October 18, 2011
Bishop
Beans, berrries, Gardening, Vegetables
asparagus, beans, beets, blackberries, cucumbers, fresh, gardening, peppers, tomatoes, vegetables, worm poop, worms
It is so nice to be back in the garden again. My daughters and wife do a very nice job in maintaining the garden in my absence. I like to get some dirt under the nails, pull some weeds – a never-ending task here , stagger plant a few more so everything doesn’t ripen all at once and thin out some of the new seedlings. I always tell myself that I will thin the rows so they are spaced appropriately but I seem to fall down on that task with great regularity.
As I worked through the beds today I did my thinning, pulled my weeds, pinched off the terminal ends of a few blackberry vines and snacked on some very fresh veggies. The asparagus ferns are huge, heavy and falling forward. The lean exposed some new shoots that begged to be picked and sampled. Asparagus snapped off and enjoyed in its ultimate fresh state is incredible. It is sweet and very tender. I found some blossoms ready to pick on my squash….not my favorite to snack on but not enough to add to a salad. I picked a few handfuls of the pole beans and enjoyed a few alfresco as well. I will steam some to go with the BBQ chicken tonight. (Kathy already had asparagus planned – not as fresh as mine but still good)
The Carmelo tomato plant looks like it will ripen up a dozen or so tomatoes before it gets too cold. In the past week the grape tomato has sent forth many dozen blossoms but I am afraid time is running short for them to mature. They may behave like me, flirt with maturity and stay in the vicinity for appearance sake. I may have to age but I can choose whether to behave or misbehave – it is my choice. PS – The right answer is always – “Yes Dear!”
The Meyer Lemons are turning yellow… I will have to quiz my urban farming friends, Jane and John, on how to determine the time to pick them. I saw them down at Starbucks this morning. We chatted about all things growing except for the lemon talk….
The Kale has really taken off and so many articles I’ve read say that it is so good to eat and a healthy choice. I sampled some way back in the days when I worked the docks for Anglen Produce in Bakersfield. My memory says that the flavor was quite unremarkable. But then again that was commercially grown kale and not the homegrown, naturally raised plants – mine must be better……. we’ll see. Did I ever tell you the story about packing up bags of Serrano and Jalepeno peppersat the produce warehouse and absent mindedly going off to the men’s room – Kathy says I can’t tell that story….sorry.
Pulled some radishes for tonight’s salad and added another two dozen seeds to the row. Staggered in two more rows of beets for spring harvest. The volunteer cucumbers look to be doing well and I should have some to pick soon. I am also feeling like a neglectful farmer…. I have not checked in on my worms nor fed them for nearly two weeks…. Not good! They have consumed everything in the bin and needed some attention. I prepped the new bin and placed it over the well worked mass of worm poop. They should now start the upward migration into the new clean home…..Sorry little guys!
Less gardening on my list for this Tuesday – On my list to do is boiling the wort for a new batch of beer. I am trying a clone recipe for a Northwest US brew called Dick’s Danger Ale. http://www.dicksbeer.com/brews/brew_1.php?key=1 Dark but not nearly a heavy as a Porter of a Stout. Should be yummy – is yummy a robust enough word for a beer? Hmmmm. Maybe- “hearty and satisfying!” – yes that sounds better.
TTFN
Bishop
August 25, 2011
Bishop
berrries, Blackerry Cobler, Dessert, Recipe
blackberries, cobbler, recipes
The Labor Day weekend is fast approaching. I am sharing a recipe that I have shared with some of y’all in the past but let’s do
it again. I have never tasted a better cobbler than this blackberry cobbler recipe. I will bet that raspberries, ollalieberries or others may work just as well. For those of us in the hot, humid, nasty, ugly and miserable weather down here in Houston, blackberry season was gone 2 ½ months ago. I will have to buy some frozen berries, yes I know it is almost sacrilegious to buy store bought berries but these are desperate times!
This recipe came out of the Houston Chronicle a couple of years ago. Large skillet means 12” and pretty deep….cast iron! Mine
is a pretty Loge red enamel model. Enjoy!
MEME’S
BLACKBERRY COBBLER
I added an extra cup of blackberries to this recipe from Virginia Willis’ Bon Appétit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories From Three
Generations of Southern Cooking (Ten Speed Press, $32.50).
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 5(6) cups blackberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 cup sugar, plus more if desired for berries
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Vanilla ice cream, to serve
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a large iron skillet; place skillet in oven to melt butter.
Put blackberries in a large bowl. If they are frozen, let them soften a few minutes. Crush lightly with a potato
masher. Sweeten with extra sugar if you like.
Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar in a medium bowl. In another bowl, combine milk and vanilla.
Gradually pour wet ingredients into dry while whisking.
Remove skillet from oven. Add melted butter to batter. Stir to combine. Pour batter into hot skillet. With a
spatula, scrape the berries into the center. Bake cobbler till it is golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the cake (not the berries) emerges clean, about 1 hour.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (Bluebell is the best) — and prepare for a walk down memory lane.
Makes
6 to 8 servings.
Please excuse the formatting….. can’t figure it out!
August 3, 2011
Bishop
berrries, Composting, Gardening, Vegetables
blackberries, environmentally friendly, peppers, tomatoes, vacation, worm poop, worms
The Big Freeze
I have been making progress removing the summer jungle growth from the garden. My eggplant plants (is that redundant?) looked healthy but the blossoms were not setting so out they came. The bed they were in was in pretty good shape and not overrun with Bermuda grass. I spent the morning getting it “really” weed free and water saturated, preparing the bed to receive two new tomato transplants. I selected a grape tomato and a beef master to place in the ground after sundown tonight. This bed has never had tomatoes so I am hoping that they take off. To help them along I put about two cups of worm poop at the bottom of each hole prior to dropping the plants in.
Worm poop! During my month in California the worms were left unattended in the garage. I had placed the top bin on the nearly finished bottom bin just before I left. They had no food, no visitors and no monitoring…… I expected the worst! I was pleasantly surprised when I began the poop harvest yesterday. Both bins looked rich with dark black worm poop, odor free and no apparent food scraps available for the little guys. From what I had read, the environment could become toxic – killing the little guys. They were absolutely thriving! As I dug into the bins there were still remnants of newspaper and cardboard…they still had some food! I wound up with about 15 lbs. of the richest looking fertilizer that the little guys have ever produced for me. Oh yes, odor free means that it has no offensive odor…. really it just smells like damp, rich soil. The Meyer lemon barrel with surrounding strawberries enjoyed a worm poop banquet tonight as well as the pepper plant in the other barrel.
My last task this evening was removing this year’s dead blackberry vines. This year’s growth is starting to kick in nicely. I am being a little more diligent in pinching off the terminal growth as the new shoots hit 3+ feet or so. This forces lots of lateral growth in hopes of an abundant 2012 berry season. I hope to make my wonderful blackberry jam before the December 2012 Apocalypse! The photo on the lead-in is from the February freezing rain followed by an extended few days of bitter cold ( at least bitter for Houston). I am convinced that the lingering freeze hurt my harvest. For whatever reason only the terminal buds produced. Go figure.
Tomorrow or Thursday is tilling day. I will take my most Bermuda grass laden bed off line for 6 weeks. I will attempt to solarize it under a clear plastic sheet to kill the roots, rhizomes and other bad weed seeds. Three t-shirts today and it looks even uglier over the next three days. Yes, I hear all y’all, drink lots of water. I will!
TTFN
Bishop
April 20, 2011
Bishop
berrries, Canning, Gardening, jam and jelly, Mason bees
asparagus, beans, beets, berries, blackberries, cucumbers, gardening, strawberries, strawberry jam, tomatoes, worms
I think my wife really does love me. I was out of town on a job in the Midland and Lubbock areas of West Texas and unable to tend to my gardening chores. I flew home early last Saturday morning and she surprised me with a big basket of my home grown strawberries. Wow, what a gal!!!! I finished filling one of the 1 gallon freezer bags already partially filled in the freezer and started a new bag. I need to make another batch of jam this week and may fill the next bag by the end of the week….. I will be swimming in my heavenly strawberry jam – Yum!!!!
Today was a partial day in the garden and I only sweated through one T-shirt. I weeded, watered and finished pulling up the last of my Detroit Red beets. I still have a very beautifully leafed beet variety that I forgot the name of yet to harvest. Very nice looking tops and we will see about the beet taste soon. I made a pickled beet recipe today to eat like a cold salad – it is pretty tasty.
I used about 3 + cups of skinned and sliced up roasted beets. FYI – drop the hot roasted beets in ice water and the skins nearly remove themselves. I boiled ¾ cup of cider vinegar and ¾ cup of beet juice….. I poured almost a cup of hot water over the beets in a bowl to make the beet juice. Once that mixture was boiling I added 2 tbs. sugar, 2 whole cloves, 3 whole black peppercorns, a bay leaf, about ¾ tsp. of sea salt and about a cup of chopped red onion. Brought it back to a boil and poured over the beets. Refrigerated for a couple of hours and man, they are pretty darned good! Recipe is almost exactly like one I found in allrecipes.com. Great recipe resource!
Updates;
The Mason Bees. They are rapidly depositing eggs and filling the tubes. I have about 11 of the tubes filled and sealed. Should have quite a few more next season.
The worms. I checked on the poor guys Saturday when I returned and they were trying to escape. I had neglected both the food they need and the bedding necessary for their comfort. I was able to feed them a big a big batch of strawberry parts and tops – see the comments about my lovely wife above, some old bread, beet cuttings and other veggie scraps….. They seem to be back to work and not complaining now.
My Green Beans. The Kentucky Pole beans are leaping and now blossoming. The bush beans look to be on the same time table.
Asparagus. Slowing down and will let them fern out. I put some Martha Washington in a few weeks ago and they are sprouting.
Tomatoes. Slow but setting fruit….except my Brandywine – I do have a few blossoms on one but I have my fingers crossed. The Juliet tomatoes and Creole tomatoes are doing well.
Cucumbers. I put up twine to let them climb this morning….part of the sweaty shirt stuff. My cucumbers in my friends backyard ( I put a 4×4 patch in his yard) are blossoming and way ahead of mine! Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Enough for now, hopefully blackberry news soon!
Bishop
April 9, 2011
Bishop
berrries, Canning, Gardening, jam and jelly
blackberries, canning, strawberries, strawberry jam
Over the first few weeks of my strawberry season I have been able to gather and freeze enough of the berries that weren’t eaten fresh to make some jam. The first picture show the beginning of the process – the thawing of the berries. I just love how they smell as they begin to thaw and give off the wonderful aroma of “real” Strawberries. They may not look quite as pretty as those in the store but they make up for it in flavor.
Last night – Friday the 8th of April was my canning night. It takes 6 cups of berries to make the jam and I had thawed a bag containing about 7.25 cups. It is very important to accurately measure when making jam so I scooped out the excess and added it to the bag in the freezer being held for the next batch. Can’t hardly wait to make more jam!!!
I use “Sure-Jell’ powdered pectin labeled for less or no sugar jams. I use the” less” sugar recipe, 4 cups of sugar vs. 6 used in regular jams. Not a lot of difference in sweetness but a noticeable improvement in the fruit taste. It gels nicely and is oh so good on my toast in the mornings. I may get frisky on the next batch of strawberry jam and try using a complimentary spice for some variety ……. any suggestions …… drop me a note and I will give it a try. Look for report back in a future installment.
A peek at the future – my blackberry vines are beginning to set berries. I have 3 varieties and the season should be a good one. I should start picking at the end of this month and stop near the end of May…… Blackberry jam is my favorite!!!!
TTFN
Bishop
March 28, 2011
Bishop
Gardening, Mason bees, pollination
blackberries, environmentally friendly, Mason bees, Meyer lemon, pollination, strawberry, tomatoes
The honeybees are taking a break. I was down at my local nursery a few weeks ago and was asking about flowers that I could plant to attract honey bees for pollinating my blackberries. I picked up some great advice from the folks working at Kingwood Nursery. Rather than count on the honey bees, as they are having problems, they recommended ordering some Mason bees. It jogged my memory and reminded me of an article I read a few years back recommending the use of Mason bees.
I bought a bee house and was sent 6 males and 4 females from http://www.masonbeesforsale.com/
A week after I installed the bee house I see that the females are gathering pollen and laying their eggs. My early blackberries are being serviced and pollinated. I have blossoms on my Meyer lemon, tons of strawberries, tomatoes and other ornamentals to keep the bees busy. I think my tomatoes and strawberries are self-pollinated but I think the help won’t hurt. A little Google search confirms that strawberries are primarily self-pollinated but respond to help from the bees. Oh, by the way, I have a few blueberry blossoms but I am a year or two away from having enough to pick.
The female Mason bees are fun to watch as they lay eggs and move forward in the tubes before they seal them off. I am amazed at how quickly they do their work! I spent a few minutes observing this evening and saw probably 3 of the females working three different tubes. Four tubes are plugged at the end already. They lay the female eggs at the rear and the males near the front opening. I wonder how they know the difference? The males exit first and eat their way out thus preserving the females. The bad news, from a guy’s perspective, is that the males emerge first, mate and then die!!!! I was hoping they would get to fool around for a season but it just doesn’t work out for the guys!
The bees aren’t cheap but it appears that they are preparing to multiply in a big way so it is an investment with multiple returns.
TTFN
Bishop
March 25, 2011
Bishop
Composting, Gardening, Vegetables
asparagus, beans, beets, berries, blackberries, chard, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries, swiss chard, tomatoes, worms
Well the harvest is ramping up and it appears I may have some competition. My wife snapped a picture of a night raider hanging out by our backdoor. We have seen him, or a relative, making regular treks out from the garden area near the midnight hour on several occasions. I see the tracks but no evidence of thievery yet.
I have had some brussel sprouts off the crowns and now the side shoots are plumping up, yummy beets and beet greens, asparagus for the first time, the strawberries are really producing and vey sweet and my dwarf Meyer lemon is blossoming and producing.
The green beans are really starting to crawl up the poles and the bush beans are 4-6 inches tall. My swiss chard is a little slow this year but 2 or 3 plants will overwhelm us (really just me… Kathy won’t eat it) Cucumbers are really slow this year…. may have to replant the armenian variety as well as the pickling variety. It is still pretty early in the season so I am not worried. My tomatoes are in the ground – the Brandywine tomatoes are absolutley the best tasting but they do not seem to be responding well. Fed them some fish emulsion today to help them along. The Roma, Creole, Mortgage Lifter and Juliet are doing well as are the peppers and eggplants.
I made a cold pasta salad with roasted beets, beet greens and penne pasta last week and it was pretty good. It was my made up recipe but lacked a little for seasoning/complimentary flavors so I will experiment again. Just picked some very nice beets this morning while bringing in the morning’s strawberries and asparagus harvest. I will try again over the weekend if I just don’t eat the roasted beets as they come out of the oven.
Kathy took excellent care of my green babies while I slaved away in Dallas this week. She won’t pull weeds but she does a nice job of watering and picking….. even froze a bunch of berries so I can make jam a little late this springr. My blackerries are beginning to leaf out so the May harvest may be a very good one.
The worms were fed today and they said hi to all y’all! ; )
TTFN
Bishop
August 25, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
blackberries, jelly, port wine, rosemar, strawberry jam, wine
I have been catching up on the canning – two batches of my home grown blackberries, one batch of my strawberries and now a little treat.
I made a batch of Shiraz Rosemary jelly. What a wonderful pairing of flavors. I can't wait to try it over cream cheese as a dip and maybe on some lamb as a glaze while grilling. The last batch is a Port jelly with orange, cloves and cinnamon sticks blended, soaked and strained through cheese cloth to help keep the jelly clear and flavorful.
Hmmmm,. how about some Chardonnay Jelly with a little orange zest and a dash of cloves. Send me a suggestion…. I love to experiment. The best suggestion gets a jar and a surprise treat…. help me out.
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March 8, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
asparagus, blackberries, blueberries, carrots, chard, garlic, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes
Back into the garden today… wet and sloppy but I put my poorboy topsy turvy style tomato planters together. I bought two determinate patio style plants, cheap two dollar buckets and a left over bag of potting soil. The plant hanger is a bit wobbly so I will need to stiffen it up or secure it better.
I will provide some updates as the season progresses. I shot a picture of one of my mixed beds. The Swiss Chard is doing well and the Romaine is really starting to get big. The garlic is looking good but I have never been able to get good bulbs here in the Houston area.
What isn't seen is a few spindly spears from the asparagus crowns I put in last fall. I have heard they can grow here and do fairly well. I see three of the 4 crowns have put a spear up. The new blueberry plants are leafing out now. The new June bearing strawberries are taking hold so it should be a good berry season. Some of the ever bearing plants already have berries. The buds are swelling on the blackberries so I will soon see if I managed the canes properly last summer and fall.
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February 9, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
blackberries, garden, sunflowers, tomato, valentines day, vegetables
I have been wanting to give it a try for about a year and a half. Being semi-retired and just working part time I should have plenty of time but just never found it (really the answer is did not make the time). I got talked into opening a Facebook page a few weeks ago and it has not been anything I want to devote much time to so I thought I would try this.
Gardening, i.e., growing a few good veggies has been a passion for many years. So, I will start there. I was finally given a patch after hurricane Ike to have as my own spot in the back yard. It is not ideal from a sun perspective as well as being a tad damp…. but it is mine. I salvaged some fence from the Ike damage and screened my patch to my wife's delight. She has even provided a couple of cutesy touches and I gave he the pleasure of post the signs near the entry.
I expanded the square footage a little this past fall and crept out in the yard with 4 blueberry bushes….. I took some heat but I think they will not be an eyesore in a year or so.
This was June, 9 of 2009. Things are looking green. The sunflowers became 10 footers, the green beans were wonderful, the cucumbers huge, tomatoes ran wild, peppers galore and the cantaloupe were large but bland.
I will try some new tomatoes this year, Brandywine, two types, Arkansas Traveler and Oxheart. I will plant a Juliette variety of plum tomato shaped like a small Roma and at least on Celebrity…. does well in the heat.
My blackberries look primed for a good year. They are three years old now.
Another couple of weeks and I can direct seed the beans and cucumbers without too much concern.
It has been a wet and cold Houston winter and as much as I love the cool weather, it is hindering my planting. Can't have my cake and eat it too!!!!!
Valentines weekend is coming up – I need to plan the garden efforts and something to let my wife know how much I cherish her tolerating my whims in the garden and elsewhere!
TTFN
Bishop
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