Spring, where are you?

Think spring! I had to post this picture of my Mom growing her incredible eggplant. No matter what she grew it was wonderful and the plants looked the healthiest one can imagine. She used to make her own compost for her wonderful garden!

I will not fight with the deer this year, but will plant what they don't like. Our yards are not only home to many deer, but a few were born in the yard -- triplets!

I will plant arugula, kale, herbs, etc., but unfortunately no tomatoes or squash unless I can figure out where to hide them. I have already purchased Irish Spring soap and have other deer repellants, but to make it to our dinner table it will have to be something the deer don't like to eat!

A picture of my Mom in 1938, when she was 21 years old is on the cover of my book, Walk Forward,
on Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Forward-ebook/dp/B009H6Y7AC in paperback and in Kindle format. One need not own a Kindle as the Ebook can be read in the Amazon cloud), book's trailer is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp7uQap6p2M

Lingering Memories of My Summer Garden

It is winter and it is cold.

I have saved herbs from my summer garden by transplanting, freezing, and drying.

I transferred my outdoor garden Rosemary to a pot that sits on my bay window and smells wonderful in my living room. I hope I remember to water this pot.

I picked sage and parsley for my Thanksgiving herb stuffing. Even the water from the vase holding the sage gives off a wonderful aroma each day when I place fresh water in the vase.

My indoor kitty, Precious, ate some of the dried parsley. Precious especially loves the dried lovage from my mother's herb garden that I planted years ago for my Mom. Mom continues to enjoy the everlasting herb garden that needs little tending.

How I miss my summer garden!

Now that we have had several snowfalls, I will peak under the snow to see what surprise may linger under the wonderful pure white blanket and plan for next spring!

First Tangerine Colored Heirloom Tomatoes are Ripe

I picked my first tangerine colored heirloom tomato. It is a Hillbilly tomato. My husband had left it growing in the garden as he saw the orange color and thought it was a tomato not yet ripe enough to pick. We sliced it and enjoyed each beautiful slice. The tomato had a soft skin compared to the cherry tomatoes in my garden that have a much tougher one. Our first Hillbilly tomato was mild yet full of flavor, as if a touch of lemon had been added to perfect tangerine orange flesh. The seeds within were small and the tomato fit in the palm of my hand.

We have another Hillbilly almost ready for the table and lots of red cherry tomatoes. A rabbit ate a hole in my plastic fence and I am trying to deter him by closing up the plastic chicken wire fence and spread a bit of Vicks on the fence as read it deters rabbits. If it does, I will include in a later item in this blog.

I saw our rabbit that ate all of my squash plant and broke off some of the branches of my heirloom tomato plants. I have never lost all of my summer and winter squash, including leaves and all to a rabbit and have planted squash for many, many years.

Luckily, when I first noticed that my squash plants were being nibbled down to the root, I planted one in my rose garden and this plant is doing superbly well, does not have any fungus growing on it as many of my squash plants might have in a rainy summer and this lonely squash plant has one small zucchini on it to date. The plant is the healthiest squash plant I have seen in my garden in years.

I hope the garden rabbit does not find my last squash plant. I saw him standing six feet from the garden after I closed up the hole he chewed in my plastic fence.

Found in the Greenbean Patch

I have a bumper crop of parsley, cilantro, arugula, and basil. I have made my first large batch of pesto as a topping for pasta and pizza and have made much parsley salad. I love to watch everything grow and share the produce with members of my family and neighbors.

My cherry tomatoes are starting to turn red. My Mr. Stripey and Hillbilly heirloom tomatoes are still green. My garden was planted late this year and whoever is eating my squash plants and some of the branches of my tomatoes is still in the area. Whoever it is also knocked down some of my large green tomatoes.

I saw a rabbit jump out of my garden. He ate all of the zucchini plants but left me a couple butternut squash plants that are intermingled with the arugula. I think our bunny does not like arugula or the marigolds around the garden but jumps over my low plastic gate that has protected squash plants in the past.

I would love to plant a fall crop of beans. Seven years ago, I found a newborn kitten in my garden patch, exposed to a hot August day with a storm on the way. She is now a house cat and we love our dear Precious most dearly. However, my husband will not let me plant green beans as our Precious allows us to live with her in our house. She is truly a full member of our family and loves to be hugged and sung to by my mother.

Our vet helped us much with suggestions for taking care of our newborn kitten seven years ago and we have become more and more attached to our Precious as the years go by. This August 23 we will celebrate her seventh birthday. Unlike the Cheetahs pictured on my web site at
http://www.raskinfo.com, our Precious was found alone in our garden and I tried to be the best kitty mother I could.

In case you are wondering what is under Garfield, it is a towel with a hot water bottle as the vet said that we had to keep Precious warm. In her earliest days, with little hair, we had to keep the temperature in the house at 90F in August for our dear Precious, who was named by our vet!

Precious does not like anything I grow in my garden but she loves a vase of Lovage (Levisticum officinale) from my mother's garden. Lovage reminds me much of celery but has a much stronger scent that Precious enjoys playing with whether it is green or dried.

Gifts from the Garden

The parsley is wonderful, the cilantro is flowering so that I can collect seeds for next year as is the arugula.

My cherry tomatoes are ripe but someone has been munching on my summer squash plants and knocked down large green heirloom tomatoes.

I planted the Italian, flat leaf, parsley this year from seeds, and it is doing wonderfully. The basil I planted from seed is growing as fast as the basil plants I purchased at a local nursery. I planted the basil seed in between my tomato plants as I read they do well growing near each other.

We have been lucky to have some rain almost everyday and my garden includes mulch.

The bush cucumbers are small but very tasty and crunchy. There is nothing like a just picked cucumber from the garden.

In regard to seed germination, the arugula germinates most quickly, followed
by cilantro. About a week later the parsley and basil appeared.

The marigolds around my garden include many bright colors and are doing well.

I have made salads with the parsley, arugula, and cilantro as well as some wonderful egg dishes. Arugula loses the spicy taste when cooked.

I wish I knew who was eating my squash leaves as I never had this problem before.

Help, does anyone out there have any ideas or had any experience with an animal eating squash leaves and/or destroying some of the branches on my tomato plants?

Gardening - Tomatoes

As the snow begins to melt in Cleveland, Ohio, I am looking forward to selecting plants to include in my garden. Per the information on the importance of cis-lycopene, I plan to include tomatoes that are tangerine in color, as the tangerine colored varieties are known to have cis-lycopene. I like to use plants that breed true and have always been interested in heirloom tomatoes and will continue to plant them. In the past I carried seed from a perfectly round, yellow heirloom from Cincinnati to Cleveland as it was given to me by dear friends who had a greenhouse in Maineville, Ohio.

We eat the yellow tomatoes raw, in sauces and freeze them. I wonder what a sauce made of all tangerine type tomatoes would taste like, assuming they were not all eaten raw when freshly picked from the garden.