Sqasharoni and Cheese
Our Fridley garden has continued to pump out summer squash and zucchini and we have been using them as often as we can. I hope you enjoy this recipe. Using summer squash instead of noodles is an easy and yummy substitution when making homemade macaroni and cheese. I’m not a fan of Easy Mac, but I really like this recipe whether it’s prepared with noodles or with squash. We use the Joy of Cooking’s “Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese” recipe, and stepping in right after they have cooked the noodles. To make it work well you need the equivalent volume of…Read the Rest
Garden Update : Free Tomatoes and Cucumbers, Peas, Spinach AND MUCH MUCH MORE
Despite the lack of updates, I have been busy in the garden and out. Work, Consulting, Scouts and Family have taken priority over blogging for some reason. Here’s what’s been growing on. Free Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Cantaloupe! A nice lady had about 35 free tomato plants listed on Craigslist. I was the lucky recipient! Several varieties of paste tomatoes and some good slicers. Most of the tomatoes should make it, although a few were small and are struggling with the transplanting. The new tomatoes made up for the many tomatoes that I killed. The same lady also gave me two…Read the Rest
Dealing With Squirrels and Other Critters
When Squirrels Attack I like squirrels. They’re cute and fun to watch as they scamper all over the yard. They annoyed me a little bit when they followed me around the yard as I planted beans, digging up the seeds as soon as I had turned my back. When they chewed open several plastic Easter eggs and a toy baseball it was just a minor inconvenience. But eating my radishes out from under me was more than I could take. A week or so ago I pulled a handful of radishes from the garden right before watering. I rinsed them…Read the Rest
We’re doing grape!
The two grape plants we put in a few weeks ago are doing quite well. They’re holding on to the fence nice and tightly, unlike the pole beans which are holding on to everything except the poles they’re suppose to climb. One of the grape plants (the Valiant) has a couple of bunches of tiny little grapes. They’re about the size of the head of a round headed pin. I wasn’t expecting to get any grapes this year, so if we do, it’ll be a fun surprise. The neighbor’s rose bush has been slowly creeping through the fence. We have…Read the Rest
Untimely Deaths and Midnight Burials
Dead Tomatoes Despite my excitement about gardening, it turns out I’m still a novice. In fact, I killed off most of the rest of our seedling tomato plants. I had been growing them in the basement under lights, and brought them outside to harden off. Unfortunately I left the lid over the plants while I was at worked, and I ended up with a pile of steamed dead tomato plants. I’m probably going to have to go buy some pre-grown plants at this point and transplant them. Dead Blueberry Bush One of our blueberry bushes didn’t take root. The leaves…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Fridley Community Gardens
I just found out that Fridley has garden plots available for rent. If you’re in Fridley they’re just $28/year, and the till them for you! They also include easy water access, trash bins and porta-pottys. Garden plots are available to request starting two days ago (March 23) and I assume till they run out. http://www.ci.fridley.mn.us/community-gardens From description on the community gardens page, looks like this is the place.
The Fridley Farmer : Cutting and Planting Sod
At some point the previous owners of our house had a garden. We are expanding it from 12×25 feet to 25×25 feet. I was going to rent a rototiller to break it all up, then I realized that the new garden area has good growing grass on it and that I could use that grass in front of the patio we made last year which is still surrounded by dirt. So instead of a quick trip with the tiller I get to spend some quality time cutting sod. Below you can see I have a measly 3×12 foot section cut…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Seed Saving and Hybrids
Growing up, I always thought that if you planted the seeds of a tomato, you would grow the same kind of tomato plant. It turns out that that’s not always the case. The seeds in a fruit or vegetable usually have the genes of a mother and father plant. Whatever type of plant polinated the fruiting plant will determine what happens genetically. So the first reason the seeds might not do what you want is because they’re from two different kinds of plants. As an example, crab apple trees are frequently used to polinate other apple trees. A crab apple…Read the Rest
The Fridley Farmer : Garden Order List and Schedule
Here’s our final garden/yard order list for the year. So far we’re at $290 plus some shipping in plants and seeds alone. $133 of that are one time costs — plants that should keep growing year after year (the blueberries, strawberries, grapes, lingonberries and rhubarb). Price: $290.58 Planting Date Company Item Number $2.25 3/26/2010 Totally Tomatoes 01433 $2.25 3/26/2010 Totally Tomatoes 01730 $2.95 4/2/2010 Burpee 60103A $2.95 4/23/2010 Burpee 62026A $1.75 4/23/2010 Totally Tomatoes 02220 $2.25 4/23/2010 Totally Tomatoes 02134 $8.10 4/9/2010 Victory Seed Company Victoria $3.95 4/30/2010 Burpee 51995A $2.95 4/30/2010 Burpee 65904A $3.95 4/30/2010 Burpee 57117A $4.95 5/28/2010 …Read the Rest