The Fence Farce Continues

I first mentioned “the fence farce” in a post in May of 2011, but a refresher may be in order. In the spring of 2010, the landlord who owns the house behind us said he was putting up a fence “next week” and wondered if I wanted his friend to help me clear out the overgrown hedge we had back there. His friend gave me a cheap price that I couldn’t turn down and he cleared out most of the hedge, which extended the entire length of our back yard and was probably about 6 feet deep. I spent a greater part of that year digging up roots, like honeysuckle, wisteria, ivy, etc, until it no longer came back. Needless to say, the fence did not go up “next week.” Nor did it go up the next year. It was May of 2012 before we started to see any sign of a fence going up. It was an ugly, white vinyl fence and they did a really shoddy job of putting it in, but hey, at least it kept me from having to look at the tons of cars he had in his driveway that he’s always working on and gave us a bit more privacy. I was ready to rejoice – Hallelujah a fence!...however...he never finished it. They got about 3/4 of it done when they ran into a stump and couldn’t get one of the fence posts in. And there is stalled...and is still stalled. Hence, we still have a LOVELY view of his broken down boat on the right side of the back yard.

Unfinished section of the neighbor’s fence.

I had a fence farce scare the other day. When I came home from work on Friday, Brian said, “You’re not going to be happy. Take a long out back.” This is what I saw:

A gap in the neighbor’s fence.

Imagine my horror as I saw a missing panel from the fence that I have been waiting four years for. While I was working in the kitchen garden on Saturday, the neighbor said that his father-in-law was helping him reinstall the fence properly, so that it was more straight and looked better. However, he made no indication of any plans to finish it. He said there is still the stump issue and they also ran out of the metal brackets that hold the fencing to the posts and those are $7.95 a piece. Sigh...always an obstacle. Will that bloody fence ever be finished?! If or when it does get finished, you better believe I will be celebrating. It might be the one and only time you see a picture of me on this blog. It will be a picture of me drinking a big bottle of champagne while hugging that (expletive) fence.

How Did That Get There?

While I was working in the garden this weekend, I spotted this lone, renegade pink phlox in the middle of the purple coneflowers.

Mysterious Pink Phlox.

I haven’t had pink phlox in my garden for years. I had tried it once and it didn’t survive. So how in the world did this get there? I peaked in my neighbors’ yards to see if they had pink phlox and I didn’t see any. Interesting. I think I’ll leave it there and see if it comes back next year.

Fairy-sized Eggplant

I know this is called Fairy Tale Eggplant, but this is a bit ridiculous. These eggplants are only about an inch and a half, two inches at the most.

Fairy Tale Eggplant

I planted this in the early spring, so it has had plenty of time (and rain) to grow, but yet it is still fairy-sized. Each eggplant is supposed to be 4-5 inches long. For perspective, here is my pinky finger next to the eggplant.

Fairy-sized Fairy Tale Eggplant

It’s like some kind of joke. I have been watching these for several weeks and I don’t feel like they are getting any bigger. I applied an organic fertilizer this weekend, so we’ll see if that does anything. Silly little eggplants...sheesh. Too bad I don’t have real fairies in the garden to enjoy them.

Recipe from the Garden: Basil Citrus Cooler

Basil Citrus Cooler is a recipe from Martha Stewart’s website. I was intrigued with the idea of basil in a drink and I have PLENTY of sweet basil in the garden. Here is a link to the recipe. I suggest letting it sit for an hour or so in the fridge so that the basil flavor has a chance to develop.

Basil Citrus Cooler, with some white rum added.

This was very refreshing, however, after a long day working in the garden and after squeezing all of those oranges by hand, I felt like I needed an ADULT beverage (or as they say in my favorite old British comedy, Black Adder, something a wee bit more “medicinal”), so I added a wee bit of white rum. In hindsight, I could’ve used Tequila and it might have been a bit margarita-like. I only had six oranges, so I didn’t make as much as the recipe called for. If I feel up to squeezing all of those oranges again, I might try adding club soda instead of water. If you like orange juice and basil, you’ll like this drink. It won’t replace my favorite Mojito, though!

Farm Stand Finds

As I have mentioned before, this has not been a good year for tomatoes in my garden. I have been forced to buy them from local farm stands. At least I’m supporting the local farmers that way!

I was vacationing at Lake Wallenpaupak, PA for part of last week and stopped at our favorite farm stand in that area on the way home. Howell’s is in Greentown, PA on Route 507. We stop there every year because they carry this delicious local cheese called Leraysville. Their Baby Swiss is the best I have ever tasted. Too bad they stopped making my favorite, Portelet. The Udder Delight and Cheddars are excellent, as well. While I was in there, I saw the most gorgeous orange tomatoes – I couldn’t resist buying a couple. They grew them themselves.

Today I stopped at Lew’s farm stand on Lenola Road in Moorestown, NJ. I stop there every now and then. The have produce and a really decent selection of reasonably priced plants – mostly annuals and vegetables, but some perennials, as well. When I was there I saw they had grown their own Chinese White Eggplant. It was so white and beautiful – again, I couldn’t resist.

Orange tomato and white Chinese eggplant from two different farmstands.

Really, aren’t those so perfect?! So even though I grow a lot of my own produce, I still love to see what the farm stands have and support the local farmers.

A Neglected Kitchen Garden in August

A little while ago I posted pictures of my neglected flower garden, now it’s the kitchen garden’s turn. I was so focused on my web design classes that I just couldn’t keep up with things in the garden. Now that I have a break in between semesters, I can refocus my attention. However, with the kitchen garden, some irreversible damage has been done...at least to this year’s crop.

Neglect, plus a lot of rain, equals a lot of stuff growing...and some things suffering from TOO much rain.

Rain on the door to the back porch.

As soon as you enter the kitchen garden, you notice things are not as neat and tidy as usual. No, that is not grass growing in my gravel path, it’s garlic chives! My own fault, though, because I did not cut off the seed-heads at the end of last year and they obviously reseeded in the path.

Entrance to the kitchen/vegetable garden.

Vegetable vines and the overgrown Beautyberry bush are taking over one side of the gravel path.

The overgrown kitchen garden.

My Heliopsis Summer Nights, which usually looks so gorgeous all season, is falling over into the path, along with the Beautyberry bush.

Heliopsis and Beautyberry bush taking over a path.

The purple Butterfly Bush is taking over the path on the other side.

Butterfly Bush taking over the other path.

You have to seriously duck to get on the other side of it.

Butterfly Bush taking over.

Hey wait, what’s that on the other side of the Butterfly Bush? It’s the neighbor’s cat enjoying the warmth of the compost bin lid. Instead of a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, it’s a Cat on a Hot Compost Bin. Along with some greens that have gone to seed in the bed in front of him...or her.

Cat on a hot compost bin.

Between this cat and Stubby, the one that looks similar but with a short tail, I almost always run into a cat in the garden.

Cat close-up.

This is the view the cat has of the overgrown kitchen garden.

Kitchen Garden.

There’s that Beautyberry Bush again, this time from the other side.

Overgrown kitchen garden.

The green beans are big and full. They are just starting to show some actual beans.

Parsley, hot peppers, green beans, swiss chard, to name a few.

I was so excited that it looked like I would actually have blackberries this year on the blackberry bush that we have had for years...

Blackberry bush.

...but alas, this is as big as the berries ever got...

Pitiful looking blackberries.

My cucumbers were doing really well there for awhile...

Cucumbers

...but then something happened and they took a turn for the worse. I blame all of the rain we have had this year.

Some ugly looking cucumber leaves.

The same thing happened to the squash. It was looking pretty nice there for a bit...

Squash.

...then it got what looked like a powdery mildew. Again, I blame the extraordinarily wet weather.

Mildew on squash leaves.

My one tomato plant has yet to ripen and my other one, this grape-sized one, looks pretty much dead. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day...or at least a few days later instead of tomorrow yet again.

Sorry-looking grape-sized tomatoes.

This is the first time I have ever tried to grow lima beans. Nothing yet other than green leaves, but at least it is one of the healthier looking plants in the garden.

Pole lima beans.

One thing that doesn’t seem to mind all of this rain is the parsley. I have both curly and flat-leafed parsley. This is the first year I have done the curly variety and it seems to do much better than the flat-leaved kind.

Two different kinds of parsley.

The Sweet Basil and Sorrel are doing well, too.

Sorrel and Sweet Basil.

The succulents on this miniature birdhouse seem to be doing ok, as well.

“Green roof” birdhouse.

The Mariachi Hot Peppers are forming fast. Soon I will have a plethora of ready-to-eat hot peppers.

Mariachi Hot Pepper plant.

Not sure how this Morning Glory vine got in the Garlic Chives. Ah right, it was neglect.

Garlic Chives, with a random Morning Glory vine.

Yes neglect, the theme of this post. Neglect is not such a good thing when it comes to a kitchen garden. At least I have still managed to enjoy some fruits of my bounty.

The kitchen garden.

And if you don’t look TOO closely, it still is kinda pretty.

The kitchen garden looking towards the flower garden.

My plan this weekend is to try to get some of this under control. Wish me luck! Hope I don’t get attacked by the overgrown Beautyberry Bush or the Butterfly Bush!

Recipe from the Garden: Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Herbs

Can you tell I love cheese? I don’t think I can go a single day without some sort of cheese. For some girls their weakness is chocolate, for me it’s cheese. Put any kind of cheese in front of me and I’ll eat it. I used to HATE blue cheese. Really hated it. Then all of a sudden one day I liked it. Now I love putting it in salads. I’m especially fond of this buttermilk blue cheese that I can get at Wegmans. That’s what I use in this recipe.

Tomatoes, Blue Cheese, and Fresh Herbs.

This started out as a recipe from my “Grow” magazine, originally from “Fine Cooking” magazine, but I didn’t have all of the ingredients so it’s a simplified version. For the full version go to the recipe on “Fine Cooking.” Here is my simple version:

Tomatoes, Blue Cheese and Herbs

Ingredients
• Tomatoes
• Blue Cheese crumbles (or Gorgonzola)
• Balsamic Vinegar (I have found it is worth it to splurge for the good kind)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Chopped fresh herbs (I use Parsley and Chives, as well as a bit of Garlic Chives)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Slice the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little balsamic and extra virgin olive oil. Instead of chopping my herbs, I have found they bruise less if I use scissors to cut them up right on top of the tomatoes. Then top with the crumbled blue cheese.

The tang of the blue cheese is pretty awesome with fresh tomatoes and also goes well with the balsamic. I am sad to say that I have yet to get ANY tomatoes from my garden this year, other than a few grape-sized ones. I have heard other people in my area say the same thing. Too much rain – the tomatoes just aren’t ripening. These tomatoes came from my favorite family-owned farm stand, Hunter’s, which I have mentioned before since they have the world’s best corn on the cob. Luckily I have PLENTY of fresh herbs in the garden to top this off. This is a nice alternative to Caprese salad, which is something else I have blogged about and eat often.