Misfires

Misfires - Turnips

How to consume an overload of turnips at one meal a day? One night I tried deep fried turnip chips. Who knew they'd curl up with centers like flowers? They never did crisp so I tried some thicker -- no good at all. Made hummus to plop in the middle and they were delicious but sloppy. Back to julienned in salad, stirfry, and summer rolls.

Misfires - Mimosa

Rusty's mimosa has bitten the dust. Or not. I refused to look at it for a week then when I pulled it out the roots (a lot of them) were all alive. I'm sure I overwatered it. I put 3 drops a day on it and there's green down on the stem now. Should have remembered what survivors these things are. Now I'm torn between putting the rest of the seeds in the fridge until Sept and planting more. Afraid if I wait until March the seeds will be dead.

Misfires - Soy Sprouts

From HEB.
Soak overnight, put in a container with holes in the bottom, change water twice daily, and in a week you have sprouts.

First, I filled the container and THEN soaked... and didn't remove all the extras.

Things went well until I skipped changing the water for a day. Yeeesh. Thought I had one of those hidden potatoes in the pantry somewhere. Compost dump. Google has hundreds of sites with instructions and many use a 1 liter cola bottle with the top curved part cut off and cover it with cheesecloth. I may try that but am so bummed it will be a while.

Sunday Update

Lots happening around the homestead this weekend. Sidewalk poured and sod laid over the now cemented solid sinkhole. I water this every evening at 6pm (you can see in this shot my hose doesn't reach to the farthest end. I've hooked a third hose so I can sprinkle their grass as well. It's not high quality grass; a quarter of the squares are more Johnson Grass than St Augustine but at least the city puts it in.

My grandfather Bob Duke did this when the city of Dalhart planted trees along their street back in the 20s. Amidst the neighbors' teasing he watered those trees every evening. Thirty years later my mother pointed out that's why the trunks of their trees were three times the size of all others on the street.

Irises have moved to a Garcia's house. Top 10:30am, bottom 3:30pm

Bed 4 is finally finished. After an HD run for brackets: okra, tomatillos, black beans and Italian green beans. Blank space in Bed 3: I got caught for the first time using 3 yr old black-eyed pea seeds. None came up and my online seed sources don't carry them! On the HD list. White flowers in Bed 2 are arugula sprinkling seeds for next year.

My first tomatillo almost doubles every day and all tomato plants have flowers on them.

Sounded good until I came across my garden May 10, 2004 (below). This was the last year I could garden because the trees on the right blocked all sun. It was cool enough to sit around and drink out there but not so much fun.

Papayas Revisited

Not only do they taste great for a Caribbean breakfast, every papaya seed I've ever planted has grown.

I discovered this at a Garcia BBQ. Luisa asked if I liked papayas and took me out beside their deck. She whacked one off a tree and cut it up! They grow quickly but are weaker than banana trees. 6-month old Asta chewed down a tree taller than I was that had thrived planted on my courtyard since before she was born.

Last April I gave a handful of seeds to Bill McCormick. Here's his papaya field Jan 1, 2008.
It almost doesn't qualify as frugal to plant and water them since they're always on sale for 49 cents a lb. But I'm starting over. I should scatter those fertile seeds on my sidewalks and driveway and see where the birds drop them in my yard. Label that entertainment.

UPDATE Sept 08
With fences and shingles down all over SW Houston:
"while my papaya trees were stripped almost bare of their branches, the fruit hung on.....They were tiny before the storm hit, and I had blooms as well....Seems as if they all laughed at Ike."

Peach