THAT'S SHOW BIZ! & THE FARMER IN THE DELL. . .

The Central East Texas Orchid Society hosted their first show to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a society. Two of their members are also members of our society and come very faithfully to our meetings. They made poignant pleas at our meetings for people to set up displays. So in the spirit of charity I finally entered a reservation to do a table top display in the category of five plants or fewer. I knew I would have two blooming plants that I could take, and if a third one didn't emerge I could buy one from a vendor at the show and have three.

The theme of the show was The Golden Age of Orchids. My goal was to have something elegant, tasteful, and celebratory. Then at one of the estate sales I found a slightly damaged pedestal for $2.00, and I knew I was on my way. I found another pedestal of a different height---perfect---at GoodWill; $4.00. Yeah! But then I needed a taller one and finally had to go to Hobby Lobby where I purchased one for $13.00. Oooops! (Production costs are always more than one anticipates.) I also had to make a backdrop for the table top; I already had the table cover and the clip on lights (another estate sale find which I'd been saving for just such an occasion).

You have to understand that I purchased my car almost eight yrs. ago just as a vehicle for me and before I became involved with orchids. Most of the orchid growers I know buy SUV's or vans for their orchids. Many have a second car just for themselves, but I'm not in that financial strata; besides I wouldn't have anywhere to park a second vehicle. My point is that I couldn't do a big display even if I had numerous plants blooming because I couldn't transport the plants, all the paraphernalia for a display, plus my clothes for a weekend in my car. Work with what you've got!

WELL! Two of my three plants won 3rd place ribbons, and get this, one of them won Best Grown Plant in the Cypripedium Alliance. WooHoo!!! That is the center plant in the picture, Paphiopedilum Natasha von Fox (I'm so jealous of that name), and there is a ribbon running down to the "trophy" which is actually a crystal salad plate with etched orchid pattern around the edge. Here's how the display looked.



I was really going for Best Display with 5 or Fewer plants, but, obviously, that didn't happen. Here's the one that beat me out, and there was only one other display out of 14 table tops in that category.



She had five plants, and I didn't even realize it until after judging because they are all so big and lush. She is an excellent grower and one of our society members. She got a sugar bowl and creamer. Maybe if all the trophy winners got together we might come up with service for two and some serving pieces.

All in all it turned out to be a terrific show---much better than I anticipated, and everyone had a delightful weekend including the vendors who had really great sale results. I'm so glad I did that though it may be my vacation for this year.

While intermittently trying to get my display together I was also trying to get our garden started for this year along with Jaz, my daughter-in-law, and one day with Oyster, the granddaughter who was on spring break. Remember that humongus planter we had built last summer to enlarge our garden? Well, we finally put in topsoil and an almost equal amount of compost donated by Travis (of the driving to & from the airport adventure last summer). That compost more than paid me back for the taxi service. You can't imagine how much soil that thing holds. It has about 29- 40 lb. bags of topsoil and about an equal amount of compost which we hauled over from Travis & Jane's house which is about three miles away. (Actually this was really an exercise to get Jaz in shape to begin moving from one house to another which she is currently doing, of course, along with Chillax, Oyster, and the menagerie.)

Ever the bold one, I started with seeds this year putting in radishes and spinach on March 5. A few days later Jaz buried onion bulbs. On March 15, Oyster and I transplanted 4 Buttercrunch lettuce plants, 4 Romaine lettuce, an Early Girl and Better Boy tomatoes, and planted some herbs in the cinder blocks around last year's garden patch. We were so proud.


Emerging radishes



Emerging spinach


Emerging onions


Newly transplanted Romaine (3/17/2010)


Some of the newly planted herbs

Things were looking really good. AND THEN a weather bulletin forecasting another winter storm. We had done all this work on Wednesday, and the following Saturday Jaz and I were battening down the hatches. Here's the result:





We just got them all covered before the temperature dropped significantly and the rain started. Later in the day I discovered the rain water was pooling in the tarp over the walk-in area of the big planter and pulling it off the edges. So with tall stick in one hand and hammer in the other I ooched my way under the tarp to drive the stick into the ground and heaved the water off the tarp. There are moments, folks, when one is really torn: you don't want your neighbor looking out the window and seeing you do such strange things or you hope they're watching in case you don't come out in a reasonable time. Fortunately, the temperature stayed just above freezing, and I do mean just above, one degree. And though a few of the leaves of the basil went a funny color, everything survived, including me. But it was scary.

I was going to tell you about what I did today, but I'm tired---you probably are too. Here's the way the planter looked three days ago, and everything is a lot bigger now. We're into the great growing season. More another day.

PICK OF THE DAY

The weather forecasters and Homeland Security have warned us that rain today and tomorrow may produce as much as 2 - 9 inches. Since we’ve already had 15 inches of rain this month the ground is saturated, and the dogs are insulted if I make them go outside for a few minutes.

But before all this weather began I went out this morning to gather whatever might have appeared in the garden over the last week. Take a look. You may be as surprised as I was.




The oregano has come back with a vengeance, and, yep, another two dozen jalapenos. Uh-oh, here comes the thunder again; have to unplug the computer. . .AGAIN!

TAKE N. KOREA SERIOUSLY

Seldom do I enter political statements, but sometimes I feel prodded to do so. This time the prod is a vegetable.

As you know I belong to the local orchid society, and we recently visited the greenhouses of one of our members who happens to come from S. Korea. She is married to an American who was in the service there, and I assume is now a citizen since she works at the local Air Force base. They have a son who graduated from high school this year. In addition to the impeccable greenhouses she also had a vegetable garden in the back yard with four cucumber plants growing along the fence. She said they were Korean cucumbers; she had brought the seeds here.

My cucumber plant label said to harvest when the cuke was 3-4 inches long. Well, I was a little over eager, and the one I cut was 2 1/2 inches long. I stand corrected. However, I think you will agree that another half inch would not have made it look anymore impressive.

American cucumber on the left; Korean cucumber on the right. (The Korean cucumber has a very tender skin. No peeling necessary.)



Now if the Koreans are growing cucumbers like this without genetic engineering, etc., don't you think it's time to consider their exploration/building of nuclear weapons very seriously?

The Cucumber-Zucchini War

So how many of you were holding your breaths waiting for Jaz and me to admit we knew next to nothing about planting a garden and how it would grow? You could have warned us at the outset that we were embedding those transplants too close together when we still had time to move them. Are you just maniacal? Go ahead and get your "tee-hee-hee's" over with.

However, we will learn from this (as I said at the outset), and we will probably have to provide purple hearts and medals for bravery to the pepper plants and the yellow squash. The tomatoes are also taking a battering from these aggressive plants. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago.



The zucchini has the enormous leaves, and the cucumber is to the left with a little lighter green leaves. The tomatoes are at the back. What you can't see is that the cucumber is stretching out its tendrils to everything around it and growing, and growing, and growing. We'll probably never find all the cucumbers. Anyway, I've had a small harvest. Take a look.



You see a couple of Swiss Chard leaves, parsley, zucchini, oregano, and lettuce (in a pot---not in the garden). I've also had a couple of grape tomatoes ripen. Anyway, that night this was my dinner.



You know what? Michele Obama is quite correct. It does taste better if you grow it yourself.

I am a little concerned about how many times a week I can eat zucchini and how many different ways to prepare it. Good news though. Dogs like zucchini.

More about cucumbers another time.

HORTICULTURAL & OTHER NEWS!!!

Nine days ago I wrote that we were anticipating major rains; however, that turned out to be only moderate amounts, and that was probably good. If you check out the garden really carefully you can see that the tomatoes are now cresting just above the first rung of the cages. Everything seems to be growing well. Look at the zucchini. Remember you can click on the picture to enlarge it.






Remember the "Where's Waldo" photo of the beans? Well, look at them now; they are in the foreground; the okra in the background. (The okra is producing new leaves, but are not visible in the pictures.) The beans have been moved because the resident gardener has ˆfinallyˆdecided that the yard is too much and has hired someone to come do everything outside the fence. The yard never looks as good as it should because I just can't do it all in a reasonable time, and it is becoming very overgrown. I will still have responsibility for the part inside the fence. Anyway the guy who is coming in a few days is going to spray Roundup outside the fence, and I had to move the beans before he sprays and before they start up the fence. After he sprays I'll move them back. One okra plant has gone belly up. C'est la vie. The wind we are currently having had better stop or there will be no spraying whatsoever.




Other horticultural stuff: I've had two bougainvilla plants, one pink and one orange, for a number of years, and they moved here from Texas with me. The orange one I bought when visiting Hill Country Marilyn about eight or nine yrs. ago, and it has been a dud in that it has grown very little and bloomed less. The pink one I've had a longer time, and it has been cut back several times and bloomed a lot. This past winter, however, instead of putting them in the greenhouse and pampering them I just stuck them in a corner of the patio and fashioned a protection for them with a tarp. This past week I repotted them and after the winter in the corner the orange one had grown tremendously, and the pink one had died back. So here's the way they look with fresh potting soil, and we'll see what a little TLC produces.





And now for the other news. Saturday after getting up at five to be at a local college to proctor an ETS exam I came home, ate lunch, and crashed for a couple of hours to catch up on sleep. Then my youngest grandchild and I went to ArtBreak where she had one of her creations on display. (Sorry, my digital camera battery was about to go out, so I have few pictures to display.) Anyway, we spent almost two hours there while she created a few more works of art. There was also a rock concert going on there (which put the Cake Walk out of commission for a good amount of time), and apparently Chillax, her dad, tried to call me six times on the cell, but there was no way in h___ I would have heard the phone. (He finally caught me when we were driving home.) Anyway, I thought you'd enjoy seeing her at work and wearing one of her creations.









Pretty nifty, huh?

So that's the news of the weekend. We're muddling along and doing our best and hope you are too.

MARY, MARY, QUITE CONTRARY, HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

As you can see Jaz and I have now mulched the garden with pine needles, and we have planted some things in the cinder blocks---such as parsley, chives, basil, pineapple mint, a couple of jalapeno peppers, oregano, and those places that look like dirt have Swiss Chard seeds which are beginning to sprout, but just barely. When we bend down and separate leaves we can see zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow crook neck squash beginning to form. YEA!

But check this out.



This is the tomatillo plant, and if you look closely you'll see a little green globe which is the first tomatillo. How cool is that? (What do tomatillos taste like?)

Three out of four of the okra plants seem to be thriving.


Here they are in their own private rooms. This came as a four-pack, so I planted all of them. Neither Jaz nor I have a clue how many okra one plant produces, but since she and I are the only ones who like okra, it should be enough. Furthermore, we can always freeze them and send them to you for Christmas. There's something to look forward to. . . Christmas gumbo. (Actually, gumbo is the African name of this veggie where it originated.)

The beans were finally visible today as they began to sprout in their rooms too. See if you can spot them.



Does this remind you of Where's Waldo? But they are not Waldo's; they are Kentucky Wonders.

Well, the rains arrived this afternoon and are supposed to continue through tomorrow resulting in 1-5 inches of rain. That's why I ran out today before it started---actually, the thunder was already here---to record how wonderful the garden is so far. Let you know in a couple of days what effect the rain has. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

The Year of the Tomato

When I moved here five years ago it was June 1---a little too late to start any kind of garden. Besides when one first moves to a new city and state there is so much to do inside and out that planting anything is not convenient. In fact, one doesn't even know how good the soil is. However, one of my very favorite foods is a wonderful ripe tomato. So, the following winter I could hardly for the garden plants to come into the retailers. Bear in mind I really don't know anything about gardening and don't come from a line of farmers. I just wanted some really good tomatoes.

The first big hurdle is to select which hybrid to plant. There are so many, but I finally settled on a Big Boy. That sounds sturdy and somewhat reliable. And was it ever? It seems the area into which I had moved had extremely rich soil. I also gave the little darlin' a couple of feedings also just to help it along. That was the summer that I ate tomatoes almost every day from the 4th of July on and made green tomato relish in September so as not to waste any. That came in handy at Christmas time too as the gift for the person you don't know what to give but feel you should---give something that is. The picture on the right shows you the first three tomatoes I harvested in 2003, and I ate the smallest one just moments after snapping the picture.

Those geography lessons from so many years ago taught me that one lets the soil rest; therefore I take even numbered years off. No tomato plant again until 2005. That year I chose Better Boy, and it became a territorial war between Better Boy and my dogs. It also tested my support skills, i.e. could I keep its branches off the ground.

By the end of the season I had put in 13 stakes to hold it up as well as using the fence. It was also the summer that I welcomed new neighbors to the "hood" with a bag of tomatoes, and I learned to make fried green tomatoes. That plant produced 152 usable tomatoes; mind you I'm not counting the ones that did rest on the ground, or that the birds got to first and ruined.

Honestly, I didn't know whether I wanted to plant another one this year or not, but when my son's dog dug a deeper than needed hole in the usual place I decided to fill it partially and stick in another tomato plant. This year's choice? Beefsteak! Those are the really big ones, and I can't wait to see what the challenges and rewards will be. By the way, any favorite tomato recipes you want to pass along?