Spring Blooms Brighten Up an Early Saturday Morning

The first amaryllis to open sings a spring song and is backed up by a chorus of bright day lilies.

Spring mornings can be delicious, especially if they fall on a Saturday.  After the much-needed rain of this past week, this morning was a good one to take a peek at all the plants in the backyard, which I did early this morning, getting my slippers and cuffs of my fleece pants wet from the dewy grass.

These tiny cherry tomato blooms foretell more good things to come.

Giant salvia ready to attract bees and butterflies.

Delicate green pea blossoms await the morning sunshine.

These fire spikes have made it through the cold months and continue to liven up the yard.

This angel-wing begonia brightens up the patio year after year.

Even Without Much Rain, Delicious Veggies Coming from the Garden

Another evening’s garden pickings: lettuce, peas, turnips, and a few green onions.

On this last day of the month, another front came through this afternoon bringing in a cool spring wind from the north, but March is hardly “going out like a lion.”  Though we’ve had other storms come through, not much precipitation has come with the wind.

Despite the lack of much rain, the little garden behind the garage has been producing fresh vegetables for supper.  The turnips, especially, have been delicious, whether raw or cooked.

The beans I’ve planted haven’t come in very well, and i don’t know whether I will fill in with more.  In reality, fresh, store-bought beans taste pretty good, and there’s no bending over to pick them.

Green peas and turnips sautéed with some bits of green onion, all fresh from the garden, make for a delicious veggie dish for supper.

“I Didn’t Just Fall Off the Turnip Truck . . .”

The evening’s garden pickings–a batch of lettuce and several crunchy Hakurei turnips.

I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck, but this is the first time that I’ve ever tried growing turnips.  Based on the Harris County Extension Planting Calendar, I planted turnips, lettuce, peas, and carrots in November, and of all of these, the turnips seem to be doing the best.

They came up thick, and I didn’t thin them, but I reckon I will be doing that as I pull up some to eat.  The tops are full and green, and cover the roots, which are basically trying to push themselves out of the ground.

I planted a hybrid turnip, called Hakurei, which I ordered online from Johnny’s Seeds.  Overall, I like this seed company and feel like I’m getting better quality and more seeds to the packet compared to what I get at the neighborhood big box stores.  Of course, with the shipping the cost is going to be more; however, Johnny’s Seeds has a fast turnaround on the order; I’ve usually gotten the seeds in my mailbox just a couple of days after I placed the order.

These Hakurei turnips are crunchy and have a mild flavor.  I also like a turnip that has a bit of a bite, so next fall, I think I’ll plant the traditional purple-top as well.

Last evening, I also picked some of the lettuce that I had planted at the same time as the turnips.  A lot of lettuce had gotten washed out with the rains in December and January, so what was left had gotten mature and stemy.  I decided to make wilted lettuce (recipe here) and try using some of the turnip tops too.  Even with the combination of flavorings of fried bacon, sugar, and vinegar, the greens were just too tough to make a good salad.

This morning I’ve been out in my little patch pulling up chickweed and caging tomato plants, some of which I grew from seed and some that came up volunteer from the compost I had tilled in last fall.  The best tomatoes I’ve ever grown are Purple Cherokees, so I ordered these and another called Green Cherokees from Johnny’s Seeds.  I’m just learning to get the plants started and then transferred into the garden.  We’ll see how well my little transplants do!

Though my three rows of turnips aren’t that long, I’ll have plenty for snacking and salads for quite a while this spring.  After they are done, in their place will go okra, which I haven’t had great luck with in the past couple of years.  But okra is really only happy in the hot summer sun, and I probably have been trying to plant them too early.

Third Month of the Year Marches in with Bright Skies and Cool Temps

Now that I’ve gotten the plants in the bay window cleaned up, this pink African violet can peek back into the kitchen.

This first March weekend breezed in trying to pull the remaining leaves from the oak trees, but not quite succeeding at the task.  Saturday morning, I was out early in the front

The first full pea pods of the season hang from the plants; it’s too bad there aren’t enough plants for a good picking.

The first tomato of this spring grows from a plant that made it through the winter.

yard once again raking up more of those leaves and clean up the curb; however, the brisk north wind kept me from doing a very good job.

With the invigorating weather, I’ve finished up other house and yard chores, and now have meat loaf and butternut squash in the oven, cooking away for Sunday lunch and for leftovers for the coming week.

Now, except for a run out to the store and post office, I can sit back for the rest of the day.

Sunday Sunshine Makes for a Good Day To Spend Time Puttering in the Garden

These are some of the vegetables planted in November; in comparison to the lush growth of the turnip leaves, the carrots are coming up sparsely.

Yesterday was the perfect day to be outside; even with the breeze, the sunshine warmed up my face from the cooler air inside the house.  I set about trying to clean and organize  my veggie garden out back of the garage.

The three short rows of turnips are spreading out their thick leaves, and I think I might have glimpsed a bit of white root that is starting to be a turnip.

After last year’s poor showing, I was against planting English peas again, but somehow I did it, and the spindly plants are trying to pull themselves up the trellises by their tendrils, despite their lack of a real affinity for climbing (unlike the pole beans, who really get it).   The peas’ real talent comes in the sweet white blooms they produce.  Even so, when the time arrives, I can never pick enough pods of the little green balls to get more than a handful or two to throw into some soup.   I couldn’t imagine trying to grow enough of these fragile plants to collect enough to fill a bowl for a family meal.

Back in November when I put in the turnips and peas, I also planted a mix of lettuce, Texas onions (which are supposed to make bulbs, and not just get to the scallion stage before the heat burns them up). and carrots.  These are all doing their best although they have an ongoing contest with the ever-eager chickweed, which wants to grow anywheere it can in early spring.  I tried to help out the young vegetable by getting on the gloves and pulling out the chickweed and occasional nasty nettle, but it wasn’t an easy task because in the midst of all the vegetable plants and weeds are at least 30 volunteer tomato plants, which have sprung from the compost I had tilled into the soil.  Because a number of the tomatoes I had last year were heirlooms and so tasty, I’m leaving some of the bigger ones in the ground where they are and digging up and temporarily potting others to pass along to friends.  The remaining ones will have to be either pulled up with the chickweed or hoed under.

These volunteer tomato plants are trying to get acclimated to pots after being plucked from their crowded space in the garden.

My potting table at the back door is not so convenient to the garden itself but is just the right place to be the landing place for sprinklers, empty pots, and any other outside necessity.  Right now, the table is also crowded with a couple of pots as an experiment of container lettuce, a number of the tomato orphans from the garden, and the starting homes flowers that I hope will grow from the seeds given to me for Christmas that came from my niece and nephew’s Kansas garden.  We’ll see which can take this southeast Texas humidity.

When I arrived home from work this evening, the plants and flowers all over the entire yard and garden stood perky and were still glistening from the .30 inches of rain that had fallen in the late afternoon.  Like other rains  over the past few weeks , the amount of rainfall was small but is enough to keep the ground moist.

Beauty from the Garden Helps Lift Spirits on a Gloomy Friday

This is not the first of these jungle cactus (epiphyllum) that I have posted on my blog, but at 7 o’clock this morning, the amazing bloom certainly helped brighten up the day.

I could be grumpy about so many things this morning.  I spent the third night without AC.  Thankfully, with the tile floors downstairs and all the ceiling fans downstairs stays relatively comfortable and with the windows open and box fans pulling in air I can sleep upstairs at night.

Tomorrow I will plunk out the money for a new AC system  I’m keeping the furnace even though the AC company would have liked me to have pulled out everything.  There are way fewer days where we need to have the heat on here in southeast Texas in comparison how much we use the AC.

Last night was the first night I have stayed in my house without Annie.  I took her to stay with my neice until the new AC is in.  The temperature was only up to about 90 yesterday, but I just didn’t want her to get too hot if the thermometer goes up higher today.  Also with the workers in and out tomorrow putting in the new AC, my house wouldn’t have been a good place for her.  I even plan to get myself out of the way once they are working.

So because of the heat and not having Annie there, I woke up early and decided to crank up the computer, only to find out about all the senseless deaths in Colorado.  I really don’t understand how people can be opposed to more stringent gun laws.  I think most people get wiser with age, but obviously that is not universal.  In my opinion, we would be much safer and saner today if strong gun control and legalized marijuana had been made law back in the 1960s.

With those thoughts on my mind, no dog to feed and give some lovin’, and a little extra time before having to get myself on the road to work, I had a chance to take in the grass that I had quickly mowed last evening and all the plants and flowers that are thriving after the 12th straight day of rain (.25 in. yesterday).  On another day, I might have missed this amazing jungle cactus (white epiphyllum).  But there on the other side of the barbeque grill, in full glory, popped out this wonderful flower, only the third one so far this year.  Had I not spied it this morning, it would have been completely wilted by the time I arrived home.

After a few snaps of the camera, I was able to jump into the car in a much brighter mood than only moments before

Summertime and the Feelin’ Is . . .

Tomatoes from my garden–I had quite a variety of shapes and sizes. The dark red one on the right is a Cherokee Purple, and they are some of the most delicious tomatoes I’ve tasted in a long time. There are not that many tomatoes left on the vines, though this recent bout of rain and cooler weather may help for more to set on. If the hot temperatures come back, the tomatoe season may be over.

It’s summer, and I definitely haven’t been blogging much.  I can find many excuses:

• Working outside more
• Canning veggies and barbequeing
• Using the netbook while watching TV (and difficult to blog on netbook)
• Just being lazy with all this rain
• Reading on the Nook I recently got (no one can say I get in on new technology too early)

I’m definitely missing writing, but I guess other things have just gotten more emphasis as of late.  These photos show a bit of what’s been going on.

 

Tomatoes and pickled beans–These are just some of the jars of vegetables that I’ve canned this some from what’s come from my garden. Pickled beans are a family tradition. From the fresh tomatoes, I’ve canned also canned hot salsa and tomato sauce.

My backyard one Saturday morning–The hose is evidence that this is before all the rain started. It’s a peaceful place to enjoy coffee and try to read something on the new Nook. I say “try” because there are too many plants to tend or better yet just sit and enjoy the morning.

Yesterday’s rain–The rain guage showed 2.40 inches yesterday. With what has come down today, I estimate between 8 and 10 inches has fallen at my place in northwest Harris County since noontime this past Sunday.

 

If Weekends Aren’t For Enjoyment, What Are They For?

The first bloom from the plant that I recently purchased. I guess this one is fairly common (passiflora caerulea). Common or not, this flower is amazing.

Another Saturday, and it feels good just to settle back for a bit.  I’ve already done a good deal of yard work, had my coffee and a bit of breakfast, and accidentally (well, kinda accidentally) turned the lawn sprinkler on some door-to-door bible beaters.  Heck, my day has already been a success!

All that doesn’t compare to the beauty that spring is bringing to the yard.  I’m trying my hand at growing some passion flowers this year.  Actually, I just bought a couple of them about a month ago, so I can’t take a whole lot of credit for the wonderful bloom that appeared yesterday.  I hear that they can really grow fast, so I will have to be careful that they don’t swamp the pergula.  On the other hand, who can say “no” to such amazing blooms?

Just the Right Kind of Day To Spend Puttering in the Garden

The garden space behind the garage is a mini-jungle. The peas have already hit their peak, but the tomatoes and beans stretch higher every day. I'm getting enough lettuce for a salad every day, pulling up a tender scallion to go along with it.

What a beautiful, lazy Sunday morning.  After getting up at 5:30 to let Annie out for a quick go, I crawled back under the covers for another few hours of dreamy–weird dreamy–dozing.  When I could no longer bear the crazy slumber, I pulled enough clothes on to go out to the backyard, but not before grinding a few coffee beans and setting them to brew.

Not being a “churchy” person, I then began my leisurely Easter morning puttering, repotting a couple of under-tended plants, squeezing in a few more wax bean and okra seeds in the already jungle-like garden, tying up the drooping passion flower stems to steady pergula posts, weeding out any ever-present chickweed and elm sprouts that I could reach, then finally giving everything a good dose of watering before the sun’s cheery Sunday rays would obliterate the remaining protective shadows.

Now it’s time for a good shower and then off to see if I can find a few groceries.  I doubt much will be open out here in conservative suburbialandia.  I don’t need to buy much, just wasn’t in the mood to do the shopping yesterday.  I will have to remember not to take the street out of the sub-division that enters onto the road that passes the Catholic church.  They’ll be swarming into that place like those ants that were trying to make a new hill next to the patio.  Ortho took care of that.

I hope you will enjoy this visual taste of my yard and garden.

This cherry tomato plant growing in a container is loaded with clusters of the small fruit.

A bud has appeared on this passion flower plant, not so many weeks after I brought it home from the nursery.

I now know this is a white shrimp plant bloom, of which each little pod slips out a lavendar tongue as it opens.

This verbena brings a blanket of color to the sun-drenched bed on the south side of the house.

This hand-me-down amarylis so invariably blooms at Easter, no matter when it falls on the calendar, that I have always called it an Easter lily.

This cleome brightens the edge of the patio.

The First Ripe Tomatoes Do Make for a Good Monday

There's no better find than the first tomatoes of the spring!

As Mondays go, this one wasn’t all that bad.  Work was nothing other than ordinary, even for the first day of the work week.  Getting home was probably the worst part of the whole day, with a number of slow spots on my route.  I take most longer-than-usual commutes pretty much in stride.  I do like my SiriusXM radio, and though I normally stick with OutQ’s Derek & Romaine Show, I don’t mind hittin’ Channel 51 for some electronic dance music, when the talk radio goes astray.  Why the last three miles of my tree-lined suburban drive got into bumper-to-bumper mode tonight, I have no idea, but the satellite radio and knowing that I was inching nearer to my home got me through it.

With the car in the garage and the dog properly picked up and hugged, I headed out to check on the garden, just to see what effect last evening’s soaking from the sprinkler might have had.  First glimpse showed peeking sprouts of the yellow beans that I had planted about eight days ago.  Other plants seemed to have stretched a few more inches.  When I headed around the corner to check on the four tomato plants in containers, I spied a bit of red among the velvety green leaves.  Though I knew that there were already cherry tomatoes on that plant, I had no idea that some would be ripe before the end of March!  Yet, there they were: one nearly ripe and another already turning yellow.    There are other small ones on that same plant, and other plants have blooms, but I know that it will be awhile before I can stop hitting the produce section at the supermarket for tomatoes for salads.