Less Growing, More Bot-ing

It's been a crazy but good couple of weeks for the Growbots. The photo above is the only one from the garden, because, well, I haven't been in the garden much lately. But clearly, the garden lives on. We've now had the pleasure of receiving two harvests of broccoli and will probably be seeing more in the near future. I've been terribly busy so I haven't seen the garden in about a week and a half, but Mr. Growbot did have the pleasure of seeing it yesterday and gave me a full report. Apparently the plants that we thought were pumpkins are actually yellow crookneck squash (not that I have a problem with that, yum!), the tomatoes are thriving, and Mr. Growbot tasted a sugar snap pea pod and gave his full approval. Hopefully I'll get back in there soon and have more to share.

In other semi-related garden news, Mr. Growbot and I picked 10 pounds of strawberries last week. Let me tell you, 10 pounds of strawberries is more than you can imagine. I've so far made 24 half pints of jam and a strawberry rhubarb pie and have barely made a dent in the pile. The rest had to be put in the freezer and will be processed into more goodies soon. I plan on making "sundae in a jar" which is strawberries, raspberries, and chocolate liquer and is used mainly as an ice cream topper. I also am going to try and branch out and make some more savory creations like strawberry, mint, and black pepper jam and maybe strawberry balsamic jam.

 
My little Growbot brother graduated from high school this past weekend. In celebration, I made him a cake shaped like a rainbow trout for his party. My brother is an avid fisherman, so I thought the cake would be perfect. Per his request, the cake was funfetti (it was a 9x13 that I carved into the fish shape) with funfetti icing, and I made marshmallow fondant and hand painted it. Overall, I believe it was a success. My brother ate the face, always the tastiest part of the fish :)

In addition to all of my general busy-ness lately, I've been experimenting a lot with shutter speed on my camera. Chad and Beth had a fun summer party last weekend and one of their guests was a fire hooper, meaning he literally hula-hooped in a hoop with flames one it. This was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at leaving my shutter open for an extended amount of time and seeing what would happen. The photo at the top was normal speed, or 1/80 of a second. In the next couple, I had the shutter open for 3 seconds. In the last one I had the shutter open for 6 seconds. The photos turned out really interesting, and I learned a lot about shutter speed and exposure. It left me thirsty for more, so....

...introducing ghost Fancy Pants! I created this photo by leaving the shutter open for 10 seconds. Fancy stood there for about 4 or 5 seconds before walking out of the shot, thus leaving what appears to be a ghostly image of a cat. Interesting and a bit creepy, just how I like it.


No cats were harmed in the making of this blog ;)


Until next time.


-Mrs. Growbot

Snake in a Compost Pile!

 It doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Snakes on a Plane, but I'm pretty sure it was more entertaining. Yes, that's right- we found a snake in the compost pile. Did I scream? Sure did. Was it dangerous? Nope, not at all. I emailed my snake-expert brother the photos and he has informed me that it is merely a rat snake. A snake that likes to eat rats and moles, but has no interest in humans. Beth-the-Brave kindly moved him elsewhere and we have not seen him since.

In other garden news- we now have protective plastic walls around the beds which seems to be keeping all the animals out (rat snakes included).

Here's the newest bed that we've planted. This bed is composed of Roma tomatoes, various sweet and hot peppers, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, and edamame (aka soy beans). I'm particularly excited about the cucumbers because they are a pickling variety, so later this summer I will get to try my hand at a new method of preservation. I'm also looking forward to the edamame. I figure that they'll probably grow and appear like normal bush beans, but cooking them will be different for sure. Just a light steaming and some salt- delicious. Also, some tomato knowledge for you novices out there- Roma tomatoes are what we call "determinate". Determinate basically means that instead of growing up and needing a trellis, these types of tomatoes will grow horizontally and sprawl. Determinate tomatoes also tend to bear all of their fruit at once instead of over the course of the season. While these characteristics may seem to be cons, the pro is most certainly the fruit that they bear. Roma tomatoes are great for sauces both in texture and in flavor.

We also planted the rest of the herbs in the herb bed, including the Lemon Thyme pictured above. With a very pleasant fragrance and lovely variegated leaves, I think it's an awesome little plant. 

Here's a quick glance at the flower bed that we planted. Beth and I started everything from seed, so there's not much to see now, but I'm guessing that in a few weeks it will be thriving. Also, check out the clematis in the background. Mr. Growbot and I planted it in 2008 and it has really just blossomed into a handsome floral vine.

And now the mulch icing on the garden cake (gardening jokes never get old!). Beth and I dug up the yard behind the garage and started a new trellising bed yesterday. While I love the ease and maintenance of the raised beds, some things just need more space and more trellis than the raised beds can provide. In this ground bed we have planted butternut squash, mini watermelons, cantaloupe, honeydew, galia melons (see link for explanation), and what we believe to be pumpkins. The supposed pumpkins were volunteers that started from seeds in the compost pile and had really started to get quite large in the raised beds. Also, here's a bit of info about our trellis. It's made from electrical conduit and a very sturdy nylon net. We pounded 2 foot rebar one foot into the ground and put the trellis onto the remaining foot. This is the same kind of trellis I have used with the tomatoes and will hopefully prove to be just as strong. And now something not related to gardening...

Which of these things is not like the other? Fancy Pants has a tendency to hang out in the dryer when it's open, so Mr. Growbot caught a quick photo before kicking her out. I just thought it was funny. Good thing we didn't try to fold her :)

Until next time.

-Mrs. Growbot

Lady Marmalade

It's been another blah-neverending winter-grey-colder than it should be week, so I decided to spice things up a bit and do some canning. I made Blood Orange Marmalade which turned out to be very blood-colored indeed. This is the first time I had ever made marmalade (as opposed to jams and jellies) and it certainly took a while to prepare all of the ingredients. A lot of people are unaware that marmalade has actual pieces of rind in it, I think mostly because it's cooked down to the point that it's no longer chewy and really very soft. In order to get rind that soft, you really have to boil it down- hence the long prep time. The one nice thing about marmalade however, is that it requires no extra pectin to make it gel. Apparently there is naturally enough in the fruit that all you have to do is boil it long enough and it makes instant jelly! Blood Orange marmalade was the definitely the highlight of my week.

In seedling news, the first true leaves are starting to show up on the tomatoes and my peppers finally sprouted! Just some late bloomers I guess. Everything is going well and I should be starting some herb seeds this coming week. Also, check out the cat grass- it's crazy! The cats have really enjoyed it so far. I now just leave it next to their food bowls and they munch on it as they please. Until next time...

-Mrs. Growbot

They're alive!...mostly.

It's been about a week since I started the seeds for our upcoming spring/summer garden. Everything has sprouted except for the peppers. I'm hoping that they will eventually sprout, even if we do keep the house temp at a cool 63 degrees. I put a heating pad underneath the box that they've been started in and it seems to keep things warm and steamy in seed-land. The cat grass was the first thing to really take off and I let Pants and Gizmo have it at this week. They seemed to really enjoy it, however, I think the grass needs to build a better root system because the cats were pulling it up when they tried to chew on it. I think it will be readier next week.

In other news, Knoxville got tons o' snow this past weekend (when I say tons, I mean about 4"!) and Mr. Growbot and I had a swell time. We played around in it a bit, including sledding on a piece of styrofoam insulation we found in the garage. We even made a Snowcat! They're forecasting for snow again this coming weekend, so who knows what kind of adventures we'll get into next. I'm thinking orange marmalade- more on that next week.

-Mrs. Growbot

Seed Starting for the Masses!

Today I started seeds for the vegetable garden that I'm sharing with a friend this summer. Since it hasn't gotten above 36 degrees today, it feels good to play in some dirt and at least reminisce about warmer times :)

Mr. Growbot, being the engineer that he is, built me an awesome, cat-proof seed starting chamber in our utility room. It's amazing how some shelves, plexi-glass, and a little velcro can combine to make something so complex! Not only that, but it takes something pretty ingenious to deter our ninja kitties, so I'm ever so thankful to Mr. Growbot for his creation.

Speaking of cats, Fancy Pants and Gizmo are getting a treat out of all this- their own pan of cat grass, but they have to wait until something actually grows before they can play. Other than cat grass, I started a variety of tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli. I'm very excited to see things start sprouting, and will be updating regularly as things start to grow.

-Mrs. Growbot