Continued…

Picture 3:

1. Artichokes. This is my other problem. There is something wrong with these plants and I don’t know what. They have … a disease? Maybe? They got huge and produced a couple of artichokes and then they started dying one leaf at a time. I finally cut them back to their current state. I may have to dig them out since this is the second year this has happened. No idea what their problem is.

2. Carrots. They seem to be doing well, although they are growing really slowly. There were some radishes in the blank space beside them, but that crop is done.

3. Soy Beans. I put in a couple of soy bean plants as another experiment. I don’t know much about them, but I want to see how the plant works. I only have four soy bean plants, so I may not get much of a crop, that that’s okay.

4. Beets. You can’t really tell in this picture, but there is a row of beets there. They have some puckering on the leaves but seem to be developing okay. Next year I’m going to plant them in partial shade.

5. Kentucky Green Beans. These are my husband’s favorite vegetables, so I planted a ton of them. They seem to be doing great.

Picture 4:

1. Raspberries. The back of my garden is bordered with raspberry plants. The front is bordered with strawberries. (I forgot to include the strawberries in the picture.)

2. Two More Tomatoes. They are Juliet and Pineapple tomatoes. I split the tomato plants up this year because you aren’t supposed to plant tomatoes in the same place twice. It creates diseases in the soil. Last year I had them all where the brandy wine is sitting, but this year I put two plants in one plot, and one plant in the other.

3. Crane Melons. I fully expect these plants to fill in the entire area where the carrots are currently. Last year, they took up half a plot. And they were completely worth it since they made dozens of juicy, delicious melons for late August. (Crane melons are similar to cantaloupe, but juicier.)

There it is, an honest assessment of my garden this year. I’m already learning a lot, as usual, and as usual there’s still one unsolved mystery–what the heck is wrong with my artichokes?

I am currently getting squash and peas from the garden and am about to start getting green beans, carrots, and cucumbers. As with every year, there are failures/problems and there are successes. This is how it goes, at least for me–gardening is frustrating, but in the end, always worth it.

Here are a couple of pictures. You might need to click on the photo to see in detail.

Picture 1:

1. Cucumbers. In the back are three cucumber plants, two lemon cucumbers and another small white cucumber. I plant them in tomato cages so that they will climb easily and I don’t have to bother with staking them. Two plants are doing great, one is kind of stunted because the irrigation line was accidentally moved off the plant for a week when I first put it in. It isn’t rebounding well.

2. Brandy Wine Tomato. I took this picture two weeks ago and this plant is twice this size now. We have since built a cage around it. It’s doing great.

3. White Corn. This is my first time growing corn. The plants are fascinating and huge. I can’t wait to see them produce ears.

4. Leeks. I need to weed this row, but they are doing well. I should be able to harvest leeks in late August.

Picture 2:

1. Snap Peas. Every garden has a crop that doesn’t do as well, and this year it’s my peas. I think I used old seeds because only three of the 16 plants grew. However, I have been able to harvest about 10-15 peas so far and more are developing, so it’s not a total loss.

2. Zucchini. I am in a battle with the ants over all my squash plants. They are streaming in to put aphids on the blossoms and I am trying to stop them. It happens every year and it is always a little traumatic for me–however, I am getting a lot of squash so far. I’m averaging about a squash every two day.

3. Round Zucchini. I planted round zucchini not knowing that they are small squash the shape of a pool ball. It’s actually just fine with me since it gives a little variety. The ants are trying to take over this plant too.

4. Potato Experiment. I did not plant that potato–it just popped up. Apparently the potatoes I planted there last year went to seed. I am letting it grow to see what it does. Maybe I will get a bonus crop of potatoes.

5. Butternut Squash. So far I’m happy with this plant. It is spreading out in the place I sectioned off for it and has three little butternuts on it. If all goes well, I should be getting some butternuts this September or so.

6. Peppers. There are about 12 pepper plants in my garden ranging from jalapeños to bells. They are all a little stunted, but I recently hit them with some fertilizer and they are doing better. A lesson for next year: peppers need extra fertilizer in this garden…

Believe it or not, this is only HALF of my garden. Check out Pictures 3 and 4.

This is sooo cool–people who shape trees. I want one!

I especially like the chair. I wish they had more furniture, actually. Imagine two chairs and a table in the corner of the yard. (Via Apartment Therapy)

The Manhattan is probably my favorite cocktail. Much like the Mint Julep, it’s a very simple, very elegant drink (also very strong). And like the Mint Julep, you’re only dealing with a few ingredients, as follows:

Manhattan

Ingredients:

2 oz bourbon (you can also use rye whiskey)
1 oz sweet vermouth
1-2 dashes bitters
Twist of lemon or a cherry

Directions:

Stir the bourbon, vermouth, and bitters with ice. Strain into a glass. Add the garnish. Enjoy!

So if this is all there is to it, why are so many Manhattans lousy? They are often watery or have a weird film on top. Here’s some things people do to keep a Manhattan from being tasty:

1. They use cheap bourbon–As with the Mint Julep, the quality of the bourbon is important. The better the bourbon, the better the Manhattan. (You can also use rye. In fact, some cocktail snobs think Manhattans should only be made with rye. Either way, the same rule applies.)

2. They ignore the vermouth–It’s puzzling that people will use a $50 bourbon in a Manhattan and forget to use a quality vermouth. Vermouth makes or breaks a Manhattan. I am partial to Vya Sweet Vermouth myself.

3. They use dry vermouth instead of sweet vermouth–Manhattans need some sweetness in them. Dry vermouth just tastes wrong.

4. They shake instead of stir–This is the most common mistake of making a Manhattan. NEVER shake it. Shaking a Manhattan makes a film on top of the drink that looks and tastes bad. Instead, gently stir the drink in the ice and then strain into a glass.

Follow these steps, I guarantee you will make a Manhattan better than one you can get in most bars.

I have known about these “wine bottle nannies” for a long time now. They are terracotta tips that go on a wine bottle so you can slow-release water your plants. It’s a cool way to save a particularly meaningful wine bottle.

But the cost of these things are a little high at between $20-$50, which makes me wonder if there is an easier way to do this. Maybe you can just stick the bottle directly in the dirt? It works with the aqua globe. You know, these things?

I picked one of these up at Ross for $3. They are handblown globes with a long tip that you fill in water and then stick in the plant. A lot of people have asked me if they work, and the answer is yes. The plants pulls the water out of the globe when it wants it. The only difficulty I’ve had is one plant pulled all the water out of the globe at once and I ended up with a puddle of dirty water on my counter. That didn’t happen with the other plants, so I think my houseplant was just being mischievous. (Or it needs re-potting.)

We have been looking for a smoker for our Weber grill. My husband has been wanting to smoke some meat for a long time, and I love smoked salmon, and so we want a smoker. We did some shopping around and I got to say, a lot of smokers have bad designs. They are either too narrow to fit much in the way of meat or they allow too much air in the bottom for a good fire or they are as big as the grill itself.

The best one we’ve come upon–and are seriously considering purchasing–is this conversion kit that lets you turn your Weber grill from this:

To this:

It looks big enough for a fair amount of meat and since it fits on top of the Weber, it doesn’t take up a lot of extra room as a stand alone grill. The only downside is it’s a little pricey at $150. Also I’m not sure how the grill will look after it’s converted.

Still… homemade smoked salmon….

(Courtesy Lamb & Wool Company)

Awhile ago, I made a Use It Up challenge for myself to use excess food in my fridge. It worked really well and I ended up using almost all the food on the list. So I decided to use the same tool to get me to finish some of these darn sewing/crafting projects that have been languishing around my house.

I really do believe in finishing what I started. Honest! And it irks me to look into my guest room closet and see these half-finished things that I laid aside because: a. I hit a roadblock that discouraged me or b. I got excited about another project and abandoned it. But putting time and money into a project and never finishing it is … just a waste of time and money. And so, I will go finish what I started.

Here is a list of projects I’m going to be finishing in the near future:

1. The blue sweater that I have been knitting for two years–I am not much of a knitter. I know this about myself now. However, I am going to finish this sweater that has been sitting in a bag on my closet door since 2007. I am two-thirds of the way done, so time to finish it.

2. The guest room curtains–I made them too short, so I have to take them down and re-do the seams so they hang lower on the window. However that seemed like a lot of work, so I just put them up with safety pins and left them that way. Tacky! Time to take them down and make them look good.

3. A new onion bag scrubby–I have collected enough onion bags to make a new scrubby like this one. I am tired of looking at onion bags, so I need to finish this project.

4. A wine cork trivet–I have collected enough wine corks to make a trivet, which I intend to give as a Christmas gift to someone. I just need to, uh, figure out how to make the trivet.

5. Mending–I have a bag of clothes that need seams sewn up, buttons replaced, and so on. I need to go through, fix these things, and reintroduce the clothes into my wardrobe.

6. The half-finished dress–I started a dress about two years ago and got discouraged pretty quickly. The pattern was too big for me and I had cut it down a lot and then re-do the bodice several times and then I got tired of it. But I still like the idea of the dress, so I’ll give it another try.

7. Pillows for the living room–I have material for the new pillows for the living room. Since I’m finally getting a leather couch later this month, I’d like to have them ready.

8. New placemats–I got the idea to make placemats out of this material. Seems doable.

9. Decorative wastepaper basket–I got some decorative paper to cover a wastepaper basket for my office. I spent a lot of time shopping for the paper and I have the can I want to put it around. It’s just a matter of sitting down and doing it.

10. Poster frame–This isn’t a craft project, but I have this darn poster that I have been intending to put on my wall for awhile now. I just need to get a frame for it. And so I will! And then the poster won’t guilt me anymore.

Ok, there we go, 10 projects to finish. It seems like a lot, but most of them won’t take more than an hour of my time. The way I look at it, it’s silly to spend money on craft supplies and then not do the craft. Most of us are guilty of it, though. I guess it’s a curse of creativity? Anyway I am not going to start anything else until these projects are done. So there.

What are you going to finish up?

I pulled the first zucchini of the year off my plant yesterday. I have done everything you can with zucchini’s, but I have never cooked zucchini blossoms. NPR has a delightful little post about them, including a FAQ:

What do zucchini blossoms taste like? Like squash perfume!

How can I tell if a blossom is ripe? It should look like a lily in a vase. Avoid blossoms that are wilted, crumpled or droopy.

How long will it stay fresh? Less than a day! Squash blossoms are delicate and ephemeral.

They suggest you “stuff each blossom with a cube of cheese, drizzle with olive oil and then bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.” Or you can make the following:

Easy Baked Squash Blossoms

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup ricotta
handful of parsley and chives
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
zucchini blossoms

Directions:

Mix cheese, egg and spices together and stuff into zucchini blossoms. Twist the blossom ends. Drizzle olive oil over them and bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. (Blossoms should be crisp and transparent.)

This is a great idea for a fence or a wall in the backyard. Artist Anna Garforth is making “moss graffiti” in London. The letters are made out of moss, which will eventually colonize and grow. It is the first line in a poem–she has four more lines to go, which will be at different locations.

I’m not a huge fan of the trend of people painting phrases onto the walls of their houses, but a line in their backyard seems totally different–especially if it is made out of moss. Here’s how Anna said she did it:

“I went to the cemeteries around Stoke Newington, spatula in hand, and scraped the moss off the grave stones,” she tells us. Then, she “crafted the letters [in typeface Georgia Italic] with a nifty pair of scissors and lots of patience. Using biodegradable ingredients, I then glued the moss to the wall, where hopefully it will colonise and grow.” Presumably, as it does so, the lettering will gradually disappear, which sounds rather beautiful.

I like this project from Design Dish quite a bit. They saw a $2,000 side table made from birch logs and reproduced the same thing for $85 in material. It looks quite chic. (Via Craft)