The week started of wonderfully….the day was spent with family, except for the absence of son Benjamin – away at school. Also included in the great start were our best friends, John and Beverly – also part of many of my postings. We had a great evening at the Houston Rodeo and I loved walking through the Ag exhibits in the Reliant Center…. dream on Bishop!

The rains of last week have saturated the soils and and have lead to many of my “in ground” strawberries becoming soft and beginning to mold. I hate to see them go this route as I would much rather share them or get some into the freezer bag for a jam making event later this spring. All is not lost…. the bad berries wind up in my compost pile where they will continue decomposing and providing some good stuff for the berry patch next year. My strawberry towers seem to be free of the maladies hitting those on the ground….For whatever reasons the berries in the 3″ towers seem to be a little smaller….The 4 inch towers have great looking plants and have not yet begun to flower….maybe a different variety due to my poor attention to details like logging what went where!

Monday I went out and pulled up some carrots, both orange and a lone white variety. As I approached the backdoor I was met by my daughter Ashleigh who halted my entrance to the house….apparently the family members present had a little surprise for me. I had to close my eyes and was lead into the kitchen. I tried to put the carrots down but Ash wouldn’t let me…..she said keep them in your hand as they are so YOU!.

Image

Three tiny donuts and fortunately 58 candles short of the needed - carrots in hand...the choice? I did eat the doughnut. A little sweeter than the fresh picked carrots

An update on the activities in the garden,,,,The potatoes in the cages are growing like crazy. They are the healthiest looking plants that I have ever grown. The taters in the big Rubbermaid bin are also looking good. Asparagus is taking off and should be shooting up all across the bed in the next week. Temperatures will be more conducive to the asparagus’s liking. I added some heirloom watermelon radishes – really cool looking from the catalog photos. Radishes are for more than just salads….check out this month’s edition of “Mother Earth News” for recipes. I will try the pickled Water Melon Radishes.

John has another round of Edamame in the ground as does my garden. I have planted two types of slicing cucumbers and two varieties of pole beans. I will try a purple variety of beans for grins this year. I threw some bush bean seeds into the potato cages and bin. Supposedly they help repel the beetles that love “tater” plants.

Kathy Hun…. I picked some ugly and misshapen strawberries this morning for my jam making. I want you to have only the best to eat fresh! I harvested the worm castings or “poop” from the bin and thoroughly washed my hands before picking them…….trust me! The Meyer Lemon tree is in full blossom and the scent in the air is heavenly! It looks like it will be loaded to the max like last year!

TTFN

Bishop