Just a catching-up post

Last Friday was our 20th wedding anniversary! I had the day off thanks to my awesome summer schedule at work (short days and Fridays off). Gregg and I spent the long weekend at home, hiding out from the heat. It was a record-setting weekend temperature-wise and going outside for much of anything was downright miserable. We tried to think of a couple of day trips to take, but nothing appealed to me enough to venture out when the temperatures were around 100 degrees with high humidity! It was a nice (if somewhat boring) few days at home. We've found a cottage we'd like to rent in Kitty Hawk, NC this fall, and if so then that will be our belated celebration.  And we're still happy and proud of our milestone anniversary!

Besides estivating at home, not much is going on at the moment. I love my summer schedule, what with going in later, getting off early, and long weekends. It's awfully boring up there, though. Most days it's just me and the custodians, as the principal is on a leave for the month of June. What little work I have to do I've been stretching out to fill the time over the next few weeks, and I spend lots of time reading a book or listening to podcasts. I'm in no hurry for the slow-paced summer work hours to end, though. It's restful. 

In garden news, this year's garden SUCKS. Several of my tomatoes have developed some sort of weird wilt that I can only assume is a virus, and the remaining ones are struggling to flower or set fruit. I'm guessing it's the wild temperature swings we've had combined with very, very little rain. We water daily during the worst of the heat, but hose water and rain water are very different things. Gardens just don't seem to thrive without rain. The cucumbers are pretty sad, too. We've gotten a few so far, but the numbers I'd hoped for to make pickles with just aren't happening. The peppers are doing okay but they're never my main focus. I do have to say that Mary's Rattlesnake beans are great, though, just like always! We're already getting more green beans that we know what to do with. Maybe I'll try her recipe for dilly beans, since I love pickles and it would keep them from going to waste. 

Overall, the garden is turning out to be a big disappointment. I've started to think about planting a fall garden in September to make up for it. With food prices what they are I'd really like to supplement our diet with some fresh vegetables. 

The one part of the garden that hasn't sucked: the roses! I'm so pleased with them.

What else is going on this summer? Not much. We're trying to figure out what to do with extra furniture that's left after getting the new bedroom stuff. The house is cluttered with it and needs a good cleaning to boot. Gregg and I agreed to work on all that this weekend. I have a few errands to run this morning: the farm stand (I'm still buying tomatoes and other veggies, sigh), the drugstore, the eye doctor (my glasses broke and I had to order new frames for the lenses), the bank, etc. etc. Errands and housework! Fun times! :)

So off to finish my coffee and begin. Have a good weekend, everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

My garden in April

These are a few buds from my second year Eustacia Vye rose. The bush is absolutely loaded with them (over 4 dozen at last count) and ready to burst forth into a glorious display. 

This Desdemona rosebush was nothing but a bare-root back in February, and today the first bloom opened. It already has a sweet, lemony fragrance. I'm in love!

The beans are really taking off.

And if someone could give me good advice on how to thin carrots, I'd appreciate it. I'm certain these are too closely planted, but maybe I'll get a few small ones.

Also, I have a huge kiddie pool "bowl" of salad! Look at this beautiful lettuce! I've already had a couple of handfuls of tender baby leaves.

Last but not least: my method of quickly hardening off young tomato plants: cover them lightly with pine straw mulch for shade. So far, I've planted 14 seedlings without hardening them off, and they're doing just fine. This weekend I'll plant the last 5 still to go as well as the pepper plants, and this year's garden will be ready to rock and roll.

 

A much-needed break

It's officially Spring Break for me! We're out of school tomorrow for Good Friday and then all of next week. 

The past two weeks at work have mildly stressful for me and the other bookkeepers. Between really serious federal Title 1 budget deadlines (with constant memos and reminders from the CFO and senior accountants), and a general budget freeze that takes effect this afternoon but wasn't announced until Monday, we've had to scramble to get everything done. At the elementary level, the bookkeeper and school secretary positions are combined, so there have been other job responsibilities on my plate as well. And to top it all off, I've had a mild cold coming on this week, so every day has been just a tiny bit harder because of that. I'm tired! The one great thing about these tight deadlines is that when I go back to work after the break, most of this year's budget is gone and can't be accessed. My job will get a little bit easier and soon summer (and really easy days and easy hours) will be here. All good stuff!

I really need to work in the garden next week, and it's time to plant tomatoes. I have way too many seedlings, as usual, but this year I've only potted up enough for my own use. I've decided to give away the extras while they're still small and needing to be potted up, because all that potting up is a lot of work. Gregg has a buddy, Tyrone, who always texts him in spring to see if I have extra plants I want to give away. He has a large garden and so does his dad, and they're always happy to take all the extras I'll give them. I'm glad they get good homes!

My lettuce and carrots are really doing well, and by the end of the month I should be getting some of both. My rattlesnake beans (that Mary Moon convinced me to grow) are getting big, too, and this year I planted more of them. They really are fabulous! Everything is off to a good start (knock wood) but I still have a lot of work to do. A week off this time of year is perfect timing.

In like a lamb

On Sunday the weather was spring-like and beautiful. Temperatures got up to 75 degrees (23 C) and the sun came out after several days of rain. It was good to get outside and forget about the state of the world for a few hours. Gregg and I took the chance to get some garden tasks done while soaking up the sunshine. We re-mulched the rose bed around the two new shrubs, swept and tidied the porch, and planted this year's lettuce. Have I shown you how I grow lettuce? 

Small kiddie pools (with holes punched in the bottom for drainage) make great containers for growing lettuce. The depth is fine for the short roots, and the circumference gives you lots of room for a large crop. It's economical, because the pools are cheap and will last for several years if stored out of the weather when not in use. Even the two bags of garden soil I used in it will be recycled, because when the lettuce is done, I add the leftover soil to the bigger raised beds for volume.

Another thing I did yesterday was bring my tomato, herb, and marigold seedlings out to the porch to live. We're still sure to get cold weather, but they're all fitted snugly into large Styrofoam boxes that can easily be moved inside if need be. The 10-day forecast looks very warm, and the sunlight filtered through the porch screen should really make the little plants grow. I hope to plant out in about a month.

 

One last sure sign that spring is here is Louella's tree bursting into bloom. This is about two weeks past its absolute prime, and it's still so beautiful! These trees are always the first to bloom in our neighborhood, and I look forward to them every year.

In my summer kitchen

It's my summer vacation! I've been off since Thursday afternoon and I don't go back until next Monday. It's nice to have some time away from work, even when you like your job as much as I do.

I've been busy. I blogged about my new stainless-steel cookware the other day, and several of you asked me to let you know what I think of it. Well, I love it! I'm really glad I took the time to research how to properly use and care for stainless steel, because I've had zero problems! It cooks like a dream, and I've had zero issues with food sticking. The first thing I made was braised short ribs, and they turned out great but it's way too hot for such heavy food. Speaking of hot in the kitchen, and the new pans..

I've taken this from my garden:

 

And this:

And turned it all into this:

I'm ridiculously proud of these jars of salsa and pickled peppers!

From the garden this week

The garden is in full swing, and it's turning out to be a good year for tomatoes. I'm glad I planted some sturdy hybrid determinate types, because they're early and produce a lot of fruit all at once. With the exception of one tiny rain-split Berkeley Tie Dye (middle top on the first photo) all of the tomatoes I've gotten so far have been determinates. But! My eight heirloom plants are also loaded with fruit but taking forever to start ripening. Soon!

Here's what I've picked over the last four or five days:

We've also picked a LOT of green beans; this is just a small handful I got the other day. 

Still going strong.

There are about a dozen cucumbers in the fridge at the moment, but now the vines are almost worn out. It's turning out to be a disappointing year for cucumber production, but I'd rather have a bounty of tomatoes anyway. Last year there were a ton of cucumbers, but the tomatoes did diddly-squat. Now that's disappointing.

So, on to peppers! I haven't picked any yet, because I like to wait until they're mostly orange and red, but there are tons and tons of Jalapenos, Serranoes, Cowhorns, Cayennes, Poblanos, Tabascos, and Giant Marconi peppers...

 

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These pretty Tabasco peppers are our favorite, just for the beauty of the plant. It's hard to get a good photo of them because it's such a low, compact plant. 

And when someone named these peppers "Giant Marconi", they weren't lying! Look at the size of those monsters!

Cowhorns.

A busy start to summer

It's been a busy few weeks around here, but I still find it hard to believe that June is almost half over. Finding time to blog has been a challenge so I've been away for longer that I meant to be. Things should settle down a little now, so I hope to be around more. 

Last weekend my mom came to visit. It was at her insistence, and the first time I'd seen her since the end of 2023 (right before dad died). Things between us have devolved to almost no contact over the last two years, which, actually, is fine with me. I only agreed to see her out of a lingering sense of obligation. As far as I'm concerned, our relationship is pretty much over. That hasn't been an easy decision to come to, but I've decided it's best for my mental health.

So anyway, she came over for a couple of hours and it was okay. I made lunch and put on a polite face, and she was on her best (but still not great) behavior. I breathed a sigh of relief when she left and was glad nothing had been too weird or awkward...haha! Joke's on me! The next night she messaged me with some truly bizarre thoughts and accusations. Crazy stuff. I know she's taken to drinking again over the past few years, and also takes a lot of assorted pills, so maybe she was drunk or high. Or maybe she's having some sort of undiagnosed mental health issue. The next day she deleted the messages and apologized (just as I predicted she would), but instead of taking responsibility for her behavior she blamed (get this!) the fact that she's diabetic for her outburst. I know lots of people with diabetes, and not once has a single one of them come at me with weird accusations and spoiling for a fight! Of course, ever since she was diagnosed a few years back, that's been her go-to excuse for everything so I shouldn't be too surprised. This was only more confirmation that I'm doing the right thing to keep contact with her strictly limited. She wants more from me than I can give her, since it would mean having to sacrifice my mental well-being to maintain a closer relationship. I've worked through most of that, and I'm simply not interested.

On to better and happier stuff. Thursday was my 19th wedding anniversary! I really did good when I picked my husband! :)   I took the day off work, and with my regular summer Friday off, I'm having a four-day weekend! Yesterday we went thrift store shopping, hoping to find a couple of interesting lamps for the house. We didn't have any luck, but it was fun looking around. The actual gift we ended up buying ourselves is mainly a gift for me: a nice set of stainless-steel cookware. It's going to be great to get rid of my old cheap nonstick pots and pans that I've been "making do" with for years! I love to cook, and like everything else it's easier with good tools. Gregg really likes and appreciates my cooking, so he said it benefits him in the end, too. 

We're also making plans to go away for a few days, but not until fall. There are really nice waterfront villas at a state park on Lake Murray (a couple of hours west of here) that we'd like to rent, but you have to make reservations several months out. Apparently, they're very popular and so all booked up for the summer. We prefer to go in the fall anyway, when the weather will be much nicer, so that's not an issue. As fast as the weeks fly by September/October will be here in a flash. 

Speaking of summer, check out a small sample of the stuff I've picked from the garden in the last week!

That's the other thing that's been keeping me busy lately: the garden. There's always something to do out there this time of year, and when I'm not working in it, I'm sitting on the porch admiring it! :)

Garden progress in pictures

 I've very little time for blogging today, but I wanted to post an update on how my garden's coming along. Here are some photos I took over the last several days. xx

Early May in my garden

We're still in the sweet spot, garden-wise, at this point in the year. Everything is growing and thriving, and the heat, bugs, diseases, and general malaise of high summer still seem far away. 

Here are a few pictures from my garden as of this afternoon. I'll start with my current obsession: my baby Eustacia Vye rose! Her first bloom is beginning to open, and I'm in love.

There are nine more flower buds now, too.  It's hard to believe this rose was planted as a bare root at the end of March. 

In other good (but somewhat less exciting) garden updates, here are a few more photos of things I'm growing, all taken this afternoon:

The five blueberry bushes are still fairly small but loaded with berries. The plant growth on all five has been very slow, but this year I've finally started fertilizing on a regular basis. I'm hoping they'll start to take off as a result. As it is, we'll probably get three or four cups of blueberries at the most....and that's if we feel like fighting with the birds and squirrels for them. (Probably not). At least the plants seem healthy, though!

Poppy is a great garden companion. She walks with me while I inspect everything, the tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn...

See the nest box in this next picture? There's currently a bluebird family taking up residence! Mom and Dad work tirelessly all day long bringing food to the babies, and it's a real joy to watch. The current brood are just about ready to fledge. 

After a very late start, my lettuce is finally starting to look like....lettuce! Haha. The carrots planted beside it are finally sprouting but they're not worth taking a picture of yet. Next year I need to get on the ball much, much, much sooner with the lettuce and carrots.

We built a tripod for the cucumbers to climb. They're looking good right now, too.

And finally, the corn. 

Garden Tea

My newfound interest in growing roses and my very expanded vegetable garden have led me down some wild YouTube rabbit holes lately. One of the main topics I've been trying to learn about is composting and using natural, organic methods of building up soil. 

Can you guess what this is?

That, my friends, is a bucket of "tea" made of earthworm poop (!) that I mixed up and used in the garden a couple of weeks ago. I'd read lots of stuff online about how good it is for flowers (specifically roses) and also vegetable gardens. The only problem was I only had access to our city water, which has chemicals in it and isn't good for making the tea. So, I had an idea! I asked the young guy next door (Ms. Luella's grandson, who bought her house) if I could have a 5-gallon bucket of water from his outdoor spigot, because they still have well water. I told him why I wanted it, and of course he said, "Sure, take as much as you need" but I'll bet he thinks I'm kind of nutty! But in any case, I got my non-chlorinated, non-treated water and all the plants seemed to perk up a little when I gave them their first dose of "tea". 

Anyway, last night we finally got some much-needed rain, and I had a plan. I made a rain barrel out of a large, sturdy Rubbermaid trash can and positioned it in a spot where water runs off the roof. It got totally filled up with rainwater! There's a lid to keep out mosquitoes until I'm ready to use it. The next time I want to make Worm Poop Tea I won't have to go ask next door for the water!

The garden's looking good. Last night's rain made a big difference.

The Rattlesnake beans are really getting going now. In the foreground: squash seedlings. Behind and to the left and right of Poppy: the two tiny corn patches.

Tomatoes are looking good. 

I love sipping a Gin and Tonic on the porch after working in the garden. Thanks to Mistress Maddie for inspiring me to use borage flowers in them! 

So pretty. So refreshing.