Time just keeps getting away from me!! But we have been busy...and that always seems to make time fly even faster.
The garden is doing pretty well - we have already pulled about 4 cups of green beans, 3 yellow squash and 2 cucumbers. The tomatoes are starting to ripen - but some are also showing the blossom end rot. We have been watering every day if it does not rain, as they say irregular watering is one of the main causes of blossom end rot. So we are not sure why some of the fruit is doing that. I was thinking of trying some Epsom salts (a family member of ours swears by it for their tomatoes). Have any of you tried it? Successful or not?
Our peppers are getting big - about the size of baseballs. We should be picking them in about a week or so. This past weekend I dug about six pounds of red potatoes out of the ground. We had them for breakfast (homefries) and cooked in foil on the grill with onions - delish!! Here is how we do it:
Take two sheets of foil and lay them out like a cross (so you have double thickness). Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in the middle of the cross of foil. Slice up some onions and add to the pile. Season with your favorite seasoning - we used seasoning salt, garlic powder, black pepper and paprika. Add a dollop of butter and some ice cubes - depending on the size of your packet, add 1/2 - 1 dozen ice cubes. Fold up the first layer of foil to seal (down the middle first, then curl in the sides), then the second layer the same way (that way you end up the middle seals going opposite directions for a better seal). Set on the grill over medium coals for 10 - 20 minutes, depending on how large the packet is. Be careful when you open it!!! There will be a lot of steam trying to get out. But the potatoes come out cooked to perfection and oh so yummy! This is a variation of a recipe we use when we go camping. We add a chicken breast to the bottom before putting the potatoes and everything else on. You have to make the sheets bigger too. Then we cook it over medium coals for about 25 - 40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast. A quick meal that tastes great and no cleanup - the foil goes in the trash :-)
The weather is finally heating up - no more open windows. As a matter of fact, the forecast for this weekend is 101F on Friday, and 100F on Saturday and Sunday. I hope it is just for this one weekend!!
Stay cool and have a super day!
4 comments:
I LOVE homefries and it's our favorite way to prepare 'taters around here. Although ours are store-bought :( Enjoy your homegrown ones!
Hey, just ran across your blog... On the blossom end rot, I have read that it is a calcium deficiency. In my garden, the plum/paste tomatoes seem most susceptible. I have had good luck with liquid calcium that I got from a hydroponics store. I water each of the plants with the solution and it seems to take care of it lickety split. I have also read that planting the tomatoes with egg shells in the holes can take care of this. I am not sure that it qualifies as organic, but it may save your tomatoes this year. You can plant tomatoes with crushed up egg shell in the holes next year. It just takes a while for the shells to break down, so it probably wouldn't be in time to help out for this year. Good luck!
Welcome Elsie! Thanks for stopping by! We will have to try the egg shells for next year - we certainly have enough of them LOL The lighter watering schedule has seemed to make a difference - but it could be the heat too.
Epsom salt does work just don't use too much.I put mine in a spray bottle.Unfortunately it didn't do any good with this heat. My plants fried.
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