Potager Garden Girl

Prepping for 2012

potagergardengirl — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:08:04 +0000

Okay Im getting excited again. I know my blog sucks. But again its been a rough 2 years, officially 2 years tomorrow since things went awry in my world.

I hope come January and even as soon as a few week from now, I can begin to plot down on paper what I desire for my garden next year. My oldest son, W, asked me if we could do another Pizza Garden next summer and I told him sure…so I know for a fact what seeds I’ll need for that come time to order in January. But at this point I need to get real straight with myself and figure out how much time and energy I can give to my 2012 garden.

My plan this past season was to essentially toss my seeds in the garden and see what would happen. The majority of my seeds were a few years old and had been stored improperly off and on over a couple of years. I didnt feel right about tossing them nor did I have the money or energy to delve in a purchase all new seeds. So I tossed them in and waited. I was a lazy, lazy gardener in 2011. But a lot actually grew! Although I failed to get great pictures of the bounty but I took some. At any rate, next year will be better.

I’ll post some pics of the cleanup I did this past weekend. Well again I didnt take pics during the clean up/prep for next season due to the fact that my cell phone altho plugged into its cord to recharge I didnt realize it wasnt plugged into the wall, doh! And my actual cameras batter was on the blitz so….no good shots, sorry! But I can atleast take a few of the garden in its cleanup stage. And I also found a bunch of green tomatoes, tomatillos, 2 sweet peppers, a handful of cilantro, a handful of chives, 2 ginormous zucchini, A large amount of swiss chard, a rutabaga, a few tiny beets, and a strange looking acorn squash.

I made salsa with the tomatillos and a handful of the green tomatoes, the chives, peppers and the cilantro. It turned out wonderful! I did add to it salt and garlic from the kitchen.

I cut the green tomatoes up and put them in the freezer until i figure our what to use them for. Does anyone have any ideas?

And lastly I stored the majority of the swiss chard in the freezer to pull out to use as a side dish or to throw into smoothies or soups. I did make a curried potato soup this past weekend and threw in a bunch of the swiss chard…it was really good.

Until next time.

August Update Via Pics (for now)

potagergardengirl — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:21:22 +0000

Tilling

potagergardengirl — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:31:38 +0000

Click to view slideshow.Hard work! And I’m still behind…way behind. I’m going to go ahead and plant seeds anyways and see what happens. I know some will be fine and some may be a loss however I want to see how things will grow in the ground over here in my new hood. I finally filled my other raised bed with soil and will plant in there as well. I feel a bit out of it and disorganized but I’m playing catch up and getting more planted.

I love gardening so much.

End of June

potagergardengirl — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:06:03 +0000

I’m still behind. However, I borrowed a tiller and hope to dig up some of the yard today or tomorrow. Its a beastly machine, Im kind of scared. But the soil here is very claylike and full of rocks. Did I say full of rocks? I mean its FULL of rocks. But we shall see how the beastly machine holds up.

I pulled some green and red swiss chard the other day and sauteed it with olive oil, salt & pepper. It was yummy, but I didnt take a picture. I forgot. I also have been snagging arugula from the garden and munching on it, its so yummy as well! If you have not experienced arugula, you should. If you are a fan of horseradish or radish type spiciness in general, you’ll enjoy arugula. Its an italian salad green by the way. So rush on out to your local nursery and grab some seeds or a plant!

Pics of the garden this saturday morning.

Earlier i knocked a bunch of slimy little bugs off my eggplant leaves. They reminded me of a cluster of zombies feeding off their prey, it was gross. They were leaving #2 everywhere and in the back of my mind im thinking the #2 is good for my plants but the bugs freaked me out a little. I quickly reacted like if i were in a zombie apocalypse, (sorry I can be a real nerd when it comes to zombies b/c well I like zombies) by smacking the bugs off the leaves prior to getting photos. Now I cannot recall if they were caterpillars or beetles. Well Ill look online later and see if i can find the little zombies that were munchin on my garden goods.

Better Late Then Never

potagergardengirl — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:44:16 +0000

Oh boy oh boy! Im runnin a bit late with my plantings. But to be fair to myself and realistic, the weather here in Ohio has not been that garden-friendly. And my schedule has been a bit of a whirlwind. Between learning to adjust to being a full-time worker versus a stay-at-home-mom, relocating residence 4 times in the last year, to having an 11 year marriage come to an end…I’ve been tired, distracted and emotional. Money has been tight. Time with my children, even tighter. I however do not lose hope, nor do I give up. Gardening is a love, a passion, a refuge in the storms of life. And no matter how small a garden…I will rock it.

With that said, better late than never, heres my little humble garden thus far. Most of my seedlings, 98% of them, died due to issues in my living arrangements and just sheer fatigue on my part and forgetfulness. This won’t happen next year. My pocketbook (omg did I say pocketbook?? lol) is feeling the brunt of purchasing seedlings/plants. Oh well! Live and learn…live and learn.

For now:

A New Year. A New Garden.

potagergardengirl — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 20:27:08 +0000

I’m very excited to enter into 2011. Primarily right now because I’m planning to sow my seeds very soon. Perusing through old seeds today and through a catalog or two, I planned my garden for the upcoming season. I can see spring. Maybe its because its sunny and there is no snow on the ground right now. I hear reports of snow in the next few days but I’ll relish whats outside my window currently and enjoy it with a jog when I’m done with this post.

But gardening! Sowing seeds! I made a rough plan today. It pretty much mimics the garden I had 2 summers ago. Not really that exciting. But I have a new yard this year and I have some more space to work with. With this new yard I also have a few more issues to deal with that will require some help from others. There are deer all over the place. With my vision of spring I also can see deer snacking on my crops. This is stressing me out a little bit. What can I do? What are some solutions to keep the deer away from my plants? Help Please!!

I’ll post my garden plans soon. I’m so excited to get my hands in the dirt again. And I’m excited to garden with my babies again. Welcome 2011!

Casual Dinner From The Garden

potagergardengirl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:52:11 +0000

Garden Almost Ready For Fall

potagergardengirl — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:40:08 +0000

August Harvest

potagergardengirl — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:34:55 +0000

Getting ready to plant again for the Fall. So many carrots were harvested this year, success! Everything seemed to do very, very well. The only plant I made a bad decision about at this point is the cauliflower. I placed the zucchini plant next to the cauliflower…not wise. Needless to say the zucchini plant dwarfed over the cauliflower plant and prevented it from growing, but I learned to have more careful forethought about placement. I pulled the zucchini plants today, they did so well! I harvested 4 more gigantic zucchini just in the last 4 days. I pulled all of the carrots and beets. I also discovered that I planted the wrong kind of fennel plant, need to do more research for next year. Does anyone know where I can get the fennel plant that allows me to harvest a large bulb as opposed to just the fronds? My basil is producing quite a bounty and continues. My tomatillo plants and tomato plants are doing great as well. Now I need to get out there this week and plant my fall garden.

Tomatillo Salsa

potagergardengirl — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:01:47 +0000

I made Tomatillo Salsa last week. It consisted of mostly Tomatillos but I also put in some ripe cherry and grape tomatoes, garlic, onions & salt. Next time I’ll throw some cilantro in. But this salsa was a hit and we’ll continue to make it!

Tomatillo’s are related to the tomato. They are a staple in the mexican cuisine. They grow in a husk and are kind of tangy, spicey I’ve found. You should try them if you see them at the supermarket or farmer’s market.