A Fifth Post on: Gardens

Some folks learn from observing the mistakes of others, or perhaps goodly advice. Then there are people that others watch to learn how mistakes can be made...and what to avoid doing. I try to fall into the first category, but alas, I often find myself wandering through the latter.

Some mistakes are as the painter Bob Ross used to describe, 'happy accidents'...some mistakes are not. I've made them both--happy and not so happy. And like a person with a large knot on their head, I ask, what did I do wrong, and what SHOULD I have done right?

My 'experiment' with the large box with the large plastic sack has been just that--an experiment. (I should put a picture with this, but it may come 'later'.) One thing I learned was, in an experiment, remember it is an experiment. Do the experiment on a SMALL scale. Mine was much too large... A second thing I learned-- don't take short cuts. I used the peat moss that we had on hand, and yes, that was because that was what I had on hand to use. I thought I had most of the stray pop corn that was in the peat moss sorted out, but I eventually discovered that I had far too much still in there.

So, what happened was-- it is difficult to keep the peat moss damp. It absorbs the water like a sponge, or worse. The pop corn sprouted and came up very well once I watered the growing medium --even if the peat moss wouldn't stay damp. I know how sensitive corn in the field is. If it gets frosted at a certain stage, it's history. I hoped if I just pinched off the leaves, voila! Corn gone...but not so when 'corn gone' is the intended goal. It came back, and back, and back again. Tomatoes may like carrots... but apparently, broccoli, cabbage, and what ever else I had in my experiment didn't care so much for the corn. (Kind of snickering, but not real happy here...) And I don't think the other plants that germinated liked living in the peat moss (only) either.

I may try the box, or something similar, idea again, but I definitely have learned some things NOT to do. I think I have most of the corn pinched out of the peat moss, and am sprinkling some regular planting medium around the poor struggling plants that are still waving/gasping at me.

Rain is a good thing. We have had some nice rain, as well as some heavy rain in the last two weeks, therefore there has been no more planting outside. My husband, Chris, has planted the 100 Whopper strawberry plants we purchased from Gurney's this spring. I will need to get out with the 'photographer' du jour--whoever that may be, and take some pictures at the progress that has transpired. We still have ten blackberry plants to set in the ground. I believe it was the variety, 'Triple Crown'. We ordered them from Indiana Berry & Plant Company. Originally, about six to seven years ago, we purchased three 'thornless and seedless' varieties of blackberry bushes from Gurneys. It runs in my mind they were Apache, and either Arapaho, or Navaho, and the Triple Crown. We planted them down on the road bank in front of the house with the idea of keeping my father-in-law from mowing the lawn too far down the steep bank.

Of course, he promptly mowed down beyond the berries, giving us heart palpitations, and almost 'doing himself in'. He didn't like those, @#$%^ things any way, but most of them survived the occasional mowing off...for the next 2-3 years. Yes, we have an interesting family. Smile

The berries have excellent flavor, and they are HUGE. Which is why we now have more plants sitting on the 'sun porch' --along with the fifty pounds of seed potatoes to be planted when the garden dries out a wee bit more, and some echinacea plants I've almost killed...

ASPARAGUS: ~GOOD FOR YOU~
A natural source of Folic Acid, A natural Detoxifier-- Antioxident-- Help in preventing kidney stones, and A well-maintained planting will produce up to 15 years...

Lately we have been harvesting asparagus. I was aghast a week or so ago to read elsewhere someone's comment that 'asparagus shouldn't be eaten anywhere...' That is one thing that doesn't happen on my side of the genetic pond...there are very few vegetables that we don't enjoy. In the springtime asparagus is one of the first things to poke it's welcome spear through the ground. We have 'wild' asparagus that grows out on our field bank which we have harvested, as well as my in-laws, for a number of years. Marie especially liked it, Marvin not being a vegetable fan.

Every spring however, even though it is on our land, we have to be pretty sharp, because there are marauders that comb the country roads looking for 'free' asparagus. Some of them are from town, and some are folks from who knows where. We don't look kindly on these folks, some are unaware that it isn't 'free' asparagus, and that they are actually trespassing on our land, especially when they climb up the steep road bank and cross our property fence.

In some cases the landowner doesn't use their plants, be it asparagus, or wild herbs and if asked would not care if they were harvested. In some cases such as older people who can't harvest their own --if they were given some of the harvest by the person wanting to harvest it-- that would be fine as well. The point is if possible it is best to ask. We do usually get quite a bit of asparagus...we are pretty sharp, and we keep after it.

Three years ago we also invested in 75 asparagus roots to plant an asparagus bed as well as our 'wild asparagus'. Now, asparagus plants can be male or female plants, and the older varieties such as Martha Washington, and Purple Passion have both male and female plants. The male plants produce a larger spear, and there are no seeds. Two of the new all male hybrids are Jersey Knight and Jersey Supreme.

You cut asparagus with a sharp knife. The directions from the book instruct: 'Cut with sharp knife below the ground. Cutting below the ground is better and will increase your yield in two ways...'

In preparation, I rinse the asparagus with cold water, and of course we only want the tender asparagus. With a sharp knife I start at the base of the plant and when it get tender --somewhat as soft butter, I cut it into chunks about an inch long that we will save for consuming. I have seen lately a 'asparagus' steamer, for steaming asparagus spears instead of cutting them into the inch long lengths. I have never used the steamer, but they look nice...

I throw the tougher ends away of course, and after we have eaten several messes fresh, I will begin to freeze it. To freeze asparagus, after rinsing under cold water, I do the same test for tenderness as well as cutting it up. I then blanch it (this involves bringing water to a boil, preferably in a large kettle/saucepan, putting a portion of the vegetables into the boiling water, timing them for 3 minutes, then the vegetables are drained out of the hot water, plunged into ice cold water for 3 minutes then drained again and packaged.) I have two large pans that I alternate for the boiling water. I place a large colander over the empty pan (in our case it is either 'Walter's pan', or the pasta pan)then pour the hot contents of the one pan into/through the colander. Lift the colander filled with asparagus out shaking to get any remaining hot water out of the vegetable, then pour only the vegetable into the prepared cold water. --I fill my sinks with cold water both of them, for blanching.-- I put the pan with the hot water back onto the stove, restart the burner, and repeat the process with the next batch of asparagus, or what ever other vegetable I may be blanching/freezing. While the next a batch is in the hot water I move the first batch of vegetables to the second cold water sink...

I can usually use the first sink of cold water twice, but after that it needs drained and replaced with cold water. And I use my judgement on the second sink as to whether it should be replaced at the same time or not. I will dip the vegetables out of the second sink either right before or right after the second batch is ready to come out. There is usually just a small window of opportunity between the changing of the vegetables.

The next step is out of the cold water, drain, and(I will put the blanched vegetables into a large bowl until I have the time to bag) bag in freezer bags. I usually bag them in quart size baggies. I save the liquid from the blanching process, or at least enough that I can put just a dab of sugar on the veggies in each bag, and a ladle of the reserved liquid. There is probably 1/2 cup of liquid in the bag, then I zip it shut, expelling as much of the air as possible. It does take some amount of expertise, but after doing this process for many years it isn't as difficult as it sounds.

Because this is dealing with very hot stuff I usually clear the kitchen when I'm working with this stuff. No children allowed (probably no pets either for more than one reason, but we don't have any inside pets). And it is something a person MUST be very careful in using.

My Grandparents never had 'running water'. They chose to carry their drinking water 'up the hill' from a well, or we used 'soft' water from our cistern that we used a hand pump to provide for dishes or bathing in the house. When I was young--under ten years old--my Grandmother was moving a tea kettle full of hot water-- either to use it or just moving it from one burner to another. She accidentally spilled some hot water on the linoleum floor, slipped and scalded herself in the water. My Grandfather spent weeks dressing the burn at least twice daily (he used DEM, or Denver Mud as we called it). I can only half imagine how terribly painful it must have been. Grandmother never would go to a doctor for it. Having used DEM on my own burns I know it was very effective. The best thing, however, is to avoid the burn in the first place...especially since you can not get Denver Mud any longer.

I kept the 'recipe' for Denver Mud (somewhere). I asked a pharmacist quite a few years ago if he could compound it for me. He researched the ingredients that I gave him and told me he could obtain all of the ingredients except the main one--I believe it was 'silicate of aluminum'. That product would take the pain out of the burn almost immediately, and it was wonderful. Sigh

Psalms 90:14 Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy lovingkindness, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.