Early morning work in the garden.

The hot and humid summers in the Mid-Atlantic states require garden work to be performed either early in the morning or later on in the evening. Temperatures have been in the 90s with humidity just as high.

Gus usually wakes me up about 5:30 to 6:00 am to go out and do his business so sometimes I take advantage of that time to do some cleaning and other garden chores.

The Basjoo bananas are suckering profusely this year. I have removed several suckers and relocated them to other areas of the garden.

20130720-121252.jpg

The rhizomes are large on this little pup! There are two kinds of suckers on bananas. One is called a sword put and have leaves when very short, and generally, but not always, are less vigorous and poor growers. The other is watersprout sucker. They have narrow leaves and large rhizomes. They grow 2-3′ before growing regular leaves.

20130720-121354.jpg

This is a watersprout.

20130720-121833.jpg

So this pup was moved out near the curb garden. He should do well out there as its hot but the ground is moist.

20130720-122255.jpg

I am always finding objects when I dig in the yard of this 50 year old house. Many bricks and bottles and I think Ruby, the former lady of the house, either put a brick or a pipe next to every shrub or tree she planted!

20130720-122042.jpg

The mother clump.

20130721-093728.jpg

XXX

12 Comments

Filed under Seasonal Maintenance

Signs of guilt…

Sometimes pest will leave you a sure sign of damage such as the below girdling on this passionflower vine. I don’t know who did this but I would just consider it a natural form of pruning.

20130714-232122.jpg

Sometimes they only eat holes here and there and I think; “Why didn’t you just eat the entire leaf?”

20130714-232227.jpg

Sometimes the look of guilt is just all you need to know that someone is up to no good!

20130714-232333.jpg

And when you catch them in the act:

20130714-232415.jpg

They are just too cute to scold!

20130714-232616.jpg

Just too cute!
***

19 Comments

Filed under Pest

Blueberry jam

I found myself Thursday walking around the NC Farmer’s Market in Raleigh. I was amazed the market was just as packed and busy as if it was a weekend.

Luckily, Blueberry season is in and it gave me an idea! I had purchased a box of fruit pectin on a whim of making strawberry jam but never got around to it during the season. Blueberries would make a fine jam, too. Two pints of organic blueberries were $5.00 so it sounded like a good idea and I have never made jam before. It was an amazingly quick process!

20130712-185210.jpg

1) Wash the Blueberries and remove any stems.

20130712-185243.jpg

2) Mash the Blueberries with a potato masher. I left some whole.

20130712-185354.jpg

3) Add the sugar, mix well and allow them to sit for half-an-hour to overnight.

20130712-185559.jpg

4) In the meantime, add the fruit pectin to water and bring it to a boil.

20130712-185318.jpg

5) Boil for about half an hour, stirring constantly and it should become a thick jelly.

20130712-185512.jpg

6) Pour the pectin over the berries and sugar mixture.

20130712-185643.jpg

7) Mix thoroughly.

20130712-185727.jpg

8) Ladle or pour immediately into clean jars. Allow to cool a little before screwing the lids on tight.

20130712-185758.jpg

9) Leave about an inch and a half room for expansion. It may take several hours to a day for the jam to set and thicken.

20130712-185830.jpg

10) Freeze if you are not going to consume it right away. Allow the jam to thaw for a few hours before using it.

20130712-185907.jpg

Adapted from Sure Jell No Cook Blueberry Jam recipe on the Sure Jell Fruit Pectin  package insert.

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/surejell-blueberry-jam-51002.aspx

15 Comments

Filed under cooking, Food