January 31, 2011
Bishop
Composting, Gardening, Vegetables
beets, berries, compost, cucumbers, gardening, lettuce, peas, strawberries, swiss chard, tomatoes, worm poop
- Not today’s image!!!!
This is in my dreams for later on this spring and summer. Reality is much more grim!!
The garden is pretty bare right now – a few Brussel sprout plants made it through the freeze along with some of the sugar snap peas and an abundance of the beet varieties planted this past fall.
I have pretty well filled the compost bins with leaves and shredded leaves to be used for mulch in the near future.
I did transplant some lettuce plants yesterday but the labels have faded and I have no clue which variety will grace my table. The small half long carrot seeds planted last week have yet to show their tops. I will plant another round of carrots this week and continue some staggered plantings into early spring.
My friend John is allowing me to continue working the 4X4 plot I placed in his yard last year. He loved the abundant returns from the Juliet tomato plant. He had a good number of cucumbers as well as a handful of Texas A&M sungold tomatoes. We may even add another 4X4 adjacent to the first one. Making backyard gardening converts one by one. He has some beets poking up and I planted some chard for him last week.
Checking on my worms – the bottom bin looks done. Almost all of the little guys have moved up to the penthouse for the fresh food. Will probably sort the bottom bin this coming weekend and feed the plants. Speaking of plants – the strwberry plants are full of blossoms and I noticed a few berries that are a week or so away from taste testing. Can’t wait- but I must!!!!!!
TTFN
Bishop
October 11, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
asparagus, beans, compost, cucumbers, leaf mulch, tomatoes
- Cleaning up the Garden
- Fresh Beans for Tonight
After neglecting my garden for quite awhile and suffering through the closing of my previous site. Found this one that allowed me to archive my old site.
So, today, October 11, I was out chopping weeds, clearing the old vines from the Armenian cucumbers and pulling out the torch to incinerate the stubborn weeds. The torch worked awfully well! Salvaged 4 of the brussel srout plants and relocated them to a clean plot.
The recently planted tomatoes have blossoms but I am not sure they will produce by the end of the month. The shining stars are the Pole Bean tepee, the asparagus ferns, the Serrano peppers (too hot to eat but a beautiful plant) and if lucky a few Straight 8 cucumbers.
As always a bit warm and humid – it was a two shirt effort along with two quarts of water. I began pulling some of the rotted compost out and will unload the bin over the next few days. Then comes the hard work – turning it into the soil. I had such good luch last year with leaf mulch that I will triple that effort this fall/winter. By spring I hope to have the compost neatly tucked under with a smothering layer of leaf mulch to strangle the weeds!!!!!
I will not flood you with my ramblings but should be a little more regular (not due to my fiber intake!!!!!) with the new site and the
cooler weather should be more conducive totending the patch and seeing my plants grow. Next blog may feature my worm farm – the little guys are working in the dark and being fed waste……hmmmmmm sounds a bit like a mushroom…….mushrooms could be my next venture.
TTFN
Bishop
July 6, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
cucumbers, garden, peppers, storm, sunflowers, tomatoes
My sunflowers came down during last week’s storms. The heads were so large and 10-12 feet up in the air that the roots could not hold in the saturated soil. This photo was on a better day – June 19th. It is hard to picture how big the heads are but I would guess most are 12-14 inches across. I harvested today and have spread the heads out to dry. Ate a few damp and raw seeds and they were pretty tasty.
The little tiny cherry tomatoes are a nice surprise. We had a volunteer plant show up in the flower beds and I suggested we pull it but Kathy said let it grow and see what comes of it. Well,……… It is doing well and is putting out the sweetest and prettiest cherry tomatoes. I will have to save the seed because it tolerates the heat and humidity very well. It is not staked and just trails out in the flower bed. I am still getting cucumbers, (some hide well and become very large and/or too large) peppers of all sorts and an occasional slicing tomato. I do love to see them grow. Enough for now! Bishop
Read and post comments | Send to a friend
June 5, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
berries, cucumbers, herbs, tomatoes, vacation, vegetables
I am back limping into the garden and enjoying the veggies. The weeds got a little ahead of me but the Gecko is keeping most of the bad bugs scared off.- I wish LOL. He still looks good even if he does not eat much.
Everything is growing so well! My Roma and Juliet tomatoes are kicking butt. Unfortunately my Brandywine plants are green, healthy and tall – but won't set tomatoes. They taste so good but I may not get any this year.
At least the blackberries are doing very well. Lucky for me that my wife Kathy is out in California because she loves fresh berries. I do too but I really like to gather enough to make jam. I have a gallon in the freezer, have snacked on the fresh ones and will probably get another gallon or two before we head off to Australia. The strawberries have slowed down but there is an increase in blossoms so I should have another round of the luscious red delights very soon.
A cluster of green Juliet tomatoes. They do incredibly well in the Houston heat. One plant will overwhelm a family so that's all I plant. They are so tasty and look a lot like a miniature Roma tomato. I hope the Brandywine's will at least set a few for me!
Now another bounty! The cucumbers are kicking in and as always I have planted more than we can eat. So friends and neighbors bet to share in the bounty.
My experiment in my friends backyard is doing OK. It was doing very well, his dog was ignoring it until …….. until I added some fish emulsion. Well, his Golden Retriever Pismo dug up the spots where I placed the fish emulsion several times but now the scent is gone and the plants are undisturbed. John has used some of the Rosemary and we have a few tomatoes setting as well as the cucumbers beginning to stretch up toward the supports. Salad components soon!
I'll be back!
Read and post comments | Send to a friend
April 21, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
beets, cucumbers, peas, peppers, strawberries, tomatoes
Blossoms in the garden. I am looking forward to the fruit ……. already getting a few strawberries and we have been loaded up with the snap peas. I have seen some of the tomatoes beginning to set fruit. The Roma tomatoes and the Julliet cherries are going to be abundant pretty soon. Cucumbers are well spouted – I am trying squash again – it usually succumbs to the beetles. Peppers and cantaloupe are looking good! My experiments with potatoes under mulch and the hanging tomatoes are looking good….. I have so many blackberry blossoms that we may be overwhelmed! More photos to come.
Had some roasted beets at lunch today and then had snap peas and beet tops with my chicken tonight. It is really a treat to have the freshest veggies! I will need to eat well as I rehab from this pending knee surgery. Tuesday April 27th I get the left knee replaced. Could be 6-8 weeks of recovery to get back to 80% normal gait and strength. May have to use hired help in the garden.
TTFN
Read and post comments | Send to a friend
March 20, 2010
Bishop
Uncategorized
asparagus, beans, cucumbers, first, lettuce, slugs, snails, spring, strawberries, sweet
Wow! The first berry of spring and I picked it the day before the official first day of spring. I was not expecting a ripe berry so early because of the wet and cool spring we have been experiencing. I noticed lots of blossoms in my sunniest patch but this was an early surprise.
I noticed something else after I picked it and took a closer look. See the heart shaped image of the berry. Pretty cool huh! I wonder if there is a message here? Hmmmm……
As with any good berry it meets the same fate. I did offer the first bit to my wife Kathy but she deferred that honor to me. – Thanks Hun…… it was so good. The home grown berries just have so much more of the "real" Strawberry flavor. It compares well to the wild strawberries I used to pick in the fields surrounding Fort Lee, Virginia.
Here is the first berry of the spring nestled in amongst the leaves, blossoms and the early berries that have set. It looks like it will be a good and sweet spring. I have found a good organically safe slug and snail deterrent so I hope to share fewer berries with the slimy little buggers.
On another note….The new June bearing varieties are doing very well. They are establishing themselves well and looking very healthy. The garden is beginning to hop now… The pole beans are up, potatoes looking good, the lettuce so good and lots of snap peas to munch on. The cucumber plants were slow showing through the layer of leaf mulch but I see they are now breaking through. My asparagus, first year, is spindly and needs staking – next year I may be able to get some spears!
Get out and grow something…..
Read and post comments | Send to a friend
Newer Entries
From My Backyard 