Author: Garry

We did get a good amount of slow steady rain for the last few days and the coming week looks promising as well.

The blueberries are hitting on all cylinders and I’m picking off ripe berries and canning them into delicious jam every other day. I’ll be picking and canning again today. I’ve put up 24 half pint jars from the three batches thus far, about half of what I’d like to have on hand for eat’n and for gift’n.

The jalapeno’s are at the point where some will need to come of the plants soon. I’ll be putting these up as slices and as an important ingredient when salsa making time rolls around (another month?). Right now I’m looking at making some pepper jelly out of them. I’ve gathered several good recipes all of which call for bell peppers (which are rare in my garden right now) and none of which call for banana peppers (of which there are some few more), so I’ll be experimenting some as I put these up.

My excuse for not posting yesterday is/was the mowing and weed-eating of the front fence line; about 1600 linear feet. The mowing part is easy, trimming under the barb wire and around the T-posts could have been a pain in the ass if it were not so beautiful out. The posting will be less numerous than in the past as I’m making an earnest attempt to avoid shallow political memes; I’ll still throw up a particularly poignant one (or more) if they are enlightening or humorous.

I converted the Blueberries I picked yesterday into jam today. It’s made from the simplest of recipes: 7 cups berries (crushed to 5), 6 cups sugar, a package of pectin and a quarter cup of lemon juice. This produced 8 half pints of the great tasting jam. This was water bath canned for 10 minutes.

In the morning I’ll place it along side of the three types of orange marmalade I’ve put away; one from Naval oranges, one from a mix of Naval and Valencia oranges, and one made from ‘blood’ oranges.

I drove out to where I know blackberries are growing to see if the rain has helped them to plump up some: yea, kinda/sorta helped but it’s going to take a couple of more days of occasional rain to get them into good condition. Maybe by the first week in July the crop will be mature and I can go pickin !

The advances in information technology sometimes leave me feeling like I’m a babe lost in the woods. I’ve been battling a number of attacks on this website over the last several weeks. I’ve not won the war but believe that I’ve found a way to keep the barbarians from the gates.

Thanks to all who have written. I’m good.

The garden is going like gangbusters. I’ve got 40 Roma’s in this year (twice as many as last year) and I’ve put a lot of time into keeping them pruned. Last year I lost quite a bit of crop to pest and pestilence; something that could have been mitigated by having good airflow and sunshine. I’ve planted both Bessers (cherry) and Bonny Best for salads, sandwiches, and dehydrating.

I picked Blueberries some this afternoon and have exactly enough (7 cups) for the first batch of Blueberry Jam. I was/am worried about the wild Blackberries because so little rain has fallen in the last two weeks. We had several passing showers today and the promise of more in the coming days so I’m hopeful we’ll get enough moisture to get them fat and juicy.

Anyway, thanks again to all who sent along well wishes. I’m still fat and happy!

1 May is the average last frost day at my place. Experience has shown that if I put anything that can be harmed by frost into the ground before then, I’ll end up scrambling to get a heavy layer of straw over whatever that might be. Almost always, that will end up being tomatoes and peppers. They are typically out of control before the temps stabilize.

I’m a slow learner, but I got it. 1 May. 27 days from now.

I’ve put a couple of days into rehabilitating my garden plot. Here is a picture I took today of one of my three raised bed areas. It’ll take a day or so to bring this back up to snuff. I could take less time, but the small tiller has given up the ghost again and so each of these 10 beds will need to be turned by hand.

When I get done it’ll look like the area I’m currently working in (below). That little tiller is perfect for lifting into and out of the boxes (when the son-ofa-bitch runs).

I’m thinking that we are past the point where we could get a hard freeze, so I reestablished the water supply to the garden and watered those things that I have in the ground. The lettuce is coming along, I’ve got 5 varieties going.

Strawberries were happy to get a sprinkle of cool water as well. These are a ever-bearing and will produce throughout the summer

Everything is beginning to flower, the strawberries above, the thyme below, and I’ve got so many bees on my blueberry bushes I’m afraid to go near them! I’ve even had one of my apple trees show off a bloom…..just one.

The Thyme (above and below) is getting ready to get some company; oregano. I’ve carved out a space in the box where the garlic and thyme is, dirtied up the soil (if that makes sense) and lined it off with rocks.

Those four blocks in the center of the photo below are seeded with oregano. There’s maybe 25 or 30 plants.

All of those things I had in the mini-green house needs to be replanted. I’ve got my red solo cups all loaded with soil and lights erected.

I may have waited a day or two too long, as some of the seedling are getting ‘leggy’ . Those long legged guys below are cabbage! I’ve replanted most everything that got this far along, buried them up to nearly their leaves in a solo cup..

So now the little mini-greenhouse will be reloaded with the next batch of goodies for the garden: I’m thinking cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, eggplant, pattypan squash. Just thinking about cool, fresh, juicy cantaloupe makes the whole garden experience worth it!.

Y’all enjoy your quarantine and pray for those that are away from their loved ones at this time. It’ll be over soon enough and we will all be eating cantaloupe.

Surprisingly, I had cabbage appear in the seeding tray last night. Hard to believe that what should have taken 10-15 days to appear, showed up in 2. I started 10- seeds of two types: ‘Early Golden Acre‘ and ‘Ferry’s Round Dutch‘. The former is an early variety that harvests in 60 days, the later in 71. Again, my thoughts are to put out more than I need in case the sky falls in and we ramp up the number of folk that garden needs to support. Cabbage can be stored for a couple of years if fermented (sauerkraut) and canned so what isn’t immediately needed will be available for the next crisis.

All of the pepper’s are up and growing in the tray except the California Wonder (green bell pepper). I’ll be moving these into solo cups this week to make room in my mini-greenhouse for the many other seeds that need to be hurried along.

I drove into Redstone Arsenal yesterday to collect the wife’s meds. They have kinda/sorta figured out how to do drive by distribution. It was slow and clumsy but I felt much better about collecting them that way then walking into a crowded facility where everyone was sick. The Asian market is about 4 miles from the Arsenal, so I stopped by there and picked up some more kimchi sauce and a Korean Radish for another batch.

I got a note from Victory Seed Company this morning letting me know that my most recent order has shipped. This will get me egg plant, dill, Napa lettuce, and arugula (alternative to basil for pesto) and a few other things.

Now if the weather will just cooperate, I could get all of the beds conditioned and primed tor a great gardening season.