It was Colonel Mustard, In the Kitchen, With the Lay’s Bag

I apologize for the “Clue” reference in the title.  I couldn’t help myself.  I tried.  Really.  But not very hard.

I was sick last week.  Some how or another I got glutened and I couldn’t figure out how it happened.  I fixed everything I ate at home.  I avoided the snacks and treats at work that were offered to get us through a big project.  Dude, I walked away from a Krispy Kreme doughnut.  Less than an. hour. old.  I was doing everything right, so how did I get sick?  I felt like Sherlock without his Watson, because I was finding no clues.

Then, over the weekend I saw it happen.  My beloved fixed himself a sandwich on regular ol’ gluten filled bread (Which I am OK with him having in the house.  He is normally more careful than I am about keeping me safe and he usually takes his sandwich to lunch.  He has a crazy metabolism and a crazy job so he needs something he can hold in one hand and shove in his face.)  But then, he did it.  He reached right into the potato chip bag with his gluteny hands and grabbed a handful of chips and put them on his plate.

I practically catapulted out of my chair with a screeching “A-HA!”  As soon as I said it, he knew what he had done.  We already have two peanut butter jars and two mayo jars in the house to prevent cross contamination issues.  Now, apparently, we are going to have to have two bags of chips.  Just kidding.  We don’t really eat them that often, so in the future, he’ll just make sure he washes his hands before he touches the bag and he’ll pour out what he wants instead of reaching in the bag.  Now he knows that I’m so sensitive that I can get sick off of just that little bit of gluten.  Heck, now I know how sensitive I am.  The longer I am gluten free, the more sensitive I become when I’m exposed.

I wonder if I can just smell them?

In the meantime, the rest of that bag is off limits to me.  Which is fine.  I am just glad I figured it out, because I was going nuts trying to locate what was making me sick.  Now I know.  And knowing is half the battle.

Where’s Waldo update

I am not really loving the Where’s Waldo garden concept.  For many reasons.  One of which was trying to figure out how to support the tomatoes over there without ruining too much of what the bees were using for dinner.  Things were really out of control over there, plants sprawling on the ground, slugs having a party, rain, rain and more rain.  But I think I got it worked out.

Tomatoes supported.

See, here’s the thing.  I’m not exactly in one of those professions that leaves me with an unlimited disposable income.  I’m sure that is shocking considering my obviously manicured lawn.  I was trying to make do with what I had.  So I pulled out some odds and ends and bought yet more twine and hobbled together a replica of the system in Organic Gardening Magazine this month.  So far, things are looking better.

I also went digging and found some old fence that I salvaged from a neighbor and slid bamboo poles through it and then tied up some tomatoes to that.  I have no idea how long this will hold out, but maybe it will last long enough, anyway.  Do I wish it looked neater?  Uh, yeah.  Do I have the money for a fancy garden?  Uh, no.  So this will do for now.  Besides, even if I did invest in raised beds and pretty pathways, the Handyman would find a way to destroy it.  I don’t know how he does it, but it happens.  That is why he is so handy.  He breaks things, so then he has to fix them.  It is like living with a force of nature.  I’ll let you know how this works out in the long run, but it has already held up to a week’s worth of storms.  We even saw a bit of hail a couple days ago.  The weather sure is kooky this year.  Have a happy Memorial Day weekend!

Oops

Yesterday was pretty classic for me in two ways.

1.  After a terrible storm on Saturday night, I saw a branch down in the neighbor’s yard.  I thought to myself, “Wow, I knew that storm was bad, but that is an awful big branch that they lost.”  Now, said storm happened while the Handyman was having a good time with his buddies in another town.  He didn’t come home until the next day.  (We’re progressive and independent like that.  Besides, giving him time to hang with his pals results in lots of lovely quiet time for me.  I love the Handyman, but he is NOT quiet.)  Anyway, this morning he mentioned that we lost a branch in the storm.  Now, I knew we had a few minor twigs on the ground, but nothing major.  Then I did the mental math.  The neighbors have only pine trees.  The branch was deciduous.  Oops.  Handyman went and offered to remove the branch, but they said they would just cut it up and burn it.  Yep, it was that big.   Oops.

2.  I was vacuuming yesterday.  And not really paying attention.  Attention is apparently key when doing household tasks.  Especially if you like all of your appendages and digits.  I ran over my foot.  Today, a toenail is bruised and gross.  I think it is safe to say I will never be asked to be on Dancing With the Stars.  Couldn’t really wear a shoe today.  Thankfully the weather calls for sandals where I’m at.  Guessing I will be wearing sandals for quite some time.  Oh, well.

 

Unusual? Perhaps, but it works.

I have been so busy trying to take care of the plants in the greenhouse, I have been neglecting the ones that are already in the ground.  As a result, I lost one last week on a rather windy day.

The wind knocked over this tomato plant, but it still seems to be determined to live.

Tomato stem snapped at the soil line.

I was going to pull it up, but the leaves still look healthy and it is flowering.

Since tomatoes shoot out roots from the stem if planted, I will trim the branches and bury the stem.  Hopefully, it will be enough to keep it going.  If not, I will replace it in a week or two with a plant from the greenhouse.

Too keep this from happening again, I started putting up the supports for the other indeterminate tomatoes.  I have several 10 foot lengths of electrical conduit that I use to support the plants. After assembling a frame of the conduit, I run twine from the top bar to an anchor at the bottom.  As the plant grows, I will trap the vine around the twine (hah! that rhymes!) and the plants will be able to support the weight of the tomatoes and get plenty of air circulation to prevent disease.  I’ve used this method for about 4 years now, I think, maybe more.  It works really well.

I use a mallet and a steel rod to drive a hole into the soil.  Then I put the 1/2 inch conduit about 12 – 16 inches in the ground.  Going that deep allows the conduit to hold steady even in a storm.  I live in a hurricane prone area, and this system has kept my plants safe through some pretty nasty storms.  I’m not saying it would hold through a Category 3 or more, but it has done OK through some bad blows.

I lay the horizontals out first so I know where to put the uprights.  I have used different lengths, but this year I decided to use more uprights than in the past.  When you live in a hurricane strike zone, you get a bit superstitious when you haven’t had a bad storm in a while.  I’m hoping that if we do get a rough year, this will help keep things more sturdy.  Of course, there is always the chance that I’ll have more than my garden to worry about if that happens.

I actually drive the holes and insert the uprights after I have laid out where I think I want things to go.  I try to plan around not only where the tomatoes are planted, but the other things I stick around them as well, like marigolds, or this year, borage.

Planning out the system.

Uprights installed. Now to add the horizontals.

I use these 90 degree joints to attach the horizontals to the uprights. Save yourself some trouble and invest in stainless steel screws.

I add some joints and use stainless steel screws to tighten everything together.  If you look at the picture above, you can see a divot where I secured things together in previous years.  Then up the ladder I go to screw everything together and tie the twine.  I didn’t get that far this weekend because somehow, I lost some of my joints over the winter.  I need to go pick up a few more.  In the past I have tied the twine to the horizontals before installing but I found that made things more difficult in the long run.  You may be more coordinated than me though, so feel free to give it a go.

I only use this system on my indeterminates, and using this I have been able to get my vines to grow well over 8 feet tall.  When they reach the top I just try to get them to drape over the horizontal and start coming back down.  I have some ideas about how I may want to support the determinates, but I haven’t really committed to anything just yet.

I need to get on that though, because I think things are going to get interesting around here, soon.

Take care and find the sunshine.

 

 

Yummy Pizza Goodness

So, I can’t eat gluten.  That means that I can’t have pizza, right?  Oh, so very, very wrong.  You see, there are lots of things this nerd can live without, but pizza isn’t one of them.  No way, no how, uh-uh.  Before learning that I couldn’t have gluten, I had three favorite foods.  1.  Pizza.  2.  Burgers.  3.  Tacos.  Numbers two and three transitioned easily enough.  Tacos, well, just skip wheat tinged seasonings and and make sure that the chips or shells are gluten free.  Nowadays, I don’t even really use the chips or shells, I just have a big honkin’ salad.  Although sometimes, I like to get crazy and put all that goodness on a baked potato.  Burgers are easy enough, too.  The bun was really only a vehicle to get the beef, cheese and foolish amount of toppings I would put on a burger to my mouth.  My burgers used to resemble a salad stuck inside a bun.  Now it is just a salad wrapped up in more salad.

But the pizza.  Oh, the pizza.  I have tried many different things.  And trust me when I say there are lots of ideas out there on how to go about making a gluten free pizza.  I tried gluten free doughs, but they all tasted a bit off or they left a weird film in my mouth.  I also tried the cauliflower crust.  Now that was amazing, but a calorie bomb with crazy amounts of cheese.  Not that I have a problem with that, really, but the frequency with which I would like to enjoy pizza makes that a bit of a problem.  So,  enter into my life portobella pizzas.  I attempted to take a picture of this goodness, but it looked rather… unappealing.  To say the least.  BUT, it was delicious.

You use the mushroom to make the “crust”, by baking in the oven for a bit.  Next time around, I  will drizzle balsamic vinegar at this step to give it a bit more kick.  I may even add a bit of pepper flake.  Then you load it up just like you would a pizza, sauce, peppers, olives, ect.  You can skip the mushrooms though.  You’ve got that covered.  Toss it back in under the broiler to melt the cheesy goodness and then (and here’s the important part) DON’T FORGET IT.  I did.  Oops.  But it still tasted great.  I see this going into a regular Friday night rotation in this household.  Next time, if I don’t forget about it, I’ll take a picture.  But you gotta try this.  Even if gluten isn’t an issue for you.  Here’s a link for one recipe, but you can google it and find loads more.  Bon appetit!

Things I’ve learned (in the past 10 days)

1.  Listen to your body.  It is always right.  Always.

2.  There are only 24 hours in a day.  You need to sleep for some of them.

3.  Eating occasionally is good, too.

4.  Water, it’s not just for plants.

5.  No matter how sick you get, plants keep growing.

I caught a cold about ten days ago.  It should have been just that, a cold.  But nooooo…  Instead of taking care of myself and getting rest like I should have, I kept pushing, pushing, pushing.  My body pushed back.  What should have been a couple of days of ick, turned into a migraine producing, appetite stealing, sleep depriving illness.  Now, though, I’m back in the saddle.  My plants have GOT to be planted or given away.  Like tomorrow.  And they will.  Stay tuned.  After all, I need to tell you about the unfortunate incident.

Upsizing to new digs

Before I tell you anything else, lemme tell you about the weather here today. It was Gorgeous. Did you notice the capital “G”? Cause you should. It was sunny and in the lower 80s with just a bit of a breeze. It isn’t even April yet, folks! I live for this weather. It is why I get out of bed in the morning. OK. Truth be told, I get out of bed because I have to work, but this really is my favorite kind of weather. I could write poetry about it. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll show ya how I transplanted my tomatoes. Cause that’s the kind of gal I am. I’m here to help, not traumatize you.

These are the tomatoes that I started on a random whim in January.  I know, I know… what was I thinking?  Why did I think I was going to have space for tomato plants that were going to get out of control?  I didn’t.  Know that is.  How well they were actually going to do.  So now I have 5 rather large and extremely healthy tomato plants that need to get a new home.  Kind of like a hermit crab.  Only immobile.

The first thing I needed to do in this process was decide which pots I wanted to use.  I had a serious Goldilocks moment.  This pot was too large, this pot was too wide, and then finally, the pot that was just right.  For now anyway.  The upcycled yogurt pots were chosen because I would be able to bury the plant somewhat deeply, but it was also narrow so I wouldn’t be wasting a lot of soil that the plant wouldn’t be using in about 3 weeks when I put it in the ground.  Maybe 4.  Why did I want to bury my plant?  Well, when you cover the stem of a tomato plant with soil, it produces more roots.  More roots means more stability, a big plus for indeterminate plants, but it also means more efficient water and nutrient absorption.  This is a plus for plants that can easily grow more than 8 feet and produce an amazing number of vines.

So, how to transplant.  I use a pretty similar method no matter how large the plant is.  I loosen it from the current container.  In this case I smooshed the sides of the pot a bit.

Then I flipped the whole thing upside down.  You don’t want to pull it out by the stem.  The stem is the most important part of the plant.  You damage the stem and you’re in trouble.  Let gravity to the work for you and the plant should slide right out of the pot.  I catch it by letting the stem rest gently between my index finger and thumb.  Then I tease out the roots a bit and place it in a pot that has a bit of soil in the bottom.

Then I carefully fill in the soil around the stem.  This part is pretty easy, but you want to make sure that you don’t have any gaping air bubbles in there.  On the flip side, you don’t want to pack it in like brown sugar when you’re making cookies.    Mmmmmm….. cookies.  Sorry.  Got distracted there for a moment.  Anyway, the plant needs a bit of space in the soil for air and water around the roots, just not too much.  So just lightly pack it.

Fill it all the way to the top of the pot and remove a few leaves if you have to.  It’s fine.  The plant will grow more from the top.  Lots more.  Plus it will send out lots of other vines from these little suckers.  I am pinching most of these off at the moment so it won’t get too bushy before planting.

I removed quite a bit today.

Water it in thoroughly.  Enough so that water drains out the bottom a bit.  Then after a bit, come back and water one more time.  I like to set my plants that have just been repotted in the shade for a bit so they don’t get too shocked.  Most of the time it works.  This time, I did have one get a bit droopy.  I think it is because it had already endured some insect damage the day before.  It was having a rough week.  The next day I like to check on them and move them back into the sun.  You should be good to go for a bit longer as long as you chose an appropriate size pot.

It was a bit droopy but has perked right back up.  Well, that’s all there is to it.  Happy planting… er… replanting.

 

Irish eyes are smiling. Hopefully.

Sunday was a busy day around our place.  I had some tomatoes that needed repotting and potatoes that needed planting.  I really should have put the potatoes in the ground a few weeks ago.  Especially since the winter here was so mild.  But one thing would pop up and then another.  Or the weather would be gorgeous during the week when I was too busy and then it would rain buckets on the weekend.

Plus, I needed to decide exactly how I was going to plant the suckers this year.  Potatoes are not my area of success.  They should be.  I am vaguely Irish.  It should be genetic, shouldn’t it?  And I love them.  A lot.  I have the same relationship with potatoes in all their wonderful forms that some women have with chocolate.

In the past I have ordered seed potatoes from very reputable (and expensive) seed companies and I have picked up seed potatoes from the local big box home improvement place.  Neither attempt worked out.  I wasn’t really planning on trying again this year, but you know how sometimes you buy some potatoes with every intention of turning them into something and then for some reason it doesn’t happen?  You don’t?  Oh.  Okay.  Me, either.  Soooo…. I bought some potatoes, and then I intentionally didn’t cook them and I intentionally left them under the counter to intentionally start growing.  That’s exactly how it happened.  So I had some seed potatoes.

I only buy organic potatoes to eat by the way.  Potatoes have a thin skin and when fertilizers and pesticides are sprayed they stew in them in the dirt, unlike the fruit and veggies of above ground plants which have the benefit of being washed off by the rain.  Also, if you haven’t seen this experiment by a young girl and the effects of bud nip, you really should.

I decided to go with the potato condo again this year.  I made it last year and I did manage to get a few tiny spuds, so I thought I’d try again this year.  I moved them to a different spot, this year.  I’m not sure if that will help or not.  I think they were getting cooked in the afternoon, so in the new location they will have afternoon shade.  I had three different random varieties floating down in my cabinet.  Three scraggly looking red potatoes (I actually think I did intentionally save those.), two Russets, and four Yukon Golds.  The Russets and the reds are bunked down together, and the Yokons are in their own condo.  As the plants grow, I’ll add a bit of compost and straw (I think.) and add boards to the condo.  Supposedly, you can get quite a yield with this method.  I suppose we’ll see.

I did find a surprise while I was working in the spot where the taters were last year.  BABIES!  I covered them back up and marked the place.  I’m not expecting anything to really happen there, but stranger things have happened.

Stay tuned to the next exciting episode where tomatoes are transplanted (yet again!) and dastardly pests stalk their delicious leaves.  War has been declared…  Who will win?  The gluttonous mystery insect?  Or the green murderous gardener?  Until next time… happy growing!

 

Indulging my inner Nerd.

For the better part of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I have spent a lot of time looking at this.  Actually several of these.  I’ve been off and about for the past few days indulging my inner nerd.  I went as a rep to a tech fair.  I saw lots and lots of these.  I saw people taking notes on them, surfing on them, and face timing on them.  They were everywhere.  EVERYwhere.  Apple is making a killing.  The iPad 3 came out while I was at the conference.  Sure enough, on day 2 there was at least one person sporting the 3.  I was amazed, really.  That is when I learned something very important.  Some people have more money than they have sense.

I learned something else very important.  This revelation is that I am a much bigger nerd than I previously thought.  I went to several different sessions and in each one, I had high hopes of having a moment of enlightenment.  A moment when the heavy hitters in educational technology would tell me something that would make my earth move, the planets align, and a light shine from heavens.  Didn’t happen.  Not once.  I was a bit bummed about that.  The bright side of course, is that I have been doing things right and keeping up the latest and greatest.  There were a few things I learned, mind.  I didn’t know everything.  But, by and large, I was pretty up to date.  This means that I am either doing a great job or I spend way too much time with my computer.  I’ll have to think about that.

The highlight of the conference was meeting Richard Byrne.  I have a bit of a nerd crush on him.  He has a fabulous blog called Free Technology for Teachers.  He is, in a word, incredible.  Techy and funny.  That is all.  *sigh*  I was also able to see some others, including some “local” state talent present.  I also had the opportunity to play with some of the latest tech toys in education land.  I am in love with the Promethean Table.  It is an interactive table that runs a Windows OS and the Promethean software.  The cool part is that up to 6 students can work at the table at a time, and it TRACKS THE GESTURES of each student so you can see who is really working collaboratively.  Way coolio.  You can use it so many different ways since you don’t have to use the solely the software.  I could go on, but I won’t.  You’d die of boredom.

While I was away for a couple days, the Handyman had two jobs.  Three, I suppose if you include the one that actually pays him.  Job number one:  keep the cats alive.  When I returned both were still breathing and in relatively good health.  Obviously, they were missing the ridiculous amount of attention I give them, but they were fine.  Job number two:  keep an eye on the green babies.  He did a mostly good job at this, too.  Most of the plants were fine.  However, four tomato plants that I have been nursing along since January were in need of triage and ICU today.  They really needed water.  I was able to salvage them, I think.  Tomorrow when I check on them if they look like they are going to make it I’ll replant them in larger pots.  I am hoping to get a few pictures up of the transplant and the progress of the new seedlings.  They are growing like weeds.  But they aren’t weeds.  They are veggies. 

Wish me luck on the emergency transplanting.

On a parting note, this is what I found in one of my flower beds today.  An early bit of color. I’ll take it.

Seed Starting Take Two… errr… Three… Maybe FOUR?!?

Lonely seedlings. Their companions didn't pop...

A while back I talked about starting my seeds.  I ran out of seed starter, and I ended up ordering more seeds, not to mention the impulse buys at the big box stores, so I actually started seeds on two other occasions.  I was thrilled to be so ahead of schedule.  Here’s the problem.  I didn’t get my seeds from tried and true sources this year.  I was trying a couple new things in planning the garden and as I planned I realized that some of the things I was looking for weren’t going to be as readily available from my favorite suppliers.  So instead of trying to get a few things from here and a few things from there I placed one larger order and pulled out some of my “old” seeds.

Today, I had to go back and resew some seeds in hopes that maybe they’ll germinate quickly and get a bit of growth in before it is time to start putting plants in the ground.  To say I’m disappointed doesn’t even really begin to cover it.  Now I’m behind and I’m questioning my strategy of using hybrids for about one half of my garden.  Previously, I’ve been an heirloom gal.  Strictly heirlooms.  Simply because they are open pollinated and I can save the seed myself with no issues.  Not that I always do that.  Sometimes I’m lazy.  Sometimes I eat it all before I think to save the seeds.  And sometimes, I just have a crummy year and don’t grow a whole lot that I would trust as reliable seed stock.  This year, in the interest of putting up more food for the off season, I decided I would go with some determinate hybrid tomatoes, as well as some hybrid peppers.  I knew I was making a sacrifice as far as flavor, but I was also going to get some gains in production.  I hoped.  So far, the heirlooms are doing OK, but I’m struggling with the hybrids.  I’m starting to think I should have abided by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule of life.  I was especially disappointed that one of the seeds I ordered came in as a “treated” seed, but it wasn’t mentioned as treated online or in the catalog.  Hopefully these seeds will come up in a few days, but I am going to go ahead and start working on an order for Botanical Interests and Seed Savers just in case.

I love, Love, LOVE Botanical Interests.  I can’t say enough good things about their products.  The seed is reliable, the shipping is incredibly fast, and as simple as it sounds, the packaging makes you feel like an appreciated customer.  My seeds have always come from there in a heavy duty cardboard box, and tucked in a piece of green tissue paper.  I know it sounds hokey, but the thoughtful presentation makes me feel like they value my business.  Also, the packets are paper, which sounds like it is a given, but I have purchased seeds from two other companies who use plastic bags.  Not only is this a huge ecological no-no, but the seeds get a static charge and it is difficult to get them out.  The other unique thing about Botanical Interests is the seed pack itself.  It has beautiful art on the cover.  Yes, art.  Not a photograph, AND it also has loads of information about the plant INSIDE the packet.  You carefully slice the top, bottom, and one side with scissors or some other sharp object (supervision may be required if you are like me), open it up,  and there you find all kinds of extra information.  I have ordered single seed varieties from them as well as some of their mixes, such as the Honeybee Mix.  I really think they are a top notch company (and they are small, which makes me feel good about supporting them) but their product shines and their germination is quite good.  Also, pretty huge for me, is that they have signed the safe seed pledge, which means that their seed is not GMO.  They also have a satisfaction guarantee, which I have never needed to use, but it’s nice to know it is there.

Seed Savers Exchange has a remarkable variety of heirlooms, and I use them when I need to locate a variety that isn’t mainstream, or just when I’m looking to try something new and unusual.  Maybe I should say, old and unusual.    SSE’s mission is to maintain plant diversity, which is a great thing in this age of monoculture.  I like their packaging, and their shipping is fast.  As an added bonus, I have noticed that their seeds in particular stay viable for a VERY long time.  Granted, some seeds have been found that are still viable after hundreds of years, but usually those are in special circumstances.  SSE seeds have been viable in my trials for 4 years running so far.  Of course, this year I used the last of my stock so I will either save seed myself from these varieties this year, or just reorder next year.

I try not to purchase from big box stores, but like a siren call I can hear them singing to me as soon as I walk in the door.  This year I only picked up 5 packs from the stores though.

So there are my two cents on seed companies that are worth your money.  Maybe I’ll do another post on the ones I am not so fond of, but frankly, I just want to forget this terrible mistake.