Garden Fuss

So I have been diligently planting away in the garden. I planted several cabbages (10 to be exact) not including 2 red cabbages. I am now down to 1 red cabbage and 3 round dutch cabbages. I have searched and searched and there is not a trace of an insect presence. Then a couple days ago I see a furry little guy racing to get to the main fence line. Oh he made it this time, but the battle between me and Mr. Chipmunk is now on. I have waited years literally to have a decent asparagus harvest, and could not figure out why I was getting little to no shoots. Well, now I know... This little guy and his or her family will be fat fatties if they keep consuming produce at the speed of my plantings. If they just preferred one type of vegetable I would be fine, but the fact that they are sampling or totally devouring baby cabbages and even an jalapeño plant almost before my eyes.....Oh I'm almost speechless!  This lead me to click on  a link about getting rid of most common gar...

Today is another day full of updates. I have just planted the "king of the north" peppers and the jalapeno peppers. Both love the sun and I am hoping to get a bumper crop as the ones I planted last year were a disappointment. However, I did have a nice yield from the banana peppers I picked up from the HomeDepot. I may try those again this year but need to find space. **hmmmm, where to dig?** :-)

Yesterday I searched the garage for the "bulb" container I used to store my Canna rhizomes and Dahlia Bulbs. I would have had success storing these if it hadn't have gotten so cold and my memory would have kicked in sooner. This is one of those situations where in hind sight I should have gone with my first mind and brought them into the house instead of thinking a little cold would do them good. Well as you can tell from my little memory sequence, I have lost several  plants due to sure ignorance and inexperience. As I held the soggy stinky mass of yuck I started to rethink the plants that fill in the space near my central air unit. I'm now thinking Zinnias for the same pop in color but they won't be as tall as the dinner plate dahlia or cannas. They'll be close to the house and easy to water so here goes a try.  Well, as more seasoned gardeners say "you win some, and you lose some" (my mother in-law that is). For now I'm going to keep moving f...

The last pumpkin has been served in this delicious chocolate chip pumkin bread. 4 cups of puree remain to await their contribution to another confection or savory concoction. But for now I can't wait for game night tonight with he neighbors. SO MUCH FUN and so much good food! The Recipe for this pumpkinee dish can be found at:  http://thedishondelish.blogspot.com/2008/11/pumpkin-bread-mulled-cider.html  In case you're itchin to try it and don't want to go that far I'll list it right here. Thank you for the recipe Elizabeth! _______________________________________________________________________ Pumpkin bread 2 cups canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin puree) 1 cup canola oil 4 eggs 2/3 cup water 3 cups granulated sugar 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray three (medium/smallish) bread loaf pans. In a large b...

Here lies the last pumpkin from the 2009 growing season. It is still sweet and was full of luscious creamy orange flesh waiting to be turned into bread and/or pie tomorrow. This makes me want to get full on into the 2010 growing season which is just now starting to heat up. Now that I think about it I have not started any Jarrhadale from seed yet. I better hop to that tomorrow as well! I and the rest of Minnesota am already enjoying almost 80 degree weather to the fullest. However, tomorrow when it does make it to 80 degrees I don't know what I'll do with myself. Oh yeah, I remember I'll be mulching and planting peppers (oh, and starting a new batch of pumpkins *wink*). YAY SPRING!!!

Mmm good!

This has been the mot schizophrenic weather here in Minnesota this year. We finally get snow and record amounts at that followed by an early thaw and almost 80 degree weather in April. Now our May has been record lows with rain and even snow......... Well, in spite of the colder conditons I have still managed to split and/or share rasberries, borage, red russian kale, pepper mint(which I should have grown in a pot), and mustard greens. The majority of our cabbage plants have been eaten or died but we have one still holding on strong. The cold weather has helped the cruciferous veggies. Although the purple cauliflower has been bitten up thank God I have extras to go in. In no time we will have tall fat brussel sprout stalks. This year I won't pull them up so soon. They love the cold and even tolerate a little snow. I can smell the picle brine already! As far as my friend the deer, she was hanging out at Fort Snelling Park near the road. Nothing spooked her, and we even saw two of he...