Gardening Away!

The gardening is being done in full force now. I have updated the sidebar to show our progress. We spent the holiday weekend getting most of the garden in. It feels good to have it this far! We are already making plans and changes for next year!
Here is a pic of the garden at the north end. I tried to get in most of the garden so everyone can see how big it is.


Here is the tomato area.

There are 25 Romas. Romas are perfect for sauces and soups. That's my main use for tomatoes. I will also be canning ketchup and salsa with these. I bought 16 plants from the local greenhouse. Only 9 of mine survived out of the 30 that I started from seed. Not too happy about that.

Here's some sweet corn that has come up. I planted 120'of Golden Bantam this year.


Planted 4 jalapeno pepper plants for salsa making.


This is the contraption I made to keep the birds from pecking away at my seeds. I took some tomato cages and tied some old cd's to them. I used those ones that companies send me to sign up for AOL, etc. I don't use them anyways, might as well do me some good! And it's working so far!


Peas starting to bloom. These are Early Frosty variety. I filled one of my raised beds with them. Done square foot method.


The onion and pea bed. All done square foot method.


The bush bean and carrot bed. Beans are Contender. Carrots are Danvers Half Long. Done square foot method. There are 3 green pepper plants in the front.


The tater tires. The middle one didn't get put in as early as the other two. That's why it doesn't have the second tire on it.


Planted 3 blueberry bushes this year. They were from last years crop, so they are fruiting this year for us. Yay!!


Mixed lettuce varieties and some Cherry Belle radishes. Not much here. but dh won't eat radishes and is not a big fan of lettuce. So no need to do much of these.

Now, just praying for some rain!! This hard clay is starting to crack from the lack of moisture.
I will post more pics later, gotta make some supper!

Outdoor Wood Burner Is Here

Our friend brought the outdoor woodburner that we bought from him. It is not installed yet. It will be another month before he can come back and help us. He lives on the other side of the state. Here a front/side view:


Here is the backside:


The main door open to see the smaller door where you throw in the wood:

Happy Mother's Day

Hope everyone is enjoying this Mother's Day, whether or not you are a mother.

Dry Your Own Oregano

I use alot of oregano. Instead of paying an insane price at the store for sub par herbs, I grow them. I recently took my first spring cuttings of my oregano. Once planted, it comes back every year(so far). It grows like crazy. It gives more than what we can use in a year, and that's alot! You need to cut the herb before it flowers so that you can experience the full flavor of oregano. I cut it with sharp kitchen scissors and place the cuttings into a paper sack.




I fill it about half ways.

Then I fold the bag shut and put in a dark dry room to dry. I usually have several (or more)bagfuls by fall that are dry. Once dried, I take the stems and pinch it between my thumb and finger. Then I slide my hand down the stem. This releases the dried leaves from the stem. It's helpful to do this over a bowl or newspaper to catch the leaves. At that point, I put them into an old large canning jar that is no longer usable for canning. I use spent canning lids to close them. Label the jar and store with the other herbs. It's that easy. I have one oregano plant that grows about 12" tall and probably 12-16" wide and it provides for us well. They do get woody stems, so you should prune them at the end of the season. That way, they have nice supple fresh growth in the spring.
Here's a site I found with some more oregano info for those interested.

Presidential Term Limits

I read about this at Our Plain and Simple Life and felt it was worth sharing. I feel the same as Deanna, is the H1N1 a smoke screen for something else? Is this it? Follow the link to see what congress is trying to do now. Proposal to amend constitution.
I don't want the presidential term limits changed, do you?

Baking Blunders

Ever start baking or cooking and at the last moment realize that you didn't put in the right ingredients? Well, that's what I did yesterday. I was baking cookies and wanted to double the recipe. I doubled everything alright, so I thought. I put the first two trays in the oven and started scooping the dough onto the third, when I thought to look inside the oven. Oh, my, what a liquid mess! I quickly turned back to my recipe and thought over what I had added. Then I realized it. I didn't double my flour amounts!! By then the first two pans where beyond repair. So I scooped the contents of the third tray back into the bowl. I added an extra cup of flour. They turned out perfect! The goopy mess baked up into one giant cookie and actually tastes good! Here the pictures:

This one is the messed up cookies


Here's a closer look.


The pan aftermath. The chocolate chips had sunk to the bottom of the batter and made quite a mess on the pans.


The second batch cookies came out great!

Something new

I've been wanting to do something different here. I've changed the blog name to Dirt Under My Nails. It suits me so much better, because I'm always digging in the garden or reading about gardening. Sweetpeas's Spot was ok for a short time, I just felt like it didn't portray the content of this blog very well. So with the name change, I changed the layout and colors here also. The domain name remains the same. Hope everybody likes the new changes!

Postal rates increase

On Monday, May 11, our postal rates will increase. Buy your Forever stamps now! Here is the link to the Postal Service: http://www.usps.com/prices/pricechanges.htm