peppers, pumpkins, and tomato plants

My homemade tomato trellis is working out great! I've got three baby tomatoes on my Yellow pear, and plenty of buds on my Roma and Celebrity plants. Sadly my heirloom tomato plant has yet to produce a flower that produces a fruit, the plant suffered the most during the past few storms.

The trellis is a little less than five feet tall, I wonder if the tomatoes will grow all the way up it. I planted them right after mothers day and since then they have tripled in size. I think that now since the weather has been consistently good they will grow even faster. The poor tomato plants have survived through high winds of up to 50 miles per hour, heavy rains, temperatures dropping to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and even snow! I protected them with a huge tarp during this extreme weather which was easily draped over the whole trellis.


Another plant that had a hard time during the extreme weather this spring were my peppers. On the left is a picture of one of my Habanero plants. I had four and one died, so I replaced it with the pepper plant pictured on the right which is a Mariachi pepper. The Mariachi is doing really well and already has two baby peppers on it. I also have two Jalapeno plants, a yellow bell pepper and a purple bell pepper.

This is a baby pumpkin! I'm so excited about my pumpkins, all three plants have several buds and the plants are huge. I hope my pumpkins mimic the leafy part of the plant and grow to immense proportions by October. I have decided that I will always grow pumpkins because they are so much fun to watch grow. I also planted some albino pumpkins in my front yard but I started them really late so I hope they can catch up to there orange counter-part.

HERE ARE SOME OTHER PLANTS IN MY GARDEN......

EGGPLANT (Never planted eggplant before so this should be interesting)


BLACKBERRY (I also have a raspberry bush, I hope I get enough fruit for jam!)


CARROTS (Most annoying thing about carrots is making sure they are spaced out because the seed is so small it is hard to plant them away from each other. I pulled plenty of seedlings out during the process and I hope I spaced everything out okay.)

NON-FOOD ITEMS


TRUMPET VINE-for the hummingbirds...


TIGER LILY

The poppy, my favorite flower

THE POPPY SEED LADY
(Author: Unknown)


A time of magicians and spells
A beautiful maiden was created
Her name Postomani, Poppy Seed Lady
Born of a mouse with the power of speech,
And then transformed it into a cat, a dog, an ape, a boar
Before her final transformation



A royal tale was then spun of deceit, love and death


The Poppy Seed Lady's flesh and bone of her untimely death
Grew a plant called Posto - The Poppy Tree
From this plant will be obtained a drug called opium,
Either smoked or swallowed a wondrous feeling was created
If abused, it will generate the consumer one quality of each of the animals
To which Postomani has been transformed
He will be mischievous like a mouse,
Fond of milk like a cat,
Quarrelsome like a dog,
Filthy like an ape,
Savage like a boar,
High tempered like a queen.

Bread!

Today I conquered my fear of yeast. Yeast is a one-celled fungus which converts sugar and starches into carbon dioxide bubbles and alcohol. I don't know where my fear stemmed from exactly, I guess I may have been afraid of killing it. I've baked so many things but when ever a recipe calls for yeast I quickly turn the page. Today I found that yeast really is not that bad. I gave my yeast a warm bath in 110 degree Fahrenheit and watched as the yeast slowly began to "foam".

I made a wheat bread which had whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, wheat germ, and sesame seeds. On the top before I placed it in the oven I brushed an egg wash on top and sprinkled oats. Not only does the egg wash give the bread a nice shine after it cooks it also serves as glue for my oats.

The hardest part was kneading the dough...holy crap! forget upper body workouts try kneading bread dough! Towards the end my arms became so tired and I had a glean of sweat on my forehead. I now have a new found appreciation for those women back in the day who would make bread every day without the benefit of a bread maker.




While my bread was cooking it filled the house with a wonderful smell. The smell alone made everything worth it. After the bread was done I could hardly wait to try it. I know I should wait till things cool but I had to cut a slice! I drizzled honey on my end piece (the best part) and enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

I found bread to be very east to make, apart from the kneading. I can't wait to experiment with the herbs in my garden! two breads that I will try with stuff I find in my garden will be a spicy oregano with sun dried tomato, and of course a Rosemary flat bread.

First Harvest

My first Harvest! yes I know it is very small but considering the summer has just begun I feel it shows great promise. My pea plants have probably produced the most thus far. Almost every day I go out and pick a couple of pods so I can eat them in a salad. The strawberries are new as of today, They had a slow start because of the cold weather and the rain but they are starting to produce an abundance. These first few strawberries were small but I think the ones later in the year will be much bigger.




My tomatoes have also started to grow. This picture shows two baby tomatoes which will grow to be yellow pear tomatoes. They are about the size of my thumb right now I'm not sure how big they will get.




My pumpkin plants have taken off, they love the spot that they are in! I can't believe how huge these plants are getting. Pretty soon they will be growing over the edge of the planter and into the walkway. I can't wait for a pumpkin flower to emerge.








Now this picture shows something I thought was pretty cool. I bought two climbing hydrangeas this summer to cover the wall on the South side of my garden. When I first bought the plants I read the little label which informed me that I would not need a trellis. I looked the plant over and could not find anything that would aide the plant in growing up my brick wall. I was confused but trusted the label and just planted the hydrangea next to my brick wall waiting to see how it was going to grab onto the brick. This morning I learned how. I was checking over all of my plants when I noticed these white things growing on the stems of the hydrangea. I did a little research and found that they were aerial roots which cement themselves to brick.

In my garden I have three different types of vines: Climbing Hydrangea, Trumpet flower, and a Honeysuckle. Even though all three are vines they are very different from each other. Each vine grows differently and has different things to offer. My advice for the day is go out and explore your garden. Check out all the different bugs and note how each plant is different in how it grows and looks.

I am an amateur gardener who has only been gardening for a couple of years. I've found that you can really enjoy your garden if you create it to fit your needs. My garden is centered around attracting song birds, humming birds, and butterflies. Before beginning your garden I suggest exploring the different reasons you want a garden that way you will create a space you will never want to leave.

Now I am done rambling.....I'm going to go sit in my garden.

My veggies

I have finally finished setting up my veggie garden. It has been a tough month because of the weather, at one point it actually snowed..IN MAY!!! I have been placing cut up milk cartons and plastic soda bottles over my peppers and my pumpkins in order to save them from possible frost and so far so good.



I constructed supports for my peppers with sticks that I collected from my backyard. This year I wanted to try a more creative way of supporting my veggies rather than the conventional wire cage. On my next post I will show you a picture of my tomatoes which are growing up a thick hemp rope tied to a support which I constructed earlier this year. Anyways, back to the peppers, I have two sweet peppers a chocolate bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper. My hot pepper selection includes four habanero plants and two jalapenos. Don't ask me why I planted so many habanero plants maybe it just seemed easier. Next year I plan on having a bigger variety.



















Besides the four tomatoes I have growing up a trellis, I also have this heirloom "green zebra striped" tomato. I planted this one in a container and fashioned some twine around five posts in a shape of a pentagon. It seems to love its home so far.








This is one of my pumpkin plants. I have four of them, the other two look just as good as this one but the fourth one is a bit stunted. I was very lucky though with all the cold weather we have been having to have the three strong plants. The pumpkin seeds I bought were very good too I only placed one seed per plot and all four of them sprouted. Just looking at them makes me excited for fall, although I'm not quite ready for fall yet!


















This is a picture of my first veggie, a sugar snap pea, it's still pretty small but I'm very excited to already have an appearance. Soon I will be hanging out in my garden eating peas right of the vine and relaxing in the sun.

Well That's it for the veggies!

May day

May day has pagan roots and is still celebrated in the traditional way around the world to this day. May day marked the end of the winter months in the northern hemisphere and welcomed warmer weather. Festivities included dancing around the maypole, spending the night around bonfires, and leaving baskets of flowers and treats on neighbors doorsteps.
The Maypole was traditionally a tree, which symbolizes fertility and vitality. The tree was cut down and stripped of all it's branches except the few at the top. The top branches were filled with violets. The Maypole symbolized the ancient Roman God Attis. Attis was forced to castrate himself after breaking a promise to the Goddess Cybele of chastity. Attis became depressed and threatened to kill himself so Cybele turned him into a fir tree. This story about Attis is one of many different accounts.

The Haymarket Riot

The Haymarket affair began on May 1, 1886. A group of mostly Anarchists were demonstrating for laborers rights in Chicago. One of the biggest concerns being the fight for the 8 hour work day. On May 3, police were used to protect the strike breakers and a riot ensued. One person was killed during this clash with police and demonstrators. The next day, May 4, the demonstration grew to about 1,500 to 2,000 people. People were angry and felt police were to blame for the death the day before. During one of the speakers of the demonstrations an anonymous person threw a pipe bomb into the gathered police men. A huge riot broke out in which 7-8 police officers were killed (the number of dead varies with different accounts.) over 60 people were injured and an unknown number of demonstrators were killed as well.

During the following weeks many demonstraters were arrested. Those arrested were beaten and confessed to conspiracy of murder, the legitimacy of these confessions is unknown. In the end eight anarchists were put on trial and 7 of them were found guilty of conspiracy of murder. Four were later hanged, 1 committed suicide and the other two were eventually pardoned by the governor. On March 2 1887 the first 8 hour day law was passed.

Since then May day has also been seen as a laborers holiday. The date marks the struggle for workers rights. To this day May day has been marked with political and other public demonstrations.

A mexican wedding

This month has been filled with travel. At the begining of April I went to San Elizario, Texas which is right next to El Paso. While driving on the highway towards San Elizario I could see Juarez, Mexico. Daniel, my husband, really wanted to go over to Juarez but it is just to dangerous over there right now. Right now the an average of 10 people are dying everyday in Juarez, and the cartel seems to run the city.
While in San Eli I met Daniel's family, explored the history of the city, and went to a wedding. The wedding was a traditional Mexican wedding and the party lasted until 4:00 in the morning! My endurance isn't quite what it used to be but I made it and had a lot of fun.
The ceremony started at 2:00 pm at a catholic church. I couldn't understand what was going on because the ceremony was in Spanish. The ceremony lasted over 2 hours and I thought it was over a total of ten times because people would stand and clap during the ceremony. In my mind the ceremony was over but then everyone would sit down and the priest would continue with his ceremony.
After the ceremony we ate dinner and the dancing started. Daniel and I did not know the traditional way to dance so we observed at first. After a pitcher a beer and an hour of observing we felt that we had it down. It felt like we were doing awesome but who knows what it looked like to people who were watching us. There was also a dance which had steps to it. Everyone would follow eachother in a circle around the dance floor. Everyone would go forward, but then start dancing backwards! Daniel was on his second pitcher of the night by this time and he was having a hard time figuring out when everyone was dancing backwards. In front of us were three larger women who looked like they could dance right over Daniel without missing a step, leaving him unconscious on the dance floor. I figured I saved his life about five times during that dance, pulling him out of harms way by his belt.
At around 2:30 in the morning everyone left the dance hall to gather around several fires outside and eat 'Menudo'. Menudo is a red chile based soup with Hominy and tripe. Tripe is intestines which can come from a cow, sheep, goats, or pigs. I tried the tripe and found it apetizing though the texture was off for me. Some people had full pigs feet in there soup, this seemed to be the older crew. All of the younger guys who were about my age and younger did not like the full pigs feet.
The Menudo party lasted until about 4:00 in the morning and by this time I thought I may pass out, even though the Menudo seemed to send me a second wind.
In Texas I obtained an agave plant (agave is what Tequila is made out of)
This succulent is related to the aloe plant and grows to about 3' tall! Because this plant will probably die in the Utah winter I could not plant it outside and allow it to grow to it's full potential. This pot will allow it to get pretty close.
While I was away my garden started to grow. I have had a lot of problems with transplanting though. Almost all of my plants which I had started earlier this year are dying. My pea plants all died, but I planted some seeds in my garden. It has only taken a week for them to sprout and they are doing quite nicely. I guess sometimes you just have to start a veggie from seed outside. Since peas are conditioned for cold weather it is okay to start them this early. Next year I will probably only start my pumpkins, and pepper plants inside because they require a longer growing season.
My grapes still look like sticks coming out of the ground and it scares me that they may be dead. There is an older vine around the corner from my house that I have been watching, This vine still looks dead as well so I'm not worried about my grapes as of yet. I hope they have survived!