Happy New Year, Y'all

What a year, right? I'll leave the political and economic concerns of 2011 for the press to belabor and focus on my small garden. I have opinions about government and banks but I've chosen to Occupy my garden. It is a proactive way to ameliorate the setbacks and stresses of the past few years. As far as our Southern garden grows and goes, it was overall a fantastic year. I am getting better at it and understanding what I don't understand better. Make sense of that! Here is one of the pearls I gleaned this year: you have your soil pH tested not for the blind annual chore that it is but because veggies like a pH of about .....and in our case our soil is too acidic. Well I knew that but I didn't believe it until my butternuts, zucchini and summer squash all failed simultaneously. Now I believe. I sent about an acre of soil to NC State right before Christmas and will hear soon how to fix it. It's free. Duh, me.
On this first day of the New Year 2012, ever a hopeful or superstitious Southerner, we'll have the traditional pork for luck, collard greens for prosperity, peas to honor the frugal living of those who did the backbreaking hard work of farming before us and cornbread 9no flour, no sugar, please) the traditional bread of the South. All are foods our ancestors ate seasonally. Our peas will be cowpeas from Carolina Plantations, the cornmeal is North Carolina grown and the collards are mine. I am oh so tempted to make collard sandwiches a local delicacy of fried corn pone with collards sandwiched in the middle. It is quite good and very filling.
Wishing all a more prosperous new year and the best of luck.

Season's Greetings

Green Is My Garden

Our winter garden is all about the greens. Collards are BIG. Broccoli is the best ever. Wow. Sweet and crunchy steamed with a squeeze of lemon it is a gourmet treat. It's been an altogether fabulous Fall for the brassicas. I planted enough lettuce to eat every day and to share with neighbors. We are all happily eating Buttercrunch, Black Seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Romaine and Summercrisps spiced with Arugula. I am very proud of my lettuces. I grew them all from seeds and transplanted to raised beds with wire covers. Johnny's Seeds row covers are saving them every time the temps go low. Herbs are thriving in the cool weather. I had a crop failure with parsley last year but they are thriving this year in pots. Lesson learned on the parsley. Onions and garlic are up. Mustard and turnips are so-so because I planted them late.
Oh, I left out the kale and Swiss chard. All is well. And so are we.

Wild, Scenic

We made our annual pilgrimage to Princess Ann Landing. It was an absolutely lovely un-Black Friday. We were in shirt sleeves this year under a cloudless sky. No matter the weather The Lumber is a wonder. A quiet, peaceful river that's a great place to have fun.

Sliding Into Fall

Keeping plants alive has been a real challenge this summer with temperatures near 100 for weeks with no rain. Heck, the rain thing has gotten so bad I videoed it. (I miss summer thunderstorms.) I watered everything almost every day. We were rewarded with tomatoes and squash. I won the Squash Borer War but finally caved to powdery mildew this morning. All summer squash was pulled up this morning. Every summer is unique. The eggplant was a total bust. Sweet one hundreds have been more like sweet ones. Our favorite plant shop went out of business so we didn't get the plants we usually get and the ones we got weren't healthy. I planted my own tomato seeds so we have plants that are just waiting for a break in the heat to set fruit.
On the plus side, we have butternut squash developing and I've planted round two of tomatoes using rooted suckers. I planted lettuce seeds this morning and transplanted dill into bigger pots. Hope lives.

Garden update

We have peppers; jalepeno, bell and banana. Slowly, very slowly, tomatoes are ripening. Is this one of those 'watched pot' things? Squash are still alive and producing sporadically. I'm blaming the heat/drought. We are back to watering as often as we can. Sunflowers are moving on up and there was a hummingbird sighting yesterday supping on our bright red zinnias. My second round of parsley and basil are thriving. The last canteloupe was harvested today.
Winning in the fruit category are the figs again. No suprise there. What is surprising is that I caved and made Spicey Orange Fig Microwave Jam. Oo-la-la. Delicious.

Here's how:
Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3Tbs. lemon juice, 8 to 10 cut up figs, one peeled and chopped orange, 1/2 teaspoon of butter,1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Toss in some orange peel. Let it sit for 30 minutes. (you will have about 3 cups of stuff) Microwave on high 6 minutes. Stir. Microwave in 2 to 3 minute intervals stirring between each time. Microwave for a total of 15 minutes or until reduced to 2 cups. That's it. Makes to 8 oz jars if you want to put up or one large jar for the fridge. I see jam in someone's Christmas stocking...

Hand to hand combat in The Garden!

Ok. I tried the toilet paper roll and the aluminum foil and the squash borers came anyway. Which, I knew they would. So yesterday, in the blazing midday heat, in a fit of frustration, I pulled out a small paring knife and went after those bad boys. First you find where they've bored into the plant and, with surgeon-like precision, slice upward. Probe the slit much like the surgeons probed Lincoln's brain for Booth's bullets, and you will get the offending critter. Just like Lincoln, the plants are going to die no matter what. My logic follows that I should get some satisfaction. Altogether I killed six of the ugly bugs! The really cool thing is, the plants were still alive this morning and I'm still getting squash. A small victory in the garden for G-unit.