Practically Perfect Weekend.

Ever have one of those perfect weekends? This weekend was a close to perfect as I can ask for.

I am off on Fridays, so Friday is the first day of my weekend, but then I have to work on Saturday so my weekends are sort of split up. Not this weekend, but we will get to that.

Friday morning, another master gardener and I went to the Middle School, which is aptly Middle Monkey's school. We met with the Environmental Club's leader and the principle. The meeting was to discuss putting in another rainwater harvesting set up. The leader and the principle were enthusiastic. Looks like another 500 gallon tank has a home.

After that meeting, I went to work at the CSA farm, Eden's Garden, in Balch Springs, Tx. I am a member on a working share. Nothing much is being harvested right now and mucho mulch has to be spread. The farmer, Marie, is a very interesting person. We are in the getting to know you phase and are sharing our stories. She actually asked me, "So, what's your story?" I like that kind of directness. I wouldn't have twenty years ago, mostly because I wouldn't have had a story, but at this age, I've got stories. We both come from large families; her's Italian American, mine mostly German American (but mixed). One of the other working share members showed up with hilarious stories about why the Rooster, Snowball, is a jackass. Apparently, Snowball likes to wander off and get himself in trouble. Very enjoyable few hours or hard work and lively conversation.

Lunch time arrived, and I had to skidaddle as I had a hot date with Manly Man. We took the motorcycle, I now have named Silver, to Dallas and ate lunch at Jimmy's Deli. Jimmy's has the most awesome sandwiches to be had in Dallas. I won't say it is as good as po boy's in New Orleans, or the monster sandwiches at Carnegie's Deli in New York, but still, the best sandwiches to be had around here. It is also a full on deli with lovely foodie treasures on every isle. We were on the motorcycle and could not buy anything, which is probably for the best.

Following lunch, we took a ride through down town Dallas. If you have never ridden through a large city on the back of a bike, I strongly suggest you do it at least once in your life. I was able to really look around at a city I have been familiar with for most of my life. I love old buildings and there were plenty to oogle. I asked Manly to take me to the old court house. If you look at the pictures, you may recognize the location of a national tragedy. Yes, we went down to Dealy Plaza. I have never actually gotten out and looked a Dealy Plaza. I have driven through it countless times, I should have gotten out earlier.

The old courthouse, now a museum, is a beautiful building. I love old courthouses and will be boring you with many more of them. I am actually seeking them out now, instead of just being happily surprised when I accidentally come upon one.

If you look close in the second picture of the courthouse, you can see Manly with the bike. The next picture is of a Segway tour of Dealy Plaza. The tour puttered past us and then looped around about the time we were ready to saddle up and ride off. Then there was the Segway vs. Silver coolness smack down. The first Segway rider declared that her ride was cooler than ours. A few guys back commented on the relative coolness of Manly's helmet vs. his. It was a bicycle bike helmet for Pete's sake. The final man on the tour pointed at Silver and then at his Segway ride, and commented "It just isn't the same." Before it was over, I was laughing so hard I couldn't get on the back of the bike.

Friday evening we celebrated Teenage Monkey's birthday. Mamala made sweet and sour pork. She learned this recipe from a maid who worked for her family while they were stationed in Formosa. This is the real deal people and about the best stuff ever. She did pull the "You need to come over here and learn how to make this before I die or you will be sorry" guilt trip. So I guess I am going to learn how to make authentic sweet and sour pork, poor me;)

I took Saturday off so Middle Monkey and I could participated in the Trinity River Trash Bash. 70 or so middle school and high school kids and a handful of adults split up into teams and picked up trash along the stretch of highway that leads up to our branch of the Trinity River. There were prizes for weirdest thing picked up, overall quantity picked up, and highest quantity of recyclables picked up. We allowed our team to rob the bottles and stuff out of the baseball diamonds trash cans, giving us an unfair advantage. Hey, we kept them out of a landfill.

The weekend would have been totally perfect if it wasn't for giant mosquitoes. I can't get out in the garden because of the awful beasts. All this rain has set up the perfect habitat for them.

Hope you had a great weekend too minus the mosquitoes.

Save Some Seeds for the Garden Faerie

 

Here are some of my yard long beans and red noodle beans. These were left on the vines long enough to make seeds. I will be saving the seeds for next years garden and also to share with other garden bloggers this winter. Monica of Garden Faerie's Musing will be kicking off the progressive seed exchange again and I am getting ready.

The yard long bean seeds are offspring of the first package of seeds I bought years and years ago. This is the first year I have grown the red noodles. They are a lot of fun and easy to see to harvest. They are also out producing the yard long beans.

Here is a short list of seeds I will be saving for next year.
1. Lemon basil.
2. Collards
3. Angel's Trumpet
4. Texas Star Hibiscus
5. Dill.
6. Parsley
7. Yard Long and Red Noodle Beans (of course)

What seeds are you planning on saving?

Why You Should Not Ask Me About Plants

Today, I talked to the reporter from the Dallas Morning News. I feel sorry for people that make the mistake of asking me about plants and gardening. I get so excited I can't get myself to shut up. We talked for more than an hour about fall gardening, composting, soil, my favorite plant and on and on and on. Poor thing didn't know what she was getting herself into. I just loose all control and sound like an obsessive crazy person. I did the same thing to a poor patron at the library last week. All she wanted was a good book on gardening, but she ended up getting and earful. Hopefully, the writer can organize my ramblings and get something coherent out of it.

Now This is a Fashion Statement

 

This says, "I don't care what the neighbors think."
This says, "Knobby knees are in"
This says, "Gardening is more important that appearances"
This says, "I either need bigger feet or smaller thighs"
This says, "I buy my footwear at Tractor Supply."

Happy rainy day y'all.

Blessed Rain

We are finally getting good and wet. It has been a hot, dry summer here in Texas. I know those south of us are in much worse shape than we are here. Two days ago it started to rain. This is the kind of rain that farms, ranchers and gardeners love. The rain is falling slow and constant. There is not much runoff,just a lot of soaking in. I have not had a chance to check the rain gaiges, but I know we are above two inches because the rain barrels and overflow buckets are full.

I put my fall veggies in at the perfect time. The cabbage, collards and brocolli transplants are happy and perky. Yesterday I noticed that the beans, squash and corn are all coming up. This rain and cloud cover will help them get off to a great start.

While the rain is a blessing to me. The critters I live with are less pleased. The bunnies are mad about getting wet, staying inside all the time hurts Abby's doggy feelings and the manx are running around the house like their butts are on fire. (I would say tails, but they don't have any). So far the monkeys have not gotten cabin fever, but I bet it won't be long.

I hope you are getting wet if you need it.

Step by Step Fall Vegetable Garden Preparation and Planting

I have received a request to do a newspaper interview. I figured I better get my information together before the reporter calls me. I don't want to appear to be a fool, at least not to the readership of the newspaper. Y'all know I'm silly, but the rest of the world doesn't need to know, do they?

Here are the steps to creating a fall vegetable garden in north Texas.

1). If you have not gotten a soil test, have one done. Kits can be picked up at your County Extension agent’s office.
2). Amend the soil with organic matter = compost. Work in 2 to 4 inches.
3). Fertilize according to the recommendations from your soil test. Phosphorus is frequently over used. I use blood meal, bone meal and alfalfa.
4). Select plants. My short list is: Cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, garlic, onions, dill and collards. I also squeeze in one last planting of squash, beans and corn (three sisters) on Labor Day weekend and say a prayer they get to live long enough to make me some food.
5). Water transplants and seeds with liquid fertilizer. I use a fish product or rabbit manure tea.
6). Mulch heavily. I have been using the neighbor’s grass clippings with great results. Shredded leaves make nice mulch as well. I use bark mulch as a last result, because they tend to rob nitrogen while breaking down.
7). Water deeply and infrequently, but do keep the plants evenly moist.
8). Crucifer vegetables are heavy feeders. I foliar feed once a week with a liquid fertilizer.

Housekeeping

My monkeys pushed the envelope this weekend and we had to take drastic measures. They left me with a pile of laundry and a stack of dirty dishes that took four hours to clean up. Then they got into a fight. What we had on our hands was privileged boy syndrome because mama has always done the lions share of the work. Manly is not a mess maker. I am sometimes. With my less than stellar housekeeping skills (I once used a rake to clean up their bedroom floor), having me do it all is not going to work.

I restructured the work load and now I don't do the daily dishes or their laundry. Baby Monkey now has to sweep the floors, natural sweep the two rugs and take out the trash. Tonight my house is clean and tidy and I didn't do any of it.

They are not little anymore. They need to learn how to take care of their own space. I don't want my future daughters-in-law to have to wait on them and I am not going to do it anymore.

Housekeeping wasn't really a problem until I went back to work. Even part-time work cuts into housekeeping and gardening time. I am willing to give up the housework, but not the gardening.

They each have a job to do and they better do it or they won't get dinner until it is done, period.

Mama is finished.