Cabbage and Broccoli

I have always had trouble growing nice big heads of cabbage. My broccoli did okay, but not fantastic. This summer I found a book in my grandfather's things that was basically about mulching the vegetable garden. The author wrote at length about how much fetilizer cabbage and broccoli need. This year I amended the beds for these plants with compost, earthworm castings, rabbit manure, blood meal, bone meal, and alfalfa meal. I planted the plants and mulched with cedar mulch. Each week I have either side dressed them with a good nitrogen source (cotton seed meal mostly) or I foliar fed with liquid fish. These plants look awsome. The broccoli has not made heads yet, but if the heads look as good as the plant, we will be eating well. The cabbage is huge. It is just now starting to create heads. The plants have grown so large they are touching each other. They have been out for about five weeks now. I only use natural products and they worked just fine for this. We have had a very dry fall and they are doing great on city water. I hope to be able to post pictures soon.

Really good mashed potatos

Last night we made the best mashed potatos. This is the skinny version but at Thanksgiving we will be making them full out with cream and real butter. Logan even liked this.

1 large potato per 2 people
2/3 cup per potato skim milk
1/4 cup per potato good for us margarine
1/4 cup fresh finely chopped sweet basil
1/4 cup finely chopped garlic chives
salt
pepper

Boil the potatos skin on until tender and drain. In a heavy sauce pan combine all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Add the potatos and mash.

We made gravy, but this was better without it.

Okay, about garlic chives. For gardeners in North Texas this is a perennial. For me it has become invasive. I have to cut off the blooms or I will have this plant everywhere. The flavor is like chives with a slight garlic taste and smell. Very good in egg drop soup.

Starting rose bushes

Today I am starting rose cuttings. Here is how it works. Take cuttings from the mother bush. Each cuttings should be about pencil thick and about 4 inches long. Place them right side up about two inches deep in good potting soil. I can fit about 20 cuttings in a 1 gallon container. Keep them damp. If the cutting turns brown it is dead. As long as it is green it is alive. Soon leaves will show up and the cuttings are ready to be transplanted into individual one or two gallon containers. Here in north Texas I keep them in the container for a year. I start the cuttings in the fall and plant the new bush the following fall. Old roses on their own root stock have worked the best for me. I generally get a good percentage of cuttings to take root.