Friday Favorite: Galvanized Goodies
You may have noticed a few old galvanized items I use throughout the garden. There’s something I really love about galvanized things, especially olds pieces. I love that they have a history behind them, who knows what they’ve been used for throughout their lives. I have a few pieces that were my parents, two old buckets, an old trash can, and an old watering can and a few other pieces I’ve collected along the way.
I have fond memories of this watering can as a girl. I don’t use it for watering, simply for decor. I’m hoping to add more watering cans to my collection as well when I can find them.
I don’t find ‘new’ items all that often since I don’t get to go to auctions as we work often on Saturdays. I do have Mr Chiot’s grandpa on the lookout, hopefully he’ll find me some big old washtubs, maybe a double sink, perhaps more watering cans and hopefully a few nice old oscar the grouch trash cans to store all of my potting soil and vermiculite in.
Do you have anything that you collect for you garden or for gardening?
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Timberrrrrrrr
“Wow, those are some big trees” Dan from Steiner Painting said when he showed up yesterday morning. “That’s what I said on the phone” Mr Chiots replied. I suppose he’s used to most people describing a 30 ft tree as a “big” tree. We’re surrounded by old growth trees, most of them well over 100 years old I’m sure. It’s too bad some of them had to come down for the safety of our little cottage.
On one hand it’s sad to see them go, but the ones we had cut down were in rough shape, not healthy trees by any stretch of the imagination. The people that built this house scraped away the soil around the trees to make a flat driveway and they haven’t been doing well the entire time we’ve lived here. We’ve been wanting to have them taken out, we’ve just been waiting to save up the money to do so.
The giant multi-stem maple growing beside our house collects water in the middle of it’s three trunks and made us nervous during every wind storm. It’ll be nice to sleep through a stormy night without wondering if we’ll wake up to the sound of a giant tree coming through the roof.
After four hours of cutting we have four fewer trees at Chiot’s Run, which is a small percentage of the big ones. We still have a nice grove of 20-25 maples in the back for tapping and a few very large cherry trees as well.
The giant 100 ft tulip still stands as they need a taller bucket truck to take it down. We also have 3 more large oak trees that might come down some day. Of course I can’t be too sad about losing a few trees, they’ll be replaced with apples, pears, peaches, nectarine, pear, crabapple and cherry trees. All that wood won’t go to waste either, we’re getting a wood burner so all of it will be used to keep the cottage here at Chiot’s Run warm and toasty during the winter.
We now have a lot of work ahead of us as all the limbs need cleaned up and chipped for mulch. The big logs will be cut up and stacked in the back for firewood. We’re hoping to use some of the smaller logs for stairs in a few different spots around the gardens. I also really want to make this bench with some of the branches, I’ve saved out a few from the maple that was right beside the house. I found this bench in the book Garden Ornaments : A Stylish Guide to Decorating Your Garden.
I love big trees, it’s one of the things we really like about our house. We’re surrounded by woods on 3 sides (well, now 2.5 sides). We still have many many acres of old growth woods behind us that will remain that way since it’s owned by the home owners association we belong to and it’s not allowed to be built on. I can’t wait to see how our little orchard comes together to fill in the spots left by these old trees.
Do you have any big trees on your property? Have you ever had to take down trees?
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2011 Tomato List
I spent the afternoon yesterday seeding all of my tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, marigolds, and other herbs & flowers. I narrowed down my tomato list, leaving off a few that I’ve grown for the past 3 years and adding a few new ones to try. I’ll be happy when I have the new garden area finished and I can grow a lot more varieties of tomatoes just for fun and to see what they’re like.
Here’s the list of the tomatoes I’ll be growing this summer. I added images where I had them of each variety. One this I want to do this year is to take photos of the foliage and the tomatoes from each kind I’m growing. Hopefully I can do a post on each kind to give you a review.
Yellow Cherry – indeterminate, regular-leaf, vigorous and tall tomato plants that yield copious amounts of 3/4-inch, round, yellow cherry tomatoes that are loaded with delicious, fruity, sweet/tart flavors (source: Sand Hill Preservation)
Tess’s Land Race Currant – Deliciously flavored currant tomato that originated from Maryland’s southern shore. The tiny fruit of this variety vary in color; most are deep red but some are also rose, gold and yellow. The flavorful fruit are popular with chefs and home gardeners. The sprawling vines produce clusters of these intense tasting miniatures. (source: Baker Creek)
Lemon Boy – A popular hybrid tomato, particularly with commercial growers, known for its uniform, lemon-yellow colored fruit which generally grow to about eight ounces. Borne in clusters, the fruits are a treat to the eyes and have a nice mild, sweet, tomato flavor. The plants are vigorous and are resistant to several common tomato pests so they are quite easy to grow. The vines also tend to be quite productive. Maturity: 72-75 Days, Determinate (source: saved seed)
Brandywine Tomato – 80/100 days, indeterminate – It is by far one of the best known heirloom tomato varieties. There is a lot of lore surrounding the ‘Brandywine’ category of tomatoes. Reportedly it is an old Amish heirloom, dating back to 1885 and named after Brandywine Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The disease tolerant, regular leaf plants yield fruits that are red, globe shaped, and full of flavor. (source: saved seed)
Silvery Fir Tree – Traditional Russian variety with distinctive carrotlike silvery-gray foliage on compact 24″ plants. Heavy crops of round, slightly flattened 3-3½” red fruits. Unique decorative variety that is a real eyecatcher. Does well in hanging baskets or on patios. Introduced by Seed Savers International in 1995. Determinate, 58 days from transplant. (source: Seed Savers)
Henderson’s Crimson Cushion – The Crimson Scarlet Brother of “Ponderosa” has huge size and delicious rich flesh. Said to be introduced in 1892 by Peter Henderson, the flesh is very thick and of great quality. This is probably the tomato that made red “Beefsteak” type tomatoes famous. (source: Baker Creek)
Cherokee Purple – Given to heirloom tomato collector Craig LeHoullier by J. D. Green of Tennessee, it is at least 100 years old and was reported as originally grown by the Cherokee Indians. The fruits are large (twelve to sixteen ounces), dark pink with darker purple shoulders. Excellent complex flavor, slight sweet aftertaste, perfect slicer for tomato sandwiches! Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor. Indeterminate, 80 days. (source: Baker Creek)
Winterkeeper – 10 oz. fruits, solid green until storage then turn a pale yellow outside and red inside. (source: Sand Hill Preservation)
Principe Borghese – The Italian heirloom that is famous for sun drying. Small 1-2 oz. grape-shaped fruit are very dry and have few seeds. They have a rich tomato taste that is wonderful for sauces. Determinate vines yield clusters of fruit in abundance, perfect for selling in fresh markets and making specialty products. Determinate, 70-75 days. (source: saved seed)
Goldman’s Italian American – Unique, beautiful and large tomatoes that have a squat, pear shape, being ribbed and pleated. These have a bloody, intense red color when ripe. Thick, red flesh is perfect for delicious sauces and preserves. Found at a Roadside stand in Italy, by Amy Goldman and named after her father’s grocery store in Brooklyn. This variety has good flavor, fresh or canned (source: saved seed)
San Marzano Tomato Lungo #2 – For canning, paste, and a killer spaghetti sauce, it’s hard to beat ‘San Marzano’, a sought-after heirloom from the Campania region of southern Italy. A highly prized Italian heirloom tomato for its fruit with firm pulp and thick skin, used in the concentrate industry as well as for canning ‘peeled’ tomatoes. This is truly the Italian standard for sauce and paste and a heavy producer. The fruit are long, often mistaken for large peppers from a distance. Fleshy with few seeds, often with ‘dry’ seed cavities, and with an authentic flavor that will take you back to Italy. A vigorous grower (we couldn’t believe the size of the harvests even in zone 5), vines start bearing later in the summer but then come on fast and furiously, producing heavy, 3½-inch-long tapered fruits in clusters of five or six. ‘San Marzano’ is low in sugar and acid, which gives it superior flavor when cooked. The vigorous plants are extremely prolific and produce until the first hard frost. Indeterminate, 80 days. (source: Baker Creek)
Rutger’s Tomato – Good for canning; also good fresh; large red 8-oz. globes. Good yields and flavor on large vines. A fine New Jersey heirloom. (source: Baker Creek)
Dr Carolyn – 65 days. (indeterminate) [Selected from a sport of ‘Galinas’. Named by Steve Draper in honor of Dr. Carolyn Male who first saved the seed.] The most flavorful yellow cherry tomato we have grown. It has an excellent balance of sugar, tartness and depth of flavor. The pale yellow, cherry-sized fruits are typically borne 6 to a cluster with fruits of uniform size measuring 1-1/4″ x 1-1/4″. The large vines are extremely vigorous, well branched, and provide excellent cover. (source: Southern Exposure)
I think I’m most interested to see the Silvery Fir Tree, I’ve heard they’re really beautiful plants. I first heard about them in the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I’m also excited to try the currant type tomatoes for the first time this year. It will be interesting to see how quickly they ripen since they’re so small. They might be a great option for early tomatoes each year. I’ll never go a year without growing the Lemon tomato as that’s Mr Chiot’s favorite and I’ll always grow Principe Borghese as it makes the most wonderful dried tomatoes that we enjoy all winter long!
Do you have a variety you’re excited about trying this year? Any old favorites you always grow?
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The Power of the FREE Sign
I don’t know what it is, but it seems people will take anything off your hands if you put it out by the road with a FREE sign on it. A couple years ago we had our basement sandblasted and waterproofed. Some of the items from the basement went out by the road with a free sign on them. Since we live in private lake community with a lot of very expensive vacation homes, our friends that were helping us were skeptical that anyone would take the old bookshelves & the old brown sleeper sofa. Only an hour or so after being put out front, everything was gone!
We also had a old snowblower in our garage, my parents received it second hand when I was in junior high school. We couldn’t use in our gravel driveway, so we put it out by the road. One of our neighbors grabbed it and still uses it. We smile every time we hear him out after a snow storm. This weekend we put a storm door out by the road. Not long afterwards someone stopped in a golf cart, threw it on the roof, and headed home. Well, it fell off the roof right across the street, but they put it back on and off they went again. It’s nice to know that someone else will be getting some use out of something I no longer need!
I must admit, I’ve stopped for free items by the side of the road too. I have some old windows I got this way (hopefully to be made into cold frames or a greenhouse some day). I also found a row of Brunswick seats from an old bowling alley (I know what a score). I sanded these down, painted them up, and we gave them to some friends for Christmas one year!
Do you ever put stuff out by the road with a free sign on it? Have you ever picked up a free item?
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Happy Feet and Melonade
Yesterday was the first day of sandal season – and that makes me very happy. I’m a sandal gal, I really HATE wearing shoes. Typically I always go barefoot in the house and wear sandals outside. My sandals are always Keens if you remember from my Friday Favorite Post about them. My feet are just so much happier in sandals or flip flops – so they were very happy yesterday and they’re looking forward to the warm days ahead.
Yesterday was a beautiful day, it was warm and sunny (actually a little too warm for spring). We spent the afternoon clearing the new lot, pulling out saplings and cutting down wild grape vines. We also cut firewood and started preparations for a new compost bin made from saplings (more on that later).
It cooled down perfectly in the evening. We watched the sunset and enjoyed a cold glass of lemonade (which we jokingly call melonade – some of you will know where this comes from). Spring evenings are wonderful here in NE Ohio. They’re cool, breezy and the bugs aren’t out yet. It won’t be long until evenings will be ruined by buzzing mosquitos.
Are you a sandal/flip flip person or do you prefer shoes, or are you barefoot all the time?
