Mini Melons

See that. That is a mini watermelon. Special seeds? Nope, it is just a plain old watermelon vine grown in a container. In this case the container is an old plastic watering can that cracked at the bottom. I couldn't make myself throw it out, so it was given a second life as a container. The watermelon variety is not a small variety at all. It is Crimson Sweet. The seed package says the fruit can weigh up to 24 pounds. It is quite easy to stunt its growth, obviously.


This is the vine and the watering can. The little melons on the vine are ready, but they only have a couple of tablespoons of edible flesh. So what, it's fun. I will clean up the vines and give them a shot of fertilizer and compost. That should get them going again producing more little fruits. The vines are already blooming again.

This is a fun way to grow little melons if you don't have the space for sprawling vines.

Please forgive the messy deck in the background. I promise to go clean it up right now.

Relax and Enjoy the Garden...For a Minute

We have a beautiful overcast morning here in North Texas. If you have ever been here during the summer, you will know exactly why I consider "overcast" beautiful in July. It is comfortable enough to sit out on my deck and enjoy a cup of coffee. I am also typing this as I enjoy that cup of coffee. I received a lap top for Mother's Day. This is the first time I have taken my baby outside into the garden.

I love these mornings where I actually wake up before everyone else and can relax before the choas begins. I am able to get a few little house chores started and then just kick back and observe my plants.

Maybe I should have done a little more gardening before sitting down on this fine morning. It looks like the hackberry suckers are trying to take over the garden yet again.

Back to battle against the invaders using my trusty Felcos.

Have a nice day y'all.

First Hibiscus of 2010

This morning, we woke up to this beauty. Middle Monkey was one happy kid.

New Garden Resident

Welcome our newest garden resident, Sid. Sid is a little bitty Praying Mantis. We hope he gets much bigger and that maybe he is a she and will make a lot more baby bugs. This picture doesn't look a lot like a Mantis because he was sort of crouching down. Just before the picture was snapped, he was in classic praying stance.

Fathers' Day + Mechanical Yard Monster

Hope everyone is having a great Fathers' Day. We ate grilled shrimp with pesto for dinner. Later, Baby Monkey combined an old bicycle and reel mower into a yard monster.

And we thought it would get less interesting as the Monkeys got older.

Happy Fathers' Day everyone.

Brown Rice Pilaf

To go along with The Walk to the Moon journey I am on with Anna, I need to make some food changes. We already eat pretty well. The only person in this household who is overweight is me. The boys are thin and Manly is, well, manly. The boys eat tons of fruits and veggies. They always have. I eat my veggies, but not nearly enough. My food goal is to eat all five of those fruit and vegetable servings every day.

Tonight we had shish kebobs for dinner. The skewers were loaded with chicken, bell peppers, grape tomatoes and onions. I grew every one of those vegetables in our garden. These were served over a brown rice pilaf that was very good. Now, I will be benevolent and share;)

Brown Rice Pilaf

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 small carrot finely chopped
1 green onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
A couple of shakes of soy sauce

Saute the vegetables in the oil. Add in the rice and stir for a few minutes. Add the soy sauce at the end. Go light on the soy sauce or it will be too salty.

Anyway, that was dinner. Have a great weekend.

35 minutes on the elyptical machine + crunches and planks. My belly muscles are shot:P

Ugliness

I have a confession. I've got a lot of ugly plants living on our deck. For some reason if a plant is alive I just don't want to get rid of it. Therefore, I have two year old leggy Snap Dragons that look like HE double hockey sticks. This afternoon, on my way home, I am going to stop at our local nursery and pick up some pretty plants and banish the ugliness to the compost pile. Nothing is supposed to live forever and my deck should not be the retirement home for ancient plants.