Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Small But Productive


Here it is the end of June and I haven't posted in some time. Things here are busy as usual as we continue to work on our little house and garden. I have been down for some time with of all things allergies. According to my doctor the pollen counts this year in this area have been record breaking. I am surrounded by four towering hickory trees around my house that have all been blooming. It has truly been a miserable couple weeks. I am hoping that as I live here longer that my body will adjust to the new surroundings but we shall see. I have never suffered from allergies in the past so this is a new one for me. 

Our little garden has done wonderfully. This area sits right on top of the Cumberland Plateau and is notorious for shallow and infertile soil. Our solution was raised beds for the time being while we contemplate this whole lack of soil situation. Our raised beds thrown together of native lumber has exceeded our expectations.


Remember our old stand by the Jade variety green bean that we grew every year in the past. Those saved seeds came up beautifully and are loaded with blooms and beans. Seems they like Tennessee too!



Our Purple Hull field peas above are huge and healthy and we hope they will bloom soon. An old southern staple found throughout this area. In Missouri I was the only one around that grew them.  A heavy producer two beds should provide is with enough to can some for the winter.


One bed of yellow summer squash and we already have squash coming out our ears. I have already started blanching it for the freezer.




O Wise One built a frame above the cucumber bed out of native lumber again for the plants to run on. We strung it with nylon string and trained the runners upward.


Shouldn't be long now!


Nothing like cool sliced cucumbers on a hot summer day.



Is there anywhere zucchini doesn't grow?


Here and there we tuck in sweet peppers 


And Basil for my pesto


And no southern garden is complete without okra.


While in the process of planting our garden O Wise One did a good deed for an elderly  neighbor lady and pulled her lawnmower out of a ditch. In appreciation her nephew showed up the next day with a mason jar full of water and some tomato plants stuck in it.  In appreciation for our assistance to his elderly aunt he wanted to return the good deed. He called these tomatoes Arkansas Red and Arkansas Yellow tomatoes. I am unsure if they are the heirloom variety called "Arkansas Traveler" that I have read about. But so far they have done well and we will see if they are keepers.


They are the larger tomato plants in the pictures. The smaller plants are Amish Paste type tomatoes saved from crops in Missouri. All of the tomatoes in the beds are simply staked with scraps of native lumber that the guy at the sawmill gave my husband for free. Said that is what he uses for his tomatoes. 



We are well on or way to a tomato crop.


With the extra paste tomato plants we planted a dozen plants down the back fence. This is some of the richest dirt we have found on the property thus far.


Just stuck in the ground with no tilling or soil preparation and mulched with some chopped leaves. They are already blooming and we shall see how these produce in native soil. 


Thus far we have not had to use any sprays for pests although we have noticed some minor insect damage from Japanese beetles that we pick daily and drown in soapy water. We've been blessed with good weather and ample rainfall so far.

How is everyone else doing out there garden wise? Anyone else picking yet?

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

29 comments:

  1. Great garden! Sorry, you are dealing with allergies. Once you know what time of year the allergens will be heavy you can pre-load with allergy medicines 2 weeks in advance and it should help. Hope you feel better and get a ton of tomatoes!

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  2. I feel for you with the allergies. I've got them too. They make being outside a real pain when things are blooming.

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  3. Allergies have been a mess with all the rain every where. Hope you conquer it soon.

    Your garden is amazing. I think you have Mom's magic touch. She could plant a stick and get fruit!

    I am glad you are happy in your new place.

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    1. By the way remember the bird house gourd you sent me well I have some Gail's birdhouse gourds growing on the back fence in TN. I'll post pictures if they make! Hugs CQ

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  4. It's great to see your garden, C.Q. I knew you would have some good things growing. You could try some local honey with garlic cloves infused in it to lessen the affects of your allergies. It's a good cough syrup and antibiotic of sorts as well. Blessings to you and O Wise One.

    Fern

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    1. My mother swore by honey and I think I am going to have to get on a honey regime myself.

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  5. So jealous, garden looks great. I remember the allergies when we moved to Missouri four years ago. Now I fine with all the oaks. You must have left the squash bugs behind, been picking handfuls of them.
    Suzie

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  6. I am so glad to see your post! Your gardens are really flourishing. All of your efforts are really paying off. -Jenn

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  7. Beautiful plants, and I love the raised beds and trellises. Thanks for the recommendation of Purple Hull field peas. I'm new to the South and am going to look into them. -Shawn

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    1. Purple Hull to me have a totally different taste than the regular field peas and are definitely a southern staple as well as a great legume cover crop. They do tend to attract aphids but a good garlic and soap solution makes short work of those.

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  8. Everything looks great! Sorry to hear you've been down with allergies...welcome to TN! :) I've never really had bad allergies but every now and then I get a little something ....however, not since I started taking vitamin C everyday. I think it was in a mother earth news article that I read that vitamin C is a natural antihistamine. Seriously, I've not had trouble since.
    Good to see you!

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    1. Definitely would not hurt to try it. I have NEVER had allergies before so something blooming just does not agree

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    2. I told a friend about the vitamin C last year and he called me late this spring to say that he had noticed that he had not had the trouble that he usually does and that after I told him about the 'C' that he thought he'd try it. Well, it's either coincidence or it really works....either way he was pleased to not have the snots this spring. Good luck. It'll hit again in the fall.

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  9. Yes, its a bit worse of an allergy season here in Michigan too. Zyrtec daily, Zyrtec D on bad days.....and thank heavens Flonase is available over the counter! lol

    Everything is up...two plantings of green beans, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and corn. The corn came up the second time around. We had picked some from a local store and it didn't come up at all. If was the only sweet corn I have ever planted that was not treated. Purchased some from the feed mill, treated, and it came right up. Who knows.

    My small blueberry bushes are going to produce a bit. The new nanking cherries are all leafed out finally. And every single asparagus root came up. All 40 of them...What was I thinking?!?!

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    1. You will be canning asparagus forever in a few years! Let me know how your Nanking cherries are as we have been considering some ourselves. As to the corn I personally think corn is the most finicky crop there is.

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  10. Oh I am so glad to see this posting of pics. I have a back injury but,I really think I could garden this way if the hubby will build it. I feel very encouraged now. Blessings!

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    1. I love my little garden boxes and the simplicity of weeding and caring for them!

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  11. What kind of Okra do you grow? I thik they are the most beautiful of the garden flowers! And I make little Santa Christmas ornaments out of dried Okra pods after I can our needs. Your new garden is awesome!

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  12. CQ,

    Your garden beds are gorgeous, everything looks so healthy. Soon you'll have all kinds of veggies to harvest.
    When Spring started we had all kinds of vegetables growing nicely until the storms rolls through. We had weeks of continuous rain, and flooding causing root rot. The heavy winds also destroyed plants. This didn't stop us, my husband and I replanted. We've harvested potatoes, onions, and green beans so far. Plenty of other vegetables coming up for harvest in the next month or so.

    When we first moved to Oklahoma we had issues with allergies too. The doctor suggested using a neti pot twice a day(salt water solution with distilled water), this really did help clean out the sinus' and over time you felt so much better. Hopefully your allergies will clear up, and you'll feel better soon.

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    1. I can remember years when we had beautiful spring corn and gardens and then storms would come through and level my garden

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  13. A teaspoon of honey everyday is a tasty and effective way to combat honey. Wonderful to hear about whats going on in the holler.

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    1. My mother used to take honey and apple cider vinegar every morning and swore by it for overall health I think.

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  14. Love the 'trellis' for the cukes, I showed it to hubby and he is already working on a plan for next year! Great idea! Glad to see things are going well after your move. Great pics!

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    1. the cuke trellis was so simple and cheap and thus far has worked wonderful. I have tied the vines in places for extra support in the wind although they will cling to the trellis on their own. Best part is there is nothing bulky that I have to store over winter such as wires or rings.

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  15. So...don't laugh, I am a learning gardener...and just need some advice of what works. I am going to ask some dumb questions...so here goes.
    How do you know when to pick items like pole beans, jalepeno peppers, okra or pickling cucumbers? do you cut them off the vine or pull them?
    our tomatoes aren't barely blooming yet, do you have any suggestions?

    Thank you!

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    1. I like my pole beans picked while young and tender wait too late and they can become tough and stringy. Okra I also like to be picked while the pods are small (about 4 inches) and tender and if you allow them to get large they are hard and not fit to eat. Pickling cucumber if you are slicing I pick about 6 inches. If you are making relish they can be larger. If you are making tiny sweet pickles you are picking them extremely small at around 2 to 3 inches. Okra must be cut everything else can simply be picked. Wear gloves when handling hot peppers!!!

      As far as tomatoes not blooming has your weather been cool. Tomatoes are heat loving plants and require warmer temps for the plants to bloom and the blossoms to set fruit!!

      Hope this helps CQ

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  16. Hello! I absolutely love these pics of your new garden. I have been BEGGING my husband to build raised beds for me. We have had a smallish garden but still used rows, etc. My husband asks me WHY ON EARTH I can't be like everyone else in Missouri and just have a regular garden, that he sees no reason for raised beds. I tried to explain to him that raised beds require less water, less weeding, etc. Do you have any other advice for convincing him? Also, would you mind sharing the dimensions of your raised beds? They look awesome!

    I plant squash every year but never get any because squash vine borers and squash bugs kill everything after the plants start looking ready to bear. Any advice? I really LOVE squash - one of the things I miss the most about Florida is the ready availability of summer squash which we make into "stewed squash".

    Looks amazing! Keep up the good work there in your new home.

    Gina

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