What I learned in 2012:

1. Oregano is an invasive species in The South. It is a ground cover that sends out roots along the vine and propagates itself a lot like mint. It is not a neat plant. Moving to pots ASAP. 

2.  A season without parsley is a long time to do without. Combined with that invasive oregano I'm growing it makes a wonderful chimichurri. Both survive southern winters. A jar of chimichurri in the fridge is like money in the bank. Such a beautiful deep green and cheaper to make than pesto.  

3. Turnips should be in my annual rotation. Itty bitty roots cooked in a gratin are wonderful. The greens cooked in apple cider are wonderful also. 

4. I can grow cauliflower from seed. Somehow I got it right.

5. Grilled okra. Oil, salt and pepper, who knew it would be so good?!

6. I really don't like brussels sprouts but it's not all about me so I grow them.
7. The protective cloth I bought to cover tender plants in winter really works.
8. I can save seeds and they will sprout the next year!
9. Tomatoes are always a pain, always a pain, always a pain...
10. Zinnias. Just plant zinnias. When they get powdery mildew pull them up and plant some more from the seeds saved from the original plants. They are a win-win. Bees love them, butterflies love them, I love them.

Chimichurri

1 cup parsley leaves and tender stems

1/4 to 1/2 cup oregano leaves

3 cloves garlic

1 whole dried pepper

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup oil

Blend them all together. Use to flavor soup, any recipe Mexican, roasted chicken. 

New!

This season's new and wonderful plant surprise is brussels sprouts. I started with ordered seeds. They germinated, I planted them and the birds ate most of the seedlings. Then, one Saturday morning, in a fit of frustration I made Scott drive me (I couldn't even muster the strength to drive because I used it all to have the fit) to Bell's Garden Center in Fayetteville to buy fall plants. The fit was a whole lot like the Witch of the West melting scene. I really did lose it. It was all about work, being too tired to do the things I enjoy and my garden. It was one of those bad to worse kinda days. Ooo, bad. But. All is well, now. The store bought broccoli was delicious. The big box kale is tasty and the brussels are making little knobs that are cute as can be. And check it out; who knew brussels sprouts are frost hardy? Not us. So cool. I'm guessing we are going to harvest some of the best, tender, sweet and yummy orbs in the short, dark days of winter.

Note to self: Get a hair cut and grow a beard before going back to Bell's. I really was a mess that day. Very edgy. Phew.

Lumber River Fun

What's hap'nin?!

Thanksgiving and the 15th Annual Black Friday Black Water Princess Ann Festival again. Both were very, very nice. 

I made a pecan pie, then Katie made another one. Brilliant! Scott fried a turkey. Brilliant! We ate kale from the garden. Brilliant! That was Thanksgiving.

 On the third day, Black Friday, we piled canoes, kayaks, dogs, food and people into cars and trucks and high tailed it to The River, again. We really don't know how long we've done it but one year Hanna tipped over in her kayak and lost her glasses. Another year Will brought a friend, last year his sweetie. Richard's mom and dad came one year. Dana lives on in our memories, now. Megan, Brandon, Dee and Walt came at least twice. Once when the kids were very young and again when they were old enough to pilot the boats independently. That was a really fun day. We played pirates on the river...racing and attacking each other on that warm Indian summer day. Lawrence came one year. We showed him where we find Indian artifacts. Jonathan hasn't been in many years but that last year he went out in the canoe with me. I remember as if it were just last week. Katie has filled in twice as the only kid. Both times there were rousing games of horse shoe. She wins every year. Focus. She has focus and form. This years pics...

Click on the picture above and you will see dozens of turkey vutures returning to their evening roost. 

School makes me boring and I don't get to garden either...

Our garden looks a mess. Should I quit my perfectly good and well paying job to stay home, garden, play with the cats, and walk the dog? Gentle reader, do tell. I know the answer but my mind rebels. A sick day might sooth the weary soul. Hmm. Or I could really fake it and make it two.
Middle class is not what I thought it would be and poor ole Lumberton has shrunk up like the imaginary town in "Cars".  For a solid year after the movie I would cry to the soulful song "Our Town" sung by our own James Taylor. I still listen to it when I'm feeling sorry for our southeastern NC tiny towns that have lost mostly every thing but criminals, attorneys, teachers and preachers. If we didn't have poverty we wouldn't have a hospital and those jobs would go aways too.  Thank God for Obama's stimulus money: they finally paved the streets in my neighborhood so the cars don't go rattling by anymore. Now, they go "swooOOOoooosh".
This Saturday morning ramble is a sad procrastination. In all fairness, it is too dewy to get out there and do the dastardly and pull out half dead tomatoes, beans and zinnias with still pretty flowers.
...just in via text: Joy The Neighbor's Silkie just laid her first egg.  And it's a beauty folks! Now I'm all moody again, because I know if I can't keep up with the garden, no way I can do chickens. Ah, the plight of the working class urban gardner. Pish.

Cruciferous!? Yuck. Oh, right, broccoli. My favorite!

Wow. The broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprout seeds germinated in record time.  Cool. Guess the heat and humidity is good for something. It took will power and determination to suck it up, go outside, and go through the process of planting in our outdoor sauna. A million years of evolution made me do it. If Great Granny Lucy could do it so can I. That kind of thing.

Imagine my shock when I checked my cauliflower seedlings and saw that a bird had snacked on more than half of them. On a happier note I found twenty random parsley sprouts from the plants I let go to seed (see June posting). These will winter over in pots enhancing out winter dinners. Lovely. Looking forward to a pleasant Southern fall and a mild Southern winter.

Icky Sticky

Lots of ick factor in the garden these days. Humidity is over the top, very much like a sauna. Great for the skin not so great for vegetables and annuals. My gloom/doom prediction manifested in my zinnias so today I will be pickin' and pullin' hoping to stop the fungus from spreading immediately to melons and squashes. Powdery mildew is a death sentence for plants. Leaving them in the garden just allows the airborne spores to spread so I do it military style, "The hard, right thing."  Tomatoes show signs of all manner of pestilence: fungus, virus, bacterial infection, bugs, sudden death. Name it, they've got it. Triage is the worst part of gardening, almost. But do it! Do not fight fungus, it is the dementor of the Southern garden. It slowly sucks the life out of plants and the fight out of you. Save your energy for the coming days of Fall when the humidity drops and all living things thrive again.

On a happier note, we had stewed tomatoes and okra with dinner last night. It's something I scorned as a child when my grandmother served it. I'd been offered straight-up, slimy, stewed, grayish, okra before and no way I was going to give it a second chance. Never say, never or you'll end up eating your words and the vegetable too. Rustic, or country style, is this dish. Sauté one clove garlic in oil, pour in prepped tomatoes, chop some okra and throw it in, stir and stew on low temp about 30-45 minutes until the okra is tender.  It is wonderful with white rice, more wonderful with brown rice.

Planting and planning note: Broccoli and all it's cousins (collards, kale, cauliflower, mustard) should be planted now in our coastal NC gardens. Cicadas are calling for Fall planting!

July 1, 2014

Our veggie patches are alive despite epic heat. Truly. Epic heat. The past two days have been the hottest ever recorded on their respective dates. Thank goodness for preceding rain, ongoing watering and today a relative temperate break and overcast skies. Of course I predict gloom and doom. Powdery mildew, wilt and fungus are right round the corner. Squash bugs moved in overnight. But I am Brave!   Scottish blood flows in these veins. I squished them with my bare hands. No mercy. Alas, no picture of the carnage and I remain exasperated by my summer squash failures.