Vineyard table finally done

Got the legs stained and now just need a coat of poly to protect it from the elements. 

Harvested another dozen green and semi-red tomatoes, roasted them, and made some delicious salsa. Picked a couple cucumbers as well and made some cucumber,tomato,jalapeno,garlic, and sour cream salsa.  

Now that we have officially got the Texas heat here, the garden isn't looking so well anymore.  Not much growing still so I think I'm not going to waste anymore water on it and think I'll will just start getting things ready for the fall garden.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Halfway through summer

I had the amazing opportunity to spend 16 days of June in Ireland with my wife and her family.

 While there we visited my FIL's 5th cousin and their farm.  His wife had a huge greenhouse that she said was her "little project". I was a bit jealous of the magnitude of it. I'm in the orange checking out the gooseberry plants.

  

Meanwhile back in the states I was fortunate enough to have rain on many of the days that we were gone. I had picked about 10 huge green tomatoes and left them on a plate for them to ripen. Our house and dog sitter ate the tomatoes and said they were delicious.  My neighbor looked after my garden and picked two zucchini squash to enjoy for his family.  When I gat back the tomato plants had lost most of there leaves, cucumber vines had grown to the top of my 10ft trellis, and the mystery tree (maple) had grown to about 5ft tall.  

So as of the first of July,  I have harvested a ton of jalapeños, about 3 bowls of various tomatoes (@ 10lbs), 5 zucchini, 3 straight eight cucumbers, and about a dozen bell and sweet peppers.  Not a bad season so far.  Thanks to the aboundance of rain this season, I have used very little city water.  I also think though that the rain drowned out most of my plants too.  

This year's homestead project has been my grapevine pergola.  It has taken me a few weeks to work on.  I just have a few little things left but it's pretty much done.  

I built a table and used some scape wood found on the curb to build three benches.  It's been a fun project.  

Lately I have been into growing fruit trees.  Here is a sapling of a mango tree I started from a grocery store mango. 

One of my three Bradford pear trees is producing fruit. 

If you haven't started your own garden it's not to late.  Get those beds ready for a fall garden or even plant a tomato plant in a bucket. With our summer heat usually lasting until almost October, you still have time for a late summer harvest.  Either way, as I always like to say..... Happy gardening and Get Dirty!

First produce of the season

The benefits of watering your garden with pure natural rain.  

The radishes are looking good and tasting even better.   With a nice bite to them, they have been the perfect addition to a real "garden" salad with the butter Bibb lettuce that is still growing from the fall.

Some jalapeños and Aladdin peppers are here thanks to the bountiful rain we have been blessed with for the past week.  For cast predicts two more weeks of rain which is wonderful for the garden but even better for my watering expenses.  

Tomato plants are a good three feet high and have several green fruits on them.  Maybe in a week or two some will be ready for picking.  Can't wait to make some roasted green salsa.  

The beets from the fall are likely as big as softballs, but can't decide what to do with them.  Roast them and put them on a salad and pickle the rest.  May try eating the greens as chips or sauted.  

Transplanted mint is doing well, but the cilantro and basil are not. I think the zucchini plants and tomato plants are blocking out to much sun for them.  Will just have to wait and see.  

The mystery tree is growing rapidly. The leaves look like a maple tree.  Need to do some research soon to see if it's a tree I want to keep.  The only trees I like are ines that give me something to eat.  Speaking of trees, the peach tree has a a couple of fruits on it already.  

Picked up a fig tree thanks to a student who gave me a gift card to Natural Gardeners.  Planted it in my new butterfly garden beside the future pergola.  

I finally got the three pergola post in the ground and planted three of the five grape plants beside them.   Not sure where to put the remaining two vines.  One of the ground vines as tiny little grapes on it.  Can't wait for it to grow and cover the future pergola where we can sit, enjoy the weather and view, and share a meal with family and friends. 

On another note, just returned from a trip to Boston where a visit to Fenway Park , I got to see a rooftop garden in person.  It was pretty cool. 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Day after Earth Day...my contributions

Last weekend I added the four new beds, soaker hoses, and water system for the hoses.  Seeds planted and are already sprouting.  The hanging bucket system however is not turning out to be as effective as I had hoped.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Late February - Fall Garden update

So my attempt of my first fall garden was successful in my opinion.  Very little watering and just a few days of covering the beds due to below freezing weather while the plants were still young, all in all, I am very pleased at the outcome.

The swiss chard continues to grow and grow throughout.  The cilantro took off quickly and even after freezing, continues to stay strong and grow.  The bib lettuce took awhile but is now ready to harvest.  We enjoyed a salad or two with the black seeded simpson lettuce.  And finally, the broccoli has begun to produce some edible florets.

In the past few weekends, when we had some unusually warm winter weather, I repurposed my self-watering gutter system into a hanging bucket system.  Last summer I grew more mosquitoes than plants, so I thought it was time to go back to the drawing board and see what I could come up with in using the materials that I already had.  The only new stuff I had to purchase was a few lag bolts, couple of bags of concrete, and a small box of screws.

So the plan is to use the buckets to plant tomatoes and peppers from the bottom of the buckets and water from the top.  It will require more frequent watering but at least there won't be standing water for the mosquitoes to produce in.  Underneath the buckets, I have 4 grapevines and some oregano growing.   The grapevines are really going to test my patience since I have been told that it can take up to four years before you will see any growth or produce.

I also started my seeds for the spring/summer garden in my garage.  Planted 3 types of tomatoes, tomatillos, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and two types of cucumbers.  The rest I will so directly in the beds in March.  Other ideas for plants are watermelons, onions, basil, lemon balm, and mint for now.  I always like to experiment with at least one new plant so I am still looking for what that may be.


Once I have some time, I want to put down some decomposed granite between the beds and around the perimeter to keep the weeds down, mud off of Cassie's feet, and my neighbor's cat out of it.  I don't want to, but if it comes down to it, I might even build a small fence around it.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

By now its all about experimenting...

We have already hit the 2nd week of July and still pretty much nothing from the garden.  Last night I went to pick some basil for our dinner and was able to collect a handful of grape tomatoes.  My bell peppers are starting to produce so hopefully there will be some in the near future to eat.  My zucchini squash plants are big but still no fruit.  As for the rest of my plants... I must have got a bad bunch this year.  

I decided to construct a greenhouse structure over the beds to help conserve water and to speed up the growing process.  I also created a shade structure with a tarp for the bucket garden since it gets way more than 6 hours of sun a day.

all the cords are also being used to dry our laundry

I would feel like a total failure if my neighbor weren't having the same problem.   He has gotten a few big boy tomatoes and some cherry tomatoes.  A few jalapenos and a couple of eggplants.

Its been a few weeks now since we had any useful rain.   That would be the case that as soon as a make a rain barrel it doesn't rain.  Maybe I should also get some gutters installed too. hehehe.

The one positive thing going for me now is my compost..  its definitely getting the heat additive.  Last night I went out to dump our kitchen scraps and nearly jumped out of my shoes when something jumped out toward my feet.   At first I thought it was a rat, but then noticed that it was my little frog friend (I think) from a few weeks ago.  I guess he decided to hang out in the damp compost since there isn't much room in the gutters now.

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Not Looking so good this year

So for some reason, the garden is not doing so well this year.  I am not sure what the problem is.   The only factors that have changed since last year are that I planted everything about 2 weeks later than normal and I decided to mulch around the plants to retain moisture and cool down the dirt underneath. 



Today I was able to harvest one measly little corn cob from the small batch I had.  From the evidence on the ground, it looks like the squirrels at least enjoyed my corn.  I lit up the grill and threw it on for a few minutes, buttered it up, and added some Tony's seasoning.  It wasn't that bad.  With corn being 6 ears for $1 at HEB, its not even worth trying to grow in the backyard.








The only reason I had it was that I planted it up at the school I work at for the students' garden
and transplanted it after school was out because first, I wanted to see if it would transplant, and second, I didn't want to just waste it.  It actually transplanted better than the other plants I brought home.  The problem was that the batteries in my water timer went out and a few days went by without my plants getting any water.




Mechanics of Gardening:

I finally finished the rain barrel, but Austin still hasn't had much rain this spring and summer.  However, I will be ready for when it does.   Austin will be going to a Stage 2 water restriction this Monday due to the ongoing drought.   So to help out, I have my timer and soaker hoses going off at 4am for only 20 minutes.  After some Internet research, I think I am not watering long enough.  I am going to change my watering routine and see if there will be any improvement.

 

To assist in water conservation and with the mosquito problem, I added some river rock in the gutters.  This will displace the amount of water needed in the gutters but still be able to raise the level of water to reach the baskets in the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets.  The day I filled the gutters with rocks and refilled with water, my little frog friend popped out.  Not sure if he is still around anymore since there is less room for him to lounge around in the gutters.  

It's been about a month since I started the garden with small transplants and seeds and as of today, I have only harvested a handful of grape tomatoes, a few basil leaves, 1 ear of corn, a lot of lettuce, and 2 small acorn squash. 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

Getting 2013 summer garden up and running

Due to a late freeze this year, I finally got the garden started about two weeks after Spring Break.  Hopefully the late start won't hurt me to much this year.   So every year I try something new to experiment with in my garden.  This year its several things.  The first thing I am trying is companion planting.  I have been reading up on this in a few books and various websites and found it intriguing so I thought lets give it a go.  Another thing I decided to try this year is mulching over my soaker hoses to save on water loss.   Austin already has a stage 2 water restriction in place.  I know vegetable gardens are exempt from the restriction, but I figure if I can do my part in water conservation then that means it will just add on to the future of available water source.

The third thing I decided to experiment with I got from a friend of mine.  Its a self-watering gutter system using five gallon buckets.  After doing some quick research online, I found that this method was created by a guy named Larry Hall.  He has a few videos out explaining it and many people use this method for rooftop gardens in urban areas.  Since I already had a few plastic gutters laying around in the garage, I figured why not try it.  I found some food grade buckets on craigslist for $2 each, spent about $10 on some treated 2x4s at the home improvement store, and some netcups at a local nursery for about $5 for about 18 cups.  The only real money I spent was on the float valve to adjust the water level in the gutters.   I still have to find a barrel to hold the water in but I have guy who will hook me up.   Just need to call him.

So looking at what I started with this year is this
seedlings:
tomatoes- purchased 6 (variety of kinds), 16 that just popped up in the beds
zucchini- purchased 4, 3 that popped up on their own
cucumbers- purchased 6,
bell peppers- purchased 6
okra- purchased 3
grape- purchased 6 plants


from seed:
bib lettuce
spinach
mixed greens
bush beans
corn
radishes
cabbage
basil (not sure if I threw out some seed or it just magically appeared like last year)


 As of today, we have had several salads with the amount of lettuce and spinach I've grown.  I made some pickled radishes the other day, and have just started pulling off a few cherry tomatoes.

My one failure so far this year has been my "salad table" constructed with some leftover gutters and 2x4s from my garage.  The problem is that I drilled too many holes in the bottom of the gutters so all the water drains out and the shallow depth of the gutters dry out way to quick for anything to sustain growth.  The only way to keep things growing is to water 2x's a day and that's not good for me. 

 

Get dirty and keep on gardening!

A much needed rain today after 2 weeks of heat

It didn't last long, maybe a good 15-20 minutes, but good ol' rain is always better than city of Austin water.   Since the last time I posted I haven't done much to the homestead.  I re-reused some old plastic gutters.  They were originally on the house but were taken down after some of them were damaged by the hail storm we had a few years back.  I then cut them into 3 ft length pieces and hung them in my classroom to use as bookshelves.  I took them down last year after my students kept leaning on them and ripping them out of the wall.  So now I linked them back together again, drilled some drain holes in the bottom, hung them on the fence and planted some lettuce and cilantro seeds in them.  Lettuce only needs a an inch or so of soil to grow in, so hopefully I will get a nice selection of salad leaves in the next few weeks.

What else is new,  Jennie and I made a batch of zucchini muffins to use up one of the zucchini's we still had and again, they were a huge hit at our church small group... its quite funny what kids will eat when they don't know what the ingredients are.    Last night we made a zucchini gratin and it was really good.  The recipe is from Food Network  (Ina Garten's recipe)

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for topping
• 1 pound yellow onions, cut in 1/2 and sliced (3 large)
• 2 pounds zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick (4 zucchini)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup hot milk
• 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup grated Gruyere

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a very large (12-inch) saute pan and cook theonions over low heat for 20 minutes, or until tender but not browned. Add the zucchini and cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until tender. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook uncovered for 5 more minutes. Stir in the flour. Add the hot milk and cook over low heat for a few minutes, until it makes a sauce. Pour the mixture into an 8 by 10-inch baking dish.
Combine the bread crumbs and Gruyere and sprinkle on top of the zucchini mixture. Dot with 1 tablespoon of butter cut into small bits and bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and browned.

For lunch one day I decided to grill up some random fruit and veggies that were left over from other meals from earlier in the week.  As you can see, I grilled two ears of corn in the husk (I have found out that this is the best method for grilling corn, because the husk keep all the moisture inside, plus the smell of roasted corn always reminds me of fairgrounds and carnivals.)  I sliced a cucumber up long ways about 1/4 inch thick, threw on half a red onion, a few cherry tomatoes (from the garden) and some pineapple.  After grilling it all for about 10 minutes, I cut up everything but the corn, mixed it together, added some feta cheese, salt and pepper, and a little bit of olive oil. Not a bad way to use some leftovers.

The tomatoes are still going strong, as well as the zucchini.   The cucumbers though, I feel, are not fairing so well.  I did pull up some potatoes to see how they were doing and from one stalk, there was one medium-sized potato and about 5 fingerling sized ones.  I replanted them so that they would get a little bigger.  

Running Total of  Summer 2012 Produce

cucumbers: 22

Tomatoes: 309.17 oz = 19.32 lbs

Zucchini: 5

Peppers: 3

Get dirty and keep on gardening!