Showing posts with label cucumbers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cucumbers. Show all posts

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The Cucumber Experiment part 2... Pickles and More!

The cucumbers planted in the ground have made a mockery of the cucumbers in a container.  In all fairness the chickens have really fertilized that area.
The carrots, cantaloupe and herbs are doing well in this area too.

Since I have cucumbers coming out of my ears I decided to make pickles.  My dill I planted in a container is not well so I made Bread & Butter pickles.  I thought the recipe I was using was for "Refrigerator" pickles. I looked at so many different recipes. Well it wasn't. I'm going to let them set for a day before I try them. I hope they're good!

I also planted some radish seeds today, so in about 5 weeks I'll have radishes.

I didn't plant any beans this year but Mom did. She gave me a bunch of them. I blanched most them and froze 'em. The rest we'll have with dinner tonight.

Crazy Cucumber Plant
Mmmm...pickles
Tri colored beans. The purple ones turned bright green when cooked
Started radishes today

Monday, May 26, 2014

Not So Green Thumb Gardening

Straw bale gardening worked well for me last year so I figured I'd do it again. I also planted in containers & in the ground.

I use straw bales in the winter to help insulate & block wind around my chicken coops. While the bales are in the runs the chickens sit on them & poop, this helps to fertilize & break down the bales. 

I just make a little hole add I bit of dirt and put the plant in.  I really like using the bales because there are hardly any weeds.  It is also a good hight for me to kneel at without hurting my back.

In the bales I planted tomatoes, brussel sprouts, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, jalapeƱos, bell peppers & a mystery veggie - I don't know how I ended up with it but it was in my cart & I bought it. 

Everything is growing well even though it snowed last week.   I did have some bugs munching on the brussel sprouts so I made a mixture of garlic, cayenne pepper & water to spray on the plants. That seemed to do the trick. 

I also planted potatoes in a bag.  As the greens grow I'll add more dirt.  I've never tried to grow potatoes. I hope they do well.

This is the 2nd year trying onions. They didn't do so well last year, they just didn't grow very big. I have them in a container again, we'll see what happens. 


I have some "Bush Cucumbers" in a container & in the ground.  The first cucumber plants I got didn't survive the May snow :-/

Last year I bought a hanging container that had beans in it. I reused it this year and put peas in it.

I also planted sweet corn, can't wait for that :)

My raspberries look like the have tripled from last year.  I wonder it I'll get enough to make jam?

My walmart peach tree looks like its growing well, not sure how mature it needs to be before it starts producing peaches though.

Potatoes in a bag
I had to put tomato cages around the corn so the chickens wouldn't stomp on it.