Ghostly squash

Planted white squash today. Bought 6 plant sets at Wabash. I don't know why I'm torturing myself. I was so unsuccessful with squashes of all kinds and the related cucumbers last year. I guess I'm just stubborn. We'll see how it goes.

Best. Pickles. Ever.

My friend MJ gave me this recipe for dill pickles. I can't seem to grow decent cucumbers so we went to a local farm and bought pickling cukes yesterday. Out of 9 lb. of cucumbers I got 4 1/2 qts of whole pickles, 4 pints of sliced pickles, 4 pints of jalapeno flavored hot pickle spears. These are so tasty I don't think I'll ever be satisfied by store bought pickles again. And they aren't difficult to make, so might as well make 'em myself.

I also put up 2 half-pint jars of pickled radishes. I pulled all of the radishes in the garden to make them. They're really pretty and pink in the jars.

Anne's Dill Pickles
For 6 pints (using approx. 5 lb. pickling cucumbers):
1 qt white vinegar
1/2 - 3/4 c. pickling or Kosher salt
2 qt water
2/3 c sugar
Bring this mixture to a boil

For each pint jar:
1/4 tsp dill seed
5 pepper corns
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs fresh dill weed
1/4 tsp alum
1 jalapeno (if you want it hot)

Sterilize jars by running them through the dishwasher on hot cycle. After jars are ready pack cucumbers in. Pour brine over. Leave 1/2" open at the top of the jar. Heat lids and rims. Seal by turning upside down until cool.

Yummy!

Purple Potato Harvest!

Had a pretty good but small harvest of purple potatoes. I bought 6 little ones (fingerling size) at the grocery story back in February, let them sprout in the kitchen window, planted them Feb. 22, and dug up the result this morning. I planted 6 small potatoes and got a little over 3 lb. of potatoes 90 days later, so that's not too bad. It was an experiment so next year I think I'll plant more. In the picture notice that I cut one of the potatoes and they really are purple, through and through. Going to Hubble and Hudson's to see if they have maroon celery so I can use these potatoes, red onions and purple/maroon celery to make purple potato salad. I think it would look pretty on the plate served on a lettuce leaf as a side dish with grilled chicken.

Getting Ready for Spring

Had a great harvest of broccoli, cauliflower and carrots over the winter. Now I'm planting 2 year old asparagus crowns (Jersey Giant) and Purple Mountain Majesty potatoes. Failed at potatoes last year so I'm trying a different variety to see what happens. I'm also planting scallions today. And weeding. Lots and lots of weeding. Why do weeds do so well in the winter? Ack!

It's Been a While!

Hurricane Ike pretty much took the wind out of my sails for gardening last fall. So much was destroyed, although I got a few more cherry tomatoes.

I put in a winter garden - broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, spinach, lots of lettuce, turnips and carrots.

The family was here last week for Christmas. I weeded the very weedy beds before they got here. The kids enjoyed pulling up carrots but not so much washing them. We ate salad from the lettuce garden and plenty of cooked and raw carrots. The broccoli had just begun to flower so we didn't eat any of it.

Today I cut a couple of broccoli heads and pulled up another 1/3 of the carrots. Still some left. Planted more lettuce and beets. I left the okra plants since they are leafing out again - we'll see what happens with them. Pulled up all of the tomato plants and harvested the last few tomatoes - one medium sized one (no idea which kind of plant it came from) and a couple of hands full of cherry tomatoes. There were dozens and dozens more green cherry tomatoes but they haven't ripened in a couple of cold weeks so I gave up on them. They were falling off the vines green.

I ordered more potato eyes - Idaho potatoes this time. Potatoes were so unsuccessful last time I just want to see if it was the variety, location, fertilizer, or if they just won't grow here. Also ordered Cherokee tomato seeds - the black tomato variety. I got one Cherokee tomato last year before the hurricane and it was delicious so I thought I'd try them again.

Had a request from the sons in law for peppers so I'll get some jalapeno seeds and plant some soon.

So, we're in a bit of a lull for gardening right now but I haven't given up!

Back to Basics

Ack! It has been 14 days since the lights went out in the middle of 100mph winds from Hurricane Ike. I got my power back last night. Praise God and thank you, Centerpoint Energy and Kansas City Power and Light. Why KCP&L? They sent big crews down here (so did many other power companies - about 8,000 workers in all) and they were the ones who repaired the lines to my little corner of Montgomery County. At the outage peak, 98% of the homes and businesses in southeast Texas had no electricity, about 2.2 million customers. Tens of thousands of trees fell over onto homes, streets, and power lines. Wow. I was very lucky. Three smallish (under 6" in diameter) trees fell over but I propped them back up and they seem to be fine. Ice, water, gasoline, and non-perishable foods became currency. It has been rough. Schools were closed for a week and a half. See stories in the Houston Chronicle - http://www.chron.com/. For a category 2 storm this was a whopper.

The day the storm hit I was picking giant pomegranates, afraid they would go shooting through windows. I found that you can cut them in half, juice them just like a lemon, and get pomegranate juice. I had about 2 lb. of strawberries in the fridge so I made what I now call Hurricane Jam. Here is the recipe.
2 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and mashed
1 c. pomegranate juice
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 T. candied ginger, chopped
2 c. sugar

Combine the ingredients, cook on low until fruit is soft, then raise heat to boil mixture. Bring to 220 degrees. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Yum!! Kinda tart and sweet.

The garden came through OK overall. The tomato plants blew over. I staked them back up but they look pretty awful. The pumpkin and squash vines were smashed to bits by the wind and rain. Everything else looks OK despite 16" of rain over a period of 30 hours and about 6 hours of 100 mph wind. We even ate some of the lettuce and cherry tomatoes one night.

Yike! Take a hike, Ike!

Oh, no! We've been saying for years we're due, we're due! and here it comes. Big ol' Hurricane Ike is about 30 hours away from a predicted landfall in Freeport, which puts us on the "dirty" side. Ike is bigger and pushing more tidewater than Katrina. As I write this he's still a Cat 2, 100 mph hurricane but predicted to become Cat 3 before landfall. It's a good thing he is so big, actually the size of the state of Texas and nearly filling the Gulf of Mexico - not enough room to really wind the winds up to Cat 4 or 5, which the center low pressure indicates could easily happen.

I'm afraid my sweet little garden isn't going to be able to withstand the 40-60 mph winds and 7-10" of rain that are predicted for The Woodlands. I took a couple of before pictures to compare with the aftermath Saturday evening or Sunday.

No vacancies in the garden

I've had to put some plants in overflow spots! We'll see how they do in regular, not-very-special flowerbeds.

Picked two pomegranets when I saw one had split and fallen on the ground. Will probably harvest the rest this week.

Notes from the plant tags and seed envelopes planted today:

• Broccoli De Cicco - days to germination 5-17. Days to harvest 50-80. Plant n April and again in late June or early July for a fall crop. Thin for a final plant spacing of 15-18 inches apart in rows 2-3 feet apart. Broccoli likes cool weather and will head too early in warm temperatures.


• Brussel sprouts Catskill - days to germination 5-17. Days to harvest 80-115. Like other Brassica they like well-prepared soil and thrive in cool weather. they require a lot of moisture in summer and can put up with some shade. Harvest from the bottom of the stock, up when the sprouts are 1 to 1/2 inches in diameter. Pinch back the growing tip in late summer to encourage the upper sprouts to develop.


• Purple top white globe turnip - organic certified. Heirloom. 50 days cool season crop - plant in early spring or late summer. Can be eaten raw like an apple. Can be shredded or sliced fresh for salads or cooked like mashed potatoes. Greens are even more nutritious and considered one of the best flavors in the green category. days to emerge: 5-10. Don't thin for greens.


• Superfantastic tomato - matures in 70 days. Fruit size 10 oz. Full sun.


• California Wonder sweet bell pepper - matures in 75 days. Fruit size 4-6 oz. Full sun.


• Swiss chard - matures in 55-65 days. Swiss chard is really a beet grown for its leaves. Cook leaves like spinach or prepare leaf stalks like asparagus. Harvest outer leaves when they reach 12" long. Well adapted to hot weather. Full sun.


• Butter crunch lettuce - also called butter head. Matures in 70 days.


• Rio Verde cabbage - matures in 79 days. Heads mature to best quality in cook weather. Harvest when firm.


• Broccoli - matures in 40-70 days. Broccoli matures to its best qualidy during cook weather. Harvest buds before yellow flowers show.


• Cauliflower - matures in 50-70 days. Tender and delicious pure white heads. Tie outer leaves over developing heads to prevent yellowing (blanching). Grows best in cool weather with dajmple water and fertilizer. Rotate all cabbage crops by 3 years.


• Red Sails lettuce - matures in 40-45 days. Prefers fertile well-drained soil and cooker temperatures.