I’ve taken a little time here lately and I’m trying to get the green house and the grow areas beside it established once more. Man, they were a mess, but little by little it’s beginning to come around.

I’ve got the tomato stakes and twine down, I’ve herbicided the weeds that were so prominent in the grow areas, and will be tilling these areas up here in the next week or so. I’m waiting to insure a good kill.

We’ll then take up the watering system prior to tilling. This is simple enough by only taking off one hose clamp from the main line on each run. We’ll set the lines outside the areas to be tilled, then replace them once we’re done.

By then, the seedlings I’ve gotten started should be big enough to start setting out.

Last week we set over 400 tomatoes in seed trays and they’re all doing well. We planted Rutgers, homesteads, green pineapples, which I thought were very good from the ones we got. They have a good old tomato flavor, but taste much less acidic than other varieties, although I have yet to smell a pineapple aroma when slicing them.

This was supposed to be the case, which again I haven’t noticed, but who knows, at my age maybe my ole sniffer just ain’t what it used to be??

We also set a few of the black or purple varieties such as Southern nights, carbon, and the Sara Black’s. These types were the last I set out the first go round, but then when Deb took a turn for the worse I neglected them, along with everything else.

The end result was I didn’t get the opportunity to try these baby’s out. Hopefully this time around I’ll change that. Then I’ll make the decision to keep these in the garden or not. I’ve got a neighbor that has grown the Southern nights before and he says they’re great.

I believe him, but ole Willie is a lot like me….you call it food, and I call it GOOD! So, with this being said…I better wait and decide for myself. LOL!

I haven’t set any beefsteaks yet, but I will. Good night they produced some very, very large tomatoes, but I was having a bit of a problem with disease.

I can’t put this all off on this variety because honestly, they, like everything else didn’t get a fair shake from a care standpoint simply on account of our situation. I will plant some more of these, but will get the others established first.

As far as the cherry tomatoes go we reseeded the black cherry, I liked these, the mini-orange which produced abundantly, the fox cherry, another good producer, and the Reisentraube, which is a German tomato.

I think the name has something to do with grapes, and that’s just what the tomatoes look like when producing…bunches of grapes. These tomatoes are prolific producers as well, and as far as their taste…I love them. They have an EXCELLENT taste!

I’ve never been a big, big fan of cherry tomatoes in the past and our reasoning for planting the different varieties was to eat them of course, but also to give us a blend of several different tomato flavors, if you will, in using them for straight tomato juice or soups, and from what we did get to do this way, we loved it.

I’ve continued to juice daily, and I swap out with the juice Deb and I use to share which is a multiple variety of different fruits and vegetables. I drink a 44 oz. glass of this each morning, then throughout the day I might have a 16 oz. glass of tomato juice. I’ll usually drink a couple of these…

One variety of cherry tomato I did not replant was the Isis candy. I was really, really looking forward to trying out these because I’d heard so much about their taste. The problem we had with these were they produced hardly any tomatoes.

We were very disappointed in this tomato and again, I refused to set any more out. I might try them once more later, just not right now. They grew big, beautiful bushes, but no tomatoes. That’s kinda like your wife fixing fried chicken and mashed potatoes…with NO gravy. We just can’t set back and abide such as that! LOL!

We also set seeds for beets and radishes and both are doing extremely well. Them muthas are shooting up everywhere. We planted the Detroit dark red beet, the Lutz, the Bulls blood and, are ya ready for this Judi and Brian…Golden beets.

The germination of these has been fantastic, and for all you that have never grown them before…you have a nice little surprise.

The seeds are actually like little capsules, or there’s more than one seed per seed, if you get what I mean, so each seed holder you plant in, usually provides you with two, to three, or maybe even possibly four little plants. I like that.

Beets are very beneficial for you, and Deb and I kinda got started using beets a little late in the game.

First, we’d never grown them before, shoot, we’d never seen ANYBODY grow them before, plus, down here, finding them in your supermarket is like…pulling teeth. It almost never happens.

We did grow over a hundred of them and the dern things turned out nice. I still have MAYBE a half a dozen left. So, even though I’ve replanted them, I’m going to have a lull between what I’ve got left and when the new beets start coming in. Once in a GREAT while, you can find them at Wal-Mart, but that’s few and far between, and the ONLY place down here that Deb did find some.

I just seeded eggplants and peppers too, but they’ve not started germinating yet.

For peppers we planted sweet chocolate, emerald giant, tequila sunrise, sigaretta de bagamo, and corbachi. These are all sweet peppers. For hot peppers I only planted Anaheim, and corne de chevre. I’m considering possibly a few more hot peppers…we’ll see.

Last night I saved the seeds, actually quite a few, from several corne de chevre’s, sweet chocolates, and the tequila sunrise. Today or tomorrow I’ll save seeds from the others. It’s very easy to do. You guys are probably thinking to yourselves…if Dub’s doing it, it HAS to be uncomplicated!

For eggplants, we planted Florida Market, Ukrainian Beauty, and the Listada de Gandia. All three did very well for us the first go round, which is exactly why all three are going in the ground this time as well. If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it!

Well, there’s my update on what’s happenin here at this place. We’ve been very busy, but not a lot of it in the garden.

There’s been way too much closure to deal with, but it’s almost been done now. I’ll be very glad to get it all behind me, but thinking now that it’ll be kinda sad too, after all…it is closure.

Mentally now I’m much, much better, but still have moments from time to time. Getting fewer though. It’s amazing sometimes what triggers them. I may be just walkin around the yard, maybe mowing even, and BAM, I think about Deb and that’s all it took.

I’m staying much too busy in the house to suit me as well…I like it outside! But, I’ve had to create a new filing system, etc. so this takes time as well. Getting closer on the house end to though.

Anyway, I guess I’m just saying sorry for not posting more, but this all has been one big adjustment. Again though…I’m seein daylight now, and that’s a good thing.

Thank you guys all once more for all your prayers and support in Deb’s regard. They all meant so much to us both.

Please take care, God Bless, and always, always…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

You know we’d mentioned earlier about taking our black-eyed peas up and letting the cows eat them. Those peas did really well for us and gave us a good amount to can and put up.
In their place we planted three rows of mustard greens. We planted seeds, 2-3 per hill about 9-12 inches apart. They’re planted in 100’ rows, set apart 4 feet. We’ve given them plenty of room and we’re hoping these do really well for us too.

Deb doesn’t like them cooked (???), but likes them in a salad or juiced. Me, I like em any way you want to serve em! My Mom, Dad, and most all of our family love them. When they’re coming in, there isn’t many times you can’t find a pot of greens simmering on a burner around our family.

Our first video shows Red and Dale setting out seeds in our last row. We’d just laid out the rows, trenched out the rows, and had planted the first two rows. We were basically winding it up.
We still have a couple good picking with the peas we have left, the crowders mainly, and our purple hulls, and cream 40’s will be cow feed come Monday or Tuesday. We’ll strip them of what peas are left, and that’ll wind them up for this year. Once again though, our peas did well for us. We’re thankful of this!

Here’s the video…

You could see from the video the peas are winding up, by the condition of the bushes. Most are now beginning to lay down, BUT…the okra is another story. It’s fixing to “hit its stride” in regards to what it’s turning out for us. This stuff you can pick every couple days, and once in a while, every day.

We love it. Shoot, listening to me in regards to the vegetables growing in the garden, I love them all, huh? Actually, I do too! You cannot beat right out of the garden produce…you just can’t! There is literally NO comparison as to what you get from the store.

Again, if you don’t garden, try it out. You’ll soon see why we get so excited over the vegetables coming in…their taste!

Our second video today is a light hearted look at gardening. We’ve got a buddy in Virginia who we love corresponding with. His name is Bobby, and he is just one great individual!
Bobby farms pretty extensively, has several gardens on his place, has one greenhouse in production, and is in the process of building #2. This guy is a working Trojan too. Loves what he’s doing, plus gives a lot of his produce away to people who need it.

Bobby is a Christian, and is a very sharing and giving person too. He’s top notch in our book!

Anyway…

Bobby’s forte, if you will, is tomatoes. The man CAN GROW some tomatoes! He does well with any crop he puts in, but I believe Bobby loves messin with tomatoes, and again, he’s dern good at it.
With this being the case, you guys that know me, know I love to laugh, joke, and generally cut-up some. I get this honestly, as my mother’s side of the family loves to laugh, and they’ll sure pull one over on you if you’re not paying attention around them!

Well, watching Bobby and his work ethic impress me to no end, so, when I get the chance, I’ll pick at him some, as this video today shows. He takes it all in stride, and dishes it back as good as he takes it.
Once more though, Bobby is “the man” when it comes to a garden. He researches and studies what makes things work for him, and he’s dern good at it. He’ll tinker with this, and tinker with that, all with the desire of improving every day. Bobby is…”on top of things!”

We did this a day or two ago, and he really enjoyed us picking at him, and here’s what we did…

We hope you guys enjoyed this video, as our intent was to try and put a smile on your face today! Forget everything else for a few minutes, and just put on grin on your face! If we accomplished that…then Deb and I both are happy as well! Laughter IS…the best medicine!

You guys have a great day, and God bless you and yours!

As always, Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb