How to Determine When Watermelons Are Ripe

Oh so sweet!  I harvested my Sugar Baby watermelons, and they are delicious.  Sorry I only put in one plant this year. Next year, 2 - 3 plants will find their way into the garden.  They're the perfect size to place in the fridge and just enough to share.   Last year I picked them too soon.  I learned to check the bottom to determine if they're ripe. If the bottom has a cream/yellowish spot, they're ready to harvest.   

My garden is coming to a close.  I pulled the green beans, cucumbers and squash plants.  I still have lots of tomatoes that need to ripen.  My peppers didn't do well this year.  I'll manage to harvest enough to place in the freezer for chili and salsa, but no pickled peppers this season. 

My lessons learned: 

1)  Read the labels.  I planted bush beans instead of pole beans around my tee pee trellis.  In spite of that mistake, they produced well and I was able to harvest several gallons for the freezer.   

2)  Build a bigger trellis for my squash and zucchini plants. 

3)  Plant garlic in the fall.  My attempt at growing during the spring was a total failure.  I didn't harvest 1 garlic bulb.  

4)  Don't start my seeds indoors too early.   I lost quite a few plants because I started my seeds to soon and was unable to transplant. 

How did your garden do this season and what lessons did you learn for next season? 


                                                                        

Most Wanted Green Houses

 

I'm retiring in 2 years I will have 37 years as a public servant, and I'm hoping to have a greenhouse waiting for me as a retirement gift.   I have these greenhouses dancing in my head.  The picture at the top is my favorite, and the gift I'm hoping for just a little bigger.  I like the third one simply because the windows open.  There's a few other projects that must be completed before the greenhouse.  I'm adding a sunroom off my kitchen this spring.  It will be used for my craft room and the children's playroom.  I want to replace the kitchen lighting, repaint, and add a fireplace.  I need a new storm door, the guest room needs a make-over and so does my office.  The list goes on and on, so the greenhouse is at the bottom of the list. 

I've picked out the perfect spot for the greenhouse.  It will receive plenty of light and it's close to the garden area.  Not sure if it will have water, but electricity is a must for the grow lights,  heaters and fans.   I was thinking that I could install a few rainbarrels for the water supply.  A girl can dream can't she!  Which is your favorite? 

Hardening Off My Veggies

Finally set out a few of my plants today for a few hours. Everything is looking good with the exception of the tomatoes.  I have a few that are hanging on for dear life.  I lost 3 Cherokee Purple, but started a few more last week.  They've sprouted and doing well.  Hopefully I will have better luck with these.     

My peppers are doing great.  I have 20 cayenne, Hungarian wax, chili, and jalapeno that look healthy and are ready to go.  Two sweet minis are finally taking off.  I will definitely have to start those earlier next year.  I didn't realize how slow they are to grow.  When the packet states to start them in February that's what they mean!

Here's a few of my tomato plants, a beefsteak and Hillbilly.   I have a few others that are doing well, but others are struggling to make it.  Not sure what has happened with the tomatoes, as I provided the same care and maintenance for all of them.  Next year, I will plant far more that I need to ensure that I don't have to start over.  I'm sure somebody at the office will take the extra off my hands.  I still have a few weeks to see how they progress.  I won't put my garden in until the end of May and may stagger the planting through mid-June.  We've gotten frost in these parts in the middle of May.  So my philosophy is, when it's warm enough to swim it's warm enough to put the garden in. 

The squash, zucchini, watermelon and pumpkins are doing great.  I need to get them in the ground soon.  My guest room is starting to look like a jungle.  I've had to move most of them out of the pots and into these Hefty cups.  Thanks to Granny at Annie's Kitchen Garden, I used her idea of punching holes in the bottom of the cups with a glue gun.  We drink out of these cups regularly because Mama don't have time to be washing dishes all day, so we have plenty of plastic cups around.  The hot glue gun works wonderfully for the holes, and they're nice and deep and strong.  Perfect for the plants once they take off.   

This was my first year starting seedlings.  I have to say,  I really had a great experience.  I'm learning bunches visiting your blogs and taking a tip here and there.   Next year, I'll start the peppers and tomatoes a little earlier and the squash and zuchinni a little later.  I need to invest in another 4 foot grow light, other than that I'm getting the hang of things.  

More Sprouts

I have more sprouts, but not as many as I would like.  Next year, I will start the germination process earlier.  To date, I have 2 jalapeno, 2 Cherokee Purple, 1 Beefsteak, 2 Boxcar Willie, 1 German Johnson and 1 Kaki Coing that have germinated.  None of the sweet or hot peppers have germinated or the Hillbilly or Paul Robeson tomatoes. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to start a few more Cherokee Purple and Beefsteak pots since they germinated quickly so I can have a few extra heirlooms on hand just in case the other tomato seeds don't germinate.

I'm loving the grow lights.  I need to pull out a banquet table to set it on this week-end.  It's setting on the floor in one of the guest bedrooms now.  I can say that purchasing the light was money well spent.  The seedlings seem happy at this point.  I set a few pots of dill under it a few days ago.  It seems that dill needs light to germinate, so I'm hoping that it will warm the soil enough to germinate the seeds.  I found the perfect stand in my attic last week-end that I plan to turn into a germination station next year.  It has 4 tiers, and is wide enough to hold several flats per tier.  Sure wish I had spotted it earlier.  (I really need to clean my attic out, lol).   

Any experienced dill growers out there?  I need dill for my pickles this year.  I had a few dill plants in the garden last year as companion plants and they did well.  I'm hoping to germinate a few seeds.  Research has shown that dill doesn't transplant well, so I don't know if I will be successful with transplanting it in the garden if the seeds do germinate. 

The thing that I tried and was successful in producing last year was sunflowers.  I'm going to try to germinate my seeds inside this year.  I love sunflowers in the garden, and hoping to share the experience with my grandchildren.   How's your seed germination going? 

Spring Has Arrived

Spring has arrived and I'm so excited.  I'm going to attempt to germinate my veggie seeds this year.  I've decided to try heirloom tomatoes.  Here's a few of my tomato packets that I've been admiring all day.  They're just like a big chocolate candy bar to me, at least that's the effect they're having on me.  I'm salivating just thinking about plucking a fresh tomato this summer and slicing it with a little mayo and pepper.  I can't get enough of them.

I so enjoyed the tomatoes that I canned for soup and chili this winter.  They were as fresh and delicious as they were last summer.  I decided to plant Hillbilly, German Johnson, Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, Kaki Coing (a bonus pack),  and Roma tomatoes.  Pole beans, squash, cucumber (slicers & pickling), zucchini, Sugar Baby water melon, and lots of peppers this year.  

I'll start my seedlings this week-end.  Since this will be my first year at this endeavor, I'm hoping that I'll be successful.  I didn't buy a heating mat, I decided to use my baseboard heaters for germination.   I can regulate the temperature with the heaters or use the top of my fridge.  I'll let you know if it works for me.  I did buy a 4 foot grow light.  Not sure if I will use it or if I will set up a table and just use the light from my kitchen door.  Research has shown that if I turn the plants so they don't reach for the light, I should be okay. 

What are you planting this year?  How do you germinate your seeds?  I'm a novice gardener, so any tips would be appreciated. 

Today's Harvest

Had a good day in the garden.  The tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.  Looks like more Zucchini Bread on the horizon.  I don't like my zucchini to get as large as the one in the picture.  I obviously missed it in the garden and it grow larger than I like.  I have tons of peppers that I need to get to this evening.  My pole beans are progressing, but they're a little behind.  I had to plant them 4 times because the groundhogs ate them down to the ground.  Hopefully they will take off and produce a few beans for canning. 

I'll make a squash and zucchini casserole for dinner this evening and Blanche and freeze the remainder for baby food for new grand baby who's on the way.  We'll slice the tomatoes for lunch or dinner this week.  Need to get my canner ready,  lol.  They're coming faster than we can eat them. 

What did you harvest this week?  Leave me a comment and I'll come over and check it out. 

I Need More Veggies!

I'm going to be a grandmother again!  It seems that my daughter, pictured below from a photo shoot for her hair salon, gets a degree and than she has a baby, lol.  She completed her Masters in December and will give birth in November.  She worked diligently to get off all baby weight from the birth of my grandson so she would be at her prebaby weight before she became pregnant again.  She has decided to do things the old fashioned way this time around.  She will not be founding out the sex of the baby and she has decided that she will be making the baby's food with fresh veggies and fruit from my garden.     

I need carrots, peas, green beans, squash, and pumpkins for the baby.  I'm so excited, I'll be extending my garden in the next few weeks to prepare for the planting of peas, carrots and additional green beans to can and freeze.  Although my grandson is happy and healthy, I'm excited that my daughter will feeding the new baby all natural products.  A food processor will go on her list of baby shower gifts, which I will be hosting in October. 

I have another blog, Mother 2 Mother which focuses on parenting tips, product reviews for children, give aways, recipes and whatever else enters my mind.  For those who have children or grandchildren, if your interested in following Mother-2-Mother, head over and hit the follow button.   Since I started this blog I haven't updated Mother-2-Mother in a few months, but I do intend to start updating it regularly in next few weeks. 

Garden Warrior?

I'm looking for a solution to ward off the intruders in my veggie garden.  Do you think this guy will do the trick?  This is the greeter at one of my favorite farmer's markets.  You can see him a mile away beckoning you to come and partake of the beautiful flowers and veggies being offered.  I guess they will see me less often, as my goal is to grow my own, but I will always find him adorable. 

My First Pepper Has Arrived!

The veggie garden is coming to life.  I'm so excited since this is my first vegetable garden.  I took a stroll this morning, and I found blooms on the eggplants, tomatoes, and cilantro.  My hot banana pepper is producing.  Look it's so beautiful, lol.  The plant actually has two peppers. 

This garden is trial and error for me.  I'm continually studying and making adjustments that won't disturb the plants.  I mulched the tomato plants with dried grass from the lawn this morning.  As I was doing research last night, I learned that I needed to cage my eggplants and peppers.  I'm heading out shortly to purchase a few cheap cages for them.  Ching, ching, 5 more cages.  

                           Eggplant 2 weeks ago.

     Eggplant this morning.  See the bloom in the back. 

The tomatoes are doing great.   Below is a shot of the Sweet 100.  Can't wait to pop a few of these babies in my mouth.  I eat them like grapes.  I had to add a tie to the stake this morning.  This means it's heading up the pole as Mama wants it to. 

This is a shot of my Roma tomato plant.  I'm going to can these to use in my vegetable soup and chili during the winter.  I planted an Amish Paste as well.  I'm a big fan of Amish anything, so I'm looking forward to seeing which of the two I like best for sauce. 

I decided to add pole beans this morning and red onions.  The red onions really didn't look that great when I opened the package.  I found them on clearance at Walmart.  I decided to plant them anyway and see what happens.  I had a little space on the west side of the garden, so I decided to plant green "pole" beans.  I love fresh green beans.  I had a 6 foot stake, so I drove it into the ground.  I ran lines of cotton string down the sides of the pole and staked them into the ground with a few sticks that I had laying around.  It seems pretty tight and sturdy, lol.  I'm trying to garden on a budget and using what I have around the house.  If all the seeds germinate, I should have 12 vines going up my homemade trellis.  I should get a pretty good harvest from 12 vines.  I'm hoping to can a few jars for vegetable soup this winter.  I'm sure most of them will be eaten at family gatherings over the summer.  How's your gardening going?  Leave me a comment and let me know what you're working on.  I'll come over to check it out. 

A Visit To The Garden Center

I  just visited my local and favorite nursery.  The hanging baskets are beautiful.  I love this nursery, the displays are wonderful and the plants are top quality.   I purchase my geraniums, vinca and spikes here.  Today I was short on time, so I just purchased a few geraniums.  I'll be heading out again tomorrow morning.   

Their vegetable plants were beautiful.  I purchased a few tomato plants, 1 Celebrity, 1 Better Boy, 1 Sweet 100, 1 Beefsteak, and 4 Amish Paste for sauces.   I will also be planting 1 green, yellow, red and jalapeno peppers for salsa, 2 crooked neck squash, 2 zucchini, and 2 bush cucumbers.   In the herb garden I'll plant dill, sweet basil, oregano, lavender and chives. 

I purchased a few butter crunch lettuce plants to place next to the tomatoes.  Not sure how they will do, but it's worth a try. 

I'll be planting the garden over the week-end, cutting back shrubs, pulling weeds, and hopefully getting a few flowers on the deck.  Stay tuned for more on my progress. 

The Rhododendron Has Come To Life

Here's a few pictures of my Rhododendron in the front shrubbery bed.  When I purchased the plant, I thought it was white.  That's what the label indicated, but it turned out to be this beautiful lavender.  Since purple is my daughter's favorite color, I decided to leave it.  It's such a comforting color don't you think. 

The Rhododendron has turned out to be a very easy flower for me to grow, so I will definitely add a few more into the gardens. 

Visits From The Bunny Rabbits

I come home each evening to find these adorable little bunnies in my yard.  They have become quite comfortable, they don't blink an eye when I pull into the driveway.  As a matter of fact, they look at me as if to say go around me.  I'm not moving!  We have found ourselves a feast.  As a matter of fact, we've invited all of our friends to join us.  If your stupid enough to plant more Impatients around that tree in your backyard, we plan to take those down too.  Yep, that's a summary of our conversation.  Either the bunnies or the deer ate my beautiful lavender Impatients down to the ground last summer.  Each evening more and more Impatients would disappear until there were literally none left. 

I'm planting to put out a small vegetable garden, and I've had to figure out how to keep these little bunnies out of my garden.  One of the solutions that I came across was using grated ivory soap.   That's exactly what I intend to do.  It seems easy enough.  Ivory soap is cheap, and I can purchase a kitchen grater from the dollar store.    

As you can see, my bunnies are quite healthy.  They start nibbling early in the morning and continue their feast into the evening.   If you have tried this ivory soap recommendation and it has worked for you, please let me know.  If you use another method, I would be interested in knowing that too!