Sixty Years with Elvis

There is a year long celebration of the 60th anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll going on at Graceland.  In early July 1954, Elvis Presley walked into Sun Studio in Memphis TN and recorded "It's All Right."  This mama is only shaking up some dirt and moving it around.  I am not shaking it up very much either.  After all the work on the Back Forty Garden and Park, I am to shook up to do any rock 'n' roll.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

A Rutabaga Mash

In this country, the rutabaga is known as the Swedish turnip.  It grows best in a cold climate and this hearty and versatile root vegetable is an interesting change to pasta, rice, and even potatoes.  When grocery shopping the other day, I picked up a couple of round waxed Canadian rutabagas free of any signs of blemishes and rot.

Rutabaga

Rutabaga is sown just as you would turnips.  Prepare the soil, add compost, and remove rocks and sticks to make a smooth surface.  I make a small trench to sow the seeds as directed on a package.  It is recommended that the sowing occur about a hundred days before the first frost in the fall.  You figure the weather.

A Swiss botanist noted in 1620 that the rutabaga grew wild in Sweden where it originated.  It is also said to have originated in Russia.  Anyway, here are a few suggestions on how to cook and serve the rutabaga.

I peeled my rutabaga and diced it finely to cut down on cooking time.  I opted to peel, dice, and cook potatoes in another pot because rutabaga requires a longer cooking time but they can certainly be cooked together (my preference).  If I have carrots available, I slice them up too and add to the mix.

Rutabaga by itself has a distinct taste and it may be toned down with potatoes.  Some people eat the rutabaga mash without additional roots.  The rutabaga mash is called rotmos in Swedish.

To mash the root vegetables together, I use an electric hand mixer.  I add some of the vegetable stock as needed.  To make this mash extra hearty, I add a pat or two of butter (margarine) and cream or whole milk.

If you have a lot of mash left over, make patties.  Mix about 1 and 1/2 cups rutabaga mash with 1 egg and add about about 3/4 cup of flour.  Make into patties and fry in canola oil on both sides until golden brown. Wonderful for breakfast served with a little syrup or lingonberries.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Planting Azaleas

The recent cold and freeze changed the landscape on the Back Forty Garden and Park and it created a lot of work that I had not anticipated nor expected.  I waited as long as I could to see if there was any greenery springing forth but some of the plants were brown and dead and needed to be replaced.

My husband and I visited one of the home improvement centers and a cart with several tiers of azaleas caught my eye.  The sign read $3--a price I couldn't resist.  The cashier said that the small ones were $1.  Now, that's a bargain!  Maybe.  I wanted to know what was wrong with them.  "Nothing," she said.  "We've had them for a long time and we want to get rid of them before the new arrivals for spring." 

We loaded up a dozen azaleas into the car and when we got home we started to think about all the places we could plant them.  The azaleas that we already had were beginning to bloom and looked rather nice so we thought that we'd go back and get another dozen. After all, you can't beat that price, right?

We got a mix of "Fashion Azalea" and "Doc De Rohan Azalea (fancy name, eh?).  The Fashion Azalea is supposed to produce an abundance of salmon pink flowers and the Duc's flowers are yellowish pink.  The azaleas may not reach the promised size in my life time but they are supposed to be a healthy size at maturity.  A gardener must be an optimistic visionary.

I gave the azaleas a good soaking and when I removed them from the pot, I whacked some of soil off the root system that were tight and somewhat root bound.  Whack!  Whack!

To plant the azaleas, it was suggested that I dig a  hole twice the size of the pot that the plant came in and set the top of the root ball even with the ground.  I added commercial cow manure to the soil, filled the hole, tamped it down, and watered to eliminate air pockets in the soil. I have four more to go.

The azaleas like somewhat acid soil and do well around pine trees and like pine straw as mulch.  I am leaving fertilization until they have produced and dropped those wonderful pink blooms that I expect.

Also, it is recommended that no pruning take place until after the blooming period is completed.  I usually even up the plants but leave the azaleas pretty much in the shape they tend to go and also considering next year's blooms--no severe pruning for these bushes.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Russian Nesting Dolls

A few years ago, our granddaughter visited and we bought her a plastic wading pool.  It wasn't very big but large enough to splash around in and cool down on a hot summer day.  She used it once.

There are two boys her age who live across the scenic creek with their Russian parents.  The young boys fish in the creek just as my granddaughter's father did when he was a boy.  My son didn't catch any fish then but landed a black turtle.  He ran with the line through the Back Forty Garden and Park to enlist his brother's help of releasing the turtle.  I doubt that the Russian boys catch any fish but they may also land a turtle.  Who knows?

Anyway, we gave the pool to the kids and when we delivered the pool to the boys, their mother motioned us to wait while she went into the house only to come out with a bag with a few trinkets in it as a thank you for the pool.  As it turned out, the bag contained a set of authentic Russian Nesting Dolls.

As an aside to the Winter Olympics 2014 in Sochi, I learned that the nesting dolls are made in different families in different village in Russia during the cold winter months.  It is usually the head of the household who makes the cylindrical wooden dolls and the women in the family paint the dolls.  It is a tradition that is passed down to many generations and each set of the nesting dolls tell a story.

The Martryoshka Dolls as they are called are in decreasing size and placed inside each other.  There are at least five dolls in a set but can be more.  The word "matryoshka" means "little matron".  The first Russian nested doll set was carved in 1870.

I am extremely pleased to have a set of nesting dolls for my granddaughter and they tell a story.  She plays with them every time she comes to visit and loses the tiniest of the dolls.  I will keep them in her "treasure box" until she gets old enough to keep them in her own home.  What a treasure!

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Contender Green Snap Beans

I wanted to put some color in my early spring garden so I sowed a row of green Contender snap beans next to the yellow wax beans.  The Contender Bush Beans germinates in 6 - 8 days and matures in 55 days.  They are heavy producers.  The more you pick, the more you get.

If you like wax beans and snap beans, you could have a Bean Garden all summer long if you sowed every two weeks before expected frost.  Soak the beans overnight before planting to speed germination.

There are plenty of varieties of green beans or snap beans and I prefer the Contender because of their growth, size, and taste.  My husband's father used the Contender Bush Beans in his garden so you may say that it is traditional to continue to sow that type of beans on the Back Forty.

I add compost and turn the soil, make a shallow trench, sow the beans about 2 inches apart and 1 inch deep, cover and water.  I recommend fertilization after the plants are well on their way to maturity.

To cook green beans, I snip off the ends and to be fancy cut them in the Julienne style.  I let the slightly salted water come to a boil, toss the beans in and cook until as soft or crisp as desired.  To immediately stop the boiling, I cool the beans under running tap water.  Some cooks dunk the beans in ice water.

There are many ways to prepare a dish with somewhat crisp beans:  sauté them with bacon, sauté them with garlic and onions, and sauté them in a Chinese sauce.  Sometimes I like to boil the green beans with potatoes and carrots in one pot.  It makes for a colorful vegetable medley.  What do you like?

In the past, I have bought seeds in bulk but last year I wanted a lesser quantity so I tried Ferry Morse Contender Green Bush Beans and I was surprised because every single bean sprouted and produced.  This year I am planting Ferry Morse. 

Nah, I don't get beans for mention that seed company.  I just like their seed and the price of the packets; however, I do have their permission to use their information.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Red Robins are Here

Once upon a time, when we first started our gardening in Virginia, my husband and I had tilled the soil in preparation for an early spring garden.  A few red robins came to pick worms and whatever else was crawling.  They soon left except for one.   He wouldn't leave and he wouldn't move.

Hours went by and the red robin stayed at the same place in the garden.  Before we went to bed, we turned on the flood lights to see if he had left.  No, he was still there.  We talked about the robin that wouldn't leave and we couldn't go to sleep.

We finally got up and went out to see if he was hurt.  We got real close up.  Shoo!  Shoo!  He moved.  There was nothing wrong with the bird.

After moving to Florida, we made a road trip to Fernandina Beach in northern Florida where we came upon a flock of robins (?) pecking away under a large pine tree.  "Did you see all those robins?" my husband asked.  "What robins?" I wanted to know.  He told me about the robins under the pine tree.  "Oh, you are mistaken.  They were pine cones."  We are still arguing about what we saw that early spring day.

A few years ago, we had a flock of robins visiting the Back Forty Garden and Park.  The ground was full of robins; the trees were full of robins;  and so was the front yard.  They only stayed for a day or two and then left as quickly as they had come.

The same thing happened the following year.  We didn't mind the visitors.  They were harbinger of spring.  This year, we had only a few visiting.  What happened?  They must not like our garden and yard any more but spring is here, isn't it?

The picture is from All-free-download.com

Thank you for visiting my blog.

Planting Mustard and Kale

The cool winter weather is lingering in northern Florida and the home improvement centers have plants that are more suited for fall than spring.  The shelves are loaded with collards, broccoli, and cabbage.  The down side of planting the cold weather plants now is that they will not be harvested in time to give way for the spring garden.  However, I ended up with a 9-pack each of mustard greens and kale.

Mustard Plants

If I were to sow mustard seeds, they would take about 9 days to germinate and 50 -70 days to maturity.  The mustard greens are ready to plant and if nothing else, I will let them bloom to attract the neighbor's bees that he got during the recent cold spell.

I should have named the Back Forty the Serendipitous Garden because I never know exactly what to plant.  It depends on what is available at the garden centers. 

On the spur of the moment, I picked up kale.  Why?  I heard that Dr. Oz talked about it on his TV program, celebrities use kale in their smoothies, and kale is served in salads in fancy restaurants.

Kale

I have often mixed kale, mustard, and turnips in the garden and used the greens for cooking  Sometimes I have put them in the freezer after blanching, draining, cooling under running water, and packing the greens in quart size bags and put them in the freezer.

So the other day, I set out nine plants each of mustard greens and kale after turning the soil and making holes large enough to hold the plants.  They looked pretty nice in two straight rows.  Is this for the winter garden or for the spring garden?

Tip of the Day:  To prevent slugs from crawling up the plants and breaking off the stems, remove top and bottom from a small can or cut the same shape from a plastic bottle and set it down in the soil around your plant.   I have yet to try this myself but I have had many plants broken off in the past.

Thank you for visiting my blog.