Lots to Do!

If you have ever read this blog, or know me personally, you know that I want a real garden. I have been learning about container gardening while renting, but I now have more than an acre to work with! There are so many possibilities that it is almost hard to decide where to start.

Here is a preview of some of the projects I am in the midst of.

When we originally looked at the house, there was a beautiful tree at the end of the driveway. It was tall and had a lovely shape. I was not sure what it was until mid June.

 

mmm, persimmons! now that is exciting! I started imagining all the persimmon pudding I would make this fall since the tree was completely loaded. But then:

 The poor tree was so full of fruit that it could not support itself. As the fruit ripened and plumped up, branches started drooping and cracking. Eventually, many of the branches had fallen, well sort of. I have done some minor pruning to take the weight of the fruit off of the broken branches since I currently do not have the means to properly prune the tree.

On the bright side, there is still plenty of  fruit to turn into persimmon pudding and give to my expansive persimmon-pudding-loving family!

 Also on the back of the house is a...uh...garden area. The English Ivy is quite lush! Wonder what was here before the ivy took over?  I would love to have an ornamental pond in this area. It is right below the kitchen window, so it would be pretty cool to have a flower garden to attract hummingbirds. You know I like my hummingbirds! Stay tuned to find out what happens.

 To the right of the English Ivy is a large Lilac bush. I have learned pruning these guys can be dramatic, but this time, I don't have to worry about what the landlord will think! Like the lilac I posted about previously, this one is in need of some serious surgery. Check out the suckers!

 

Even the front door is overgrown! can you find it? I know it is the wrong season to cut into these bushes, but I had to carve out a path to the door!

This Summer has been busy, and the Fall will continue on the same way. In the long run all this clean-up will be well worth it. In the mean time, my arms getting pretty buff :)

Green is the Color

Usually green is associated with Spring, but in this case it is my garden's theme for Autumn.  When I saw that the night time temperatures were in the 30's and that there was a frost advisory the other night, I decided it was time to gather my last harvest.  

Not a bad harvest considering my tomato crop really did not come on strong until late August.  The tomato plants spent the hot summer just trying to survive.  They struggled with minimal light and I realized that that I did not plant them deep enough.  As a result, they were not able to reach deep enough to find water when I (on occasion) did not have time to water.  At least there was coco chip mulch to hold the water when it did get watered.

This tomato plant got so big.  It really took off as the hot dry summer faded.  I could not find my twine to tie it up, so I just let it sprawl and take over.  It pretty much engulfed the poor little sweet red pepper.  I decided to let it go for two reasons.  Air filtration (because that's what plants do), and fried green tomatoes.  Since tomatoes just seemed to keep appearing I thought I would let them grow as long as the weather permitted.  So they grew bigger and bigger.

They are just beautiful.

 Too funny, I just realized there are 13 tomatoes!  Lucky 13?

 They will make a lovely fried green tomato dinner.  Maybe 2 dinners!  My husband and I have been looking forward to this for a while.

The pepper plants did not thrive as heartily as the tomatoes as the weather turned, but they did produce just a little something extra.

There are two small green peppers.  They have been the same size for about a month.  I guess the ground and night time temperatures have been too cool to encourage growth, but not cool enough to kill the peppers.

There were also two more baby banana peppers.  Unlike the sweet red peppers, these guys actually have made some growing progress in the last few weeks.  The two banana peppers I picked a few weeks ago (can be seen in this post) went into burritos.  yum.  These guys are half the size of the others though, so they might be a garnish if sorts, not sure just yet.

Last night my husband asked me if the little garden paid for itself, if it was worth the $$ investment.  I thought for a moment and told him probably not.  Though, the more I thought about it today, the more I think it might have come close to breaking even.  There was no really spectacular harvest, but the herbs alone more than paid for themselves.  Every time you buy a bundle of cilantro you could pay about the same for a plant that will produce more than what you just put in the produce bag at the grocery store.  It is true, jalapenos are very cheap, but if you can provide a plant with enough light, you will have reasonable success.  One of the things that made it valuable for me was that I could go out side and just grab a hand full of cilantro, a jalapeno, a bundle of fresh oregano, or mint and add it to what ever I was making.  It was the freshest produce I could hope for, and I did not even have to get in my car!  It was right there.

I would like to plant a fall crop in the future.  One with plants that actually like the cooler temperatures.  Do you have favorites to grow in the fall?

Happy Gardening

Philosophical Vegetables

90% of this dinner came from a garden, just not my garden.  I could have easily grown the main ingredients here in the Midwest.  Pumpkin, onion, garlic, potatoes, bell peppers.

What you see here is Pumpkin soup with rye bread from the Bread Basket, and bacon ranch potato salad.  (see the bottom of this post for the recipes, or check the recipe tab at the top of the screen for other yummy edibles)

This was a good dinner, but it just was not as satisfying as the dinners I have made this summer with ingredients from my own little garden.  There is something to be said for the fruits of our labors.  I think that so often we get wrapped up in what has to be done, and how little time there is to do it that we forget to look at our accomplishments and appreciate all the amazing things that we manage.  These things do not have to be big.  They can be little.  Lots of little things add up!

Thankless, never-ending tasks like laundry and dishes. Who wants to do any of that?!  But don't you feel better once you have made a dent?  What about washing the car?  It's one of those things that falls by the way-side in my drive way, but once it is done, (I mean really done including dusting inside!) it feels so much nicer.  I am a little proud of my clean car.  When I actually clean it, I tend to keep it nicer longer, you know, like clean the trash and junk out every time I get home :~)

This may seem to stray far from the gardening topic, but really I am just going out of my way to prove a point.  When we invest ourselves in what we do we pay closer attention to the details.  Our accomplishments are a bit sweeter when we can take a look at the bigger picture of what the tiny details create.  A cozy home, a loving family . . . a beautiful garden!

Making dinner tonight got me to thinking about these things.  I knew dinner was going to be pretty good, but wouldn't it have been better if the ingredients came from my own garden?

That is just what I am going to do.  We have to dream.  So I am dreaming up a little place where I will have a little house with a big garden.  A place where my husband and I can be proud of our dinner, because we grew it ourselves!  I have been called naive, a romantic, these types of things.  As long as we remember to keep a little reality in sight than a little whimsy helps keep the practical more interesting.

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Pumpkin Soup

2TBS oil
1 medium onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms
2 bay leaves
2 cups cooked (about 3/4c dry)
           or
      1 can navy beans
2 cups or 1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground coriander
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
*In a large soup pot, heat oil until hot.  Add onion and garlic; saute until golden.  Cover with 4 cups water (use bean cooking liquid if cooking beans from scratch)
*Add mushrooms and bay leaves; bring to a simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender.
*Add remaining ingredients.  Adjust consistency with water as needed.

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Bacon Ranch Potato Salad

1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
3lb small red potatoes cooked and quartered
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 stalk celery, sliced
1/2 cup red pepper sliced thin
4 green onions, sliced
*Mix dressings and seasonings in a large bowl.  Add remaining ingredients; mix lightly.  Refrigerate any leftovers.

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I was in a bit of a hurry making these recipes and did not follow all directions to a T.  Make to your taste!  A recipe is only another person's idea really, unless we are talking baking where there is actually science involved!  We will leave science for another day and leave today with dewy philosophical ideas.

Garden Visit ~ Klein Parents

It's hard to believe that it was last Tuesday that my husband and I piled the dog, our toothbrushes and a nice little gift into the truck for a trip to Indy.  My one and only nephew turned 1 last week!  He is a giggly red headed little guy! It was a sweet party.  My brother, the proud papa, made an awesome carrot cake.  I brought my camera with me but forgot to take pictures.  oops

We packed our toothbrushes so we could stay the night with the Klein parents and not have to drive back home that night.  So the next morning after breakfast, I pulled out the camera to take pictures of the back yard.  I know, less exciting than a 1 year old birthday party.  But this blog is about gardens.

I got a few seeds from this Cana lily.  Hummingbirds like the bright red flowers.

The Klein parents have always had a fair amount of plants and landscaping around the house.  I think they got more adventurous living in Florida.

I remember there being a few orchids hanging on the lanai when they lived in Florida.  I thought that it was probably the best environment for them since it was hot and kinda humid.  Really, they can be grown anywhere as long as the conditions are right.  Theirs have been hanging in trees in the back yard this summer.

This one put out a flower spike and is now growing a new leaf.

This one is also putting out a new leaf.  There is a regular afternoon rain shower/sometimes storm in FL in the later part of summer.  I guess despite the lack of consistent rain this summer the orchids have adjusted to Indiana!

This summer my dad has been working with Geist Nursery.  I think this is why they have tomato plants coming out their ears.  50 or so seedlings on a tray does not look like too much really . . . but once they grow up a bit and need their own space, it's another story!

Moses thinks he is hunting down what ever it is that keeps eating all the tomatoes just before they turn ripe.  This bed is along the garage.

This is about the ripest tomato I saw that was not a miniature variety.  Apparently the squirrels have been getting to the fruit before any people have a chance to pick a ripe tomato.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?!

Here is the row along the driveway.  The are pups patrolling the perimeter.  Izzi loved spending the night with these two!  The odds are pretty good that we will look for another pup soon, I think I had as much fun watching them play as they had playing.

Cute little tomatoes along the driveway.

These little gems are on a "bush" at the corner of the house.

This huge plant is over 6 feet tall.  There are 3 steps up to a door on the right side of this picture just to give you an idea of scale.  The little plant in front of the tomato bush, er-uh, I mean tre . . . plant is a green pepper.  My dad has hooks screwed into the side of the house to tie this monster to so it can stand up.

Izzi found something growing in the back of the yard.

It is a squashy sort of plant spreading out to it's hearts delight.

There is a little baby acorn squash.  That will make for some yummy autumn/winter dinner!
I hope you have enjoyed the tour through the first guest garden.