What do you think? Is it Physalis?

I have been off on vacation, and truth be told, it has not been so relaxing for me. I am a naturally wound up guy, so relaxing is a bit of a hard thing for me to do. Panic attacks, fear of dying and the works. Goes to show you that your health is in your mind as well.

So, I have to learn to truly relax. I have not posted much in the last few days because I needed to get my mind off of cooking for a couple of days.

Truth is, I don’t have much in the way of hobbies other than cooking, and I guess that can be unhealthy. I guess my garden counts as a hobby, albeit a neglected one. Well, nothing takes the mind off a sharp chest pain like weeding.

Today I actually sat down and watched a couple of videos in an attempt to find out why my San Marzano tomatoes are not preforming like I would like. One plant totally is sucking wind, and the other is a bit overgrown. I found a cool, short video describing what to do – pruning your tomato plant to 2 lines. I hope I have not screwed my plant up too badly now.

My yard also looks like a jungle. I am sure the neighbors appreciate the work I put into ripping out the waist-high thistles, dandelions and other nameless wonders. All the dog manure is picked up, ready to go, and even the herbs are properly clipped.

I was in a corner of my lot cleaning out what looked like some weird vines when I stumbled onto something that blew me away. I use Physalis all the time, (AKA ground cherries, cape gooseberries,) and I was startled to see vines growing on the ground. Thing is, I never planted them before!

Here are some crappy pictures, can you all tell me if I am right about this?

Excuse the beer shorts... Here is a shot.

I am so excited, if I am right, accidental gardening is an awesome thing! Now to figure out how to make it grow better.

Nothing is more Primal than growing your own. You get a sense of ownership, pride. Best yet, a better sense of what you are growing, what is going onto your table. More than ever you control how your produce is grown, from plantling to the table.

I am nicely pink all over, with a well reddened neck today, as I put the starting touches into what will be the WDC Family’s yearly garden.

I have taken things in a new direction. I just cannot fight the dog anymore for space in the garden, so I decided to open it up to him and all, and get the produce into containers. The idea is that we will be better able to manage the garden. The best part, I paid next to nothing for the set up that you see here, as almost all of it is recycled material!

First, the obligatory shots:

It is a start. This is from the door area of the Cabana

This is from the opposite angle, from the steps of my deck

It doesn’t look like much, but it is a start. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty, shall we?

Try and get that you bastards! I will have some strawberries this year!

I had planted strawberries last year. I think that they were lovely, except I never did get a chance to taste them. Between Hershey and the birds, they had them all. I was a little fed up when I saw some robins eating my berries, so I went and got some netting to work around them. A major PITA to install, but I WILL taste my strawberries this year. OTOH, I have lost them all to Loo. Well, priorities first, see!

I will be using this for veggies... let's hope it is better than last year! Notice the chives in the corner..

I still have the framework for the SFG from last year. I accidentally grew a crapload of cucumbers in it without even trying. This year I will try and do better.

A little different than Mel's Mix, but I can't sell it...

I filled all containers with a mix of my own design. Okay, I was HEAVILY influenced my a gent named Mel Bartholomew. Whereas his mix is vermiculite, top soil and peat moss, mine is slightly altered. I might post the recipe one day.

Netting for the strawberry, a San Marzano tomato, and some thyme... all in recycled affairs!

My wife makes fun of me because I cannot even pass by the neighbors when it is the once-a-month BIG garbage day without cherry picking things from it. In this case, I got some awesome huge outdoor potting planters. A few drill holes here and there, and we are good to go.

My wife is kind of right. I once “acquired” a suitcase from the garbage pile, wondering why the hell someone would throw away a perfectly good case. I lugged that bad boy home, then my wife looked at me. She only innocently asked if the zipper was still good. I hate it when she is right…

Nice! My favorite tomato!

These may not be grown in Italy, but hey, they are superior for making sauces. Plus, it is not too primal to have something flown from the “Boot” to you anyway, is it?

More netting, another San Marzano, some herbs as well. Recycled affairs people!

Recycled = free. Sweet!

The best catch of the day, ignoring the quizzing looks of my wife, was the old counter someone had thrown out. I think it makes a perfect counter for my plants to keep out of Hershey’s pee range. Let’s see him lift it that high!

Nothing fancy here. I have so many pails, my wife will be happy to rid of some.

Why not use pails? A drill for some drainage holes, and a few rocks on the bottom make for pleasant containers. Plus, I am a chef, so they are technically “free” for use. Better than in a landfill. What you are seeing there are French Lavender, Stevia, Sage and Basil.

Trust me, you WANT mint in a container

Finally, notice the nice raiser for the pot. Yes, it is a milk crate. I remember a time when using these was way against the law. I know, I live dangerously. Perhaps the milk crate police will come and confiscate it. Mint is known to overtake everything in its path, so it is smart to plant it in a container.

So, that is what I was up to today. Any thoughts on what type of vegetables I should grow in the SFG? Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear about it!

Plus, I wonder if anyone has any experience growing lettuces in a balcony box? I think it would be trés cool to snip what you need right out of your doorstep. I was looking at a coconut bottomed one that might be cool!

photo courtesy of seier+seier+seier of Flickr under Creative Commons License

It has been a while since I have hit the publish button here. The reasons are three-fold:

1) I had a huge food costing project that I had 2 weeks to complete. That meant all recipes, price lists, costing and final reporting. Whew! It was quite the project, but worth it!

2) I have been thinking about this site. I am sitting on several different posts, but I have not published them, for there is a nagging fear in the back of my head. I recently (on Aug 1st) checked my stats, and it was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Right in black and white, I found what people like about my site. Mainly, recipes and posts that help them somehow. Now, there has been some soul searching, and I am now ready to give what I think will make the site better. That means I will discontinue the “What I am eating”, “Garden Updates”, all frugal posts not pertaining to recipes, and rants that have no value to you, the reader. What I want to do is give you what you want, and that is what I will continue to do, in my wacky way. This is the first thing I want to do to make this site better.

3) I have been battling a heavy ear infection for the last 3 months, that has recently come to head since last weekend. I am talking about not being able to chew, ear pounding, blood from the ear kind of infection. I am on 2 different types of antibiotics, and popping aspirin like it is candy. I hope it is going to go down soon.

I am also looking into buying a new theme here. I like the look of the site, but I want to clean it up a little more. I am looking around for options, and I will pay if I have to. All in the name of a good site, hear?

I am working on a post for Tom Naughton’s site, a follow up to the franken stock post. I wnat to have it done soon, so I will have something for you later. In the meantime, keep cooking, and remember, it must be Well Done!

Cool as a cucumber, this one measures in at just over 18 inches. Not bad for the first time!

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are producing like mad. It looks like I will finally have my first set of Brandywines come this weekend, I can almost taste them right now.

Strawberries: I think these may taste really good. The reason I do not know is that my dog is eating them. They must be at least passable.

Peppers: Whatever.

Cucumbers: See the picture? I found her in the garden as I was looking through! It is huge! Stay tuned for what I do to it.

Beans: Didn’t grow.

Thyme: Is lovely in the late summer. The smell is just great. Time to make up a nice lemon thyme chicken.

I am considering getting the course material for the Square Foot Gardening so I can teach it. You know what they say, “Those who do not how to do it… Teach!”

Finally Ripe

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are doing fine. The cherry tomatoes are kicking buttg, and they taste so good right off the vine. Go ahead, grow them yourselves!

Strawberries: I have seen on TV strawberries grown with plastic on the humps. Does anyone know about this? It seems like a good idea about that. I cannot get to the strawberries in time for the bugs.

Peppers: I give up! SWC for this plant next year. They go mouldy before I can even get to them in time. Mind you, who has time?

Cucumbers: I HAVE to get this on a trellis! They are overtaking the SFG!

Beans: MIA, none to be found!

Thyme: Is overtaking the planter. LOL. I love thyme though, so it is all good.

photo courtesy of richarddefreeman of Flickr

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are having a tough time with a slug invasion. Seriously, I thought the SWC would protect against that, but I was wrong. I also discovered that I planted grape tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes. Oops. I have some nice grape tomatoes coming in though.

Strawberries: It has been very wet this summer, so there is a little issue about that. Good news though, the basket that I replanted in the mound of manure is finally flowering. Joy! Looking forward to tasting one. I had one strawberry, but I gave it to the wife to try.

Peppers: I lost one, it went mouldy. Damn, looks like I am going to have to be more vigilant.

Cucumbers: Joy! Two of the plants have FINALLY taken. Now I am going to have to start think trellis, because I have 1000 blossoms. A few here and there.

Beans: I have given up on these.

Thyme: Is overtaking the planter. LOL. I love thyme though, so it is all good.

Dude! Where's My Beans?

Hello all! Just a quick update to let you all know what is going on with the garden this week!

Tomatoes are just killin it! They are seriously shooting out everywhere, and it is all I can do to get the suckers off of it on time. Seriously, the SWC are a godsend here.

Strawberries: The old hanger plant is shooting out a lot of runners. I am considering fencing that bad boy in. The potted plant has formed a few strawberries, and I now have close to a pint! Joy!

Peppers: The peppers are getting bigger daily. I wonder how they would have done in a SWC? More on that later!

Cucumbers: Joy! Two of the plants have FINALLY taken. Now I am going to have to start think trellis, because I have 6 blossoms.

Beans: Dude, where’s my beans? I guess they just did not like me. SWCs all the way next year!

Thyme: Well, it is growing like, a weed. I have it in its own planter, so I am not worried it will overtake. I am considering planting it in the front to take over the nonexistant grass though!

Flower Box by Jason Sandeman

How my garden grows! Well, the wife’s section, anyway! She does not seem to have to try! You should see her Echinacha! It is growing like a weed. So much so, I threatened to pull it out.

The tomatoes are doing well in the cages. I pulled off all the suckers, and tied them to the trellis. There are small little tomatoes forming up on the vines. It is exciting to see the fruits of my labour budding up there.

Strawberries: I took down the hanging basket, after I almost lost all of the plant to the heat. I made a mound of compost, and set it inside. Time will see if the plant provides me any fruit. The small plant that I planted is doing well. I never knew that strawberries had suck nice flowers.

Peppers: There are 4 little tiny peppers growing on the plant now. How exciting!

Cucumbers: Have yet to come up with anything. I think that I need to water them a little better.

Beans: This is probaby the most dissapointing part here. I am not seeing anything yet, aside from a few sprouts. I have been busy, so maybe they dried out. I may have some time to look at replanting into a SWC.

Thyme: Well, it is growing like, a weed. I never have a problem growing that one. I will dry the leaves this year for sure though.

I think that next year I will be planting some more things in a SWC. I was thinking of the peppers, cucumbers and such. I suck at watering, so they would benefit from a SWC. (That is, if the tomatoes are any indication.)

So, here I will leave you with a nice picture of the strawberry bloom. Hopefully I will have a lot of these later on!

Oh how pretty the Strawberry Bloom

Peppers are Beginning to Form

Ohh! I just saw the first sprouts from the beans today, and peppers are beginning to form. I was a little afraid because there was a hailstorm the other night. I was at work, and not available to cover up the poor guys. Looks like they weathered the storm though.

It seems like there will be a lot for harvest very soon. I am going to be planting the romaine and the spinach today. I need to make a little more research about the potatoes, so they look like they will be going in either tomorrow or next week.

I am excited to see how this will pan out this year!

When we last left our gardening hero, he had started a Square Foot Garden! Read on to find out what happened!

Yesterday was a lot of hard work. I got a hexagon gazebo up, fixed the pool, planted clover in the front lawn, and I even managed to do some gardening!

I filled my 4 x 4 block with Mel’s mix, slapped down a nice grid, and even started to plant!

The block is filled with Mel's Mix

You can imagine the amount of work that goes into planting this block. It is not that bad, all in all, but a bit of work. I hope that it pays off in the end. I did not have enough soil, so a run to the Crappy Tire was in order!
Here it is with a grid
This is a great demonstration of using up what is available. I could have gone out and bought up some markers, cut them up, etc. Instead, I went the frugal route and used what I had on hand, an old trellis that had rotted away.

So ambitious! I have green beans, yellow beans, cucumbers x2, and a pepper plant. I am planning on tossing in chives, then spinach, romaine, thyme, Thai basil, regular basil, carrots, potatoes (russets)x2, and whatever else I can get in there.

I also planted strawberries, but I forgot the picture. Maybe in the next update.

Wait! That’s not all! I decided to try a Self Watering Container as well.

First, I bought all the necessary parts, and assembled it right in the back yard.

Looks lovely, no? An ingenious invention, it looks like the pond basket with filter out all the water, and you fill it up at the PVC pipe. (It is a little hard to see that here, bear with me!)

That’s a better angle, no? The cool part is that the PVC pipe is accessible, even for when the tomatoes get really, really large. I can even shove the garden hose in that baby, and wait for the small little hose to spout water. (That is the overflow line you can barely see in the middle of the container!

This one is a little blurry, as I was so excited when I took it. So, I have a Brandy wine, and a Roma tomato there. The garbage bag keeps in the moisture! Ingenious, and not too hard to build.

Well, I will leave you all with the best phot yet, the obligatory close-up of the pepper plant. I am so excited to see what the harvest will bring! Funny how they say it will be a red bell pepper! It gets like that when you let it ripen. Heh.

The First Plant In The Well Done Square Foot Garden!