Gardening Is Hard Work.

I didn't do a very good job of keeping this site updated last year, did I?

The garden has gotten so much larger, it is almost more than I can keep up.

We in Texas are in the throes of an extended drought.  This is my third straight year with little to no rain.  Watering alone is a never-ending chore.

Weeding . . . well, let's just say I rarely have the time.  That being said, The garden looks pretty good at present.

We had a very late freeze that killed off all of my early tomatoes, so I had to re-plant in mid April.  I would normally be eating tomatoes by now, but this year I still haven't harvested one.  The green beans are also very, very late.

We are harvesting squash, asparagus, lettuce and radishes.  We have cucumbers on the vine, and the Straight Eights will be ready to start picking in about a week.  The picklers look awful.  I planted them at the base of the trellis that had my peas growing on it.  My thought was that the peas would fix some nitrogen into the soil to help the cucumbers along.  It didn't seem to work, and they didn't get enough sun under the peas.  as a result they are far behind the Straight Eights.  I gave them a shot of fish emulsion last weekend.  The 98 degree day last weekend pretty much put an end to the peas, so I cut them all down and am hoping for the best on the cucumbers.

A few pictures from the castle grounds.  (All are clickable)

A Sunflower (Taiyo) just opening with a friendly little bee in it.

A bloom on my Mr. Stripey tomato.  I'm getting very worried about this guy, the plant is over 5' tall and it has yet to actually set a tomato.  I'm afraid it's going to get too hot for this guy pretty soon.  If I don't get a very early start I have real trouble with heirlooms because of the heat. 

A lovely little chive bloom.

Mr Gnome, napping among the Pintas. 

 A cucumber blossom on the Straight Eights.

 A Flying Saucer squash.  (Don't look at the weeds, I know. . .I know.)

 A nice basket of squash, picked before breakfast yesterday.

About The Castle Grounds . . .

Brave Sir Robin has been busy of late.  Let me give you the Reader's Digest Condensed version before getting on with this post.

You know I got married, right? 

I reconnected (via Facebook) with a girl I dated in high school.  She had been living in Miami and was willing to leave paradise and join me in her hometown, (where her parents still live).  So, I have a wonderful wife, whom I have adored for well over thirty something years. I also have wonderful in-laws, (retired school teachers - I had both as teachers.)

I am also now an empty-nester.  Let that one sink in.  The kids are all away to college.  I have a Senior, a Sophomore and a Freshman in College.  Zoe will be 13 in September.  (Zoe lives with her mom, as I'm sure you remember.

So. . . . over the last year or so, we have been gravitating to a more healthy lifestyle.  We read Michael Pollan's book "Food Rules" and sort of casually started following it.  Being a cook, and a gardener, I sort of naturally have always been interested in healthier, more natural food.  We both started losing weight, feeling better, sleeping better, and just generally feeling better.  We then watched "Food Inc.", and "Forks over Knives",   that sort of reinforced our desire to eat real food.  We purged the house of white flour, and pretty much anything processed.  We haven't become full out vegetarians, but we are flirting with it, and rarely eat meat more than one or two meals a week, often we may go a couple of weeks meatless.  The point of all this is that our garden has become much more than a hobby, it has become a very important food source for us. 

I switched to raised beds instead of long rows years ago.  It's way more work up front, but over the long term it makes it much easier to work the bed.  I started with three raised beds over the spot where my original garden was.    I have expanded it bit by bit, until this year I had 9 beds of varying size.  This week I had 7 new beds dug.  I generally  will dig them myself.  I use a shovel to dig out the Saint Augustine and it's root system, about the top 6-8 inches, and then I till and amend like crazy to build about 14" of good friable soil.  We have a very thick black clay soil that doesn't drain well and dries like a brick when it gets hot and dry.  It is a very time consuming process, and the soil being removed has to go somewhere.  I have run out of places to put it, so this year I hired a couple of my wife's students to do the initial digging and to haul off the sod.  I now have 7 new beds to begin the prep work on. That brings me to a total of 16, 17 if you count the little bed I have my rosemary plant in.

My plan is to use the space we have to produce as much of our food as possible.  Our fall garden was very successful and I harvested the last of the kale today.  I still have an abundance of collards, lettuce and rainbow chard left from fall.  A few weeks ago I planted spring peas and followed it up with carrots.  Today I planted early tomatoes and peppers.  I know it's early, but the weather has been warm, sunny and quite beautiful for quite a while now.  I also put in an asparagus patch in a 5' x 5' square that's a bit shadier than the others.  (I put those in a couple of weeks ago and they are already putting on ferns).  Today I planted 4 early girl tomatoes, one Mr. Stripey, one Celebrity, one Florida 91, one Heat Master, one Yellow pear, and one Supersweet 100 cherry tomato.  that's 10 tomatoes on Feb. 15.  We'll see if that was too early or not.  I also planted a pimento pepper and a Big Bertha bell pepper.  I also planted 19 potato slips in containers.  (More on that later)

I plan on using this space to journal my garden and our quest for better food.  I'll work on getting pictures up soon.  I changed computers a while back and I don't have any software loaded on this one yet.

All things in time.

xoxoxoxo,
BSR

" But blue is wrong . . . for roses"

Hmm, what would Tennessee have to say about this? They look more lavender to me. What do you think? Will they catch on? Is it a little too much to have a GM flower, or is it not that far a stretch from hybrids?

I'm not sure I want one in my yard, but they are pretty.

Maybe you think like Jim, huh?

JIM: The different people are not like other people, but being different is nothing to be ashamed of. Because other people are not such wonderful people. They’re one hundred times one thousand. You’re one times one! They walk all over the earth. You just stay here. They’re common as—weeds, but—you—well, you’re—Blue Roses!

[Image on screen: Blue Roses.]
[The music changes.]

LAURA: But blue is wrong for—roses. . . .

JIM: It’s right for you! You’re—pretty!

They're Back!

Just when you think it's safe to go into the backyard again. . . . .

They're back.

Yes, the dreaded puss caterpillar, AKA - asp, has made a reappearance at the castle grounds. I had these last year on my loquat tree. I noticed one this evening, and closer inspection revealed 7 of them. They were much tinier than last year's, but the fact that I have them two years in a row worries me. I obviously didn't get them all last year.

Ugh!

It's funny how all roads seem to lead back to Rene'. It was right after I made that post last year that she called me with hopes of reconciliation. I tried. God how I tried. We made it all the way to October.

I don't see that happening this year.

It Has Sprung!!!

A strong front blew in Saturday night, and along with hard rain and wind, there was even some scattered hail. Sunday morning however, was bright, clear, and just stunning!

The temperature was quite cool early on, but was up to the seventies by noon. It was a perfect spring day. I am hoping spring has arrived. This winter was just a nasty humid mess. I'm sure those of you still buried in snow will have little sympathy, but imagine how unpleasant it would be to have 70-71 degree weather with 100% humidity day and night for weeks on end.

It becomes very difficult to make your house comfortable. It is way too warm for the heater. Opening the windows is completely out of the question. The entire interior of the house would be full of mold and mildew in a few days.

There are two choices.

Leave the unit off, and live in a stale, damp uncomfortable house, with an oppressive humid, thickness in the air.

Or, run the AC at about 68 or 69 degrees to dehumidify the house and be uncomfortably cool, while watching the windows condense.

The cool, DRY weather of Spring is welcome.

I had hoped to get some of the garden planted, but it proved to be too wet. I did what I could in the yard, including picking the above Meyer lemon. Can you tell how big it is? I've seen smaller grapefruit.

My tree is as confused as the weather is. for the first time I can ever remember, it has over ripe, dropped fruit, just ripe fruit, small unripe fruit, and yes blooms all at the same time.


As you can see in the picture, the leaves have black spots from aphids. I have been trying to stay organic on that tree, but between the wet, mild summer, and damp warm winter, the bugs are laughing in my face.

Any thoughts?

Attack of the Venomous Puss..

..Caterpillar that is.

My little part of the world spent the entire month of June and the first week of July under clouds, gloom and rain, lots and lots of rain. As a result, my yard is in terrible shape. The garden is ruined, the herb garden drowned, and the grass is either eaten up with fungus ( in some spots), or needing a baler (in other spots).

Bottom line; I didn't get out into the yard much in the last 6 weeks or so.

As I was inspecting the damage this week, I noticed that my loquat tree was being eaten by something. Loquat leaves are pretty dense, I couldn't imagine what might be eating it. Well, I wasn't expecting what I found.

This:



That dear friends is the dreaded Puss Caterpillar. In Texas, it is more commonly called an asp. It is highly venomous and it's sting is generally considered about as bad as it gets. My only childhood trip to a hospital was because of one of these.

I saw those two right away. I cut off the leaf they were on, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and stomped them.

Then I saw another one.





So far, I have found 9 of them on the tree. That is a lot. One is too many. These are nasty, nasty little creatures.

Anyone else ever come across these?

More On The Castle Grounds

I promised a picture of the cinnamon basil, and here it is...

The Castle Grounds....

My basil runneth over

I planted my garden very, very late this year.

I was distracted.

Most of the garden doesn't look so good. The squash and zucchini have been pretty disappointing. The tomatoes are doing ok but the sweet corn is practically wasted space this year.

My main herb garden is in a spot where it gets a lot of late afternoon shade. This makes it a slow starter in spring, but as the days get longer and hotter it really starts to thrive. Perfect for late summer peppers, and pesto.

I love basil, so every year I liberally scatter basil seeds among the other vegetables in the garden. I use it as it comes up and by the time it's petering out the shady spot is producing. This year, we had a longer and cooler spring than usual so everything is a little behind. This year in my small plot the basil is almost choking out the peppers, as you can see in the photo, ..... so.... It's pesto time!!

Tonight for dinner I have some pumpkin tortellini that I really love. It comes frozen, but it is really, really good. (Central Market Anne, you're going to miss it!) I will throw some basil into the mortar and pound it up with some garlic, olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I don't have any pine nuts, but I do have some pecans in the freezer and I think that might go well with the pumpkin in the tortellini. I'll let you know.

I will also chop up a tomato and some chili to add in at the last minute. To go with, I will slice a couple of tomatoes and sprinkle them with a chiffonade of basil and some salt and pepper and drizzle it with a very floral olive oil.

Fresh pineapple for dessert.

The mis en place

I can't really cook like this when the kids are here, so I'll make it while I can. It helps to keep me busy and keep my mind off of other things.

I wish you could join me, Brave Sir Robin hates to eat alone. But that's another post......

Update On The Castle Grounds

As I mentioned before (see Comments), I had a loquat tree that was severely needing to get out of its pot and into the ground.

Well, I finally got it planted this morning.

So here is the newest member of the Brave Sir Robin Orchard.

Loquats are small evergreen trees that have dark glossy thick leaves. They are highly ornamental, and do very well here where I live. I have several friends that grow them and the fruit is quite yummy.

It Will Take a Miracle

It should come as no surprise to those of you who read this page that I am a supporter of the little guy. I champion the cause of those who are perpetually victims of the powerful and the privileged.

Such is this case.

Meet Tom Szaky. He is 25 and CEO of a company that had 1.5 million dollars in sales last year. Aha! You may think - who did this rascal, this Ivy League entrepreneur take advantage of? Well, I’ll tell you …. He’s the victim.

Tom dropped out of Princeton in 2003 and started TerraCycle, an eco-friendly maker of organic fertilizer. So environmentally friendly is his company, that all of its products come in recycled soda bottles. He takes garbage - waste and feeds it to worms, the worms poop, he takes the poop, puts it in used soda bottles and sells it. The entire operation is taking waste, that would otherwise end up in a landfill and reusing it in an environmentally friendly way. Heck, the fertilizer it makes is even better for the environment than chemical fertilizer. Who could have a problem with that?

Oh.

TerraCycle is being sued by the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, a 7 billion dollar juggernaut that racks up an impressive 59 percent share of the global fertilizer market. Their claim? Read on -

in its complaint, Scotts claims TerraCycle willfully infringed on Miracle-Gro's "distinctive and famous" look, mimicking its yellow and green packaging and including a picture of flowers and vegetables on its label. Miracle-Gro claims that the packaging similarities could lead to consumer confusion between the two companies' products.
"TerraCycle has passed off its goods as those of Scotts," the suit alleges.
The plant-food giant also accuses TerraCycle of making false and misleading advertising claims on its Web site and at point-of-purchase displays.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Let’s take a look.

Here is Scott’s product –


Here is TerraCycle –


Gee real confusing huh?

This is a classic case of the monopoly bully on the block trying to money whip the competition out of business. It disgusts me.

I must confess, I have used Scott’s product for years. I do some organic gardening, and I try very hard to avoid most pesticides, I prefer Garden’sAlive products to Scott's, but the Scott’s is cheaper and much more available, but no more. . I don’t know yet if TerraCycle is available in my area, but I am going to look for it this weekend.
Here is a company selling a viable, needed product in a very environmentally friendly way, and they are being money whipped out of business by these ass-holes at Scott’s.

I plan on running out and buying TerraCycle product immediately. Please do the same. Even if you don’t garden, it is made out of worm poop, it won't hurt anything, buy a bottle and pour it on a shrub on your way to work.

TerraCycle has set up a web page explaining the suit with excellent David vs. Goliath pictures and numbers. Please, go read it. They also have a defense fund set up. This is a company that has yet to turn a profit. Please go to their defense site and read it to the bottom.
You will be glad you did, I promise.

Let the people at Scott’s know how you feel. Don’t buy their product. And -

If you don't think Scotts should be suing TerraCycle, please write to the Scotts Board of Directors and tell them why. Separate letters should be sent to each director. The envelope should be marked "INTERESTED PARTY/SHAREHOLDER - DIRECTOR COMMUNICATION - PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL" and should be sent to each director c/o Corporate Secretary,The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, 14111 Scottslawn Road, Marysville, Ohio 43041. The Scotts directors are: Mark R. Baker, Gordon F. Brunner, Arnold W. Donald, Joseph P. Flannery, James Hagedorn, Thomas N. Kelly, Jr., Katherine Hagedorn Littlefield, Karen G. Mills, Patrick J. Norton, Stephanie M. Shern, and John J. Shiely. Please send a copy to your local newspaper and to TerraCycle at 121 New York Ave, Trenton, NJ 08638.

My letter(s) will be going out in the morning mail. I needed to use up my stamps anyway right?

Fucking Assholes.

Tomato - Better Boy

I got a really late start on my garden this year, but it is doing its best to catch up.

I took this picture last Friday (April 27).

So far I have tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, radishes, basil (three kinds), mint (two kinds), marjoram, sage, thyme and rosemary.

I'll for sure add okra, and most likely bush beans.

What do you grow?