May 17, 2013 - Guess What.....

.....we bought today.

The dealer didn't have this color in stock, but he located one nearby so we take delivery on Monday.  There's only one problem.  Mr. Granny isn't going to let me haul manure in it.

We had been talking new car for some time.  Mainly due to Consumer Reports, we had narrowed our choices down to a Subaru Impreza Premium, Hyundai Elantra GLS, Mazda3 i Touring or a Chevrolet Cruz Eco.  We haven't been extremely happy with our present Chevy Malibu, and the Cruz had a so-so rating for fuel economy, so we scratched it off the list and headed for the Subaru/Mazda dealer.  We wandered around the lot, looking at the various new cars, while two salesmen watched us out the window but never made a move to come out to help us, so we decided to head for the Hyundai dealer's instead.  We ended up buying the Hyundai Elantra GLS on the spot, so Subaru/Mazda may have lost a sale today.

What was so funny, and made me lean toward the Hyundai, besides the best warranty of the bunch, happened as I was loading my groceries into the trunk at the store yesterday.  A lady parked next to me in her 2013 Hyundai, the Indigo Night color sparkling in the sunshine.  As she got out of her car, I approached her and asked how she liked it.  She loves her Elantra!  From the way it rides, to the way it drives, to the heated seats......she just couldn't have been happier with her automobile!

I had originally wanted, actually had my heart set on, red.  Unfortunately, red only comes with tan upholstery (it's more camel colored than tan), and we didn't care for it at all.  We much preferred the black or gray interior.  Indigo Night comes with dark gray, so blue won out over red.

Anyway, we will pick up our new car at the dealer's on Monday, and we're heading out of town on a short vacation on Tuesday, so it will get a good highway tryout.

May 16, 2013 - Two Weeks......

Two weeks makes a big difference in the garden.

 May 2..........................................................May 16

May 2..........................................................May 16

 May 2..........................................................May 16

May 2..........................................................May 16

May 13, 2013 - Harvest Monday

My apologies to Daphne, the hostess for Harvest Monday.  Due to circumstances beyond my control, my harvest post is a bit late today.

Mammogram Harvest Monday

Now....on to the harvest!

 5/8 - 9 ounces of beautiful spinach, which was steamed and eaten at dinner.

5/9 - 11.7 ounces of mixed lettuce.

 5/9 - 2.6 ounces of radishes for Mr. Granny's salads.  

 5/9 - 10.3 ounces of rhubarb, which was immediately baked in a pie.

5/10 - 2.2 ounces green onions.

5/13 - Earlier in the week I picked only from the small lettuce patch in the kennel garden, and gave this bed a good rest.

The lettuces grew lovely, and were ready for a picking the outer leaves this morning.  The red lettuces were not very red, due to our recent heat wave!

 First I picked a basket of Red Sails.

Then I picked a colander of green lettuces, Paris Island Cos, Buttercrunch and Anuenue.

 Last of all, I picked a basket of Yugoslavian Red Butterhead.

I also picked the spinach from the kennel garden, and got a kitchen sink full!  This will be steamed spinach tonight, and there should be more than enough left for a wilted spinach salad later in the week.

I've also picked and used chives, parsley and basil this week, but I'm not growing enough herbs to bother weighing them.  I used the parsley in a recipe for a delicious, refreshing Tsipora Carrot Salad that I found over at The Novice Gardener.  Thanks, Mrs. R!

Lettuce: 39.7 ounces 

Onions: 2.2 ounces

Radishes: 2.6 ounce

Rhubarb: 10.3 ounces

Spinach: 27.6 ounces 

Total this week: 82.4 ounces (5.15 pounds)

Total to date: 7.18 pounds

A couple or three things happened this week.........  

First, our temperatures soared up into the high 90s this past week (a good 20 degrees above normal), and the high winds that were supposed to hit us today haven't yet happened, although the warning is in effect until 11 tonight.  Today it's cool, and temperatures are supposed to be back to the normal 70s by tomorrow.

Second, The Gastronomic Gardener sent me a handy little notebook that I can keep in my purse and use for my grocery lists.  Thank you, David!  Of course, I always write my lists with the pens I got from Jacqui, over at Little Acres Cottage  :-)  If you want to buy a pen to help her cause, the link is at the top of my side bar.  It's a wonderful thing she does with and for abandoned animals.

Last, but not least, the contractor who did such a lousy job of repairing our house siding won $1 million in a state lottery.

May 12, 2013 - Well, Blow Me Down!

Here we go again!

Local Radar Map
Updated May 12, 2013, 7:30pm PDT

... WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM TO 11 PM PDT MONDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PENDLETON HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM TO 11 PM PDT MONDAY.

* TIMING: THE WINDS WILL INCREASE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO MONDAY EVENING.

* WINDS: WEST WINDS 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS NEARING 50 MPH.

Really?  Really?  Don't you think we've had enough?  I can't remember ever having so many severe wind storms as we've had in the past 6 months.  I've been out tying exposed tomato plants to bamboo stakes, and ran some twine around the snap peas to hold them close to the fence.  I hope the high wind gusts don't snap off my peppers!  I'll move the potted plants up close to the house.  And I'll prepare myself to deal with the pine tree mess in the front yard.....again!

Blossoms

Raspberry blossoms at dusk

Bee on raspberry blossom

Potato blossoms

Tomato blossoms

 Jalapeno pepper blossoms

Bell pepper blossom and baby pepper

Sweet Williams

Rhododendrons

Chive blossoms

Happy birthday to our son, Scott!

May 11, 2013 - If, at First, You Don't Succeed....

Plant, plant again.

Early Sunglow corn had great germination.

Honey Select corn not so much.  You can see how much I had to reseed, and both beds were like this.

Although the sugar snap peas are doing great (even with the 97F heat of yesterday)...

 The shelling peas were a bust and, unfortunately, it's too late for reseeding.   One pea plant from a double 12' row, an entire large packet of Burpee Garden Sweet seeds, is nothing to blog home about. 

 A small packet of Thomas Laxton peas from Mike the Gardener fared a tiny bit better, giving me three shoots.  Thankfully Costco sells frozen organic sweet peas for a decent price.

The Gonzales cabbages, although looking a bit chewed, are all surviving.  The Golden Acre cabbages are keeling over and dying, one right after the other.

Only two broccoli plants survived a possible cutworm attack, so 3 tiny seedlings have been planted in another area of the garden, along with 2 Golden Acre cabbage seedlings (I know you can't see them, but they are there).  Fingers are crossed, but I do have a few backups.

I did have quite a nice showing of parsnips, a 6' double row, but it looks like they have come under bird attack.  I had already seeded the open areas, and those seeds have not yet germinated, so now I have no idea  where to fill in the missing plants.  I guess I'll just have to leave this bed alone.  Since the radishes in this bed have been chewed by wireworms, I suppose the surviving parsnips will also get attacked.

These carrots, in the kennel garden, are growing fine.  Too bad all I planted was one small square.  I've already complained enough about the entire missing carrot bed, so I'll say no more about that.

It doesn't look like it's going to be a real great gardening year by the way it has begun.  The sweet onions are not nearly as nice as in past years, the bean seedlings are being decapitated, and the rasperrries are about a month late.  I picked two of the first three ripe strawberries last night, but the pill bugs got the third.  On the bright side, the lettuce and spinach plants have been thriving, as are the pepper and tomato plants.  The potatoes are looking like the best ever, some are even beginning to blossom!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the critters stay away from the tiny squash, cucumber and melon seedlings.  

Is your garden doing better or worse this year?  Am I alone in my bitching misery?

Love,

Debbie Downer

May 9, 2013 - Mr. Granny, My Hero! (2nd post for the day)

*The man finally did something right!

He walked in the house and handed me some metal tubes.  At first I thought they were rolls of quarters, and wondered where on earth he got them.  Then he led me out to the front porch and showed me.........

These outdoor rocking chairs were seldom used.  They are comfortable enough, but the front part of the rockers stuck out about 8" and they were ankle breakers!  One couldn't walk by them without getting gouged by a rocker.  I think I've spent the last four, maybe five years complaining about them.  Well, today Mr. Granny cut them off!  Did a darned good job, too.  I immediately moved them to the patio, and hid the old folding chairs in the garage.  Now I have a comfortable place to sit.  If I ever find the time!

*He's actually done a few things right in the 50-plus years we've been together, otherwise I'd have given him away a long time ago  ;-)

I had to start hilling the potatoes today.  With the wide rows, I could only bring up the soil from the paths on each side of the bed, so I began filling up the center with semi-composted leaves.  I've never used leaves like that as a mulch, so it remains to be seen how well it works.  I have used the leaves layered with soil in previous potato beds (leaves underneath, soil over the top), and that worked great.  It made the soil nice and loose for stealing those baby potatoes without harming the plants.  I have that big bin of decomposing leaves, so I might as well use them wherever I can.

I checked the carrot bed where the carrot seedlings have been disappearing, and there isn't a single seedling left to be seen in that entire 3'x6' bed.  I guess I'll be planting beans.

I saw 3 ripening strawberries tonight, but pill bugs were already devouring one of them.  I'm quite sure that's what took out my carrots and a couple of cabbages.  It looks like earwigs will also be a big problem in the garden this year.  My celery is full of baby earwigs.  Wire worms are eating the radishes, and they are in the same bed as the parsnips.  That doesn't bode well for the parsnips.  I think the bugs will be eating better than we do this year.  That's the way it goes when one wants to grow organic.  I'd rather share with the critters than consume poison.

We're breaking records for heat now, so soon after breaking records for cold.  It's supposed to hit 97F in the next few days before settling back down into the "normal" 70s.

PS: The rhubarb pie was good, but a little dry.  I think that was because I substituted Splenda for part of the sugar.  The next time I make it, I'll omit the flour in the filling and use a streusel topping in place of the top pastry crust.  That will cut the calories and fat a bit, but it will still be only an occasional treat.  I gave my second slice to Granddaughter, which saved me from eating another 511 calories.

May 9, 2013 - Rhubarb Time

Mr. Granny and I have been trying to eat lighter and healthier meals these past few months, but that doesn't mean we will be giving up all those finer things (for us) in life.....like rhubarb pies in the spring!  We are mainly practicing portion control, which means I weigh and/or measure nearly everything and stick quite strictly to the amount per serving.  Last week I replaced my usual 9" pie plate with a 6", which gives us four slices of pie rather than 8.  That way we don't rush to eat an entire large pie while it's still fresh.  (Since last November, I've lost nearly 30 pounds, 2 more than the 28 I was aiming for.  Mr. Granny has lost just over 30 pounds, and has just 5 to go!).

I picked what I thought would equal two cups of sliced rhubarb, but the 7.1 ounces was a bit short so I added two more stalks.  That was 10.3 ounces total, a bit more than I really needed, but I made a really full pie.  I think 9 ounces would have been perfect.

I used my regular Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe, but made a single crust pastry recipe and cut the other ingredients in half (I beat the egg and measured out 2 Tbsp.).  To lighten it up a bit, I used two parts regular sugar to one part Splenda.  I also left off the cinnamon sugar topping, which made a rather pale pie.  I think the next one will have the cinnamon sugar added. 

A nice little 6", 4-serving pie for tonight's (and tomorrow night's) dinner!  I'll let you all know how it tastes.

**YIKES!  I just entered this recipe in my nutrition program.  This is for 1/4 (one serving) of the mini-pie.  I won't be eating rhubarb pie often! (PDA is my Personal Daily Allowance).

May 8, 2013 - High Expectations

I'm expecting great things from the sweet pepper patch this year, so I built a 30" high fence/trellis/thingy to keep them from falling over when they get huge.  Think big!

Remember the neighbor who had his tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers all planted back in early April?  Well, he lost everything except two pepper plants to a hard frost.  He bought more plants and replanted before I could offer him some of my extras, and then he lost those to the next frost!  I saw him out working his garden yesterday (planting a third round of warm weather plants....the local nursery must love him), so I went over to visit and invited him to come over for a tour of my garden.  He followed me across the street and we had a nice stroll around the property.  He loved my garden (was surprised it was as large as it is), and really liked my "barn" (the garden shed).  But best of all, he left with all of my leftover tomato and pepper plants!  I followed him back to his garden and helped him plant them.  

 Here he is, across the street, watering in his new plants.  Two of the cherry tomatoes, Sungold and Black Cherry, went into the containers on the other side of the fence where he is standing.  The others were planted on the garden side, where he plans on letting them grow against the chain link fencing.  It's nice to see green over there again.  Last week it was all withered and brown, except for the sunflowers along the front and the two surviving peppers.