Judging Plants: What did I get myself into?

I agreed to judge out horticulture division at our little county fair today. Wow, that was something. There were only about 50 entries. I have a sneaking feeling that a bunch of high school 4H kids were forced to place an entry, maybe even an Ag class. The kid who put forth the most effort was the only entry in the children's division. She entered a very pretty geranium. She received three ribbons. There were two pretty house plants , a couple of good hanging baskets, and some decent vegetable flats the seniors entered. Two of the veggie flats were water stressed. Otherwise, these plants looked like they were just stressed four inch color plants stuck in a container or some winter stressed plant in a container they lifted out of the garage. Many didn't even bother to pull off yellowed leaves or repot a plant in need of repoting. I felt like a big Meany giving out so many white ribbons, but come on a 3rd grader grew a better plant.

Above is the quilt block of the month for March. I didn't finish the completer blocks. Shhh...don't tell.

Spring Seminar Quilt

I finished the top of the wall hanging I am donating to our Master Gardener silent auction. This is one of the fund raising efforts we put on during our Spring Seminar. This little quilt is a Lemoyne Star pattern. I used the “By Kate…” stamps to mark diamonds on the fabric. This keeps the bias from pulling as it does when marking with pencil and template. I like the results. The top is much smoother and the points are better than with traditional fabric marking. Now I just have to get it quilted and bound before Saturday morning. I need to figure out what color to bind the whole thing up with. The binding will make one more border around the quilt although only about half an inch of fabric shows on the front. I can repeat any of the colors. Should I use the pink, yellow, or blue?

April Fools: Gardening With Monkeys

ACT I

The monkeys came home from school in rare form. As I have mentioned before, they are not funny when they are trying to be funny. Here are a few examples of April Fools "Jokes" they shared with me.

"I will not make you popcorn anymore" - APRIL FOOLS

"May I set fire to your garden?" - APRIL FOOLS

"May I throw this rotten apple at the village idiot?" APRIL FOOLS

"I don't love you" - APRIL FOOLS.

ACT II

After the "I don't love you" I slipped out into the garden to weed and be by myself in the quiet. They found me. First one put a fake spider on my shoulder. This worked the first time, but they have done it about 400 time since then.

Now we have this wonderful dialog.

Baby monkey, "Mom"

Me, "What?"

Baby Monkey, "Mom"

Me, "What?"

Baby Monkey, "Mom."

Me, WHAT?????

Baby monkey, "I love you."

ACT III

Middle Monkey asks to hold a rabbit. Okay, kid knock yourself out. Ten minutes later - MOM, MOM, MOM, MOM I SAW LUCY'S NUTS. LUCY HAS NUTS. Kid hands me an upside down bunny. As I may have mentioned before, Lucy is not a girl. I did not, however, share this information with my boys. I check out the rabbit equipment and declare Lucy a boy. They recovered and renamed him Mario. Then they bring me the other rabbit to be examined. No bunny balls can be seen. Starr is still a girl. Now they want to know when we are going to have babies. As an encore, the newly renamed Mario escaped and hid under an overgrown rose bush. It took us 20 minutes to get him out.

ACT IV

Things I had to say for the rest of the hour.

"Don't lock you brother in the rabbit hutch."

"Get out of the rabbit hutch."

"Get down from on top of the rabbit hutch."

"Do not put your brother under the wheelbarrow."

"Get that 2 gallon container off of your head."

"Don't throw onions into the street."

Help me somebody please help me.

They all Came Back

I had a little time between weather situations to go check out my perennial border and see what came back. The Shasta daisies, salvia, Whirling Butterfly guara, French hollyhocks, ice plant, bog salvia are all showing back up. That is a picture from last summer, but I can look forward to more blooms in the next few weeks. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.

Did anybody else catch the gardening skit on Two and a Half Men? I thought I was going to fall over laughing.

Mother Nature is Messing with Me

Remember a few days ago when I mowed around the grape hyacinths? What I didn't tell you was that I did not finish the job. We have a little strip of grass on each side of the house and a triangle on one side of the driveway. I didn't mow those down. The neglected areas in addition to the clumps of flowers in the part I did mow make for a supremely embarrassing lawn. Teenagers have been coming by every day offering to mow my yard for pay. This is especially humiliating as I have a gardening service sign on my truck. Bad gardener, very very bad. It's kind of like the cobbler's children have no shoes. I am so busy with my customers' flower beds and volunteer work that my yard stays in a constant state of neglect. When everything is in bloom it is s pretty mess. However, right now it is just a mess.

Today I intend to at least take care of the grass/weed situation. I have a reel push mower and an electric mower. The weeds are too tall to use the push mower so I have to use the electric contraption. About an hour ago I pulled out the extension cords and set up the mower. Big fat raindrops fell on my head. Even I know not to use and electric lawnmower in the rain. I put everything under the porch and came back inside to wait. After just a few big fat raindrops it is all clear again and not too wet to mow. I went back outside and set it all up again. Big fat rain drops fell on my head. I put it all back on the porch and came back inside. No more raindrops. COME ON!! I go back outside. Baby Monkey gets stung by a wasp. Come back inside and doctor him up. Go back outside set up the lawnmower and start mowing around the grape hyacinths. Then KERBLAAM - Big lightening bolt and rumbling thunder. Run back inside and say a prayer of thanks for not being struck dead by lightening. Look outside. No way. Absolutely NO FREAKING WAY -SUNSHINE!!! I'm not falling for it this time. We will just have to be the redneck lawn of the month until the clouds are completely gone.

On a brighter note, I had my most successful sourdough bread results since I was gifted/cursed with the bag of starter. It seems the trick is to leave it in a proofing oven a very long time. Apparently, you cannot rush sourdough bread or my dad.

Good Eatin

The time of year has come again when we can eat out of the garden almost daily. Today I had asparagus and radishes. I harvested onions yesterday and will be making a fennel and onion salad to marinate in the fridge over night. The Swiss chard is huge and we need to start harvesting it again. I still have a little cabbage left for slaw and maybe cabbage rolls. I am not sure if the monkeys will eat cabbage rolls. I have mustard and spinach that are ready to eat. The snow peas are still little, but with a bit more warm weather, they will take off. the lettuce is tiny, but needs to be thinned. We will make salads out of the thinned out tiny plants.

We grow cool weather vegetables all winter and rotate out to warm season plants around the first of May. In about four weeks the tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn, okra, beans, and cucumbers will go in. In the meantime the onions and garlic will all be pulled, cleaned, and let to dry out before I store them. I still need to start basil.

Fennel and onion salad.

Two medium sized onions sliced in thin rings

1/2 cup chopped fresh fennel

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon or lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together, store in a covered container and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

We have to eat the fennel now before the black swallowtail butterflies show up. Their babies eat our fennel and dill. I will post pictures when they show up.

Earth Hour

I just signed us up for Earth Hour. Tomorrow night at 8:o0 I will turn off all our lights, power down this addiction box, and go outside. We may have candles or better yet the monkeys can play with their wind-up flashlights. I will attempt to guilt my neighbors into participating. I may offer beer.

I am really trying to teach my children to take care of our little piece of earth. They are already professional composters and will retrieve banana peels out of your trashcan and give you "The Look." They know the location of the recycling center. They don't throw out paper. We have had to explain to Middle Monkey that it is okay to cut down invasive, nonnative trees. He gave his Opa a lecture about how bad it was to cut down a tree. Opa was amused.

Anyway, should you feel inclined and want to have fun in the dark, sign up for Earth Hour. No Meme, I do not want a report on how you spent the time. I wonder if I am the only one in small town Texas participating in this global event?