The Garden Grows Apace

It would seem that my experiment with pre-sprouting some of the seeds has gone well.  I now have some new corn coming up from that second planting,

as well as a couple of the radishes. Yippee!

Some of the tomatoes are starting to turn red already.  I didn't bend over far enough to see if those were the "Early Girl" variety, but I would suspect so.  However, they seem small.  I don't know if those are like cherry tomatoes, or what.  At any rate, I'm getting excited, and my mouth is watering for fresh veggies!

I finally have a blossom (that means fruit veggies on the way) on my lemon cucumber. 

The bell pepper is also endowed with several blossoms,

 and the herbs are thriving.

 The eggplant is finally getting to a good size,

  but the indoor-starting experiement does not seem to be working with either the eggplant or the green onions.  I wonder what's up with that?  A bad bunch of seeds?  Not a single onion ever sprouted, either in the ground, or in the house.

Ah, well, I am still excited--this is the first time I've ever tried to grow vegetables since the first time, when I was about 8 years old, and the second time, back in the 1970's when I lived where neither the soil nor the climate were suitable.

That Whole Other Article

     The great promise of progress has somehow gone awry.  Many great new inventions have come, and some have as quickly gone.  Others have hung around, though I cannot fathom why.

     Some were crazy crazes, toys and games; some were household gadgets, meant to ease our work.  Progress for its own sake alone, I think is foolish.  Just because we can do something, does not mean we should! 

     I submit for your consideration the old-fashioned ways of saving food.  Surely you recall.  Mothers saved glass jars to keep leftovers fresh.  As a child, you could not trust the labels in the 'fridge.  Just because a jar said "peanut butter," beware--it was as likely to harbor dreaded vegetables!

     Then there were the bowls of mystery food.  Who knew what lurked therein?  Covered up as they were, in plastic hats like shower caps,  (do they even make shower caps anymore?) you could not know what the content was; the bowl was opaque.  Good bet, though, it was something liquid and likely to spill.

     Accidents were common--these containers all were glass--which we know does not bounce well.

     And then the 1950's hit, and Tupperware™ hit the scene.  Oh, joy!  No more broken glass--drop it and it bounces--just like a rubber ball.  The early stuff, though, still opaque:   mystery foods remained.  My mother, though, remained immune to the lure of bouncing bowls.  Nary a single piece of Tupperware™ ever graced her shelves.  Steadfastly she clung to her second-hand mayonnaise and peanut butter jars, and a few glass bowls.

     And speaking of cling, we come to the next fad to hit the market.  Plastic cling wrap in various brand names.  The stuff is still around, but for the life of me, I cannot imagine why.  Touted for its strength and mainly for its ability to cling to all those bowls...it supposedly solved the problem of mystery foods, for it was clear see-through!

     All well and good, but I must ask, is it worth the pain?  The stuff is tough--doesn't want to tear.  And as you try to rip a hunk on the handy serrated box edge, it's as likely your knuckle you'll rip, and bleed all over the food.  The plastic wrap, though stretched all out of shape, steadfastly in one piece remains.

     And next, the cling, ah, the cling, that miracle cling.  Yes, it clings.  It clings to the box, it clings to you, and most of all, and best of all, it clings unto itself!  Once folded over, toss it out, for each attempt to pry it apart results in only more corners coming in to the clotted mess.  Ah, rats!  You'll have to try again.  A new sheet tear, with any luck, comes off the roll and lays all flat.  Wonderful!  Now to apply it to the bowl.

     If luck is with you, you get it across the bowl...and pull the sides to stick it down.  It does cling beautifully to glass and china plates and bowls.  (Not to plastic, though, oh no!)  Ah, but woe is you and woe is me, if  one drop of liquid soils the edge..for now it's all about slip and slide and grip-me-not.  Toss it out, dry the bowl, and start again.

     Working with a bandaged knuckle, again you pull a sheet.  Using both hands to foil the stuff from self-clinging, now how do you cut it off?  An assistant is needed at this point.  Oh dear!  It seems the stuff is full of static, and a second person's presence adds to the charge.  Now they are caught up, too.  It wafts toward your faces, threatening suffocation..and still it's attached to the roll..which now, 'helpfully' tumbles out of the box, and unrolls toward the floor.

     Caught up in the static cling, trying to free yourselves, around your ankles now it rolls.  Bending over to free your feet, and up it leaps, lusting after its kin in your hands.  Round and round you wrestle the stuff, until attracted by all the yelling, another party enters the room, and finds you and your helper tied up in some kinky bondage scene. 

     Then how do you explain all this when calling 9-1-1??

Garden Update

Things are a-growin' in the vegetable garden.  Not as fast as I would have thought, but they are growing, and starting to make obvious progress.


My eggplant is finally of a size to actually be seen in the plant pot, although, it seems something unseen is eating at its leaves.

There is one corn plant that is really taking off skyward!  It is now about as tall as the 12" marker flag next to it:

The tomatoes are a poppin' out:

And last but not least, the bell peppers have now put in an appearance:

And so the garden grows.  I don't know if we got "old" seeds, or a lot of 'duds' in the package, or what, but of 8 eggplant seeds that were sown, I have but one plant; of 24 corn seeds that were sown, I have but 5 plants, only 1 of which (shown in today's post) has reached any size;  and of a small handfull of green onion seeds sown, I have gotten no plants at all. 

 

I make no claims or pretenses of being any kind of expert gardener.  The class I took years back was about landscaping and ornamental plants, not vegetables.  This veggie garden was planted more or less as an experiment.  So, I'll sow another round, in an attempt to have a continuous harvest, but judging from current results, I don't know if that will work.  C'est la vie!

Men in the Kitchen

Let me begin by saying that my hubby is a gem.  Unlike many men, he actually enjoys cooking, and is more than willing to help in the kitchen, including with clean up.  He even takes it upon himself to bake cakes now and again, all by himself.

That said, he is oh, so like so many men in one particular way when it comes to operating in the kitchen.  He is Tupperware-challenged.  I don't know what it is about men that makes them almost universally 'hate Tupperware,'  and declare their hatred in those exact words.  Most of us women know and love the stuff for its ability to both preserve food longer than the original cardboard box or plastic bag, and the way it stacks and nests to allow more food in the same space.

It mystifies me why men do not understand that there are some containers you 'burp,' and others you do not.  It's really very simple:  round burps, square or rectangular does not.  Center-seal 'push button' ones are 'self-burping.'  (Although I'll admit to an exception--those new ones with the expandable lids, in case you mis-judge the size bowl you needed, do not require 'burping' even though they are round.)

And get the containers sealed properly?  OY!  You might as well try to teach a Chimpanzee how to play football.  Come to think of it, that might be a simpler task.

I have lost track of how many times I've gone into the 'fridge to find food somewhat dried out due to an improperly closed lid.  It is most often the square or rectangular ones--the men just can't seem to get that last corner down!  It certainly is not a matter of muscles--we women do it quite effortlessly all the time.  Even the 'how to' analogy presented at the in-home demos should appeal to men, as it's baseball-themed:  "Start at home plate with both thumbs, work the seal down in opposite directions toward 3rd base and 1st base, meet at 2nd base and snap shut."  Simple, eh?  Apparently not for the male of the species.  Funny, as all it requires is opposable thumbs.

Men also seem to have problems with the center-push-to-snap-shut seals.  They just don't push quite hard enough, and the seal does not go all the way down.  This has led to more than one surprise spill on reaching for a bowl and finding out the hard way that the lid was not all the way closed.  Maybe I should have made hubby clean the resulting mess.  "If you don't hear the 'snap,' it's going to be in your lap!"

Many moons ago, I used to be a Tupperware dealer.  As a result, I own more of the stuff than should be legal.  Even I will admit to an excess.  I don't have room for all of it in my kitchen, and frankly, there are pieces that were not my favorite.  These items have found their way into the attic or are boxed in a closet. It was quite the joke for hubby when we moved in, and were opening boxes labeled 'kitchen.'  After most of the boxes were open and the items stowed in cupboards, yet more boxes appeared.  I'd hear him bellow from the other end of the house:  "Moooorrrrrrree Tupppeerrrrwaaaaaarrrrre!"

Now, do men simply feel that learning to use Tupperware containers is beneath them?  Undignified?  Un-manly???  I can't figure out the problem.  It is really very easy to use, and saves a lot of other kinds of bother.  It certainly beats trying to go 3 rounds with a roll of plastic-cling wrap.  But that's a whole other article.

A Retrospective on Family...

   Once again, my friend Molly Campbell's blog has provided the spark for an article of my own.  It is funny, how things in your past sit dormant in the file cabinet of your mind until you read something that makes you go, "Oh, yeaaahhh...I remember when...." 
 Some of you will go read her blog via the link; some will not.  For those who do click the link, you might want to skip the following paragraph, as it is a 'spoiler.'


   For those opt not to go read her post: briefly, she was discussing the difference between raising sons and daughters.  There is more to it than that, but I'm not going to re-post her content.  Suffice it to say, she raised girls, and did not envy her friends who had boys; her friends seem to think her daughters will end up with boys as a final irony.


Here, then, is my story.


   I raised 2 girls.


 My elder daughter has 2 sons--and I see the other side of the equation second-hand;  my younger daughter has 2 girls. She lucked out--or did she? At age 7, the eldest is already a drama queen, knows it, and can give you a spot-on definition of the meaning of that term!


   I, on the other hand, struggled, even with girls, because they were siblings. I had none. I had no idea how sisters interacted with each other--only a naive concept of how I thought they should act. I was woefully unprepared for the reality.  The endless squabbles over petty nonsense--I didn't think there was any angst left over for the rest of the girls in the world.  I'm sure that looking back, neither of them could tell you now what they were squawking about back in the 'bad ol' days.'


   I grew up in a quiet household. I value "peace and quiet."  We were readers.  We had no TV, for my father would not buy one.  Apparently, he'd been exposed to TV shows somewhere away from home, but he had formed his opinion, and refused to allow a TV on the grounds that, "The commercials insult your intelligence."  (Turns out, he was right!)


   So, our household was quiet, calm and peaceful.  We read, we listened to records (yeah, those old-fashioned plastic discs with grooves carved into them:  they came in "45's" and "LP's."), and my mother and I played the piano. (Well, truthfully, Mother played the piano--I played with it--you'd never know I had 4 years of lessons!)


   When there would be a family gathering, with aunts and uncles, was the only time we got really rowdy, and put on the "Sing Along with Mitch" records.  Mitch Miller and the Gang was a popular band of the mid-to-late 1950's; they had released a series of LP's complete with lyric sheets to be passed around the room.  That was as noisy as it ever got.  If we were reading, we were reading.  There was no radio on; no records playing.  It was quiet.  If we'd had a grandfather clock, you could have heard it ticking quite plainly.


   Ergo, I find it very diffucult to concentrate with a lot of noise in the background.  Even if  I'm not particularly concentrating, a constant stream of noise/music/chatter makes me edgy.  This became a huge problem about the time my daughters reached junior high age.  They hung out with their friends; they were exposed to the "in" music of the day, and wanted to listen constantly.


   My elder daughter is more like me, and values peace and quiet; does not like a lot of noise and ruckus; does not need that constant 'background noise' effect.  She does and did listen to music, but not while she was doing homework...to this day, she has my preference for peace and quiet.


   Unlike her sister and me, my younger daughter claims she "can't think" if it's too quiet, and will always have music playing or the TV on "for background noise." UGH. This drove me crazy when they were living at home! How I valued my daytimes alone in peace and quiet while they were at school.  How I dreaded their return, when my peaceful, quiet house would be set  pulsing to the music of "Chicago," "Air Supply," "Foreigner,"  Phil Collins, Cyndi Lauper, or I forget what others were then popular.  "Turn it dowwwwwnnnnnn!!! " became my constant battle cry. 


   Worse, each girl,  in her own room, would be listening to her choice of music.  For them, sequestered in their rooms, they were each close enough to the music source to hear only their own.  For me, downstairs, I got "treated" to a blend that was not pleasant.  It might be "Chicago" mixed with Kenny Rogers, or "Air Supply" mixed with Cyndi Lauper.  OMG!   How I wished we lived in a climate where I could have escaped to the backyard--but alas, we lived in a cold and foggy clime.


   Even my then-husband contributed to the mayhem.  He grew up in a large family with constant noise, and had that 'need for background noise' built in.  The first thing he would do when he got up was turn on the TV.  Then, he would leave for work, and leave the TV on!!!!!!  That was crazy-making for me.  He knew I did not want to watch or listen to TV--particularly daytime TV!  90% of the time, he could not tell you what he was watching, because he wasn't really watching--the TV was simply on. 

    I often wonder if his upbringing resulted in a genetic coding for the 'need for noise' that got passed on to my youngest.....

Spring Progresses--and So Does the Garden!

Well, after much impatient foot-tapping, and wondering if I was going to have to start all over with the eggplants, they have finally decided to sprout!  It only took about three times longer than it said on the package--what's up with that?!?

Next, the radishes do us proud!  They are doing the best of anything we've planted from seed:

The corn is doing nicely, though still slow, and not all of the seeds have sprouted:

The tomatoes and bell pepper are doing really well; however they were not from seeds, but starter-size plants from the nursery:

The tomatoes, above left, have about tripled their size, and the bell pepper, above right, is nearly doubled.

The green onions, on the other hand, have still not shown themselves.  They are way past the germination "deadline" given on the seed packet.  I am very disappointed in them.

I've not taken new photos of the parsely and basil in their pots, as they have not grown a lot from their nursery-pack size.  I may have put them into too large of a pot.  Did you know that when you transplant something, it really should only go into the next pot size up?  If you put it into something huge, the plant will send all its energy to root production, working to fill that space before increasing the size of the actual plant.

Here is our lemon tree, in its pot:

There must be at least 20 blossoms/miniature lemon buds on each branch!  We will have to prop up the branches so they don't break!  In point of fact, what will probably have to happen is to cull several of these budding lemons, in order to send the plant's energy to the largest, and not over-tax the plant trying to produce so much fruit.  Besides, if we let them all be, some probably would not make it, and the rest would likely end up as miniatures.

And now, for the newest addition.  I call it our "surprise garden."  Hubby was out pulling weeds at the other end of the yard today, and one that was hidden amongst others, turned out to be a walnut seedling.  We have no walnut trees, have planted no walnuts, nor have we eaten any outdoors, so none could have been dropped that way.  It was most likely dropped by a crow--and those we do have in fair numbers.

We've put it in this pot for now, so we can keep an eye on it, and be sure it stays watered, until we decide where to plant it.  We already have some ancient almond trees that came with the property, but we don't bother to harvest them, as we don't really know how to 'process' the almonds.  Those, we leave to the squirrels and birds.

The final entries in the "surprise garden" category are not edibles, but volunteers, found in the same way as the walnut:  a pair of oak trees.  So, we planted those out in the "back 40," one near the fence, and the other about 10 feet away behind the shed where we store our molds.

And that, friends, is the garden journal for today.

Cheers!

Comment Form De-Mystified

Greetings, one and all!

I have had a fair number of people tell me recently that they have had trouble leaving comments due to difficulty ‘signing in.’ I actually have anonymous comments enabled on this blog, (as well as my other 2), so no sign-in should be required.

Please bear with me--I tried to make this very simple, with illustrations, but for some reason, Blogger is not letting me paste in the screenshots.  So, I'll have to ask you to do a little bit of jumping up and down between the post and the comment form.

Now, if you will click on the comment button (just under this post--the word 'comments' in blue), as if you are going to leave a comment, you will see first any comments that have already been left.  If so, then go to the very top of that box and click on 'jump to comment form.'  (If no comments have been left previously, the comment form is what you will see straightaway.)

You will see the blank square in which you may write your comments.  Below that, the word-verification box shows—I do have this enabled, to thwart spam-bots—we’re all accustomed to using this device.


Now, scroll down a bit, so you can see the rest of the options underneath the 'word verification' box.

Note that under, “Choose Identity,” there are numerous options. Yes, “Google Account”, asking for name and password is the first thing you see. This is probably understandable, as this blog is written on Google’s platform. I’m sure they want to encourage subscribers to their service. 

 Don’t be put off by that. Keep reading down the list. You will also see: "Sign up for a Google Account," "E-mail follow-up coments to...," "Open ID," "Name/URL," and finally "Anonymous."

I’m not going to go into explaining the middle options. If you do not have or don’t want a Google account, then “Anonymous” is the one you want to use.

If you simply do not want to sign up for a Google account, but do want to let me know who you are, then simply sign off your actual comment using your name or online screen-name identity, whichever you prefer, within the comment box itself.


Voila! No sign-in necessary! Thanks for visiting, and thanks for leaving comments!