Eyes On The Garden, Folks!

Hello Friends,

Garden news: Each of my pepper plants are producing and the cherry tomato is loaded. The Better Boy probably has a baker's dozen and the Celebrity is bringing up the rear.

Sadly, the squash are not squashing yet. Had a few small ones on the zucchini, but they never developed. Also, the cukes are not as tasty as I'd hoped. Here is a picture of the one I picked today. I spotted it Friday and said it would be ready to pick in a couple of days. It is now Monday and it has tripled in size since then. This is the Straight Eight variety. 

I had eagerly awaited the first ripe tomato and remarked to hubby that it would be ready soon. Today was the day. I reached in and plucked out a small but otherwise ripe and ready tomato. 

Alas, I turned it over and this is what I saw.

The cardinal rule of gardening is that you must keep eyes on everything every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. It is however hard to see what is happening on the bottom of every tomato. In my defense, they grow in clumps in the center of the plant inside a four-foot tall cage. I must reach inside a 2" by 4" opening the welded wire fence to harvest or prune away dead leaves, the latter involving getting scissors in as well. I may need to rethink some things next year. 

I have some organic fertilizer to put out and that might help. I think I also have some calcium spray I can use. Blossom end rot results in two things, both involving calcium. Either there is not enough in the soil, or there is insufficient uptake.

The storm that came up through SC dumping copious amounts of rain in some areas only gave us 0.4" of rain, so back to watering this evening. Sigh!

I had planned to do a roundup of all the good news on the national and political fronts back before the holiday, but that, as they say, is old news now. Maybe I'll do a post with my take on some of the highlights...we'll see.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

Speaking of Herbs

Hello Friends,

In the continuing saga of gardening 2025, here is a rundown of what's growing in my herb garden.

New this year

English Thyme
Lemon Thyme
German Thyme

Garden Sage (wide leaves)

Italian Oregano

Sweet Basil

Parsley

From previous years

Sage

Chives

Greek Oregano

Lemon Balm

Rosemary

There is also a small pot of dill waiting to be transplanted.

I have an interesting recipe for you. Now please stay with me on this because it will surprise you.  

La Tagliata (Italian grilled flank steak)

2 lbs. beef flank steak

Freshly ground black pepper

4 TB extra virgin olive oil

4 anchovy fillets

2 Tsp. finely chopped garlic

3 TB finely chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley

Salt.

Put the olive oil and anchovies in a small skillet and place it over medium heat. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook until the anchovies begin to dissolve. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the parsley, stir for another 30 seconds, and remove from the heat. **After making this for many years, I don't measure anything.**

Slice your cooked steak against the grain, and serve with the hot sauce. 

The sauce is the focus of the recipe here, so my comments on the steak is to cook it to medium rare and slice it on an angle against the grain. This will make it more tender.

You can also use flat iron steak or my favorite, skirt steak.

This recipe comes from Every Night Italian - Giuliano Hazan

Also, check out my post from a few years back: The Secret is in the Seasoning: Herbs and Spices.

Enjoy the recipe and until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

First Summer Garden Update

Hello friends,

I have a garden update for you today. The tomatoes (Better Boy and Celebrity) have nearly topped their cages and have little green maters on them. Everything is showing promise, even the zucchini, which up until a few days ago only had male flowers.

We had been getting regular thundershowers with enough rain to keep things going with out watering. Cue the arrival of a major heat wave with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the mid to upper 90s. I had to put shade cloth over the poor cukes yesterday, and 15 minutes later they were in the shade. Don't worry, it's not climate change, just summer.

I'm not a real morning person, so watering happens later than I'd like, but I do try to keep most of it off the foliage. My straw was not what I normally get and it molded, so some of my plants do not have mulch yet. Lesson learned...don't get that again. Only got it because it was all they had and I needed straw. Argh, still need more straw or something. Never use the colored mulch in the garden. I haven't looked for data on that, but the dye stains clothing, so I can't think it is good for plants.

I have been enjoying my expanded herb garden, and hubby has been getting some in his nightly salad. Maybe I need to do a post on just herbs and include a favorite recipe. You will be surprised.

At this moment in time, the temperature in our neck of the woods is 94° with a heat index of 109 reported from a nearby weather station.

Wherever you are, I hope you are staying cool and hydrated. Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

Update, I noticed after putting this post together that I had gotten my finger in two of the pics. Too hot to do a retake!

Is Pride Month On The Wane?

Hello Friends,

Here we find ourselves once again in the month of June. It is a new year and a new era. Times they are a changing, and for the better in my humble opinion.

It seems that more people and more companies are turning away from "pride month" (intentionally not capitalized). If you have been reading here for any length of time, you know where I stand on this subject.

We'll start with Target as our first example. There are videos and articles saying that Target is pulling back from pride month, and their displays are patriotic, American themed and family oriented. You know, like a regular summer display. Okay, that's great, right? Well, I went to their corporate website and guess what I found? They DO have a pride collection, although they have largely scaled back since the major outrage from consumers in 2023 when they featured LGBT and trans clothing for children, not to mention the Satanist designs. Oh my word. Decent people will only take so much then look out. 

Mostly what I saw online was items with rainbow colors and "sayings". So it would seem that they not turned away as much as toned down. Perhaps this is only on their website. Maybe stores in more conservative areas have less, and the more liberal areas have more. I don't know. I haven't been in Target in years, and I used to shop there before the woke virus overtook them.

Here are some of the companies who are NOT sponsoring pride month this year.

19 Companies pulling back their support for pride

Among these are Anheuser-Busch, Disney, DoorDash, UPS, PepsiCo and Capital One. It seems a number of companies are doing a complete about face when it comes to pride. Maybe they figured out that when you go woke you go broke. 

Here we have another article on how just under six months have brought about big changes. Trump Era: Target Majorly Tones Down Children’s ‘Pride Month’ Apparel.

Now let's have a look at pride in the NFL and the MLB. I have no love for football to begin with, but even if I did, this would certainly change my viewing habits. They are obviously not listening to the fans.

This is so disgusting, but I had to include it to show the full scope of their wokeness.

Major League Baseball is right up there with the NFL, but there is one outstanding exception and that is the Texas Rangers. No Pride in Texas, Rangers Lone Team Without Pride Night.

I hope this post finds you well today, and gives you some hope that things are indeed changing for the better. Maybe someone will find a cure for the woke mind virus plaguing so many.

Until next time, stay safe and stay sane.

It's Official!

 HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE

I hope you take some time to step back from the craziness of the world to enjoy the summer and spend time getting back to nature. We can all benefit from fresh air, sunshine and connecting with the earth.

Picture is AI generated.