Not So Crafty

Category: Gardening

  • Autumn Flowers

    Fall officially started on September 23rd. This is one of my favorite seasons because it’s still warm and sunny during the day and then there is a pleasant cool down in the evenings. I still get to enjoy the summer vegetables of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumber. But I also can safely start my winter…

  • Guerrilla Gardening Strikes Again

    It appears the Guerrilla Gardener has struck again. The last time he planted a big pumpkin vine in the back parking lot. No one in the office has taken credit for the work. The pumpkins have since been harvested. But recently I discovered another project of his. There are now two tall corn stalks in…

  • Battle for the Tomatoes

    The tomatoes were finally starting to kick into full production. Heirloom tomatoes were nice and plump and I was just waiting for them to turn their beautiful red color. Only to check on them one morning and find them half eaten. Then they started to disappear altogether. Was it dog, bird, horn worm, or something…

  • New Dahlias

    I had bought this Dahlias bulb last winter at the Grocery Outlet. Like their food the plants and bulbs are cheap but have a questionable life span. This is the start of one of it’s first flowers. I just love the contrasting purple and white.

  • UPDATE: Lemon Cucumber

    Thanks to everyone who offered advice on my lemon cucumber. I decided to pick the lemon cucumber Sunday. It was still green but it had just started to turn yellow. The little thorns brushed off with ease. We peeled it, sliced it, and put it in a tomato salad. It tasted very similar to a…

  • Gardeners Challenge Summer Winner’s Addition

    Despite the odd fluctuating weather patterns, we have had success with the majority of our vegetables. I think I attribute a lot of our good luck to a good irrigation system, no pesticides, and the discovery of worm castings as fertilizer. We created a drip irrigation system which runs on a timer which allows for…

  • Gardeners Challenge the Fail Addition

    It’s almost September and I am going to give an update on my progress with this year’s gardeners challenge. I am going to talk about what didn’t work and then post separately what crops have been successful. Herbs were a big disappointment this year. I think they didn’t like the hot weather temperatures or I…

  • Tomatoes and Basil

    Here are my latest tomatoes, it’s the first of the Purple Cherokee from the seeds given to me by my fellow gardner at Seeded. I tried my first one last night it was divine. The plant itself has been growing great and has lots of fruit on it. It’s not having the problems that Brandywine…

  • Garlic and Onions First Time Experiment

    As summer is starting to wind down and fall is approaching my mind is on what I want to plant next year. I’m definitely going to be planting garlic and onions after this years experiment. Along with Spinach and lettuce. Last summer I was strolling through a store where they were selling planting garlic. I…

  • Yummy Thai Fried Rice Recipe

    I’ve been using the Genovese, Large-Leaf sweet and Purple Basil all summer, but last night was the first time I was able to use the Thai Basil. It’s been some what of a challenge as it was very slow to start growing and filling out. Only one of resulting Thai basil plants is big enough…