Good morning guys! How’s everybody doing this fine Sunday morning? I hope this finds everyone well, and if so, well, go get your readin’ glasses and let’s see what’s going on today in the Coverin’ the Bases section of…Ridin’ Out the Recession…in Miz Judi’s Kitchen!
Before we get started, I’d like to ask our readers a question this morning. If you’ve watched some of our videos, maybe you’ve seen “Tillin’ the Garden… Dale and the Law.”
Well, Dale yesterday was telling Deb and I, that you can make butter by putting some “half and half” milk in a jar, salt to taste, put the lid on and shake the jar and it will make butter? First we didn’t have any half and half, then I’m a little skeptical, so if anyone has actually tried this, I’d like to know your results.
Raised Bed Gardening…Our Progress to Date:
I’d like to say this morning that if you live in an apartment, condo, etc., or just don’t want to use the raised bed style of gardening, then you can grow your vegetables, herbs, etc., in containers or pots. Same principal, just less area to be used.
Well, when we’d left off last time we’d built a 24’x8’ raised bed for our garden. We used railroad cross-ties for the beds themselves.
I gotta’ tell you though, if for any reason you guys hear, or read of a train derailment in the Central Florida area…it WASN’T ME!! It might have been Deb, but I’d never tell…only unless they threatened me with jail time too!
Deb, if this were to happen…you know I love ya’, and that I’d visit whenever I could! Reading material…you got it! Plus, if I went to jail with ya’…who’d look after the garden? I’m just saying.
We’ve now added two more beds to go along with our first. These two we made 8’x8’. So, we can see now the production from a couple of different layouts. I really believe these three beds could keep a family in tomatoes, peppers, onions, really just whatever you like, eating pretty good throughout the duration of your plants.
Once these guys start producing it’s really just about a daily pick. Honestly, these beds will generate quite a bit of produce for you. Not only the quantity of your yield, but if you haven’t done much gardening before, you won’t believe the quality, or taste of your vegetables either!
We’ll start planting our beds this morning. We bought 16 tomato plants, 14 red and yellow bell pepper plants, 4 mild banana pepper plants, and 8 gypsy pepper plants. This will cover Deb and I up with each variety of vegetable we’ve planted. We’ll be able to can some tomatoes for sure.
We haven’t had much luck in freezing our bell peppers for later use, so if anyone has a suggestion to help Deb and I out in this regard, please give us a shout.
What we have found though, is if Deb will make up a bunch of “stuffed peppers,” and cook them up, we then Foodsaver them, and they keep just fine. Precooked meals, that only need to be thawed, and warmed, at that point, you’re set with a good, hot, nutritious meal in just a few minutes! No, fuss, no mess, no cleanup! Now that’s convenience!
We’ll also set out a few more tomatoes in our 50’x100’ foot garden as well. We could go ahead and set those out in the larger garden, as already established plants. All our other vegetables we’ll be planting will be from seed, and the Almanac is telling us to plant these on the 15th…and we will.
The good Lord has given us the perfect setup for our plantings this morning. We had a little rain last night, and this has given our beds some moisture, and the rain forecast for Sunday (tomorrow), is 60%. Looking good! It’s been really windy though.
We had a reader, Chris write in yesterday, and Chris had a very good question, in which he was asking, how did we hold the railroad ties together?
We didn’t. I think the weight of the ties will keep them from pulling apart, but if not, it’s an easy fix. Drill holes in the corner of the cross-ties, then space more holes 3-4 feet apart down the length of them. Get some 18-24” concrete re-bar or all thread rod, drive through your holes straight into the ground…done.
Remember, when building your beds to keep in mind that you want full sun for most all of your vegetables. So with this in mind, make your choice as to where you want them. With us living here in Central Florida, I personally like to give them some later in the afternoon shade.
In our beds we’ve built, I took the afternoon heat into consideration, and all these plants we’ll set out today will have afternoon shade from about 3:30 on out. Our bigger garden stays in the sun most all day, it only starts getting a break from direct sunlight from about 5-6 o’clock.
During the summertime here, by 1-2 o’clock in the afternoon, the heat starts “cranking,” and stays this way right up until dark.
Again, I ask all out there who are planting gardens, if you have children, please let them be involved. This is a project the whole family can be involved in. It will pass on to the kids a bit of heritage to those guys, simply by showing them that years ago this is how people lived. In order to eat they grew gardens, raised their own beef, poultry, pork, etc.
In the same fashion, we today can grow our gardens, raise some chickens for the eggs, and teach our children even through hard times you can feed your family. This is true whether the garden you decide upon be a regular out in the field garden, a raised bed garden, or even using the container garden method. Once more, you may be pleasantly surprised by the interest your children show in this regard. At least give them the chance to decide for themselves. Our youth are the future of our Country!
Well, I’m fixing to “shut her down,” for this morning. As I said, we’ll be planting our raised beds this morning, and I better get started.
Thank you all so much for coming, and have a great day! God Bless each and every one of you!
Keep your eyes open, and your nose in the wind! See you next time in…Coverin’ the Bases!
Oh, I heard a joke you guys might like…if you don’t , how bout sending me one! I’ll throw in a couple one-liners too!
An elderly lady is being interviewed by her local paper in regards to her wedding…her fourth! She was explaining that her first husband was a banker, her second a circus performer, her third, an attorney. Her latest marriage was going to be to a funeral director.
The reporter asked why she had been attracted to men with such diverse interests?
She replied, “I chose number one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go!”
I get letters from people who say, “What have you got against women?”
What could I possibly have against women? I’ve married three of them.” Lewis Grizzard
“Always get married in the morning. That way if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.” Mickey Rooney
Dub….out!