I AM BACK!!!!

After a lengthy absence I am back kiddos! A lot has happened in the last few years. Sickness, death, floods, car wrecks, crawling on the floor in hysterics because well it helps sometimes....but I am back! My yard went thru a huge decline due to lack of care for a myriad of reasons but thanks to Doing A Little Often and a generous time of a neighbor it is back in pretty OK shape. I give it a solid B at the moment. I hope to have some pics up soon to let you see where the new starting point is as well as what is growing at the moment.

Right now the front is still a cottage style garden, the left side of the house is full sun so just a few bushes for shade, the right side is shaded so more woody perennials, and the back is dedicated to vegetables and fruit. This is the first fall in almost five years that I have had a winter garden. Scary I know. I have planted a few savoy cabbages, lancinato kale, leeks, garlic, and sprouting broccoli. I am trying to grow winter carrots under row covers but more on that in a future post. My fava aka broad beans will go in very late but hopefully they will take. Seeds should be here this weekend.

I have tilled an area to sow broad beans. Broad or fava beans are a great staple. Young the entire pod is edible. As it grows it makes a large shelling bean or left to dry a nice storage bean. As it is a legume it is a nitrogen fixer. Many people also plant these as a cover crop to capture excess nitrogen in the soil and act as a weed suppressor over the winter months. Broad beans are able to with stand low temps and even snow. In harsh winters you can experience die off but often they will re-sprout or you can replant in the spring. I was not able to find any seed locally so I ordered a few online. I selected Windsor with is a heritage variety from the UK. The pods are shorter and mature later than some other varieties but these are supposed to be superior in flavor. Hopefully this experiment will yield positive results. As soon as the seeds arrive I will update the blog

As always feel free to ask questions!

Bad Blogger!

I have failed you all! Ok not really. I just have been so busy with work that I have not blogged in a bit. Things are really picking up at home though! My parents visited a few weekends ago and helped me a bit on some housekeeping for which I am grateful. I also got the edge of the large flower bed in the front edged with reclaimed bricks. Hopefully this will help keep the compost and mulch from spilling over in to the drive way so much. This particular bed is getting full though. I will throw up some pictures later for you all.

The seeds I started at the end of January are doing fine. They are a bit leggy but that is to be expected. I have an assortment of flowers, three types of cabbage, kale, two types of tomatoes and a few other odds and ends. I will post a better list soon. Ok back to work. Just wanted to pop in very quickly and let you all know I am alive and gardening!!

Monday Monday.....or Tuesday.

Cold, wet, dreary. No it aint Ireland or London...it is ye ole Raleigh. I am not wishing for the hot rainless months of summer just yet... but warmer temps would be nice. I know I know it is only January. I am trying to remind myself of that.

Yesterday, after I posted, I worked in the yard a bit. I cut back a few plants that were a little worse for all this ice and snow and then tackled the vegetable beds. Lets just say Jeremy did not prep enough this fall. There are still some dried stalks which is never a good thing to leave over winter. It encourages nasties to grow in your lovely soil. I did clean out two of the beds. I need to get myself motivated. It is almost time to seed some snow peas and lettuce.

The snow peas are a new trial. I have never grown them before. I figure a buck eighty wasted on seeds if they are a total flop will not be the worst thing I have done with my life! I do enjoy them steamed with garlic...YUM!!

Lettuce...oh how you are the thorn in my side you sweet tender leaves of green and red. If I buy plants they are always too sickly or it is too late in the season and they immediatly bolt and turn in to a bitter milky mess. If I plant seeds...they take forever to come up and then...yes..they bolt in to a bitter milky mess. This year I have vowed to direct seed them earlier and to use two different locations. One bed is in mostly direct sun and the other is in definite partial shade. I am hedging my bets. Fingers crossed people!!

One thing that did make me happy while cleaning up was my shallots. Yes those little oniony things that we buy in the store for ridiculous prices. I purchased some generic cultivar last fall and tried them out..no biggie. they did their thing...I took all the best looking bulbs and reset them in a permanate onion area. yes I have an area just for multiplying onions..and you should as well so stop judging me.

These little fools are doing killer. Even with all these low temps they bravely way their ragged leaves. I am so looking forward to a nice spring harvest. Can you say quiche?

Well back to lusting over seeds and other things. Be well and do good work people!!!

MLK DAY

So Martin Luther King Day....day of rest, reflection....me getting up at a the butt crack of dawn to go to a worthless meeting at my part time job. Yes on my day off I get to go in...in full uniform mind you..to train on a new computer system that frankly...the trainers were even a bit perplexed with. The only saving grace...SEEDS!!! Yes, my inner dork took over when I left and my Tahoe, aka Tahlua, aka The Earth Deystroyer, headed under it's own influence to the store. I picked up seeds for a variety of winter squash, snow peas, fennel, and larkspur.

I have a dirty secret...well I have many but this one is just dirt under the finger nails dirty. I FREAKING LOVE WEIRD VEGGIES!!! I am the kid that grew up in the middle of nowhere that will knock you down for a grilled bulb of fennel, I will murder your favorite Barbie Doll for a nice butter nut squash ravioli sauteed in sage butter. That last one gets me very nostalgic. A great friend that is no longer with us gave me that super easy and awesome dish!!!

Ok, back to my weird fixation with cucurbitas aka squash. Most people think...oh bland, tasteless filler on a kabob or killer buttery mushy goodness cooked in bacon grease. YES!!! OMG YES!! I have not met a squash I did not like. Stuffed ones, fried ones, stewed, grilled, baked, made in to cookies, pies, and once dehydrated..but that is another post. They are so easy to grow and so pretty. The greens, blacks, yellows, oranges, and white hues. I think you all need to expand your taste buds and grow some freaky deaky squash this year!

So having said all of this, the packet of mixed seed I picked up is spaghetti squash, acorn, butter nut and lakota. Now we all have had the funky spaghetti squash, steamed or baked and used with sauces or what not. More than likely we have tried baked butter nut or acorn squash as is or used to make the best "pumpkin" pie you will ever eat. The Lakota....this is a new one to me. It is bright orange and green. Ok it has the color to make me ooh and ahh. Supposedly it is nutty. I take this to mean it tastes like a suupped up version of a butter nut. They fruits can be 4-10lbs in size as well. I hope all my friends reading this really like pie and soup.

I will keep everyone posted on how these new trials turn out. I know I love having rambling winter squash vines take over my one section of the yard. It gives me an excuse to have it look unkempt. What that? oh oh that is my squash area...no no no the grass is fine...has to look weedy...lets the er..ah lets the beneficial insects have plenty of cover...yeah thats it.

Winter Blues

The weather is really crappy right now. They are calling for more snow and freezing rain. I am a naitive North Carolinian. I grew up further east where we mainly got ice...if I can drive in snow the rest of you can or stay off the roads people!!

I have been struggling at work to stay up beat and positive...I am certain that as soon as I can start "digging in the dirt" again I will be much happier. Sunday

I could not resist buying two packs of seeds in a local store. Bright Lights Swiss Chard and California Wonder Pepper seeds just jumped in to my cart! It is still a little too early to direct sow the chard so I will wait a week or two, but the peppers are begging to be started inside.

Usually, I purchase my pepper plants from Logan's (a great local place you have to stop by if you are in Raleigh)or Lowes. This year I wanted to start my own plants to save money and hopefully get a head start. I use tons of peppers in cooking and it irrates me to pay a dollar or more for them in the store when I can grow tons from a packet of seed that costs less than two bucks.

Many times people ask me if I eat any of the vegetables I grow. Er duh! Last night I made meat balls with my own frozen peppers, pesto, onions, garlic, and thyme. Herbs are so costly but if you grow your own you will have tons for almost nothing. I encourge everyone to try it.

Ok, back to the daily grind and visions of warm weather!!!

"a little drop of rain.."

Well....it is not in the 60s and raining. I really wanted to start cleaning out and turning the vegetable beds today but that is a no go. I will need to wait for it to dry out a bit. This really is cruddy since Sundays are my only day that I do not work. With the days still being so short it is not possible to do much during the week.

I did get a very nice surprise this weekend. I had to work NYE and NYD at Macaroni Grill. Yes...while you were all having fun or nursing hang overs I was slinging pasta. I am really not complaining though, I am fortunate that I have not one but two jobs! Anyway, a very old friend from back home came in and was sat in my section. She is a dog trainer and retired from the Rocky Mount Childrens Museum. I used to volunteer there and attend day camps. Engel is a great person. It was really nice to reconnect. The first thing she asked me was, "What no chickens".

Yes...most of you know I have kept back yard chickens on and off for years. It is ironic she would ask about that since I have already started planning for a coop at my home. If all things go as planned I will be able to attach a very small greenhouse on to it. Well, it will be more of a walk in cold frame but beggars cannot be choosers!

I am still pouring over the current catolouges trying to decide what seeds to order...oh the lack of space and cash. Charlie and Lillian, the cats, are very ill lately since I am doing all this planning and sketching and ignoring them. They will get over it. It will be interesting to see what they think when their feathered friends come to stay though!

Start at the very Beginning!!

I moved to Raleigh in 1997 to attend NCSU. After living down town for over ten years I finally was able to buy my own home. My yard is small and the house a definite fixer-upper!  The main attraction to this particular home was how close it is to work, down town and it has a yard! Honest to goodness dirt of my very own!

I grew up in a small town and my grandparents farmed. We had a huge gard

en, grew truck produce, and a small orchard. Growing your own food for me is a way of life not a fad.  It is something I enjoy and it is an ever changing experiment. 

As soon as everything thaws a bit I can finally get started turning the beds for the spring. Right now everthing is blanketed under and unusually large snow fall. Raleigh seldom gets snow this deep, 10-12 inches in places!When I moved in this home in July of 2008 There was nothing in the yard except weeds. I have worked hard with my limited budget to try to establish some flower beds in the front and a few raised beds in the back. When possible I recycle cast off material and I am always on the look out for hand me down plants. My ultimate goal is for a cottage style garden in the front including flowers, herbs, flowering bushes, and a few vegetables. The left side of the yard to be more of a woodland style garden since it recieves more shade, and finally the back yard to be mainly fruits and vegetables.