Vegetable Garden and Chicks

The heat has taken its toll on the vegetable garden. The veggies have been waterlogged and then no rain for sometime now. I forget how long it's been since we had a rain. I tried to save it by watering but nothing is making now.

The blueberries are doing very well despite lack of rain. They are big and juicy.

The chicks have gone to live at my mom's. I do not have the ability to build me a coop by myself and I have no one else who could build it for me. Anyway they will be fine and I will visit them.

Hope everyone has a great garden day and stay hydrated.

Cooked Fresh Vegatables from the Garden

This is the second picking of snap beans, the fifth picking of squash, and the third picking of blueberries. These are the only white squash so far. Nearly everything is about done making. All that is left are some tomatos, bell pepper, jalapeno and peas. I have picked only four very small cucumbers.

This is what I did with the squash. Zucchini and yellow squash with a whole onion and bell pepper and sliced Conecuh Smoked Sausage. Any smoked sausage will do. Stir fry in a little oil and season with cajun seasoning, garlic, salt and pepper. Serve over rice. Ummm.

The snap beans cooked with just a little oil and salt and pepper and a dash of cajun seasoning. Can you tell I like cajun seasoning. It adds a little or a lot of flavor depending how much you use.

Done with the cooking.

Hope your veggie gardens are doing well and you are reaping an abundance.

After the Rain

The ground was wet and we had fog this morning but it wasn't on the ground. It does appear that way in the photos.



My first dahlia is about to bloom. Not sure which one this is till it blooms.





This is what the veggie garden looked like last week.

This is the veggie garden this morning. All of blooms you see will fall off today when it rains. All of the blooms for the past 5-6 days have fallen off from so much rain. Everyday we are getting a little too much for the gardens to be comfortable.

This is blooms from the zucchini squash. Looks like two yellow stars.

This is the snap beans that are ready to pick. I'll pick these today if I am not rained out when I get home. All of the bushes are full. The extra rain isn't hurting the beans.

The blueberries are about ready to pick. Some have turned already but not enough to make a picking yet. I'm thinking of all the goodies I'll make with the blueberries. Muffins. Pancakes. Cobbler. Cake. The list is endless.

This looks like lantana to me. Maybe Lantana Confetti. I did not plant this one. It is actually growing in with some overgrown bushes. It is a big plant but only these two blooms.

Our weather is suppose to be improving. After today the rain chance is going down and a little less humidity. Walking outside is like walking into a sauna. You break a sweat immediately.

I have company coming and I can't wait to see my daughter, April hubby Brian and Gavin, Ben and Luci. They will begin their vacation here in Mobile then to Gulf Shores and then to Pensacola for other family. I am planning to cook gumbo for them. I'll share the recipe next week.

Have a nice day everyone... Becca

Buddy and My Veggies

Buddy said, "let me out. No I'm not going to roll in the dirt. Dirt may jump up on me. I want to know if my blogger buddies have to go thru this. My skin tingles. Let me out." Needless to say he did not go out till he was dry.

Soon I'll be making blueberry cobbler. The bush is loaded.

There were about 10-12 hills that did not come up. So I bought filler plants. This is collards. I know they are a cold weather plant - but Walmart had them for sale and they were new arrivals. We'll see. It looks healthy.

I think these beans have the prettiest flower. The bushes are loaded with flowers. Beans should soon appear.

Beans on the left and okra on the right. On the other side of the okra are some watermelon plants. They aren't growing very fast. I am sure they are not getting enough sun. I planted 3 more watermelon plants last week as filler plants. These are in a sunnier spot of the garden.

Squash on the right. This weekend I worked my butt off. I pulled grass, hoed, pulled dirt around the stems to sturdy them and fertilized everything. My everything was sore yesterday.

This might be all I'm gonna get from these pears. Seems neither of my fruit trees produce anything etable.

Why do these peaches have this STUFF on them and what is it? It is thick and sort of solid. It is all over the peaches.

This is as big as they are gonna get I suppose.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Squash

My first veggies from the garden. Wednesday I picked 2 and yesterday 4. Today I expect at least 6-8. Every day I should be able to pick squash till they stop producing. They look small but that is when they are the most tender. My mom has always picked them this small. Like mother like daughter. Oh yea - the wine it was good too.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll catch you on Monday.

The Vegatable Garden and Other Stuff

Summer has arrived - but the calender says it is still spring. Saturday was hot as I headed to the vegatable garden and could only work for an hour before giving it up. I needed to loosen the dirt around the veggies and pull it in around the bottom of the stem. This is hard work as I try to remove as much grass as I can between the rows and around the plants. The veggies are growing and beginning to produce.


The garden was planted around the 27th of March and that is when this was taken. The squash and jalapeno was planted first. Enlarge the photo to see the babies just planted.

Before photo.
This was taken on Sunday after pulling the dirt around the plants. Back breaking work but oh so rewarding. I love my gardening.

Now photo.

Sunday afternoon it began to rain and continued into yesterday. Very heavy rain between midnight and 8:30 (I was late for work). We received around 10". It beat my plants up pretty bad.

This is a white squash that received some damage. It is laying on the ground. Many were found lying on the ground this morning.

This is the snap beans. They are doing very well. Not much damage to these babies. Snap beans cooked with a few red potatos and some cooked bacon and drippings. Ummm. Oh and don't forget the cornbread.

The squash are producing. I will have squash in 6-8 days. I like them small - as they are more tender.

Slice squash and add some green onion, salt and pepper, simmered and kinda mash a little and add butter. It is off the chain.

Some squash with some rain damage.

Tomato plants are fine. Gotta get some baskets around them. They have begun to flower.

The Chicken Coop. Along this fence is where I plan to erect a coop. The brush on the right and the left have to be cut back a lot. I really want the stuff cut down altogether - but that will come down the road. I feel like this area will be a good spot as it will back up to the wood fence and is fairly close to the house. Critters from the woods would have to cross over the yard to get to them as the coop is on the opposite side of the property.

This will be my next flower garden project. Plants are on their way from Springhill Nursery and I have some other stuff to plant so I'll be needing this one soon.

I will open up the end facing the house and curve it to the porch. I will create a walk area where the tar paper is laying and fill it with pavers and small rock or sand. Doing this will enhance the front yard area nicely.

That's it for today. Hope everyone has a terrific day and Happy Gardening... Becca

Gardening and Other Stuff

I had a good and productive weekend. How do you like my new bench compliments of my cousin who has recently moved in with me. Buddy makes a good supervisor even though he is looking the other way. He's watching.An antique wash basin stand compliments of the previous tenants.

My peaches are turning and falling to the ground before they mature. I had this problem last year and thought OK the trees need some fertilize and pruning. Done. The tree and the fruit look better than last year even though the fruit is not maturing. They are not ripe to eat. Anybody with any ideas - please speak up.

The appearance of my Johnsons Blue Geranium. Can't wait to see this baby bloom.

First appearance of cannas.

Seeds dropped by the Troy and Karma (cousins grandkids) a week ago. These seeds came from National Home Garden Club and is a mixture.

Everyone needs a garden frog. And he is doing a marvelous job in this bed.

Looks like velvet - royal purple. You can almost see these babies growing.

Ranucula planted in March. It doesn't seem to be growing like I think it should. No buds yet. Is this a finicky plant?

These petunias are putting on a very colorful show. They seem to be giving it all everyday. You can watch them grow.

I will be eating squash - I'm guessing 3-4 wks. They are not blooming yet - but once they start it'll be no time to mature. The other plants in the garden are doing remarkably well. Everything in the yard is requiring the garden hose over the past 7-9 days and there is no prediction of rain anytime soon either.

Pop said that I need to break up the dirt around the plants and pull it back in around the stems. I'm planning to get this done this coming weekend. And you can see that I have grass coming up between the rows. This is the first time for a garden in this spot so grass is to be expected. I need to pull as much as my poor body can handle this weekend.

The blueberry bush is loaded. These should mature in the next 3 weeks or so. I can almost taste the blueberry cobbler. Oh and I'll remove all of the calories and fat before eating.

My sweet little Buddy. He takes such a good picture.

We had a stranger show up on Saturday and Buddy struck up a friendship. This bull dog had escaped from her yard and was returned to her parents as soon as they came back home. Isn't she pretty. Buddy didn't care that she was more that twice his size - I really don't think Buddy knew.

On a final note I have been waiting for my magnolia's to bloom and yes they are blooming but only on the top areas of the tree. Same thing last year. I have no idea why only the tops of the trees bloom.

Anyway - Happy Gardening to all of my blogger friends and have a nice day.

What I Found in The Garden

I found the squash are doing remarkably well. They have grown at least 3" since I put them in the ground. That is a deer print to the left.



Doesn't this baby look good. Peas poking out to the sun. I love to see the baby just as it breaks the surface - and rolls the dirt back. It took 7 days for most to make show and I think that is pretty good.

The butter beans are popping up. All of the seeds that I planted on April 5th have broken the surface.

If you enlarge this photo you can clearly see the green popping out all over the garden. I expect next week I'll be showing the seeds that I planted this past weekend.

This is the row of yellow crook neck squash doing very well. My mouth is already watering for squash, green onion and butter. Hmmm

Yep this is the deer checking to see what may be coming up for dinner. I think the contraption that I am going to put together for the "fencing" will have to go up. I have in my head what I am going to do. After I get it up I'll post pictures and let you know how well it is working.

I counted 3 set of deer prints. I appeared to be a lightweight while the others were a medium and a large.

Hope you all have a nice day working in the gardens on this beautiful day and we'll look for the photos.