The Battle of Planting Saga Continues

Youngest and I spent about an hour on the porch Fri. night waiting on Hubby to arrive home.  We read books and watched all the motorcycles go by (Bike Week). Hubby had good intentions to till, but it didn't happen.  Again.

We also watched about 7 deer come out of the woods across the street.  One doe and a lot of young bucks.

I got two more tomato plants in the tomato garden Saturday morning - making the total up to 70 plants so far.  I also put down 453# of mulch down in the flower beds, but need more.  By 11am, they downgraded the storm, and had only 45% of rain.  

I've been asked, "what do you do with all of them?"

Tomato sauce
Pizza sauce
BBQ sauce
Ketchup
Taco Sauce
Tomato soup
Tomato paste
Crushed tomatoes
Frozen tomatoes
Dehydrated tomatoes (soups, crackers etc.)
Salsa
Green tomato salsa
Green tomato chutney
Fresh tomatoes to eat
Baked stuffed tomatoes for dinner
...there's probably a lot I'm forgetting too.

I had mulch to dump in the flower beds, because the tilling was not yet done.  We really need a new one, 'cause it's older and tricky to run, so Hubby does it vs. me.  Anyway, the mulch that I had was put in the beds.  To get him to till, with his work schedule and the rain, it's been a HUGE battle to plant the garden.  I'm doing it on my own this year.  I do plan to call out to the kids for help, and those who do will get fed well.  Hubby is tilling, I'm planting.  And it's not a small garden.

I have over 54 jalapenos and over 54 green bell pepper plants waiting to be planted.  Of course the rest of the garden too.

Why so many jalapenos?
-cowboy candy (takes a lot to make)
-frozen jalapenos
-salsa
-fire powder (dehydrated hot peppers)
-hot pepper relish

Speaking of hot pepper relish, not one of my hot banana pepper seeds sprouted that I saved last year.  I will be searching for them in produce stands this summer.

Why so many bell peppers?
I have great intentions to get some stuffed bell peppers in the freezer, some diced and sliced for freezing, and I need some for salsa and other recipes and canning recipes.  It's great for dipping fresh into hummus too.

However....rain arrived.  Storms, and lots of rain.  I left the last year's black plastic out in the veggie garden in, in hopes it would help keep those rows dry.  Right now there is a chance for tilling and planting, but no motorcycle ride to bike week events.  Rain all day in that city, but off and on here.  I guess we'll see.

Oh, and Hubby has mentioned his work schedule of working 6 - 10 hour days will continue for a few more weeks or more.  Yeah, I'm cringing.

Homesteader Homemaker Happenings

(old photo, but this one is back in it's home for the garden season)

First, welcome to my new followers.  I hope you are enjoying my blog, where posts are reality (the good and the bad), and photos are never staged.

Good Golly!  We are so low on our stock of greens.  I may have to buy some until my seeds are planted.  Don't want to, but we need our greens.

Thursday night my "till man" was too tired to till.  Shoot.  Couldn't plant the potatoes and popcorn.  Dang it.  He was too tired to weed whack my raised beds.  Couldn't plant my greens.  Dang it.

However, I tended to the herb garden and worked outside for 3 early hours, starting at 7am.  Daughter had a friend over, and all the kids slept in while I worked.  Even Jesse was caught snoring.

I thinned my over grown lemon balm.  Got my rosemary, basil, parsley and cilantro planted.  I'm not replanting lavender.  It is so tricky to start from seed and the stuff in stores is not the real deal.

My chives are already going to seed.  Oh my.  So are a few of my green onions, which had hoped for.  My chives are looking much better this year, so I may make chive oil for cooking.

I planted the very last 4 flowers in the flower bed.  Got out my solar garden light, flipped one rain barrel, and remembered to fill it with enough water to avoid the wind knocking it down. 

I showered and had hoped to put bedding on the line, but it seriously looked like rain.  I did, and it dried thankfully (even though we got sprinkles).

I filled the dehydrator with lemon balm, and my kitchen smelled so good.  I'd have also made a tincture but I didn't have any vodka on hand.  I'll just wait for the over flow of lemon balm later this summer and make it then I guess.

I decided to go to town for two garden hoses I very much needed.  The boys cut my hose in half when they plowed over winter (never got to putting it away for winter - my bad).  One hose was just a hot mess - end broken off.  Hubby "MacGyvered" it, and it just kept causing me trouble.