Watermelon Woman

After the used-to-be Twitter went down the tubes, I decided to try Post.news. It couldn’t make enough money so is shutting down. I’m thinking that I might just do a better job with WordPress and mind my own website.

I’ve been working in my garden quite a bit, increasing the number of raised beds. I will pick all the Fava beans (aka Broad beans) in one bed and get it ready for more tomatoes. I have two more beds to put together for my okra and whatever I pick up at the nursery.

The real problem I have are my hands are starting to give me a lot of pain. Tylenol PM helps at night but during the day I don’t want to be sleepy and the regular Tylenol doesn’t seem to help much. The joys of getting older.

Oh well, my collard greens are looking great. Tomatoes too, although I need to stake them. There are lovely Chinese chives which are very tasty and the strawberries are starting to bloom. The citrus has tons of flowers so I think I might get more than last year. I have two Meyer lemons, one regular lime and one sweet Persian lime. I’ll see if I remember how to post pictures.

Happy Growing!

Today, I pulled my one and only cantaloupe. I wasn’t sure if it was ripe but the ants gave me a clue it was time. Lovely on the inside and the taste was very sweet. I am saving the seeds for next year for sure.

The drizzle turned into a bit more, waking me around 3 a.m. Had a hard time going back to sleep so I just enjoyed the sound of the rain. I was happy to know that I would not have to water the garden. Most of the tomatoes are finished and I’ve pulled some already and replaced with bok choy, Chinese chives and Japanese bunching onions. If you haven’t tried Chinese chives, go directly to your local Chinese grocer and get some. So tasty. Really, do yourself a favor. They are wonderful in salad, stir fries and and stews. A bit of a bite compared to regular chives. Now is a good time to plant them too.

I am taking a bit of a break today from garden work but have my Fava beans (aka broad beans) and spinach seeds ready to go once the beds are ready. Also have some flowers seeds to sow once my cukes and watermelon plants get pulled. Not sure carrots are worth trying again. I’ve failed one too many times.

I am happy with this season’s garden though. More strawberries than past years and finally got zucchini which is supposed to be so easy. Also I had a nice, but not near enough okra. I will plant many more next spring. Tomatoes were especially good with a bounty of cherries and big varieties. I made a lot of sauce and even tried a tomato relish.

Looking forward to Spring 2024!

Peaches

A journey that I was looking forward to ended up being difficult due to illness. Still I did get to see my youngest son’s family. Back home, it has been planting and more planting. I think I’ve planted more tomatoes this year than ever, in hopes I will get lots! Other plants include okra, eggplant and yellow squash. In the wishful thinking department, I have about 6 watermelons going as well. our weather is unseasonably cool but I am hopeful for better days soon. Oh and flowers and strawberries too!

The rain has bumped up the growth in the winter garden. Here are a few pix of radish, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, Fava beans and cauliflower. poppies and mixed flowers too.

Trying shallots for the first time. Exciting to see them sprout. Updates on unknown orange variety starting to turn color, plus some beets, radishes, cabbage, and kale. Next time, the broad beans another first try, not yet showing. Getting cold here in 9b, maybe 39 degrees tonight. Covering my avocado just in case!

Yeah! This morning my garden got some needed water. I spent a couple of hours monitoring the rain barrels. Good thing too as they all needed tweaking and I quickly realized that the barrels were getting full very fast. I had to add multiple garbage bins and direct the water to them. I was running from front to back of the house trying to keep ahead of the overflow. Besides being completely drenched, I got bit by a bug, probably a spider just under my eye. Ugh, it doesn’t itch but does hurt. I didn’t feel it bite or see the bug.

All in all, not to bad and happy I have three 50 gallon and one 65 gallon rain barrels filled plus several other containers. Since we may get more rain in the coming week, I may have to purchase more bins! Time to warm up with a nice cup of tea.