Blog Trouble

After publishing my last post, I discovered that my background is missing. I'm going to change my template for now, so please be patient during my construction.
~Sarah

Veggies and Zucchini

*I started this post on Monday but due to a series of (mostly) uncontrollable events, I'm finishing it tonight.* I was just about to go outside and get some pictures for this post when it started raining. Now that I'm writing the post, the rain has stopped and the sun is coming out. Oh well. On to the veggies!

The current Zucchini count is 5 with more on the way. Kalyn at Kalyn's Kitchen posted her 10 favorite Zucchini recipes - the one with Spinach and Basil Pesto sounds really good. I'd also like to try making ratatouille.
The Cucumbers and Melons are doing surprisingly well. Cucumbers never grew very well at the old house, and we never tried melons. (These were the free seeds from Baker Creek) I had to put up some chicken wire to keep them out of the peppers, and now they've grown across the path and are growing up the fence. They have a lot of blossoms, so I'm expecting a large harvest.

The tomatoes are growing s-l-o-w-l-y. The current average size is between a golf ball and a softball. The grape tomato has several fruits and is also growing slowly.

Peppers- the sweet peppers are starting to set tiny fruits. The hot peppers are not very happy. The Sweet Cayenne are doing well and each plant has one 5-7" pepper on it. The Santiago are trying to set fruit, but not working very hard. The Hot Portugal just look droopy. Maybe the rain will help them.

The first planting of beans has flowered, I planted another square, but the seeds aren't germinating very fast. I also had to replant more than half my carrots, and I think a bird took a dust bath where most of the seeds were planted.

For some reason I planted my garlic too deep. I have smaller bulbs than I expected, but they will probably turn out just fine for cooking. (Picture soon!)

The Sugar Snap Peas are pretty much done. We got enough to have them with dinner twice. They are good plain, but saute them in some homemade Italian dressing, and prepare to be amazed! I use the mix here and then mix it up with Olive Oil and Apple Cider Vinegar.
That's all for now!
Sarah

GTS Herbs

Green Thumb Sunday
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday; visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

I currently have 3 pots with herbs and will start another this week.  The pot below has Cilantro, Basil, and Oregano in it. The Basil and Cilantro were part of my wintersowing experiment. The Cilantro has bolted, and setting seed. Once the seed matures, I will save it and start more plants.

 The pot on the left has Lovage and Thyme, I think. The plant that I think is Thyme was wintersown and the label washed off. The rest of the plants played musical labels.
The pot on the right has Pineapple Sage that wintered over inside, Parsley, and Lovage.
Happy GTS-
Sarah

Bugs Bug Me

I know I promised a garden update, but I need to vent. Bugs like me way too much. They get into my hair, they dive-bomb me, they suck my blood and leave itchy welts...they really bug me. The Japanese beetles are coming back. They enjoy dive-bombing me - which leaves a nasty red mark that hurts really bad. They also get in my hair. I'm seriously thinking of getting my hair cut to shoulder length.
Then there are the European Chafer beetles. They didn't bother me since they were out at night, and I stay in at night. However, I keep finding them dead in my garden. I assume they laid eggs before dying, so now I have to worry about my plants being eaten from the bottom as well as the top.
Lightening bugs have been hanging around my garden, too. They're ok, but I'm paranoid about anything flying too close to me. Yellow Jackets seem to think I'm fun to hang around- so far I haven't been stung, but they sure do make me nervous. My mortal enemy is the mosquito. I'm moderately allergic to their bites, which swell up to the size of a quarter (larger if I can't resist itching) and itch like - well, I don't know what, but they itch!

Then there are the ants. Ants never used to bother me. Now, we're finding them all over the place. Every time garden I've dug in a garden this year, sugar ants start swarming all over the place. Now, I can put up with a few sugar ants, but not a hundred. (Give or take 10 or 20). My Mom was moving some rocks that border her garden and there must have been a colony somewhere nearby, because they were swarming all over the rocks. I found a lot of ant trails when I straightened the bricks around my raised beds. I found them in the bulb garden, and the flower garden.

Ok, I'm done venting. I'm going to try and take some pictures for my next post without getting attacked by bugs.
~Sarah

Lurking in Blogland

I confess - I'm a lurker. I lurk around message boards/forums, the Ravelry and MyFolia communities, and 97 blogs. Of those, 45 are garden blogs, 35 are craft blogs, 10 are Christian, 4 are food related, and 3 are miscellaneous. I guess one's personality can't help but spill over into your internet habits. I'm a very shy person, until I get to know people, and that spills into my blogging habits. I rarely comment on blogs unless I really really like the post. I rarely visit message boards unless I need help with something. As for Ravelry and MyFolia, let's just say I'm not a regular.

Part of my reason for lurking, is that I just don't have the time to spend commenting on the many wonderful posts written by people in blogland  (I should probably unsubscribe from a few), or spend hours reading new messages on forums, or play around with all the fun stuff on Ravelry.  The reason I don't have time is that I have trouble managing my time wisely. I've also been doing more crafts than gardening lately, because of weddings and the 300 hat project. So, everyone knows what happens when you don't check your garden every day, right? The Weeds start to take over the gardens, garden paths, and potted plants. Now, I do realize that The Weeds are really misplaced plants growing in the wrong spot. However, I'm still obsessively pulling them out. For the first time ever, my Anise Hyssop has started to spread- and not just around the area where it's planted either.  Nope, it looks as if somebody took the plant full of seed heads and shook it over the entire garden!

My next post will (try to) cover everything that's been growing on while I've been lurking around blogs other than my own. Now that I've owned up to being a lurker, and given my excuses reasons for lurking, what about the rest of you? What are your excuses reasons for lurking and not writing comments, being anti-social extremely quiet on message boards, and keeping your presence a mysterious secret on online communities??


~Sarah