Actually, I’m going out to see what I can do on pruning tomato plants while the sky is a bit overcast. Wish me luck?
Category Archives: Gardening
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Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
I’ll Get By with a Little Salad for My Friends…
This is the first lettuce harvest of the day. I just washed it and put it into gallon bags to give to our friends, Kay, Linda, Patty, and Michael this week.
There is a LOT more to harvest, but it’s not actually trying to bolt YET, so I’m thinking about spreading out the harvests as much as I can, watching the progress of the plants carefully.
It’s almost time for lunch, so I’m thinking about switching to pruning tomatoes after lunch, rather than doing a second harvest of lettuce today.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Our Virtual Vacation!
Thanks to my generous sister-in-law, we can all join her on a virtual vacation to the beach this week!
Each year she and some friends meet and share a rented place for a week. They do some things together, plus give each other lots of space to do whatever each of them wants and needs to do. A GREAT get-away for all of them. Fortunately for us, she doesn’t mind if we also enjoy some of the views with her.
The weather is perfect for our first day at the beach. I have asked her to be on the lookout for sandpipers while she’s there. They are the only bird that makes me laugh aloud when I see them skittering across the sand on their long, long legs. I could watch them for hours.
Back to reality here in Arkansas, I’ll be trying to get a lot of lettuce harvested today, since the wonky heat wave this past week or so has my garden acting like it’s mid summer, with the early spring, cool weather veggies all trying to bolt. I’ve harvested broccoli and spinach so far, leaving what I can, in case the weather cools enough for further growth. I’m trying to do several sessions in the veggie garden this weekend and then tackle the job of pruning and anchoring my tomato plants.
Yesterday we got the majority of the irrigation system for the yard working. This is particularly good because the flowers I planted on the deck, plus the two brick tomato planters are on this system. My husband found a metal “Y” hookup on the system that had a HOLE in it, spewing water everywhere. It’s hard to believe that could happen, but he replaced it.
Of COURSE, since we got the irrigation system repaired, we’re due for some storms this afternoon and evening. Mother Nature has a snide sense of humor.
I hope that you have a nice Sunday. Come back and look at the gorgeous photo of the beach if you need your spirits lifted. :0)
2nd Harvest of the Day 5-14-2022
I took a picture of each of the teeny, tiny (about 2 inches in diameter) cauliflower heads in the garden. This is the best I’ve done on this veggie. Usually ‘something’ happens and I fail to even start a head. I’m hopeful that these will get a bit larger before I have to harvest them. Fingers crossed.
To show how deceptive photography can be, this head is only about 2 inches across. But it’s PRETTY, isn’t it? There are 3 others almost identical to it in my garden right now.
If it’ll cool off a bit (or I can cool down enough) I’ll go back out and start harvesting lettuce.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Forced Broccoli Harvest 5-14-2022
I just finished cutting up the broccoli and putting it into freezer bags. I’m not sure what to expect on the remaining plants. Sometimes they will sprout ‘side shoots’ with a bit more broccoli, so I’m leaving them in for now.
Later I’ll go harvest as much spinach as I can. I’ll keep going out, harvesting, and processing the early spring plants until the job is finished, hopefully, by the end of the weekend.
One nice surprise – I have several little bitty heads of cauliflower that are still looking good at the moment! When I told my husband, he looked at me with a bland look on his face, saying, “Oh, GOOD.” (He doesn’t like cauliflower. :0) )
We’ll have lunch and I’ll rest a bit before going to get the spinach.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Garden – Initial Assessment
After a week or so of not being able to work in the garden, things are pretty out of hand. My tomato plants are looking healthy, but I’ll need to get serious about pruning this week. I’ll concentrate on trying to be outside early in the morning, or before dark in the evening, or both, until I get things under control. I’ll try to carefully prune, then anchor the plants to the supports.
The veggie garden has exploded. The onion stalks are now over a foot tall. The zucchini plants are huge and blossoming. The record heat has almost done-in the broccoli before it really had a chance to get started. It’s starting to bolt, so I’ll harvest what I can today. Weeds are rampant. The lettuce leaves are huge.
I’ll be doing a lot of careful harvesting this weekend, one thing at a time, between rain storms. You would THINK with all this rain the temperature would be cooler, rather than like a sauna…
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Saturday Morning 5-14-2022
I’m about to walk out to our garden, and then to the other end of our yard where I planted our tomato plants. I may just LOOK this morning, rather than DOING much. I’ve been a bit under the weather lately, so I’ve been trying to concentrate on recovering, resting, and getting my strength back. I’m feeling ornery so far this morning – :0) – so that’s a very good sign. We’ve been having record-breaking heat here, so I’ll pay close attention to the time outside.
I’m even feeling like cooking! I KNOW!!! I’m going to experiment with a stir-fry type of dish with hamburger plus lots of good veggies. My friend Susy also sent me a group of Mediterranean recipes this morning, so I’ll take a look at those, as well. It feels GOOD to be feeling better!
Heading outside now. Talk with you again soon.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Hellooooo, Rainy Thursday
“Scattered to isolated downpours will continue through our Thursday.” – our weather website says. It’s quite dark and rainy outside right now. A GREAT day to stay inside, warm and dry. :0)
Today I’ll concentrate on more ‘recognized’ forms of exercise, since yesterday morning was spent helping my husband change from snow to regular tires on the truck and the only other exercise was yoga. I’ll try to do better today, getting in all my online exercises, plus elliptical and yoga during the day.
I’ll also catch up on cleaning a bit, since the hairballs from Amber are starting to reach out and grab our ankles as we walk by. Hopefully, I can do all the 1st floor tiled areas, and then get the carpeted stuff, too.
No cooking tonight – main meal salad.
I did watch the tomato pruning video again yesterday and went out to see what was what on my plants. I was very conservative, mainly cleaning up the branches that were touching the dirt. I’ll tie the plants to their supports probably this weekend. So far, so good. I didn’t see any clear suckers yet, so I left things alone for now.
I hope you can stay safe, warm, dry, and happy.
Chicken
Well, I just came inside from ‘pruning’ my tomato plants.
I’m a chicken. I DID get rid of any stems and leaves touching the ground or looking less than stellar. I DID identify the main stem of each plant, noting the ‘sun leaves,’ ‘main stem,’ ‘a couple of flowers,’ or where it looked like they would come out.
My plants are still quite small. We’ve had a LOT of rain and wind, and relatively little sunshine since I planted them. The temperatures are supposed to warm up this weekend, particularly on Mother’s Day, but this will be the first real tomato weather we’ve had.
I’m chicken about pruning something I can’t be SURE is a ‘sucker.’
How do you identify a tomato sucker? (we ask)
“The short answer to this is a tomato sucker is a smallish shoot that grows out of the joint where a branch on the tomato plant meets a stem. These small shoots will grow into a full sized branch if left alone, which results in a bushier, more sprawling tomato plant.” – http://www.gardeningknowhow.com Jul 23, 2021
I will check them again next week with an eye to identifying suckers. If I can be SURE I have one, I’ll hold my breath and cut it. If not, I’ll continue to watch.
I may need to tie the sweet plants to their supports next week, too.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
A Day in the Veggie Garden
I didn’t realize when I told you earlier I planned to spend time outside today, working in my veggie garden and pruning my tomatoes, that the veggie garden by itself would need so much attention.
About 1:15 I went out again. The sun is quite strong and it feels hot when you’re working. I got two of the six 4’x4′ wooden planter boxes weeded before I needed to come in to rest and drink some water. It’ll probably take me two more half-hour-or-so sessions to finish the weeding. The tomatoes will have to wait until tomorrow, or the next time Mother Nature is in a cooperative mood.
In the foreground of the picture above, the zucchini plants are thriving.
I’m going to rest for while, cool off, and drink water like a camel before going out for another session.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Happy May Day – 2022!
I’m delighted to welcome the month of May this year. I’m hoping that by mid month, our weather will have calmed down. Today our weather here in Arkansas is stellar. Sunshine-y with a high of 82 and lower humidity today. Wheeeeeeee! I have a lot I’d like to do outside. I’m not sure what I’ll tackle first. Maybe, since the Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be stormy, I’ll check the veggie garden first, weeding and harvesting, and then try to get started with my new “pruning-the-tomato-plants experiment.”
My official ‘monthly report’ on my efforts to lose the lard and get stronger and healthier is –
- Weight – Down 30.8 pounds since my heaviest.
- Measurements – there is 29.5 inches less of me than at my heaviest.
- Exercise – I’m into my regimen of various online videos for seniors in the mornings and yoga and yard work in the afternoons. Videos are from Mike at MoreLifeHealth.com/seniors. The ones I’m doing now are a “warm-up,” “stretches,” one of two exercises with weights videos (alternating)’ and “Workout 1B” every other day. The day I don’t do the ‘workout,’ I spend time on my elliptical trainer. I’ve increased from 10 minutes to 15 minutes per session so far. My daily yoga stretches session is 30 minutes.
I hope that May will be a wonderful month for us all.
Enjoy!
Filed under .gifs I Love, DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
The Deck Planting is Finished
I was rained out twice, but just finished getting the deck planted and cleaned off. We got a flat each of periwinkles and petunias, and I had already planted the birthday geranium in the tall, rounded cylindrical planter.
This picture reminds me – we put our hummingbird feeder up yesterday, and saw our first hummingbird of the season drink from it this morning!
Our cat, Abby, helped me clean up the deck after the planting.
Filed under Gardening
Trip Around the Yard
These are the birthday geraniums that I just replanted. This planter is really tall, right at the corner of the deck. I’m hoping the geraniums will be happy here. I’ve spent about an hour on the deck so far today, trying to get the flowers in. It started to rain, so I took the opportunity to come in a rest, plus drink some waters. I figured out there are actually 10 planters out there. I have three left to finish, then clean up. I’ll get some pics when I can to share with you.
Earlier this morning, I walked around the yard getting some pics.
The tomato plants seem to be doing fine so far. Tomorrow, or the next day our weather is cooperative, I’m planning to look at the pruning video again and then see what I need to do with the plants.
Another iris planter that I’ll thin down after they finish blooming.
Filed under Gardening
Thursday Thoughts 4-28-2022
I just went out and took a walk around the yard, taking pics to share with you. Alas, my battery died on my camera, so I need to let it charge before I can get the pics off the camera. Later.
I’m hoping the weather will be cooperative on our going out today to buy flats of flowers to plant. The deck planters are now ready. My husband is interested in finding some ‘hardy’ for the three concrete planters we have that are not on the irrigation system, too. I would love to get some pretty flowers in the pots today. Fingers crossed.
I must have eaten ROCKS yesterday. I gained two pounds and I was good! UGH. I’m keepin’ on keepin’ on, but picture my grim, determined, disgusted face as I say it. I KNOW all the reasons it can happen – water retention, too much salt, changing fat to muscle, that I shouldn’t weigh every day, ya, ya, ya. These are the days it is the hardest, since it is SO hard to get the weight off and so very EASY for it to come back on. I’ll have my whine with cheese, please. :0(
Have a fun Thursday.
Decking Out the Deck
I just spent two hours trying to resurrect our deck planters. I didn’t get pics of all of them. There are 8.
EVERYTHING GREEN OR GRAY IN THE PLANTERS ARE WEEDS.
Some of the planters just needed a little bit of care. My husband hauled three 40-pound bags of potting soil to the deck for me, or I wouldn’t have finished this part of the project today.
I got everything weeded, then filled up the planters with the potting soil. They are now ready for us to choose some flowers to plant. I’m hoping we can go tomorrow, because we’re due for more rain Friday, I think.
I did get the geranium planted. :0) When the flowers are planted and I’ve cleaned things up a bit, I’ll take more pics to share.
I hope you had a fabulous Wednesday.
Filed under Gardening
Growing Love
When we get home, I plan to clean up our deck, including cleaning out the planters and planting the nice pink geranium my friend Kay got me for my birthday this year.
I’ll take before and after pics, plus more when we buy and plant flowers to make spending time on the deck a joy.
My spirits rise as we are finally past the freezing season and can concentrate on playing in the dirt and planting love.
Thoughts on a Wednesday 4-27-2022
We’re having another beautiful day in Arkansas.
Yesterday evening we took the opportunity of a perfect time to burn a big pile of branches we had collected. (We had a big pile, and then my husband doubled it, cutting down the branches that were tangling up the phone wire that fell down in the storm.) We brought some chairs and sat and talked, enjoying the evening, watching the fire while our dog, Amber, raced back and forth at top speed, like a thing possessed, laughing. We left it to eat dinner, came back and consolidated the pile, left again, and came back twice before leaving it for the night. The absolutely perfect night to do this. No worries, and good clean up.
Today we’ll do errands and shop for supplies. I’m hoping to spend a good amount of time outside when we return. I want to clean out the planters on our deck, getting them ready to plant flowers, and I want to plant the pink geraniums that my friend Kay got me for my birthday.
By the time we finish errands, I work in the yard and then do my exercises, the day will be pretty much gone. A wonderful day in Spring. :0)
Enjoy your day.
Filed under exercise, Gardening, Thoughts on a ________
Nice Surprise
When I got home from doing our errands and getting my hair cut, I found that my husband had added to the single iris. :0)
Filed under Gardening
A Bit of Spring
My husband brought in one of our fancier yellow iris yesterday. We’ll have several days to enjoy it, while the various buds open up and smile at us.
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, Seasons
1st Harvest of 2022!
Yesterday I dashed out between rain storms to gather our first harvest of the year from our raised bed, square-foot-garden. I harvest just part of the leaf lettuce that’s ready. I’ll harvest more so I can share some with our friends this week.
This is the first of the spinach. I hope to have a large enough harvest that I can serve some in salads, saute some as a side for dinners, AND freeze a bunch for later. Greedy, aren’t I! :0)
I’ll check on the garden, plus our two planters of tomatoes tomorrow. I’m feeling a little bit under the weather today, so I’m taking it easy and resting a lot.
I hope to harvest more lettuce, plus watch the video of how to prune my tomato plants for more yield and less greenery this year, then go out and see if I emulate the video..
The rain finally stopped and the sun is shining brightly today.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Sunny Saturday
It’s beautiful here in Arkansas today – a great day to do some work outside. I finished weeding my veggie garden yesterday, and will either cut stuff in the yard down today or choose a planter to clean up. Tomorrow brings “rain and storms” all day, starting early morning and ending late, so it’ll be an inside day.
Our yellow iris are just beginning to bloom now. We have purple ones left, but they are fading.
This is the first bloom on one of our Rio Samba rosebushes. I need to prune them carefully.
I don’t remember the name of these sweet blue flowers. They are perennial and seem to last a long time. Maybe this planter – heavily in need of clean-up, will be the one I work on today.
I feel triumphant today because I have officially broken into ‘new territory’ on my ‘lose-the-lard’ project. A couple of days ago I got back to my pre-pandemic weight which was 30-pounds-down from my heaviest. This morning I lost some more, so HOORAY! I’m setting a goal of another 5 lbs down (which seems more doable with the goal in sight.) Today I’m wearing new jeans which are one size smaller than I was wearing before, so that’s a concrete, satisfying thing I can enjoy while I try to move more and keep my mouth shut. :0)
I hope that you have a safe, happy Saturday.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Thoughts on a ________
A Good Garden on Earth Day
I just came in from spending an hour out in my veggie garden, weeding.
This was an almost-perfect time to weed. It’s sunny and pretty outside. It’s 83 – a good temperature, but the direct sun made it seem really hot. The Mel’s Mix in the planter boxes was slightly damp. The weeds were plentiful, but very tender and young and easily to root out quickly. I basically used my veggie garden fork and my baby hand-held hoe.
It took me a little longer than I figured to do the weeding. I was grateful that our automatic watering system didn’t come on when it should have, as I needed the extra time to finish weeding the boxes.
I checked the watering system on the way back to the house. It was flashing. I guess a power glitch caused it to go wonky. I was too hot and tired to do more than a cursory reset. It didn’t work, so I’ll get out the manual and see if I can get it straightened out when I’ve had a chance to rest, get my breath back, and hydrate.
My veggies are looking good. I’ll start harvesting the outer leaves of the spinach and leaf lettuce next week. I’ll try to get some pics later to share.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
The Tomato Plants are IN :0)
We have two tomato planters. We converted two brick planters on the opposite side of the house from the garden to square-foot-garden planters, though I used bags of potting soil to top them off this year. The one in the picture above we call the “niche” planter, since it’s tucked in beside the back porch and is shielded by the house.
This is an 8-foot brick planter east of the house. It’s more ‘out-in-the-open,’ much more subject to wind and gets more sun that the niche planter. Sometimes all of the plants do equally well. Sometimes the plants in one planter or the other do better in a given season. I’ve planted 8 plants in this long planter and 4 in the niche planter this year.
I found a good video on pruning tomato plants to increase yield. Usually I just leave our plants and they end up with vines all over the place – an unmanageable ‘mess’ with treasures here and there throughout. I would like to learn to prune the plants so we have plenty of greenery, but they don’t get out of hand. The video I found is “How to Prune Tomatoes for Maximum Yield and Plant Health” by Epic Gardening on YouTube. So far, I’ve learned that the type of tomato plants we grow are “indeterminate,” meaning that they continue to grow until Mother Nature kills the plants.
I’ll watch it over and over again before I actually try to prune the plants, and then I’ll take my time to sit beside each plant and really study it in a way I’ve never done before. Fingers crossed it’s a successful experiment.
They’re getting a good watering with the rain we’ve gotten overnight and today.
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
And This is How My Garden Grows…
It’s too rainy to be out working in the garden or the yard today, but –
“Save a boyfriend for a rainy day – and another, in case it doesn’t rain.” ~ Mae West
Filed under Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds
Sunny Tuesday!
The sight of the sun yesterday and today is really bringing up my spirits. I usually enjoy rainy days, but lately it seems we’ve had more of our share. We’re due for storms tonight-into-tomorrow. :0)
I bought 12 tomato plants yesterday afternoon and got them planted. I’ll take pics in awhile and share them with you. I’ll also check on my garden. My plan is to use each sunny day to clean out ONE planter in the yard. We have 14 of them, so this will take awhile. We’ll see how I do. We have errands to run first, so we’ll get some fresh air and sun while we’re out.
I was feeling a bit off yesterday, so only did the tomato planting and my yoga for exercise. I’ll try to do my full list today. I’m doing a month-long exercise plan by Mike of MoreLifeHealth.com and I’m eager to see what the new workout is for the week. I’m supposed to do this every other day during the week.
I’ve been cooking up a storm (for me) lately, trying to rely on meals I make, rather than only the Real Food and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ meals. They are too high in carbs for me right now. Two days ago I made a bunch of ‘Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Chicken Breasts” by Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto. Yesterday I made her “Keto Chili.” Tonight I’m making bacon-wrapped hamburger patties. I’m freezing the leftovers in individual serving (or one meal for two) packages so that I won’t need to spend a lot of time in the kitchen for awhile. This saves me work, plus decreases the temptation to eat something I shouldn’t.
Have a great day. I’ll check back with you when we’re back from errands and I have pics to share.
Filed under DIET!, exercise, Gardening, Mother Nature, Thoughts on a ________
Hello, Monday
It’s only 50 degrees F. here in Arkansas this morning, but the sun is shining brightly.
If it warms up some more, I’m planning to go buy and then plant tomato plants today. I’m eager to get them in the ground because sliced ripe tomatoes are one of our very favorite things. I’m researching how to prune the plants because it would be nice if we had more tomatoes and less greenery. Usually they get to the point where they spill over the planters and I’m afraid to do anything except enjoy the tomatoes we get.
Today I start WEEK 4 on my low-carb eating and exercise regimen. I’m making “Low-carb Keto Chili” by Suzanne Ryan of Simply Keto. Last week I tried a new recipe, “Tender and Fluffy Keto Almond Flour Biscuits” by heathyrecipesblogs.com. I made a double recipe, so I have plenty for the coming week. My husband is still eating one deli dinner roll per day until he finishes them before switching to low-carb on bread. I’m enjoying these biscuits.
Exercise for today: 1) exercise videos by Mike of MoreLifeHealthSeniors – ‘warm-up,’ ‘stretches,’ ‘weights,’ and exercise workout 2a. Then I’m doing half an hour of yoga and planting tomatoes.
Meanwhile –
Happy Monday!
Filed under .gifs I Love, DIET!, exercise, Gardening
Thoughts on a Saturday 4-16-2022
I’m having a busy day and about half of it is already gone!
The sun came out about 10:30 this morning and the rain stopped (for awhile) so I went out and uncovered my veggie plants. They seem to have come through the trauma of the storms, hail, and heavy, wet sheets fine. I wheel-barrowed the wet sheets back to the house and am washing and drying them, 2 at a time. One more load to go in the washer. Then I’ll fold and put them in the trash bag and take them out to the shop for next time.
I just took a new (double) recipe for “Tender and Fluffy Keto Almond Flour Biscuits” out of the oven to serve with dinner later. The recipe is from Healthy Recipes Blog. The author is Vered DeLeeuw. They are gluten free. The serving size is 2 biscuits, but I’m going to try to be happy with one. My husband will weigh in, also. I’ll check out more of the recipes there. Next up will be a recipe for low carb bagels from my friend, Susy.
I’m about to start my exercising for the day – 3 short exercise videos and yoga.
Hope you’re having a nice Saturday.
Sharing the Purple
Deep purple is my favorite color. Whenever I see it, my soul reacts, with happiness welling up inside and spilling over. Spring is one time of the year where our yard reflects my love of the color.
They are blooming almost all the way down one side of the driveway now. When they are finished, yellow ones take over.
You can see my heart is really full this time of year. There is much to do in the yard, and little time right now to do it between severe weather. Soon things will tame down (hopefully) and I can get our planters weeded and cleared out, tomato plants in, and buy some purple petunias for the deck. :0)
Stay warm and dry!
Filed under Favorite Things, Gardening, Mother Nature, Seasons
And the Rain Comes Down…
I checked the weather website yesterday evening right before dark to find that, not only were we supposed to get rain after sunset, but HAIL. I went out and clothes-pinned sheets over my veggie planter boxes to protect my sweet, young veggies as much as I could.
It DID storm overnight and we’re still under a ‘thunderstorm and hail’ forecast this morning. It’s raining and very dark outside now, though the thunder and lightning are so noticeable. It looks like the sheets won’t come off until at least lunch time. I hope the plants don’t get squashed by the weight of the wet sheets!
Here was what 3 of the 6 garden boxes looked like last night –
Intriguing Yard Ideas
I love both of these ideas. Keeping the weeds out would be the hardest thing, but I think these are wonderful.
Filed under Gardening
Trip Around the Yard Before the Storm
The wisteria has done well this year. It is fuller and more lush every day. I don’t know how it will fare in the storm, but we’re lucky to have had this beauty for as long as we have this year.
The twice-blooming iris is really doing its thing now. All up and down one side of the driveway, too, and in several places in the yard. They will bloom again in October.
These are the two tomato planters I’ve been weeding, then adding potting soil to in order to get them ready for tomato plants. I’m hoping to be able to plant Thursday, or into the weekend, assuming the storms have abated.
Finally, this is Amber, who never misses a chance to ‘go’ anywhere, whether it’s on foot or in the car. She was a bit disappointed that it was a walking trip this time, but was quite companionable, nonethelesss.
Filed under Gardening, Mother Nature
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