Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Carry On


I thought I'd do an update to the last garden post because I may have made it sound as though it was a crash and burn situation and actually, the garden is doing pretty well.  I finally managed to get some recent photos too.  Of course, no tomatoes right now and if I get any this year they are going to be really late coming in but other than that things are doing well.
These are the new pole beans this year; Kentucky Wonder.   No actual beans yet but it shouldn't be long.


We are very fortunate here in that if something screws up a first planting, our season is long enough to try again.  And try again is what we do until it just isn't going to work anymore.  So, the second planting of corn is doing very well.  Yes, the farmer down the road already has ears tasseling on his corn but we will get a good crop this year.  And the farmer's market will tide us over on corn and tomatoes until ours comes in.


I think I'm going to have a "do-over" on the squash too because those volunteer plants finally produced a product and I'm not sure what the hell it is!  It sorta looks like a squash but it also looks like it might be part something else.  The plants are also kinda funky looking as they are running way more than squash plant should.  I suspect I'll be pulling those up shortly and putting in a couple of bought squash plants.  If I can find any this late.  If not, well, I might plant something else.
That's the thing with gardening, you have to be willing to go on to Plan B or C or even D sometimes.  I don't stress over it that much.  If my crop doesn't do well I will go to the market or just try something else.  I might not get to make strawberry jam every year but I'll have some kind of jam, and lots of it, every year.  So, you do what you can.
Right now we are harvesting blueberries, cucumbers, a few onions, sugar snap peas, lots of herbs and eggs of course.  We obviously don't try to be self-sufficient but we do try to make a fair dent in what fruits and veggies we buy and preserve.  Later on we should have corn, okra, black-eyed peas, green beans, tomatoes (hopefully), eggplant, peppers, grapes, figs, watermelon and cantaloupe.  Oh, and the wild blackberries are starting to ripen, so I'll gather some of those. 


 And I occasionally harvest a few daylily buds for stir-fry too!  I try not to use my fancy ones but instead, use the scads of the old, standard orange daylily that you find everywhere.  They are very sweet and tender and make a nice addition.  I'll  say this though, if you want to try it, add them at the very end of the stir-fry because it doesn't take them long to cook and they are easily overdone.


I thought I'd share a few of my other day lilies that are blooming right now.  We did not go to that annual sale this year that the local nursery has and where I get my collection from.  I just didn't feel like it.



The kiln is cooling now and hopefully the morning, or really afternoon, will bring to light a nice firing and I can deliver a new batch of pottery to town.  At least I can get out to do that.

10 comments:

Hermit's Baby Sis said...

Annie -
Beautiful flowers! And sounds like scads of veggies and fruits - sure wish I had room for some of those. With Jack out of town, at least you have the kiln opening coming up, and sounds like plenty of work in the garden. Sometimes a few days without the Hubby is a nice thing. I don't get that very often, but I'm not complaining! Glad to hear you are up to the garden work. Progress!

Ed said...

As someone who grew pumpkins and other squash for a business, they crossbreed like nobodies business. I would always save seeds but after several years of weird hybrid genetic mix-ups, I gave up and bought fresh seed every year. The only time I was successful is if I had a mile or two between my squash and the nearest one of somebody elses.

HermitJim said...

Looks like the garden is doing good for the most part. Sorry about the tomato plants, though.

You should be able to get a good crop of okra. Does well all over the South...even here in Houston!

Caddie said...

..."I'm not sure what the hell it is!" It does look very edible though.


Very nice post. Ah, 'pictures are worth a thousand words'. Beautiful flowers and plants. Wondering how much $ day lilies are down your way. I got mine from a private grower and they were very expensive; thinking to raise and sell them was a complete failure. :( Dividing and gifting them to others was very successful though. Lots of "Little Jimmies" about. Ha Ha.

MamaHen said...

Hey Sis! Yeah, I enjoy being by myself actually ...but I do miss him too! And yes, there is PLENTY around here to keep me busy in the meantime!

Hey Ed! You know, I was speculating that those things were crosses between squash and that pumpkin that volunteered last year. At any rate, they are gone now and I'll just stick to growing only things that I'm sure what they are!

Hey Jim! oh yeah, the okra is starting to come in now actually. I need to get out there and pick some in the morning. We should get quite a lot of stuff this year.

Hey George (sissy?) Well, I gave one to the chickens and they didn't seem too impressed! lol! Daylilies from the grower here range from just a few dollars per plant to almost $100 per plant! She has some beautiful, but VERY expensive varieties.

pamit said...

Annie, that squash thingie looks exactly like an ornamental gourd that I've grown for a couple of years - just something that came up from one of those grocery store "ornamental mix" packets. I didn't grow any this year because frankly, that one variety is so dang unattractive!

Also I have trellis envy looking at your pix! --Pam in CO

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

After reading the previous post about the tomatoes being decimated, Annie, it was good to read that other crops and flowers are doing well. Although, i have never eated any day lilies in stir fry, I have had squash flowers, dipped in batter and fried...so good. We also used to buy day lilies at a similar place in VA and we had a variety of the fancy ones and the common orange ones in our yard. But now living in NH hardly ever see any of them here. Sorry to read about Jack's friend.

Gin said...

You'll love the Kentucky Wonder beans. They'll bear, then go at it again and keep on bearing. Great flavor.

MamaHen said...

Hey Pam! Yeah, I decided those squash things were probably a cross of some kind and ripped them out! I'll stick with what I know from now on! lol!

Hey Bea! Odd that daylilies are a rare sight in NH...I would think they would grow fine that far up.

Hey Gin! Yeah, I've always heard others rave about them so I thought I'd give them a shot this year. I 'pect they will do well. :)

JO said...

Looks like the garden is picking up speed now hope you get lots of good looking veggies. The little green squash looks like a Mexican but who knows? Oh I see someone called it ornamental think maybe she is right