Garden Update 2011

Well I have almost everything planted now.

Tomatoes, Eggplant, hot peppers, sweet peppers, Red and Green Lettuce, Kale, Swiss Chard, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Dill .... I planted another herb too... but can't remember what it was.... lol.... Guess we will see in a few weeks... I do remember they were little yellow round seeds.... hmmmm....

I still have...

More Cucumbers, Basil, Parsley, Marigolds, and I think that is about all....Left to plant... and that should be done by this weekend if not by the end of today....

Started out with adding Organic peat to the garden beds to add some drainage and moisture retention....

Thats about an inch of peat that is going to get mixed into the soil.

I am so happy I have a headstart this year... I am so ahead of the game it isn't funny..lol... Literally... It isn't.. I planted the eggplant really early..oops... This is only my 2nd year planting eggplant and last year the flea beetles ate all the leaves and destroyed them before I even knew what happened.... errr.... So no eggplant..... But this year fingers crossed I get it right. I did purchase frost cloth and I put black felt at the base to help warm the soil up and keep it there. I am also planted Dill at the base. This is supposed to keep the flea beetles away... Guess we will see....

I did change up were I planted things this year.... I added a bed for Zucchini away from everything else. Plus away from the area that I had them planted last year trying to get rid of the squash bugs... But I figure I'm not that far away so I am sure they will visit sooner of later.

Planter is about 8'x2'... and I put 4 hills of zucchini which is a little close but I hope it works out. Only time will tell.

Right in my front yard... I know the dogs are going to love yet another bed taking over their space :) oops

I put my tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers all in the biggest bed. I am also adding basil around the tomatoes, the dill around the eggplant and marigolds throughout the biggest bed. The herbs and the marigolds are supposed to keep some of the bugs away... ? hopefully it works...

The tomatoes will have a screen set between them for them to grow up. 

This bed is about 10'x8'

 I planted all the greens in one bed, the cucumbers and soon to be a couple peppers plants in another... and now I have one open garden bed and haven't decided what I want to try yet. I think everything is really well organized at this point and I am loving it!

The dark bed is the greens bed. This bed had Organic peat and Organic soil added to it. This bed is  3'x4' I think...

Over the next few years I want to build some ornamental tower like structures to hold up some of the tomatoes &/or cucumbers because I love the way they look. This year though I think we are just going to either dig holes and put some landscaping timbers in the ground and attach some wire or netting to them or build small structures above the ground like last years.

Found this picture a couple nights ago online.. Not sure where it came form but I really like this and look forward to doing something like this maybe in my front yard next year :)

Next up though is adding untreated mulch around the garden beds. Everyone around loves to mow the grass and let the clipping go right into the garden beds... That is so annoying... why don't they get that they can turn the lawn mower around and let the grass clipping fly the other direction...?  So fingers crossed that the mulch will help keep the grass clippings and weed seeds out of the garden...

Heirloom Vegetable plants from the Greenhouse

Finally got my veggies... The greenhouse had a good number of the plants I wanted..  So ended up buying....

6 Black Krim Tomatoes

6 Stripy Tomatoes

6 Green Zebra Tomatoes

3 Golden Globe Tomatoes

4 Black Cherry Tomatoes

6 Black Beauty Eggplant

3 Hot peppers

6 Sweet Peppers

8 Marigolds

The rest of our plants will be started from Organic Seeds.

Earth Day 2011

We did most of our Earth Day Celebration the day before Earth Day. It was nice and sunny and we could go out and get some stuff done that needed to be done. Our day consisted of Getting our composter, gardening supplies, and cleaning out the garden beds. We also put my Moms new raised garden beds together.

I have been wanting one of these for a while. Haven't had the money for one..
But I decided to splurge and pick one up while they were on sale.
So this was my contribution for Earth Day.
A 12 cuft Compost Roller.

Also for Earthday we worked  on some of the garden beds.
This is the Rhubarb Bed that we transplanted from my Grandfathers garden.
It needs to be spread out some more but I haven't the room.

First Cut Rhubarb of the year. I was surprised that we had so much so soon.
But it has been raining like crazy. So there is more to come. 

I cut 16 stalks and they weighed out to be  1lb 14.9oz.
There is a bunch more to cut. But I need to freeze this first.

We also picked up a bunch of organic soil, organic peat moss, organic peat hummus,
and some stones to widen some of the garden beds

All the garden beds have been cleaned. But the only thing I have got planted is one
set of cucumber that grow up the lattice in the back of this bed.

2011 Garden Prep

We have finally started this years garden prep. I am excited to once again to be expanding and wondering if I still have to many veggies planned even with the expansion.... We live on a small piece and land and last year it creeped into our front year where the dogs play and this year it is taking up even more of the dogs play area.... Do you think the veggies will make it??? Lets keep our fingers crossed because last year our kale and swiss chard had a hard time dealing with our playful brood....

Went to the greenhouse today expecting to get an early start on planting for a change.... and what do I get??? Nothing... They only had 3 heirloom tomatoes out..beefsteak, Orange Jubilee, and mortgage litter... Only one of which I wanted and they were still so small I decided to wait. They had no eggplant and no peppers.... so I guess I have to wait a couple more weeks for them to get ready... So I decided to go ahead and get the extra soil we will need I picked up: Picked up 10- 1.5 Cubic Feet bags of organic soil (4.98 each), and 2 bags organic peat Hummus (1.60 each). Still might need some more soil and definitely some more Peat Hummus but its a good start.

A few days ago we started cleaning out the garden beds that we are not moving and got them almost totally cleaned of weeds and vines which were taking over. Now we are expanding two of the raised beds and turning them into a regular bed so we can fit more in it. We are moving the zucchini away form the squash bugs... Hopefully it takes a while for them to find the plants this year. They are going to our front yard.. So they just have to brave the dogs... Good luck Zuccs! I am not sure were everything else is going yet... Depends how many tomatoes I end up with this year!!! I have a whole list....

So planted for this year:
Eggplant
Zucchini
Pickling Cucumbers
Kale
Lettuce
Swiss chard - Maybe
Catnip- Which came back from last year...
Rhubarb- Perennial form my Grandfathers garden
Rooster Peppers- From seed we will see how they turn out...
Peppers-
Beans- Maybe
Tomatoes...Depends on what kind the greenhouse has...
I want:
Mortgage Litter
Black Krim or Cherokee Purple
Gaint Pink Belgium or German Pink
Roma
Green Zebra
Black Cherry & Green
Mr. Stripey
Golden Jubalee
not sure if that is all but also not sure were they will all go considering I have to purchase 6 packs to get them....

Thats all for now...  Update more with pictures later.

Vegan MOFO Days 18-19-&20 Best Buy Sucks, Sick Ferret, and Gardening

I have had a long three days. Friday I went to Best Buy to pick up my camera I had ordered. What I didn't realize was it would turn into a four hour ordeal....

I called in a day before my order was due for pickup because John had to pick it up and that was his only day off. They said that was fine come in and they would give us the one they had in stock which was the same exact camera I had ordered.... The Nikon D3000 with VR lens and Extra 55mm-200mm VR lens. I get there the manager goes and gets the camera but the bar codes do not match. so he tells me to call  Best buy online and see what they want us to day. I finally have them cancel the order I had placed online but the credit company would not release the funds like they were supposed to so when I went to check out my card wouldn't run. It was a huge mess. But at about the 4 hour mark luckily the credit company finally released the money on my card and I could finally check out.  The guy who waited on us at the store was really great though. All the managers are worthless... :)

 I was so frazzled by that time I couldn't even think of the groceries I needed at the store so we stopped and ate, went to TJ maxx (didn't get anything), stopped at Giant Eagle to try to remind me what I needed.. no such luck so I gave up and went home.

I came home and my day gets even more stressfull. I go to check on the ferrets. I pick Abu up and she is skin and bones. Ferrets loss weight and get dehydrated very quickly. She had been fine the morning before. I put her down and she couldn't walk. She would curl her toes under and and her back hips would fall over to the side. So I gave her 2 raisins in case it was her blood sugar. Then I mixed up some "Duck soup" (which isn't duck it is a dry mix of food and vitamins for sick ferrets) , with baby food, and Ferretvite, and water.

 She was very dehydrated and I knew I had to get food and water into her or as weak as she was she wouldn't make it through the night. I fed her 5 to 10mls of this food mix ever 30mins to 1hour that evening into the late night. I also gave her a 1ml dose of carafate for her tummy. She was grinding her teeth which normally means tummy pain.

 I got up and called the vet bright and early Friday morning. When we got there she was eating a little more and was more alert. They took a stool sample and was getting ready to take a blood sample to check kidney function & send me home with two antibiotics, carafate & SubQ fluids for stomach ulcers. But her stool sample came back with coccidia in it so now we are treating her for coccidia and hoping that is the issue. But normally coccidia doesn't pose a problem unless there is an underlying issue. So fingers crossed it is just the cccidia. But it really could be anything from ulcers to cancer. She is 7 and ferrets have a high instance for cancer. I am hoping for the best. All day I fed her every couple hours and gave her her meds and SubQ fluids. After her SubQ fluids she spunked up a little. She is on Albon to take care of the parasite with 20ml subQ fluids once a day as long as she is taking the meds. After meds are finished fluids are as needed.

There are Three links on coccidia above just click on of the "coccidia" s above and it will take you to some information about it.

Today she is doing better. I am feeding her ever 2 to 4 hours and she is taking in any were from 15 to 35mls. Which is really good. she is supposed to take in from 90-120mls of food a day. She is also walking better. she is no longer curling her toes and she is gaining her weight back quickly. Even her hip bones that had been out just yesterday is filling it. It is crazy with ferrets how fast they can go down and come back. Fingers crossed she will continue to get better and that Spanx will not get coccidia....

Abu slowly eating her food mix. This is really good for sick ferrets and will help them
gain there weight back, get strong, and healthy again. Plus they love it.

Looking more alert when she wakes up now.

Spanx wondering where his sure of the food mix is...

On the food side... Nothing interesting. So many things have been going on I have been slacking on the cooking. I am getting ready to Thanksgiving... or trying to. I still need to go grocery shopping and I am not sure when I am going to get the chance to do that with a sick ferret on my hands. I hope to do it Monday or Tuesday. I hope she is feeling better by then and can eat her regular food while I am at the store. I have been being sustained on Organic Raisin Bran & almond milk, organic apples & organic creamy peanut butter and today I had my fave quick lunch of organic kidney beans, broccoli & organic potato w/ smart balance light and salt.

Gardening... Although most gardening is over for the year I have left some kale and herbs out to see how long into the fall I can grow cold weather crops. Right now I have kale and catnip still growing even though at night it has been getting about 30F. I have noticed that the kale has started to wilt some. But the catnip is still going strong. Next summer I might make some cold crop boxes for next fall/winter.

Kale

Catnip

More tomatoes

Trying to keep track on the total weight on everything for this year. We don't garden on alot of space but we do have a little and enjoy whatever we can grow on it.

More Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Yet another Cherokee Purple. Wish something else would rippen.. No offence to the Cherokee Purple...

More Green Tomatoes to fry.. Not that great for me but I have to take advantage of the season before they are gone.

Another golden Jubilee

I cut this Golden Jubilee up to fry it and it was starting to turn yellow already. I have cut a few up that looked totally green but was starting to rippen. Why are the ripper tomatoes the ones that taste sour when they are fried?

Year Round Rhubarb- Processing & Freezing

The Rhubarb has been over ran with grass and it is coming to the end of summer so I am starting to process it.

First Batch

The leaves must go. They are poisonous. So throw them away. Don't feed them to the chickens...

Looks like alot less after taking the tops off but there is still a good amount there.

Next comes cleaning and trimming away of all spots and imperfections in the stalk.  If the stalks are stringy or woody, peel. While you are doing this bring a big pan of water to a boil.

Put you rhubarb down in the boiling water for just 1 min. Don't do it any longer or they will over cook and turn to mush. They should be slightly cooked and there color will change. Put them straight into an ice bath. this will stop the cooking process.

They will freeze in a couple hours.
(Notice I forgot to remove the paper towl before freezing it.. Not the best idea it sticks.. )

Now all that is left to do is bag and label with date & amount. This will keep in the freezer for 9 to 12 months.
I processed the first bunch of a little over 2 pounds. Which was 6 1/2 cups.

Harvesting from the Garden

The garden has finally started producing at a good pace. Now I need to keep up with it. Which isn't always easy. The cucumber plants have died for the year. This is the last of the cucs. They way about 7 or 8 Pounds. The tomatoes on the other hand have just started turning red this late i the season. Now they are all turning rippening at the same time and I am not sure what to do with them.... Salsa, gazpacho, sammies, chili... Not sure what I want to do but I better figure it out before they start going bad.

The chickens ended up with more tomatoes with bug hole... 

I have held off this long from picking and frying green tomatoes. But enough is enough. But of course as soon as I took a couple to everything started turning red...

The inside of this tomato looked alot different than the others. John couldn't remember which plant her got it from though.

First Bell pepper 

The Golden Jubilee are producing good.

A few smaller yellow toms. These are very ripe...

The Cherokee purple are producing the best numbers

This is our first brandywine tomato

The garden is producing- slowly...

The cucumber plants are really pretty and doing great right now. Think I will plant double next year so I can make lots of pickles.  :)

Cucumbers are coming along nice. 

Lots of  Cucs

Yummy fresh Cucumbers

Only a couple Bell peppers. but they are doing better this year than any other year I have planted them.

There are tons of Serronos 

More green

Love the heirloom toms. Wish I wrote down which plants were which...

Lots of green tomatoes

Looks so pretty from above. But had a hole in it and was split.

First Red one of the year and of course it splits and has a huge bug hole. Chickens will love it.

Some kind of animal is making a path through the Zuc plants. So they are dieing off now. We ended up with 6 or 7 before they totally died off.

A small curved Zuc

The Zucs are producing still

Of course the chickens got the first Red tomato of the season... since it had a nice big bug hole in it...