Peanut beans

 This is a little late.  I have been telling you about trying to grow sweet potatoes from my own slips.  well I grew the slips and we planted them in hills.  It has rained so hard lately that I haven't been out there to  take new pictures but they are finally taken off.  Not all of the ones we planted survived but I still have two hot beds with slips more that what I can use and I think it is getting to late in the season to plant more but I am going to plant some more and see.  sweet potatoes are better after a frost anyway and although we could see one in October we usually don't until November or December.  I have never had much luck with sweet potatoes so I will keep you posted.

A friend gave me some new kinds of beans.  One called Peanut beans and the other Anasazi beans. Neither seem to be common.  The plants are up and starting to see runners but no beans yet.  Keep your fingers crossed.  The Kentucky wonders I planted in the corn are finally starting to take off. No beans yet but the corn is almost done and I don't know how I am going to work this one.  I also need to find something to plant where the corn is coming out of.  I don't want non productive space.

I love vegetables

 My tomatoes are finally getting over the blossom end rot.  But now the rain has not let up the last couple of days.  We needed the rain everything was drying up and I was trying to keep the garden watered.  But now with the rain things like my tomatoes are getting to much and starting to crack and bust.  I'm starting to get enough to can.  I love home made canned tomatoes.

 The corn is ripe.  We have been picking some for supper.  I cooked some last night.  I haven't had the time to put up any yet but i need to get on it quick. What we froze tasted wonderful last winter.  I froze most on the cob then creamed some.  we didn't like the creamed corn. I pick up all the flavors from the freezer but the stuff on the cob was all eaten

 I have froze some peas and snaps already this year.  I need to freeze a bunch more.  This was one of my dad's favorites when he comes to visit.  Mine too.  I didn't have much of a garden last year due to just moving here but where the telephone company dug to lay the phone line i planted peas all the way down.  I was expecting and couldn't walk down the hill to check them so i kept asking my kids if they were ready.  The kids said no.  Then it was time to turn the cows in the field.  I asked my husband to please check one last time before the cows got them.  He brought me four groceries bags full.  I was so happy.

I start picking mine young.  The plants continue to put on peas and you can shell them and snap them. Most people wait until they dry in the vine but I prefer them green.

I have had a very busy past few weeks.  I haven't had time to write anything down and that is disappointing to be because then I forget things.  I have a lot to do today as well so i will just post garden updates.

The corn is doing well it went from behind to the tallest in the area with all the rain we have had lately.  I had my four year old stand in the corn to give a perspective of how tall it is. It desperately needs weeded, but that will have to wait for another day.

 The butter beans are over the top of their support.  I do not see any blooms yet, and yes, it needs weeded too. As long as my plants are taller than my weeds I think I am doing good.

 The black eye peas are big and bushy but no runners or blooms yet.  These are one of my favorite things from the garden.  My mouth waters in anticipation of fresh peas and snaps.

 The okra finally decided to grow. I finally got the tall weeds knocked down so they could get light.  Okra needs hot weather to grow, and we are finally getting some.

 The sweet potato slips are up and the spot to plant them is tilled. Maybe this week I will get them planted.

 Tomatoes are doing great.  Big healthy plants. Not that many green tomatoes yet. I planted quite a few tomatoes so that I will have plenty to put up.

 We are eating squash now.  I have had two messes of it.  Squash is my son's favorite of all the garden vegetables.

We are also getting some new potatoes.  I was pricing them at the store and they are only .98 a pound.  I just thought they were more than that.

 Lots of onions.  We are using every other one so that we can have green onions now and bulb onions for later.  I plant the sweet onions so they don't last as long as the white onions.  I don't intend on trying to dry store that many in panty hose this year like I have done in the past.  They had got maggots and I really don't like that.  Maybe when I get that storage building built then they will keep better.

My lettuce has run away with me, but that is OK.  I am going to let it go to seed so that I can keep some to plant next year.  The less seed I have to buy the more profitable the garden.

Soggy Friday

Today is Friday we made it through another week.  It is rainy here, so you can't do much in the garden. I have heard it said not to go into your garden after a rain because you will spread disease, but in the garden after a storm is my favorite place to be. I try to wait for the plants to dry some but when the ground is soft is the best time to pull weeds. 
  We went out last night and tied up the tomato plants.  We used panty hose so the wind won't damage the stems.  We weeded for a while until it was almost to dark to see.  Then we planted some Kentucky wonder beans in the corn.  They grow well together.  The corn gives the beans something to climb on and the beans supply nitrogen to the corn which are heavy feeders.   I usually plant sunflowers at the end of the rows to encourage bees but didn't have any seed this year. We also planted some more speckled butter beans and black eyes, because some didn't come up,  

All my plants are starting to look really good.  It is hard to believe that these brussel spouts even survived.  They were so small and spindly looking when I put them out.  The weather was still cold.  Then comes the biggest plant killer, the kids.   In fact my Emily stepped on several cabbage plants last night.

The potatoes have gotten little potatoes already and my father-in-law has already dug some for a pot of new potatoes.  They did take some wind damage yesterday, but I think I can just hill them and they will stand back up.  No sign of the Colorado potato beetle this year.  Two years ago I planted late potatoes and mulched them with straw.  I usually plant early potatoes and mulch with black plastic.  Well they were eat up by the beetles and we didn't even get potatoes to speak of.  One of the problems, besides the late date and different mulch, was that I had never had the beetles before and didn't know what they looked like.  So by the time I realized I had a problem it was to late.

I cut all of the Chinese cabbage because they were going to seed. I ended up with 25.5lbs of cabbage total.  My family is already tired of eating it so I am in the process of freezing it.  First I wash it. Then coarsley shred it up.  Then I blanch it in boiling water for a minute and a half, cool, drain, and put in freezer bags. We will have lots of greens for this winter. I have also frozen some spinach I was given and some poke.  You can only get poke in the spring so if you want some for later use you have to freeze it.

Mother's day weekend

Friday started off nice. I mowed the part of the garden that is not planted with anything yet. It has some wild strawberries that we are finding a few strawberries from. We eat these as soon as we find them so I could tell you how many. My green peppers have blooms. I have never had much luck with green peppers at the other house. We always had ducks and ducks love to eat green peppers.

After mowing I got the loppers and started down the side field. My plan was to burn brush piles after I picked up the kids from school. By the time I got the kids and got back home it was to windy to burn anything. After my husband got home we continued clearing the field and piling the brush. He brought me a new camera home for mother's day. It takes really nice pictures. I am proud to have it.

Saturday my husband and his daddy went to Race bros and bought a sprayer that runs off of the four wheeler. They hooked the whole thing up and started filling it. It started leaking, so they boxed it back up and took it back. I am not sure how the store fixed it but they did. Said they had had that same problem before.After he got home they sprayed 2 sprayers full on the bottom field. He left the field on the right for wild blackberries this year and the side field for me and the goats to clear.

We missed the court of honor for the Boy Scouts. We thought it was that evening but it was at 11am. That is when they were returning a sprayer. That evening we when out and started weeding the corn. My husband trying to get all the Bermuda grass ended up digging up the corn we just planted. I said something and I think it made him mad because he left. But then he came back with the camera and started taking pictures of the kids and me working in the garden. I think he likes the camera as much as I do. We got in late but had turkey, that I had in the oven because the house was cool, mac'n'cheese, stuffing, cranberry sauce and poke salat for supper.

Sunday we went to church, to Shoney's for mother day dinner, and then grocery shopping. We got home, put up the groceries, and went down to his daddy's. I gave Angela the corsage I got for mother's day and we ate ice cream crunch bars. I lead song service at church the had his daddy and Angela over for left over turkey sandwiches for supper.

Here is the new biddy and rooster fattening pen we just finished. It is a lot more convenient than the one we had. And here is our cow hop-a-long. He decided to check out the throw blanket I put on the fence so I could take a picture of it.

Bean Tepees and Barbeque

I have strawberries that are close to being ready. A friend of mine already has 3 ripe strawberries but she already has an established bed. If I can keeep the goats out of them I will have some in a couple of days. All the peas and Lima beans are up. I am going to try growing them on hog panels this year. Two years ago I made bean tepees. The worked great at first. My back didn't hurt from bending over. Then I realized that I built them to high and we were having to stand on ladders to pick the peas. That was a problem in its own. I am going to build more tepees to plant peas on when the potatoes are pulled out, but the will not be very high.

I finally got Hosta to grow. They say it is one of the easiest things to grow but my free range chickens always ate it. The goats were loose yesterday so it has got some damage but i think it will recover nicely as long as I water it today. This is my broccoli. I have never grown it before never had any luck. Maybe this year will be better. I will let you know.

Finally got the rest of the corn planted. The lawn is almost mowed. The weed eater is fixed. The laundry is washed. So I decided to take the kids swimming at the creek. Right as we were leaving I realized my second daughter was running a fever. I gave her some medicine and thought she would be cooler by the creek so we went for just a little while. It wasn't long before she started throwing up so that ended that trip. We decided to grill outside so the kids that were not sick could stay out and play. We had BBQ chicken, grill corn on the cob, and potato packs. The Chinese cabbage recipe of the day was stir fried cabbage.

I don't know if it is a well known recipe or something I made up. I start by frying a little bacon for seasoning and grease. Then I throw in a chopped onion and stir until the onion is translucent. Then I put in chopped cabbage about half Chinese cabbage and half regular cabbage. I cook it down until not much grease left in the pan. Then I add a little Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to taste. Just cook until tender crisp. I really like this, don't know if my husband cares that much for it, but he eats it.

Today I need to water the potatoes and things on the other side of the garden that the sprinkler didn't get last night. It is not suppose to rain here until Sunday and that is to long without water up here. Since this is a first year garden in this location the soil is kinda poor and don't hold moisture well. Weeding is never done. There is a lot of Bermuda grass in the corn and my husband's solution is to spray it. Who wants to eat anything out of a garden with all that poison sprayed in it.