Thunder Storms and Lots of Rain

A front came through last night (April 24/25) with lots of lightening, thunder-banging and rain. Got the cats upset, but the rain was welcome--even if the same front wreaked havoc on lots of Texas and the mid west. But, as the saying goes: "It's an ill wind that blows no one any good.

Squash, Carrot, Roma Beans, and English Pea Update

From the left: corn, corn, carrots, squash, carrots, turnips, mustard, turnips, mustard egg plant, green cabbage. The beans (not visible to the left of the corn) are blooming and appear to be making strong enough bushes to support fruit. The corn has at least a month to go to harvest. The carrots are still about 3-4 weeks out from being ready to eat. The squash all have small fruit and it looks like maybe two varieties from the shape. One is acorn shaped and the other looks like a fat zucchini. Since I ordered the seed through the mail, I can't remember exactly what kind of squash they're supposed to be and I don't know if I wrote it down anywhere.













The English peas are also blooming (visible on the chicken-wire trellis) and I ate the first pod raw this morning. I ought to have peas to eat in a week.

And Cabbage Problems

Something is the matter with the cabbage. It's making heads but they look like the heads are bursting because they're growing too fast: both the red and green cabbage, but the green are worse than the red. It may also be that squirrels or something are eating them and causing them to burst at the top. I am able to eat the bursting heads by trimming them severely but esthetically it's disconcerting.

Turnip and Mustard Problems

Carter wanted to wait to thin the turnips and mustard, but I think we waited too long. Thinning out the mustard now is not that difficult--and I've gathered some to eat already as tightly packed as the plants are, but the turnips are a different story. We bought the seed from the local feed store, so I had to trust Carter, but when I read a turnip seed pack in a store, they are supposed to be thinned to 4 inches apart when the plants are 2 inches high. They are about six inches high now and they're not making turnips. The root tops lie on top of the soil. I'll try and thin them and rake the dirt up on them so that maybe they'll make turnips, but I'm not too hopeful it will work. I think I'll probably pull out one row entirely and plant again (the 3rd time this year) and thin at the right time. I am able to harvest and eat turnip greens now, however, so I'll leave one of the rows just for greens. So far, I like turnip greens better than mustard any way.

Morning Glories and Moonflower

I planted both white and blue morning glories along the wooden fence on the western end of the garden where I had Carter clean out the weeds. I'm hoping they grow "naturally" and smother out the weeds. The strip of dirt is only about 6 inches wide, so there is not much else that will grow there except weeds. I planted the moon flowers in a similar strip of dirt behind the garage that is too narrow for anything except a wild vine.

Okra and More Egg Plant

I ordered Okra and "Japanese-type" egg plant from Seeds from India. India Seeds calls okra "komal" and the egg plant "shyamala" which are cylindrical in shape rather than the familiar egg shaped. They are more convenient to cook and don't get pithy as quick when large enough to harvest like the egg-shaped ones sometimes do. I hope they taste as good. I planted the okra seeds in the garden where I pulled up some of the collards that had gone to seed. I planted the egg plant seeds in a plastic tray, thinking it might be easier to transplant them where I wanted them--not necessarily in a row to themselves in the garden--instead of worrying about thinning them, etc.

More Iris are in Bloom

There are new blooms in the iris bed: from left to right; Pallida Variegata (not blooming yet,) Mesmerizer (blooming,) Amas (not blooming yet,) Celebration (blooming,) Beverly Sills (not blooming yet,) Yakima Blue (blooming,) Crowned Heads (blooming,) Wabash (blooming,) Ginger Snap (not blooming yet,) Gracchus (not blooming yet,) Hello Darkness(not blooming yet,) Ruby Morn(not blooming yet,) and Stepping Out (not blooming yet.)

I've also put in a new bed along the south side of the house and planted 3 rose bushes that I got for under $10.00 at WalMart: Abraham Lincoln (deep red) Queen Elizabeth (pink) and Bloom (white.) Carter had already planted two rows of zinnias seeds (dwarf in front of 3-foot red) and the roses are spaced about 4-5 feet apart along the rows of zinnias--all are 3 feet from the house. The zinnias are coming up (April 25, 2007)

More Action Outside the Garden

Don Juan Rose

This is a Don Juan leaning rose I planted last year and decided to "Peg" by pinning down the long canes so that they put out shoots along the canes. Then canes are sprouting new canes which will have buds and bloom. The canes ought to air root where they are pinned to the ground. Eventually it ought to produce some new cloned plants as well as a "fountain" of blooms.






"Free" Rose Bush

This is a pink rose that I got as a baby plant as a premium for some seeds I ordered last fall. It's planted at the north end of a new flower bed on the west side of the house. In one of the pictures You can see some of the red salvia planted in the bed on the right side bed at the front of the house.






























My Neighbor's House
On the left is a shot of my neighbor's house to the west with her azaleas still in full bloom although almost all the others in town are gone.

Birding Through the Window

I have a bird feeder outside the breakfast room window where I and my cats, Surely Goodness (AKA Shirley) and Mercy, can watch the birds. The cats do a lot of switching of their tails because I think they disapprove of the birds' table manners. I've bought the following books to help me identify the birds that come to dine. If you'd like to order the books from Amazon.com, just click on the links below.

Action Around the Farm--Outside the Garden

Iris

The old "cemetery" iris that I gathered in the wild from my great-great grandfather's grave has been blooming since Christmas Day.
















New Iris

One of my new fancy iris is also blooming.It's a tall bearded iris called "Mesmerizer." The color is supposed to be Blue-Violet but it looks white to me. It was first propagated in 1885 and is supposed to bloom in early spring, which it seems to be doing.

















Front of the House


I'm putting red salvia in the beds in front of the house again this year. I've also planted pink geraniums in the pots at the front entrance, but I plan to change them to red soon since they don't look that good with the red salvia. I'll also probably put something in front of the salvia as a border; probably something white.

The white azelias were very impressive during the last week in March, but unfortunately, I didn't get pictures.













Also, Carter has already mowed twice.

Spring Is Here

There's lots of activity nowadays at Glynn's Farm, but I guess I better start back in the October when I set out broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage (red and green), collards and onion (purple and white) sets. I also planted beet and carrot seeds. The cauliflower did nothing and I eventually pulled them all up. The broccoli was also a disappointment although I did get enough for two different meals--but I think it was too warm for them and they went to seed almost immediately. The collards, cabbage and onions have done better and I have pulled 3 of the green cabbage to eat and lots of collards (more than I really care to eat--and they're also starting to go to seed too, although I keep the tops cut to prevent it. The red cabbage are not quite ready although they have 3-4 inch heads already. The beets and carrots came up, but the cold got them before they were up enough to survive. I should have planted them in late August or in September, although it was too dry then to do so without watering a lot more than I wanted to (too expensive since I have to pay "sewerage" for all the water I use, even if it's on the garden.

With the help of "Carter" my gardener (He comes every Thursday and has been a great help.) we did some major planting for the spring garden starting on Valentines Day through the first part of March. Carter finished preparing the ground in the new plot and extending the rows in the old plot. We planted (from the west in the new plot) two rows of "Roma" green bush beans, two rows of corn, a row of carrots, a row of squash, another row of carrots, 4 rows alternating mustard and turnips, then the two rows of cabbage planted in the fall. He also planted a row of garlic as well as interspersing garlic (as well as some onions) in vacant spaces between squash and cabbage plants. The first planting of mustard and turnips came up, but failed because it got too cold for them--as well (according to Carter) the ground was not fertile enough. He replanted them the first part of March after fertilizing all the new plot with a granular, time release fertilizer. The first picture above is the west end of the old plot. The first picture below is a view of both the old and new plots as seen from the east.



The following pictures are: (1) The west end of the new plot followed by (2) the center of the plot and (3) the east end. The last picture is the east end of the old plot.