Gardens and Such, Part VIII

Man...

I have been soooo busy, buried waaaay under paperwork. So I dug myself out and decided to take a bit of time to do a garden post. I don't have much to say, so this is mostly a picture post...

Well, all is well in the garden. I picked a good pound of beans last Friday.

My cup (bootleg plastic container) runneth over!!!


LadyTee keeps screaming, "Lee, you need to go get a pretty little basket to place your vegetables in!"

**crickets**

No, LadyTee... any old Wal-mart bag or bootleg piece of Tupperware will do.

I threw those beans in a pot, along with a smoked chicken leg quarter, a couple of cut up onions, and some red potatoes and did the darn thing!

Yes, those are cooked "southern style", i.e., throw that ish in a pot and cook it to death.

I never knew one could eat green beans raw until the Infamous Hen-Dog came over one day, grabbed one of the green beans and started munching on it.

**LadyLee reaching for him yelling "Wait Shorty, those are raw!!".

He said, "Now those are FRESH right there. I can taste the chlorophyll in them beans right there!"

(Yes, us food chemists think and talk like that. This is normal).

So, I tried one, and he was right. They were very fresh, succulent, and sweet. I saved up some raw ones for my salad.

Anyway... other gardening news.

Something went terribly wrong with the radishes. The tops were quite pretty, green and soaring almost a foot high above the ground, but the actual radish roots were JACKED UP!

This is almost always due to rocky soil. I live in the ATL, land of the red Georgia clay... I would have to mix up some special soil or something.

Oh. Dear.

What is an Oldgirl to do?

I tell you what an Oldgirl does. I dug that ish up... and kept it moving. I went and bought a couple of pepper plants and placed them there. Problem solved.

I'll be damn if I'm going to be mixing up some special soil. Humph.

Moving right along... got some peppers coming in from apepper plant I planted a month ago. I think I'm suppose to leave them on the vine until they turn red or orange. I don't know. I will just water them everyday, and see what happens. And that's the way I like it.

And the tomatoes have suddenly appeared.

Houston... we have LIFT OFF!!!! LOL! 'Bout time!!!

Those are of the Roma variety. I hate those big tomatos... These should be small...

Cucumber plants are beginning to flower, which mean I should see cukes beginning to bud in the next ten days or so.

I thought they would leaf up a bit bigger than that, but oh well... Long as I don't have to tend to them (besides watering)... whatever.

I got a little bean leaf blight going on in the back corner of one of the bean patches. Not sure why that is happening. I think it is deficient in a certain mineral or something.



I don't know. And you know me...

I got my shovel in my hand, just in case I gotta dig that ish up!!!

Bush varieties, of which both my cucumber and bean plants are, are determinant plants, which means that they are going to produce heavy for a few weeks, and then die off. That might be what's happening. The indeterminant plants (the vining varieties) produce all season long.(See, I do read about this stuff sometimes-- albeit for only a few minutes at a time, LOL.) I can't stand vining varieties, because that means I have to build frameworks and trellises and fool with chicken wire... I've done that once before. Never again! My name ain't no damn Celie, man!!

Which means I'll be digging that part of the garden up in a couple of weeks and replanting for a... FALL HARVEST! Whoooo-hoooooo!!!

Well, on to the front yard. (yeah, this post is long... SUE ME! You'll be a'ight!)

I planted some pretty flowers, all purple and white, a few weeks ago. This was an interesting experience because as usual, I had to hear Snake complain about all the hard work he had to do helping me spread out my pinestraw and plant the flowers.

But I had to dig it up (man, I LOVE my shovel!!) and throw them away...


Why? Because for some reason, the purple flowers grew out of control and ate up the white flowers... So I had a bunch of purple flowers and weeds... That stuff grew so out of control that we had to have a running start to get up the front steps.

So I went and bought some new flowers. Home Depot had a sale, and took my tail out there in the hot sun and looked around... I came home and yelled up the steps for my sister...

"Kentucky! Kennnnntuuuuuuckkkkky!!!"

She steps out of her room, and looks over the railing. "Yes?"

"Whatchu doin'?"

"Nothing."

"Help me plant some flowers later on."

"Okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I will help you."

I thought she would say no. She even looked excited about it. Wow. I am 1% Diva, and I don't like dirt. And I sho nuff can't stand being out in any type of heat. My sister Kentucky is a PURE 100% Diva. Enough said. But she said okay. We decided to plant at six o'clock. She even came outside early, around 5:30, while I was still piddling around in the garden.

We planted some lovely plants out front.

It was TOO funny seeing my sister fool with the trusty shovel, using her flip-flop clad feet to shove the spade into the ground.

We had too much fun. Man, it is very RARE for me to spend time with my sister. VERY RARE. I think it is the age difference, and we are both consumant loners, who like waaaay too much quiet and solitude. I am more apt to run with my brother Milk and Cookies, since I tend to be a tomboy and like to tare up stuff, lol. But we hung out for and hour and a half, planting flowers and spreading pinestraw.

Even Mr. Thomas, a local, came by and cut the grass. And of course, he wanted something to drink afterwards. (Hen-Dog gets pissed about this. "Lee, stop spoiling the crackheads!!!")

Whatever, Shorty. It was hot as hell outside, and I don't want old dude to fall out in my yard. I would hate to have to drag his body out into the middle of the street after he die from heat exhaustion...

So that is the the gardening news update...

Yes it was long... As I may just do one other post this week (or maybe not). It's all according to how much of this paperwork I can get off my desk!

Have a good week:)