Prepping For Spring

The last day of January!!!! 

 

 A wake up call to gardeners......Spring is just around the corner!!!

 

 Get yourself in gear!!!!

 

It is way too early to plant summer veggies, but it is time to get your soil prepared.  I prepped three of my vegetable beds back in the fall and have been growing cool weather plants in them, but this week I prepared the rest of the veggie beds. (And wasn't it wonderful to have this glorious, unexpected warm weather to work outside.)

 

 

I removed the pine straw and tilled in ammonium sulfate and potash.  I also added a little cotton seed meal.  These beds will be ready for spring transplants in late March.  My neighbor is much more organized than I; all of his beds have been prepped since early fall.

 

James and I have been eating kale and spinach salads from the garden all winter and have pretty much over harvested those plants, so I planted more spinach (from seed) and kale (transplants) to carry us through springtime.

 

It is also time to plant Irish potatoes. I've always heard that you plant them on Valentine's Day, but the LSU AgCenter says you can plant them from January 20 through February 28.  One of their recommended varieties is Norland Reds which we find at Lowes every year.

 

By the way, the AgCenter website has the Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide that lists planting times, recommended varieties, and everything else you could possibly need to know about planting vegetables.

 

 

In spite of all the tilling and prepping going on in gardens this time of year, it won't be time to transplant many warm weather vegetables and flowers into the garden until the threat of late frost is past, after mid-March.  In the meantime, seeds are a gardener's late winter obsession.

 

I shared this obsession with the gardening girls at the junior high.  They were excited to hear that we were going "shopping" and loved pouring over the catalogs choosing the plants we will now try to germinate in the school greenhouse.

 

I emphasize the word "try" because I am a novice at starting plants from seeds. I have experimented a few times at home with disastrous results, but this year I have the guidance of the Master Gardeners!  They have a huge plant sale in the spring and met two weeks ago to start germinating seeds in the Louisiana Tech greenhouses.

 

 

I thought starting seeds would be fairly easy - dig a little hole, stick in a seed, water, grow!  Through the MGs, I have learned that there is so much more to it!!  Some seeds need light to germinate and aren't covered with any soil.  Some seeds require partial coverage, while others must be completely covered. (A bit of Internet research can get you this information for the plants you want to grow.) And you don't use soil at all; you use a potting mix formulated just for germination as the base of your seeds and do the covering with vermiculite.

 

Working with Louisiana Tech gives the Master Gardeners the ability to use their misting room where the seeds are treated to the perfect amount of moisture and heat, but our "propagation leader" says she used simple containers to start her seeds at home...
 

 

I know!  I was so inspired!  She said that she pokes holes in the top and bottom and then puts these "mini-greenhouses" in a sunny spot. I can't wait to try some! I ordered some Profusion series zinnia seeds that I will be experimenting with. The seedlings are transplanted when they have their first true leaves, but I will have to work in the greenhouses with the Master Gardeners before I can pass that information on to you! 

Love ya'll,
Shelli (The Seed Novice)

 

In every gardener there is a child who believes in The Seed Fairy. ~Robert Brault,

 

 

 

Fenced In and Out

Remember when your new baby learned to crawl and for the first time when you left a room she might not be exactly where you put her when you returned?  Well that's how it was when the Garden Friendly Dogs started to roam.  As puppies they were quite content to stay on the porch, but soon were old enough to play out in the yard without us around.  That meant it was time for a fence.

We wanted an invisible underground fence, but they were too young to be trained to it.  So we put up the Ody fence.  Ody is our daughter's dog and when he came to visit us the first time, James and I made a temporary fence that gave him lots of room to play.  We made it out of metal stakes and that orange plastic netting you often see around construction sites.  It was easy to put up and take down.

So the Ody fence was put into good use while the puppies were getting old enough to train.  Meanwhile we had a representative from Invisible Fence come out to the house and give us an estimate.  We didn't want to take in the whole two acres as that would give Fred and Ethel access to the garden and the areas where all of my daffodils are planted, so instead we wanted to include a little less than one acre.  We were totally shocked when the man told us the cost would be $2500. Holy smoke!!!

After doing a little research, we found out that all underground dog fencing is made by the same company, PetSafe, and they offer a self installation option for only $500.  What a difference!!   We bought ours at Lowes.  Online reviews suggested 14 gauge wire instead of the wire included in the package and we used orange flag stakes that we also bought at Lowes instead of the white ones that came with the system.

It took us an entire Saturday to install, but it was very easy to do.  The training guide was very easy to follow and now, two weeks later, Fred and Ethel have a healthy respect for the "static correction zone " and are enjoying roaming their new territory.

However, being garden friendly dogs, measures had to be taken to keep them IN the yard, but  OUT of the flowerbeds.  So James, who is a saint, spent this Saturday installing a long term temporary picket fence around the main flower beds at the back of the house.  The GFDs had already dug up some of the roots around the sweet bay magnolia and standard gardenia. In a couple of months all the day lilies will be coming up and the hydrangeas will be blooming, so it was time to pitch them out of those areas. It is not the most attractive solution, but I am hoping that if they grow up unable to get in these beds, then these areas won't even register on their radars in future years.  We'll see! 

In the mean time, they are happier dogs and we are happier owners.

                                                                                                                   Love ya'll,
                                                                                                                              Shelli

 

Properly trained, a man can be dog's best friend. ~Corey Ford

I Catch 'em, God Cleans 'em

We are lucky to have a wonderful singing group called Cornerstone in our church.  They are a quintet of older men with great harmony.  Yesterday they sang a song that I got a kick out of entitled "I Catch 'em, God Cleans 'em". I can't find out who wrote the song, but the Gaithers have several videos of it on youtube.  Here are the lyrics:



I was driving around down south Louisiana
Stopped in a town called Galliano
I saw a sign on a church that said, "Fish fry tonight"

A little old Cajun preacher was preachin'
Reminded me of an old camp meeting
It brought Saint Matthew 4:19 to life

He said, "I catch 'em, God cleans 'em
I bait the hook with the love of the Kingdom
I've been called to be a fisher of men"

"I catch 'em, God cleans 'em
Heaven knows He saves every soul that believes Him
I reel 'em in and He washes away their sin"

Yeah, it didn't take long for Him to catch my attention
He was long on grace and short on religion
He said a prayer and that was all that she wrote

He said, "Amen!", and God as my witness
I fell in that big ole net of forgiveness
And before I knew it we were all in the same boat

He said, "I catch 'em, God cleans 'em
I bait the hook with the love of the Kingdom
I've been called to be a fisher of men"

"I catch 'em, God cleans 'em
Heaven knows He saves every soul that believes Him
I reel 'em in and He washes away their sin"

Social Envy and The Fear of Missing Out

I have mixed feelings about social media. 

Recently studies like the one by the University of Michigan in August, 2014 state, "the more people use Facebook, the worse they feel about their own lives."  Terms such as "social envy",  fomo (fear of missing out), and "envy spiral" have arisen, and "social comparison" is the new term for "keeping up with the Jones".

Of course most of the anxiety from social comparison occurs because of the online embellishment of the truth. People polish themselves up or even recreate themselves online. 

So here I am writing this blog where I, too, could polish myself up or even recreate myself, and herein lies the crux of this post........

 I desperately don't want to be a part of this "social comparison" environment!  I don't want to come off as braggy about my life.  I write about my family, garden, dogs, feelings, and experiences because I am so grateful for the life God has given me. However, today it is important  to "unpolish" myself and admit some unenviable truths, so here goes.......

I am twenty pounds over weight.
I have the self discipline of a gnat.
I am addicted to Cheez-Its and have a box hidden in my bedside table.
I drive my husband crazy sometimes.
I am not a great cook.
My refrigerator needs a good cleaning and my oven is worse.
Bugs are eating the spinach in my garden.
The Garden Friendly Dogs need a bath.
The persimmon beer we brewed this fall is AWFUL and my muscadine jelly is cloudy.
I am afraid the seeds I recently planted with the Master Gardeners won't sprout and I will be kicked out of the group.
Some of my art work looks like a child did it.
I've never owned anything from Victoria's Secret.
If I didn't color my hair, I'd be completely gray.
I can't keep a secret.
I spent $50 on yarn for an afghan that I have never crocheted.

AND.......

I have popcorn ceilings!!!!!!

Now, no envy spiral from this blog!!!

I guess the ultimate goal is contentment and self-confidence so that social media doesn't stir in you feelings of anxiety, but sometimes that is easier said than done. However remembering that everything we have comes from the abundant grace of God should keep things in perspective as the words to the song say, "For nothing good have I where-by Thy grace to claim".

So here's to each of our lives - the gratefulness we have for them, the joy we find in them, and our efforts to "keep them real"!!

                                                                                            Love ya'll,
                                                                                                     Shelli



To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. ~e.e. cummings, 1955

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. ~Steve Jobs

If God had wanted me otherwise, He would have created me otherwise. ~Johann von Goethe

Rabbi Zusya said that on the Day of Judgment, God would ask him, not why he had not been Moses, but why he had not been Zusya. ~Walter Kaufmann

***update: 3/5/15  I just reactivated my Facebook account. Booooo!!!  I didn't want to, but needed to be able to communicate through Facebook with our Master Gardener Group.  Will see how it goes.....







                                                

The Bottle Show (part 2)

Well, we went to the Bottle Show and had a really nice day. 

There were bottles galore!!!

 

 

James read an article about bottle enthusiasts digging antique bottles up out of old privies. Apparently the outhouse also doubled as trash can.  These folks use old maps to located homesteads old enough to have privies and then use a bottle probe to poke around behind the location of the home looking for the outhouse.  The bottle probe is a sturdy wire with a handle that together form the shape of a T.  The probe is long and can reach 6 feet into the soil.  When the probe is pulled up from the soil, the material stuck to the tip is evaluated.  If the material is clay, then more probing is needed, but if the material is ash, then it might be time to dig.  Experienced privy diggers can also distinguish between the sound the probe makes when it hits a rock compared to the sound it makes when it hits glass.

I don't want to start digging in privies, but I can see how the hunt could be an exciting hobby.

 

There were plenty of soda bottles too!

 

My favorite bottles each year are the cathedral pickle bottles, or know by their correct name as Willington Cathedral Pickle Jars. They are from the mid 1800's with sides shaped like cathedral windows and they did hold pickles. The aqua ones are the most common, yellow and green are more rare, and amber ones are the rarest of all.  The jars in this picture were selling for $250. (I am just a pickle bottle admirer, not owner!)

 I didn't realize that the official name of the show was......

Our friend Jimmy Morris was there.  He and my husband have been friends a long time.  James worked several auctions for Jimmy back in the day.  Jimmy likes to say that he got started by making money off of James by buying "little toy cars at garage sales for $1 and then selling them to James for $10".  James doesn't mind the telling of this story because he always adds that he would "turn around and sell those little cars for $100".

Anyway, Jimmy has moved on from garage sales and auctions to selling antique advertising signs.  He's also moved on from $1 items to the big time.  The Mountain Dew sign below is from 1965 and was priced at $2400.  Needless to say, it didn't go home with us!

 

There were other vendors selling antique odds and ends. I was able to get both my mom's and sister's birthday gifts.

 

After leaving the bottle show, we made our way to  the Mayflower Cafe', only to find out that it didn't open until 4:30.  It did have an iconic "feel" though and we will try again in the future.

 

 

We opted instead for the Iron Horse Grill.  The food was good, but the dessert was really yummy!

 

Chocolate brownie a la mode with candied bacon covered with a bourbon caramel sauce and topped with a piece of bacon brittle

It was an all around yummy day!!! In the end we did come home with one inexpensive advertising sign and I bet you can see why we chose this one....

 

 

 

Love ya'll, Shelli

Wise Gardening Practices

4th annual gardening seminar presented by

North Central Louisiana Master Gardeners and

Louisiana Tech University Department of Agricultural Sciences

WISE GARDENING PRACTICES

Principles for Easier Gardening

Saturday, February 7, 2015

8:30 am – 12:30 pm

$15 at the door

registration begins at 8:00 am

Lomax Hall, LA Tech University

HOME LANDSCAPING: RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE

Greg Grant, award-winning author

and prolific introducer of successful plants for Southern gardens

 

 

CHOOSING ANNUAL COLOR EFFECTIVELY

Frances Davidson, horticulturist at Biedenharn Museum

 

PLANNING FOR YOUR LOW MAINTENANCE GARDEN

Dan Gill, Author and LSU Ag Center professor

 

For more information, email NCLAMastergardeners@yahoo.com

 

 

Dog Treats

I've been baking homemade treats for Fred and Ethel.

 

 

 There I've said it! 

When my sister, Jamie, heard this, her exact words were, "You're what?!!?!! I don't even know who you are anymore and I am not sure we can even be friends!!!"

My Dad, son of Dovie Wiggins who I talked about in an earlier post, probably thinks I've lost my mind too.  The only thing Grandma Wig would have baked for a dog is a "bitter pill" and if you don't know what that is then you need to see the play "Greater Tuna".

The fact that I am baking dog treats has more to do with being retired than being a "rabid" pet owner.  (Ha!)  The very best thing about being retired is that your pace of life slows down and you have time to do stuff like bake dog treats.

Anyway, for my readers who have dogs and want to give this a try no matter what their family members say about them, here is the recipe:

Homemade Dog Treats

 

2 jars baby food (Fred and Ethel especially like banana)

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup flour

 

Stir all ingredients into a dough.  Drop in 1 inch mounds onto greased cookie sheet.  Use finger to make a depression into each mound. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Fill each depression with peanut butter or cheese.

 

** When I use fruit flavored baby food, I fill the depression with peanut butter.  When I use meat flavored baby food, I fill the depression with cheese.  Gourmet!!

 

 

Love ya'll,

Shelli

The Bottle Show

We're headed to Jackson, Mississippi for the annual Bottle Show.  The emphasis is on antique bottles of every kind, but that isn't all!  There will be antique advertising signs and a huge variety of smalls.

When I took down the Christmas decorations, I decorated the mantle with bottles in anticipation of our trip to Jackson.

James loves bottles.  His collection of old soda bottles is out in the hot house. I think he got interested in soda bottles when he was working for Royal Crown Cola plant owned and operated by Roger Wilson in Many. He worked there the summer of  his senior year in high school.  He delivered RCs to little stores and gas stations in the area.

I inherited two old cello bottles from my aunt, Hittie. She had them in her kitchen and usually had a sprig of ivy growing in them. I like bottles, but mainly for their color.  The unusual bottle on the left with the deep turquoise color is a reproduction Persian flask bottle.  The real, old ones were tied in pairs with strips of rawhide and then thrown over a camel's back to transport stuff via caravan.

 James read an article online about the iconic restaurants in each state of the United States.  Mississippi's is the Mayflower Cafe' in Jackson, so we are going to check it out while we are there.  We will also drop by the Old House Depot, an architectural salvage business, in pursuit of a cool screen door for the new chicken coop my dad and I are building when the weather warms up.

I'll bring back some pictures and a review of the Mayflower Cafe'.  Until then.....

                                                                                                                                Shelli

What's That.....The Sun?!

 

Look at what was in our backyard this morning!!!

 

Thank goodness!!

 

A Day of Sunshine

>> Henry Wadsworth Longfellow <<

 

O GIFT of God! O perfect day :
Whereon shall no man work, but play ;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!
Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost too much.

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies ;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where through a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon.

Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,
Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,
Whose steep sierra far uplifts
Its craggy summits white with drifts.

Blow, winds ! and waft through all the rooms
The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms !
Blow, winds ! and bend within my reach
The fiery blossoms of the peach !

O Life and Love ! O happy throng
Of thoughts, whose only speech is song !
O heart of man ! canst thou not be
Blithe as the air is, and as free ?

 

 

 

Ferns

My front porch always looks empty this time of year.  The Christmas decorations are back in the attic and my snowman conveys the feelings of the entire neighborhood, 'It's too cold to do anything; just stay inside!!!!'. 

Adding to the starkness of the porch are the empty urns that usually hold pretty ferns in the spring and summer.  In about eight weeks it will be time for our jet streams to return to their spring patterns, leaving Arctic temperatures up there where they belong and we will be able to liven up our porches once again.

During the North Central Master Gardener's January meeting we enjoyed a presentation entitled "Frond Feelings For Ferns".  It was very informative and has gotten me interested in trying different varieties this year.  Here are some quick notes from the presentation with pictures from www.casaflora.com, a great source for ferns.

Boston Fern:  

 traditional porch fern

  part or indirect sun

evenly moist soil

      will not survive freezing temps.

 

 

 

 

Macho Fern:

    grows 3 - 6 feet in height and diameter

    part or indirect shade (will tolerate more sun that a Boston)

     regular deep watering (let dry slightly in between waterings)

     will not tolerate freezing temps.

 

 

 

 

 

Fluffy Ruffle:

   loved for it's compact growth habit

       do not water from above, water by soaking it's container

 will "burn" in too much sun

will not tolerate freezing temps.

 

 

 

 

Maidenhair:   

 perennial

    indirect or dappled sun

      does well in container or the garden

       mulch crown if overwintering in the garden

 

 

 

Kimberly Queen: 

 perennial

      a "workhorse" for the garden bed or container

      upright fronds over 2' high

          likes full to part shade, but can tolerate a fair amount of sun

        likes even watering, but is more drought tolerant than other ferns

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese Painted Fern:

perennial

    reaches height of 30"

adds color with silver/purple edges of fronds

   full to part shade

 

 

 

 

Autumn Brilliance Wood Fern: 

 evergreen perennial

great for adding color to the garden

   part to full shade

  grows 2' wide and tall

      tolerant of heat, cold, and less than perfect soil

 

 

 

 

Asparagus Fern: 

not really a fern, member of the asparagus family

full to part sun

 tolerates heat and drought

 great in pots or in the ground

 

 

 

 

Foxtail Fern:

same characteristics as the asparagus fern

Ferns can be grown in your flower beds as well as pots. Just remember that only the perennial ones will make it through the winter!

    Looking forward to warmer weather and prettier porches,

                                                                                                   Shelli

The Realization Sinks In

Fred and Ethel, the garden friendly dogs, are now fourteen weeks old and the realization of owning two big dogs is sinking in!!

On their second trip to the vet (which was only three weeks from their first visit), Fred had grown in size from about 9 lbs. to 17 lbs. while Ethel had gone from 8 lbs. to 14lbs.  The vet said he expected them to be 60 - 70 lbs. at their adult weight.  Holy cow!!! That's way bigger than their mama! They have outgrown two collars and three beds.
 

Their sweet puppy antics have turned into bad teenager shenanigans....

like digging up flower beds...

and getting into places they shouldn't be!

 There is a hole around every tree in our yard.

 

As you know, I am reading books by Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer, for guidance on raising garden friendly dogs.  He says that puppies get into trouble when they get bored so I have been diligent about changing chew toys on a rotating basis and making them more "jungle gyms" to ward off their boredom.

Since we don't want to break the bank buying chew toys, we use lots of things from around the house and they love them just as well as store bought toys.

Homemade jungle gyms are easy too.

 

The orange thing in the background is our temporary dog fence.  We will install an underground fence soon.

As far as the digging goes, any area they dig up in a flower bed is immediately forgotten by them once I recover it with pine straw.  The holes at the base of the pine trees aren't very deep so I'm just ignoring them, however they recently started on a few random holes out in the middle of the lawn, and well, that just can't be!! 

Ironically the shape of the holes they dug perfectlynmatched my emotion upon seeing them!!

Now Cesar says that you should buy a child's wading pool and fill it with sand.  Then bury a toy in the sand and let the dogs dig for it.  Next, take the same toy and bury it in an "off limits" area.  When the dogs start to dig for it, stop them and walk them back to the wading pool.  Supposedly, they will learn that there is only one place they are allowed to dig and I'm sure they would , but.....

 .......there are a few problems with this method here at Turkey Creek Garden.  First, there are no wading pools in the stores in January and by the time there are, my yard will be as pitted as the surface of the Moon.  Second, I don't really want a wading pool sitting in my yard year round. So I have decided that when the Cesar Milan method doesn't fit our needs, we are going to go with the other dog whisperer I know, my grandmother, Dovie Wiggins.

 I can actually hear Grandma Wig's voice in my mind. After a good laugh she would say, "Shelli Lynn, those are just dogs.  A swimming pool!! I have never heard of such a thing in all my days! What you need is some red pepper!! Just a little in each hole and they won't come back!"

She was right!!  I hated to do it and spent time on the Internet making sure there were no dangers. In the end I tried it out.  After a couple of sneezes and a lot of barking at the betrayal of their former fun places to dig, they haven't returned to digging in the old holes.   Every now and then I see them stick their noses into the holes, but they always walk away and as of yet, (knock on wood), no new holes have been started.

So for now, all is well with the garden friendly dogs and I have to say that I love them with all my heart!!

                                                                                   Love ya'll too, Shelli   

Collard Greens and Black-eyed Pea Soup for a Cold Winter Day

It's COLD up here in North Louisiana!!! Our low was 15 degrees yesterday and we aren't expected to have a day time temperature higher than 50 degrees for the next seven days!! That kind of weather calls for a big, hot pot of soup and since I had to harvest collard greens before the extreme low temperatures Wednesday night, I searched for a recipe that used them.

I found this recipe at www.eatingwell.com :

Collar Greens and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Makes: 6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each
Active Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes          

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, (4 sliced and 1 whole), divided
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
• 4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 5 cups chopped collard greens, or kale leaves (about 1 bunch), tough stems removed
• 1 15-ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed
• 6 1/2-inch-thick slices baguette, preferably whole-grain, cut on the diagonal
• 6 tablespoons shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
• 2 slices cooked bacon, finely chopped

 

***I used Swanson's new flavored chicken broth - the Cajun one.
      I also added one pound of bulk turkey sausage

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, until just tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Add sliced garlic, thyme and crushed red pepper and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Increase heat to high and add broth, tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in collard greens (or kale), reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig. Stir in black-eyed peas; remove from the heat and cover.
2. Position rack in upper third of oven; preheat broiler.
3. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet and broil until lightly toasted, 2 to 4 minutes. Rub each bread slice with the remaining garlic clove. (Discard garlic.) Turn the slices over and top with cheese. Broil until the cheese is melted, 1 to 3 minutes. Serve the soup topped with the cheese toasts and bacon.

Nutrition

Per serving: 192 calories; 6 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono); 13 mg cholesterol; 23 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 12 g protein; 5 g fiber; 518 mg sodium; 253 mg potassium

James and I didn't get to enjoy the baguette with cheese and bacon, as we are trying to slim down before Katherine's wedding.  I didn't even tell him it was a possibility :)

                                                                                                              Enjoy,
                                                                                                                   Shelli