Day 12-13

We have watermelon! We have 6 plants total which should be enough to plant in the back garden area.


To my surprise, the garlic is sprouting. I thought it tooks weeks. Maybe it's because this garlic has been in my fridge for 2 months already. I'll have to plant more garlic now that I know it's so quick. Garlic will also keeps pests away from your other veggies.


I came home and found Mrs. Zucchini so big she was hanging over the container that I decided to move her to a new home. Mr. Zucchini didn't seem to mind.


A day later, she must have aclimated to her new home very well because she continued to grow. I was nervous she wouldn't like it because zucchini don't like root disturbance.


For scale, here she is next to my size 6.5 foot.


The rest of the family was doing well so I gave them all new homes right away too.


I began spacing the plants out and planning the areas of the garden for which plants will go where.


Since I spaced out the basil plants, they have been getting much larger each day.


My cosmos and marigolds.


My peony bud is getting larger. Ants were crawling all over it.

Day 10

Mrs. Zucchini seems to be in happier spirits yesterday. She's getting very large too. She's about 2 1/2" inches tip to tip now. I think it's about time I put her into the ground before she gets too large and traumatized when I move her.

Everything else is coming up as well.

My sugar snap peas and snow peas are getting very tall. This weekend, I will have to work on creating a trellis for them to climb towards the fence.

Look at my sign! Damn squirrels.

The girl's nextdoor were examining the crime scene. "Why did Mr. Squirrel eat your sign!?"

Then they took the sign home and said they would fix it for me with tape.

Other garden growth.

Plum party

I saw these eraseable ceramic tags at Plum Party. It's a shame the stake isn't longer because they would have been perfect to make garden tags out of them. Plum party is an online party store with all kinds of decorations, favors, and other cute things for themed parties.

Are you ready for a Cook Off?

Mr. Snow Pea bought me Cooking Mama! I can't wait to go home and play with it. I have been carrying it in my purse all day at work just so Mr. Snow Pea can't play with it until I do. I hope this will curb those midnight cravings of fried chicken wings with hot sauce. So Wiiddingbee riiders and biis. Are you ready for a cook off with me?

My console number is 2074 3606 6899 8454.

To find your console number, on the main page, go to the bottom right, the mail icon (Wii Message Board). Click it. Click "Create Message" second from the left. Click the address book on the right and press the minus sign on your controller. There it is! Courtesy of Miss Lemon.

Day 9

Mrs. Zucchini must be mad at Mr. Zucchini because she's all pointed upward. Hmph!

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

This was delicious! I was just experimenting with something new. I bought these sweet "Italian" peppers from Trader Joes. I stuffed them with ground turkey from Wegman's. We cooked them on the grill and it only took 8 minutes. Next time I am going to try them with a combo of ground beef and pork. You can always do sausage but that might be overkill.

1. Sweet red peppers-halved and seeded.
2. 1/2 finely diced onion
3. S&P, Mint leaves
4. Ground turkey
5. 1 teaspoon of cornstarch

Slowly sweat the onions in a pan. Let cool. Add to raw ground turkey. Add seasonings, cornstarch and combine. Stuff the peppers. I refridgerated them overnight to save time for dinner the next day. Grill them meat side down. Turn over and grill the pepper side.

Bon Appetit!

Spicey Water

Our groomsman Tom's aunt used to work for Organic Gardening. She advised me to use water infused with chilli peppers to keep squirrels from taking my tomatoes. Just take a hot pepper and dice it up. Let it sit in a bottle of water overnight. Put the water into a spray bottle and spray your plants with it. I'll let you all know if it works. So not only do I have to worry about bunnies eating my crops. I have to worry about squirrels taking my tomatoes as well. She also recommended that I vary the plants. Alternate Tomato, Beans, Basil, Cucumber, etc. This is supposed to confuse insects when they are feeding on your plants. Planting brightly colored flowers are also supposed to do the same. Another problem I have is that the stray cat is urinating on my sugar snap peas in ths one area. Not only does it smell, but cats and dogs carry diseases that can be transmitted through their feces. If the cat is urinating on the plants, the plants are absorbing it and then you can be ingesting it. My coworker recommended NO at Pet Smart, but that's a chemical and shouldn't be sprayed on vegetables either. I am just going to put chicken wire all around it.

Day 8

Mrs. Zucchini is in the lead! Watch out! She's about 2" tip to tip.


The rest are slowly catching up.


Okra or "The Prince" ( lol Miss Froger)

Day 7 of Zucchini, Cucumber & Okra

Each day I have been putting the plants outside for sun. Our dining room doesn't seem to have enough consistant lighting. Since zucchini, cucumber and okra are normally seeded directly into the soil outdoors, I didn't have to worry about having ultimum conditions for germination.

I can already tell that the zucchini are going to be huge.


The cucumber are pretty large too.


I was surprised by the okra. The directions said they don't germinate for 2 weeks, but it's only been 1 week.


11 new eggplant seedlings have germinated. I guess it wasn't warm enough in the house for them to germinate.


Cilanto-Oregano-Parsley-Rosemary-Mint-Licorice-Sage-Dill
I started some new herbs again because the previous ones did not do well. I didn't plant them deep enough. When they grow large enough in the planter, I will remove some to put around the yard.


Marigolds are supposed to distract insects and therefore keeping them away from your vegetables. Not all marigolds work. These Snowman Marigolds called Calendula.
Calendula-Marigolds-Bright Cosmos

A Lazy Day

I spent the day tending to my seedlings. The tomato seedlings were getting large and crowding one another, so I put them into bigger foam cups so they can continue to establish their roots before being transplanted outdoors.


My eggplant seedlings began to form a very large leaf.


Keith spent the whole day trying to "fix" his leaf blower. He got it for $2 at a yard sale. I told him to just junk it. He's so stubborn.


My zuchinni and cucumber are beginning to germinate. Okra takes 2 weeks but I figure it could use some warmth.


I was ready to chuck the bell pepper and start over, but suddenly with the warmer weather I noticed 10 new seeds beginning to germinate. (I transplanted some basil here)


I moved my basil around to give them more room for growth. They should be 1 inch apart.


I began "dusting off" my grass that I dug up to put the soil back into the ground. My mom was right about the grass dying against the fence. I will leave them there to create a "wall" for my beds to raise up on.


I planted a tomato plant into the ground to see how well it does.


For dinner, Keith made me a Strawberry Shortcake. It's one of those TGIF mixers. It was good. I normally don't like drinks that contain dairy but this wasn't bad at all.


I made rice with saffron and onions (egyptian recipe) with grilled shrimp (with chopped tomatoes, red onions, cumin, s&p, and habernero sauce) and a piece of bbq chicken (in case we were still hungry).

Martha Stewart has launched her Craft Store!!!

www.marthastewartcrafts.com

Lilies of the Valley

I love lilies of the valley. If I can't have them for my bridal bouquet, then I'll just plant them in my yard. I bought these on clearance at the end of last summer. I didn't think they would have survived, but I was pleasantly surprised today. They are beautiful!


Here's more. It looks like these multiplied too.


Yesterday, we watched as this stray cat "hunted" the poor bunny.


My peony is thickening up.

%*@#&%$@

The darn squirrels dug up my zuchinni and okra seeds! It's a good thing I started some indoors; however, I read that they do not take well to root disturbance. As soon as they germinate, I will put them into the ground.