By thegardenergal on June 11, 2011
It is, by my calculation, at least 3 weeks too soon to harvest the garlic, but the tops are turning brown and falling over, so I guess the garlic thinks it’s ready, so I had better comply. This is when I hold my breath because, since it grows underground, and you never know what you’re going to get until you’ve dislodged all the roots and then it’s too late to put it back! See my dilemma yet??? I have to believe that I did everything right, and unless maggots ate the edible parts of the plant, the parts that I want to eat, all shall be well. I will let you know.
Posted in Country Lifestyle, Gardening, Green living, Herbs, Kansas, Kansas farm life
By thegardenergal on June 10, 2011
I’m ashamed to be writing this so late, but as I’m sure many people will agree, getting the vegetable garden in and growing takes priority in the spring – that is my excuse. That being said, this “thank you” is incredibly, awfully late, and I’m not usually this rude. Really. Don’t get me wrong – I can be really rude when I need to be, but it takes effort and energy that I just don’t have this time of year. So, please believe me when I tell you that this epic rudeness was unintentional. Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, Herbs, Homesteading, I recommend these..., Kansas, Tips, Tricks and How-tos
By thegardenergal on June 8, 2011
I’m so excited to share this news – those roasted cauliflower leaves were AWESOME. My husband even liked them and said he would eat them again, and when a man says that about a “new” vegetable dish, well, that’s something big! Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Dieting and weight loss, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, I recommend these..., Kansas, Kansas farm life, Recipes, Reducing sodium intake, Tips, Tricks and How-tos
By thegardenergal on June 7, 2011
I’m not arguing for or against climate change – that’s a big issue and I’m not qualified. Yesterday, however, I was working in the garden just before the temperature hit 100 degrees for the fourth or fifth consecutive day, much, MUCH too early in the year for that to be happening in my area, and maybe it was a heat-fueled hallucination, but even after I came in and cooled off, I began to wonder… what if this is the new normal? What if the average dates of last frost are all wrong, and what if the temperature trend stays this way with much hotter temperatures much earlier in the year? Specifically, what does it mean to me, an individual organic gardener trying to feed my family? Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Dieting and weight loss, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, Kansas, Kansas farm life, Kansas weather, Recipes, Reducing sodium intake, Tips, Tricks and How-tos
By thegardenergal on June 6, 2011
I’m an organic gardener…. would I use nonorganic mulch on my garden? Only if hell froze over. Yeah, I said it. My mulch of choice for the flower garden is wood chips, preferably from a local source. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with mulch from outside of my zone, but why would I want to take a chance on introducing pathogens that are not native to my area? I guess I’m a mulch snob and I didn’t even realize it until just now! Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, I recommend these..., Kansas, Kansas farm life, Kansas weather, Teaching, Tips, Tricks and How-tos
By thegardenergal on June 3, 2011
Here’s a tip – if heavy pots full of potting mix and plants can’t stay upright in the wind, don’t go out to rescue them while the wind is still howling. Continue reading »
Posted in Country Lifestyle, Gardening, Kansas, Kansas farm life, Kansas weather, Tips, Tricks and How-tos
By thegardenergal on May 31, 2011
I’ve always prided myself on being a Kansan because we are the most common-sense, down to earth, pragmatic people I’ve ever met. I used to think it was because we live with the knowledge that everything can be taken away in a gust of wind, but when you rebuild it’s even better, and because we know just how precious life is and how tenuous our grip is upon it. Continue reading »
Posted in Country Lifestyle, Ecology, Gardening, Homesteading, Kansas, Kansas farm animals, Kansas farm life, Kansas weather, Peace on the prairie
By thegardenergal on May 27, 2011
This morning, I began weeding my raised beds at 9 a.m. At 10 a.m., my gardening angel joined me. By 11:20, we had weeded 3 large beds, a medium bed, and 3 small beds. We still have 9 small beds to go. What was the most frequently found weed out there? Bindweed? Chickweed? Henbit? Dandelions? Noooo… it was grass. Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, Kansas, Kansas farm life
By thegardenergal on May 25, 2011
After 48 years of gardening magnificence, the Wichita Garden Show is no more, at least according to this news from earlier today. I haven’t attended for the last 2 years because the admission fee was just too much for my budget. The year before that, I had free tickets or I wouldn’t have gone. It always felt to me like I was paying a big ticket price (I believe it was $11 for admission) just for the privilege of being allowed in to shop. Um…. that’s not how I roll. Maybe I’m not the only one that doesn’t roll that way. Continue reading »
Posted in Gardening, Kansas
By thegardenergal on May 23, 2011
I didn’t intend to take a break from gardening (or blogging) – it just sort of happened. A little period of anergy overtook me. It started with unsettled weather. I’m not eager to plant if there’s baseball-sized hail in the immediate forecast. None of that happened here, though, and we’re still in a drought, which is really disappointing but not at all surprising. This week is still unsettled with moderate risk of storms, but I’m back at it now, planting, weeding, maintaining, and mulching. Last night, even though I was dead tired and had way too much going on, I planted 32 okra plants that I had pre-germinated in a wet paper towel. There was some question as to viability, so I did that to have a better idea whether they would actually germinate or not, and about half of them did. That sounds like an awful lot of okra, doesn’t it? Continue reading »
Posted in Conservation, Country Lifestyle, Ecology, Gardening, Green living, Homesteading, Kansas, Kansas farm life, Kansas weather