and coleus...

And kept filling until I was out of plants...

But I didn't fill it TOO full, since the plants should spread out a bit and grow as they settle in and get nice and hearty. I filled it in with a mixture of potting soil and added a sprig or two of viney ground cover, weaving it in around the edges...

Which should also hold the plants in a bit until they spread their roots back out a bit. And then I watered them and propped them up against a stone wall to enjoy until they were in my Mom's car.

I've found with most plants that of tied growing vertically, that once left alone after being propped up, they will stretch toward the sun and not look so droopy in their vertical planter. So if you try this at home and think to yourself, "Yuck , they look like they are falling over and dying!" Don't worry; they'll perk up again. Keep them watered though. And if you are going to hang them up at a 90 degree angle on a wall, I would leave them flat for a little while to let them spread the roots out a bit to make sure they hold all that soil in place once they are fighting gravity for you. Or use tighter netting, though I imagine it's harder to get plants in the smaller you go. And I am sure there are a million other ways to do this, but this is what I had on hand and it seemed to work well for me.

Ever tried vertical gardening? What do you think?

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PS:

I LOVE you, Mommies!

Radish Topped Pasta-ahhhhh, mmmm...

I was outside picking radishes today. (The ones without Bunny's teeth marks. Bunny has good taste) More specifically, I was out picking French Breakfast radishes which are amazing and spicy and delicious.

The radishes were roasted atop a huge pile of cauliflower with a bit of olive oil and salt (pictures to come?) but what to do with all those precious radish tops...?

And although I am eager to try a hundred new radish recipes, most which call also for the radishes, I love the tried and true oldie (last year) Sauteed Radish Top Pasta, which is a breeze and oh so delicious.

I started with butter, because face it, if you want to make anything taste delicious, it's gotta have butter at the foundation.

So melt that foundation down and let the foaming subside...

Add chopped radish tops (which have been washed thoroughly; remember, there was manure in this garden this year...)

Saute them just until they begin to wilt.

Add a bit of pasta. ( I used a pasta made of tofu and sweet potato flour. And before you say ew, realize that one cup is about 25 calories compared to the 220 calories of the regular stuff, and it has trace amounts of protein. But feel free to do the ho-hum things and use the regular; it all tastes the same.)

Add a pinch of Parmesan and a pinch of salt. Lets make up for those lost calories! (see above)

Add some nuts. I LOVE pine nuts, but at $28 a pound, sometimes you just have to settle for sunflower seeds at $3.50 a pound. Sometimes, but not always...

Put it in a bowl. Because eating it right out of the pan is just barbaric.    ...When other people are watching you.

And then eat it. Which I really shouldn't have to say, but in a world where people need instructions on eating poptarts and go to prison for removing pillow tags, I thought I'd state the obvious. Just in case.

The leaves are like peppery spinach. So think of eating spinach pasta without needing to add pepper. And "Then why?", you ask, eat the radish tops when you could just eat the spinach? Because you didn't need to drive to the store for radish tops, buster.

What do you do with your radishes and radish tops?

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Things I Did today

There's a Bunny in my yard. But it's okay. I've got one of those toy airsoft guns which won't do much more than give Bunny a little welt. I do love bunnies, but when they start to eat all the leaves off of my beans and they nibble on my radishes, it's time to pull out the airsoft. Which I've nick-named Elmer Fudd....

But first I sprayed this organic "odor" all around my garden which is supposed to make bunnies and deer turn around in disgust. And apparently humans as well, though they say that the smell will dissipate as it dries. Thank goodness... (shudder) But should it fail to work, Elmer Fudd is willing to take care of Bunny.

And so while I kept an eye on Bunny and my garden, and Razzle Dazzel, my playful chipmunk who decided romping around in my potato straw was the most fun and exciting thing he could do all day, I wrapped mason jars in burlap for vases for floral arrangements. But alas, I have few "flowers" in my yard at the moment, and the ones I do have are supposed to keep the horn worms away, so I tried to get creative....

Oh Dear...

 

Sedum and Scotch Broom. I liked the bold green and red together...

Japanese Maple and Holly Berries. I don't think the picture does this justice at all. Typically when I think of reds or berries, I think of fall, so I was happy to find something to "mix it up".

Coral Bell Flowers, a silver fern, and another green fern. I liked all the different colored "ferny-looking" plants together...

Purple alliums and wisteria shoots...

Roses, sedum and little yellow weeds. Simple and sweet...

Sedum, Coral Bell flowers and tall wispy grass. This one doesn't get due justice either. It's my favorite of the bunch...

What do you use out of your yard for arrangements?

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(for goodness sake, someone please!)  ;o)

What I love in my garden Today

 Today, I love my Scotch Broom. It's got hundreds of these firey buds. Beautiful...

And that's it.

What's your favorite thing in your garden right now?

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Giddy Shreiking II

I can't get over how green the garden is becoming. The dirt is slowly disappearing under foliage, which is hopefully more intentional and less the weeds taking over. And so to continue the tour...

I'm trying a bit of interplanting. I put in three short rows of corn (maybe 15 seeds total) in a block formation and planted a few scarlet runner beans and a sprinkle of Bib lettuce in between the rows. The idea is, hopefully as the corn stalks grow, the beans will climb up the stalks and the lettuce will grow around the base and suppress the weeds. I've got the bean and lettuce popping up already and am anxiously awaiting the corn. I can't wait to see if it works.

In the second herb garden, my Calendulas, St. John's wort, Polka dot flowers and Watercress are popping up all over.

A chipmunk moved in to my squash garden. I'll scare him off if he tries to eat anything, but for now, I'm calling him Razzle Dazzle, the Jazz loving chipmunk.

My once anemic peppers have grown darker leaves in the natural sunlight. I think they hated the artificial light of my basement, but the original leaves stayed on long enough to let new ones sprout and then they wilted. I plucked off the older leaves to let the new, darker leaves take over.

All of the tomatoes are in and have really taken to the soil. They aren't quite a foot in height yet, but in a few more days, I'll set up my Florida Weave Tomato system, so hopefully you'll see a post for that in about a week.

I've got such a variety of tomatoes this year; I'm really excited. I put in Black Krim, Tangerine Mama, Red Lightning, Brandywine Pinks, Big Boy, Rainbow, Zebra and a few fun past tomatoes. I'm just imagining roasted tomatoes with sea salt and fresh herbs, slathered with olive oil on hearty Italian bread.... Yum.

Last, but maybe best of all, my blueberry and red raspberry bushes have real established themselves and have donned a lot more foliage then their previously twiggy little selves. I don't know what to expect from them this year, if anything at all, but they seem to like the soil well enough. I planted them close together, anticipating that they'll have to be covered if I want to get to the berries before the birds.

How is your garden looking? What's popping up right now? I've got a few things to replant- a few carrots, a squash or two, a tomatillo... But I don't feel too behind in the game.

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Giddy Shreiking

Oh, Poor Hubby.

Every day I am dragging him through the garden to show him the progress of my plants, which to him I am sure, looks exactly the same as the day before. But I've put in almost all the seeds I can fit and the bare spots that aren't being used as pathways are in danger of becoming second and third beds of spinach.

It's been a few weeks since I posted my garden update and (to me) so much has sprouted and popped up; it really looks like a garden now.

Calendula (calen-jew-lah) is a pretty flower and has great homeopathic properties. I can't wait to go all apothecary and create little bottles of this and that, like beauty creams and medicines and face masks. Poor, poor, hubby...

The radishes are coming up nicely. Spicy and crunchy. I love these guys. I'm still waiting for the watermelon radishes to get nice and fat, but these fellas are days away from a feast...

I'm hoping I won't need to buy lettuce for the next few months. I'm going to hold off as much as possible, but I do have a lettuce/salad addiction problem I'm hoping my garden will be able to sustain.

The dinosaur kale is getting taller and fuller every day. Soup, kale chips, sautes... I am so excited to see all of this popping up. There were a few bare spots in my kale garden; I think a few of those final snap frosts got to some of the plants. I re-seeded the bare spots and little sprouts are already popping up in their place.

The herbs I sprinkled around in the one area are coming up great. I've got nasturtium and tarragon and genevosa basil bursting out of the ground...

I've got baby grapes. Or barbie grapes. These tiny fellas will turn into Mars grapes. I've also got Venus and Neptune grapes coming in beside this plant.

After initially planting my potatoes under little mounds of soil, in trenches, I started topping them off with straw. These plants are EXPLODING. I'm not sure what to expect with this variety, but my sweet potatoes didn't get half as tall the entire year. I've gone through one bale of straw already and Have a lot longer to go. I couldn't imagine using the traditional dirt method. I'd need a whole truck load just for this one row stretch. I'm looking forward to harvest time with these plants.

Sugar snap peas get taller every day. I've got more planted than last year and hopefully I won't have to get Hubby to bludgeon another groundhog, but I still don't think I planted enough. I'm almost certain I'll be spending hours of my summer sitting on my rock wall, nibbling like a little rodent...

My squashes are popping up. I think I'm going to have way too much. I've got 8ball and limelight and straightneck, all in all a bit more than a dozen plants.

My beans are all popping up. I've got Scarlet runner, Big mama lime, Purple queen and Romano. I love watching these guys push up against the earth. The fat stalks crack the ground days before they actually pop up and you can see the earth being pushed out of the way. It's so fun to watch them emerge.

Who can resist a sunflower larger than a small child? I'm hoping to roast the seeds for salads and spitting. I'll be eating the salads, and Hubby will probably do the spitting. Perfect for softball game nights...

And I have SOOO much more to show, but I think I'll do a part two before you all need to take a coffee break from this lengthy post. I'll leave you with this picture of my dinner last night...

The strawberries, spinach and radishes came from my garden. So YUMMY. Ah, I love fresh, organic produce. And it doesn't get any more local then my back yard. ^_^