Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Mulch Ado About Nothin'

I'm still having fun in the garden, but boy is it work! There's a tree that drops all kinds of stuff all over the garden and I've yet to go get one of those screen-dome things. I actually don't mind getting out there and picking the stuff up. Petals and buds and ... wha ... what is THAT?! ARE THOSE WEEDS????!!!!?!!!? Yes, after all that turning and turning of soil little teeny weeds started to sprout. So, to the mulching I went. Here's some of the progress ...


Sadly, the carrots, scallions, cucumbers and watermelon died on me :-(. Well, really the carrots are my fault. I didn't do enough research and I really needed to treat the earth differently for those. In their place I planted some fennel. Then, in place of the scallions I dropped yellow onion bulbs because the red onions are really growing well. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the cuke patch and in place of the watermelon ... more onions! I use them plenty so, If my green thumb pans out ... I'll have some homegrown trinity soon .. well minus the celery and bell pepper. :-P Here's a flick of the new fennel plot ...


Boring? I questioned myself before uploading it. Teeheehee ... ahh, ok. The green sprouts on the right are the radish rows. Gotta thin those out soon . So then, forgot to fess up, the tomatoes weren't lookin' like they were going to sprout up and the decision was made to get some starter plants and do it like that. Here's the new batch ...

The pot said they'll be ready to pick in 50 days ... we'll see. If you get out a magnifying glass you may catch the beginnings of the broccoli.
All this past week all I was doing was gardening and developing recipes when out of the blue I get an email, I've been invited to make a second appearance on The Rachael Ray show! Last time was so much fun and I can't wait to give you some behind the scenes stuff. I am just totally excited about being asked to come back and look forward to it. It's another panel discussion just like the Thanksgiving show and wait'll you see the lineup of the panel this time! I Can't wait to share ... btw, we tape tomorrow, but it airs at a later date. Stick around for that and my new fave place to eat ... I found it by trying to give back a bit.

10 comments:

Lisa said...

Great to see the progress! Too bad about the carrots. :( I'm getting ready for tomato plants here... mmm fresh tomatoes.

Fingers crossed on your garden :)

t2ed said...

Pictures of dirt never get old.

Okay, best prank you can pull.

Go buy real, live market vegetables. Plant them. Take a friend out to "check" your new garden. Dig up the vegetables and act amazed.

See how many of your friends fall for this. You'd be surprised.

Lys said...

Sounds like your garden plan is in place :)

RR Show again - oh boy - can't wait!

Sunny Anderson said...

Claudia, I'll email ya soon ... i didn't post your comment because it had your personal email in it. how bout this for a small world??? i used to live there!!! then we moved to boiling springs and i went to middle school in mechanicsberg!! thanks for reaching out!

mise en place, i know ... teardrop for the carrots. i feel wack. the broccoli are really making me proud though, along with the other progress i'm ok with a few garden deaths on my first go 'round ... ahem , i was just talkin about you today ... a rray producer loves the phrase mis en place, i was like my online buddy has it as a handle!

t2ed, funny and i am just the person that would do that ... but i would do it with something that is wrong, like i'd pull some kiwi out of the ground or have cukes stickin half out and half in ... some ppl really don't know how food originates. it's why i really liked doing how'd that get on my plate? ... i'll let you know if i pull the prank at my house/garden warming party

Sunny Anderson said...

lys, girrrrrrrrrrrl ... i was too excited! just got back and i'm gonna throw some flicks up

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see more of this garden. Score on the 2nd RR appearance!

Margaret said...

Good job being persistent with the gardening...this is the 3rd year in a row that we planted strawberries, an. Invasion of the cattepillars last year put an end to our herb garden, but we'll try again.

Sunny Anderson said...

duodishes.com, same here ... i think about it so many times throughout the day, had no idea it would take up so much brain space teeheehee. hope you like the rr post i just put up and the twitter joke within

margaret, thanks. it was a letdown on the ones that didn't survive. I'm powering through, though. really want the fennel to sprout! way to go yourself on the persistance! hope you can keep the caterpillars away this year!

sleepybelly said...

Oh my goodness! Kudos on the garden! It’s so awesome and empowering to grow your own food. I came from a family of green thumbs and it never really blossomed so to speak, for me until I became a full blown foodie. I started an herb garden last on my porch last year and got the fever. I seemed to have focused most of my fruit/vegetables on 30 heirloom tomato plants that have sprouted successfully. Unfortunately there is no room for them all here and many of them will just have to be tossed. I am sorry about your little guys. I wish I could have given you some– but I believe in the power of technology – seedlings will soon be faxable (e-plant?).

Keep us in the loop on the journey of those tomatoes. I am daydreaming about that quintessential caprese salad on a picturesque Summer afternoon -

Ooo – I just picked up some rue from the local nursery – I rubbed the leaves between my fingers and nearly yelped with joy – the plant smells like the most perfect Thai curry. I can’t wait to play around with it.

Its funny how quickly a garden can become like several little children - I can’t help but coddle my little arugula sprouts and chart daily progress. I am so excited to see the progress on your little guys – keep ‘em coming! Onions are hard from what I have heard (for my climate… desert ehhhh). Your soil looks absolutely fantastic tho! Super rich and earthy! I am sure they’ll do great.

Also - Love the signage you got goin’ on – super cute – beats the gentile creased khakis off the immaculate “gardener” any day of the week. I am glad that you brought up that image – cause it’s totally legit. I don’t really fit that mold either really – I am young, brown, and clumsy. I attempted to quash the unachievable “pristine” gardener image in quasi Cortney Love-esque fashion - a no holds barred, borderline ritualistic, mud bath. (My man sometimes cringes at me – sitting in the earth and tracking in a lot more filth than I really need to be.) I don’t know if it really accomplished much – but having dirt in your fingernails wins you cool points at the nursery…

Here’s to a great growing season and happy cooking!

Sunny Anderson said...

sleepybelly, thanks! we are working hard on the garden and enjoying the results so far, can't wait to update you! welcome to the blog and thanks so much for the support!