Day 34

at work earlier this week i was talking to one of the residents about my garden. a lot of them enjoy hearing about it because it reminds them of their own gardening days. somehow i ended up telling this gentleman, Walt, that i was growing ground cherries. i had never heard of ground cherries before reading about them in my Seed Savers catalog, but as soon as i mentioned them he said, "oh yeah, my mom used to grow those. she made really good preserves out of them." that made me very happy. i told him that if i made any ground cherry preserves in the fall i would bring him a jar.

it brings me great pleasure to have in my garden an heirloom fruit that probably most people don't grow anymore, but that brings back good memories for someone from an earlier generation. that's the beauty, and part of the mission, of seed savers and i'm glad to be carrying on the tradition.

(if you've been around me at all since the winter you have heard me mention (or go on and on) Heritage Farm and the Seed Savers Exchange. if you haven't and are at all interested in my gardening inspiration i suggest you request their catalog by going to the link above. it's a treasure.)

Day 31

we haven't had any rain for weeks and weeks, but i water the garden regularly with the sprinkler. last thursday evening we had a nice rain; steady, but not too hard. we had a busy weekend so i hadn't looked at the garden too closely, but when i went out there on sunday i couldn't believe what a difference it had made. my tomato plants had grown up past the base of the trellis, my pepper plants had tiny peppers on them, my herbs and newly planted carrots had shot up--it was amazing. rain is such a miracle. sprinklers and watering have their place, but there's nothing like a good rain to soak the whole ground to make things grow.

Good Eats, Sweet Treats, and Shakespeare

yesterday was a fabulous day at the Tanner house. my husband, tim, preached the sermon in church so we invited the usual family and friends to join us. the guest list consisted of the following: Angela Barber, Ben Barber, Ashley Barber, Jeremy Barber, the future Mrs. Jeremy Barber (aka Krissy Ball) Ben Yancer, Katie Carlson, Daniel Murauskas, and Ronald and Mandy McWilliams. i guess i should say "attendees" instead of "guest list," because we just put the word out and invited everyone.

actually, if you want to read about the day just read Daniel's post for the details. he gives a good rundown. the surprise guest at Shakespeare he didn't mention was Brett, so i will add him here. what i will also add are the most-requested recipes from yesterday's lunch. here they are:

Thai-Style Peanut Sauce

4 cloves fresh garlic
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup regular or reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 teaspoons finely minced fresh ginger or bottled minced ginger
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Asian (dark) sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (omit if serving small children)
1/2 cup water

1. Peel the garlic. With the blender on, drop the garlic cloves, one at a time, through the opening in the lid. Chop fine.

2. Pour the lime juice into the blender container. Stop the blender and add all the remaining ingredients. Pulse on high speed until the ingredients are just combined, about 5 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the blender container and pulse 3 or 4 more itmes. The sauce is now ready to use in recipes or as a dipping sauce, or it can be refrigerated or frozen for future use.

(This recipe was taken from the cookbook Cheap. Fast. Good! by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. You can check out the book for more recipes to use the peanut sauce with.)


Marinated Carrots

5 cups sliced, cooked carrots
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 can tomato soup
1/2 cup oil
1cup sugar
3/4 cup vinegar
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp worcestershire
1 tsp salt

Mix and pour over hot carrots. Marinate 12 hours.


Grandma's Lemon Cake

Lemon cake mix
1 sm. package lemon jello
4 eggs
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup oil

Mix these ingredients together pour in a 9x13 pan. Bake for 38-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice

Poke holes in cake with meat fork and pour on the glaze. Yummy.


Butterscotch (or pudding flavor of your choice) Fluff

First layer:
1cup flour
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Combine ingredients and pat into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool.

Second layer:
1 (8oz.) package cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whipped topping (Cool Whip)
Mix, then spread on first layer.

Third layer:
2 pkg. instant pudding (flavor of your choice)
3 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
Beat, then spread on second layer.

Fourth layer:
Spread Cool Whip over third layer then sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Day 22

a red letter day for my garden: my trellis is up! yesterday tim cut the pipes and pounded them in and today, my day off, i fastened on the nylon trellis netting. it looks great. my garden finally looks like it's coming together. most of the plants aren't tall enough to reach the netting yet, but they will grow.

(i will post pictures eventually. i've been taking them weekly, but they just take so long to upload on dial-up. you have no idea. i haven't the patience.)

Day 15

Yesterday I decided that one of my mistakes starting out was not thoroughly soaking my soil after preparing it in the beds. It dries out quickly because it started out dry and the watering doesn't penetrate very deeply. Note for next year: soak the garden BEFORE planting seeds. I tried to remedy it by holding the hose really close and soaking it block by block, trying not to disturb the soil very much. It's better, but some areas are still dry.

friday i went out and planted some more seeds. i lost some tomato plants and was afraid i wouldn't have any of two varieties: "cream sausage" (yellow) and "wisconsin-55" (red). i planted two of the former and one of the latter. i also pulled up three of my stressed eggplants and started them over from seed. i'll leave the other three to see if they produce anything. oh, and i also put out three more tomatillos to start from seed since my previous starts all died. i don't know if there is time enough in the growing season for the new tomato plants or the eggplant to produce fruit before frost, but it's all an experiment so i don't mind trying.

i think that's one of the reasons i like gardening. i have some control over how it turns out, but for the most part it's just put the seeds in the ground and see what happens. if it doesn't work, i'll try something different next year. and i'll start earlier.

yesterday i went searching for some of my missing plants. i had one square of "charantais" melon that hadn't come up yet, and one cucumber plant, so i went digging (gently, of course) to see if they were on their way or not at all. i think the charantais is still coming, but i planted another couple cucumber seeds because i couldn't find them anywhere. i also planted some more basil, and a square of marigolds that the cats dug up. darn cats.

i have a toad living by my house. he likes it where the faucet drips and makes the pan beneath overflow. i thought he just hung out under the bush there, but i caught him today crawling out from a hole beneath the house. i wish he lived down by my garden. they eat the bad insects. i like to have him around.

Day 11

After Angela and Jeremy helped me get my garden plot up on Sunday, May 27 the first seeds were planted on May 28. The last seeds haven't been planted yet. This blog is henceforth my Gardener's Journal. I will make periodic entries pertaining to the health and progress of my plants, observations, and thoughts for improvement. I might muse on other topics now and then, but gardening is my primary occupation at the moment. So now to my first entry:

Day 11

today is very windy, gusting to 50+ mph. it blew over some of my pepper plants, but i temporarily staked them upright again and hopefully they will strengthen and survive. all four of my tomatillo seedlings are suddenly dead. they were never strong in the first place (stupid wal-mart seeds). i might plant some seeds from scratch in their place just in case they will mature by the end of the season. i want to make mexican green sauce.

my bean seeds (calypso and tiger's eye) are sprouting amazingly. they come up fast and they're instantly huge. i finally see my mexican sour gherkins coming up. they're not nearly as large as the a&c pickling cucumber seedlings. oh well. as long as they're healthy.

another note about the pepper plants: i remember reading that seedlings are susceptible to root rot if you over water them. i figured that after i put them in the ground i wouldn't have to worry about overwatering, but the stems looked weak and waterlogged somehow. maybe i'll only water my sprouting seedlings and not my established plants for the next few days.

i can finally see some of my herbs coming up. the faster they grow the better. i need their aromas to protect my other plants. they're my little sentinels.

i think the broccoli and brussels sprouts might be a failure. i'll just let them go peacefully and plant some in mid-summer to mature in the fall like the books say.