Garden Update, End of April 2023

 The garden is coming along slowly this year. After the mattress fiasco, I still am not back up to par with my breathing. I don't know what's up and I don't have a doctor's appointment regarding it until next month.
Anyhow, I'm an impatient person and I am probably putting too many expectations on how things should be coming along.
This is what we have going on so far.

Bob got both greenhouses secured to the ground using rebar.

Technically, these greenhouses are longer than our fifth wheel is.

The rebar and clamps cost around $60.

One down and one to go. The covers actually go on fairly easily. Bob was able to do it all on his own.

I always buy a few lettuce plants to plant so that I can get a jump on being able to enjoy some homegrown salads, etc. I planted this out around 2 weeks ago.

I planted some onion sets so that I have green onions to use. They will be ready to harvest not too long from now. I have another 100 to plant. I wanted to stagger them.

My peas are starting to sprout. I'm most excited about the Roveja Soup variety. It's an Italian heirloom variety that comes from the Umbria region. I've never had a soup pea. I've never heard of soup peas until this year. I figured that I would give them a whirl.

We lost the bottom out of another raised bed. This bed has our shallots in it and I planted a few Egyptian Walking Onion bulbils in there last year when I pulled all of mine out.
Bob will have to take the legs off and set it on the ground like he did the other one.

The potatoes sprouted and they got covered with straw. We'll continue to do that as they pop up.

This is marjoram. It wintered over. I need to do a bit of pruning on it.

This is my lavender that I've had for the past decade or so. I plan on putting it in the ground somewhere.

Rosemary sure has some uniquely beautiful flowers.

This is one of the mint plants that my old neighbor gave me to plant.

The strawberry patch is sure looking scraggly.

I need to have Bob move my pot of chives up closer to the fifth wheel.

This is one of the honeyberry bushes that my old neighbor gave me.

This is a wild mullein plant that grows on the opposite side of the driveway.

This is the spearmint that I planted last year. I took a zoom photo of the moss world that lives with it in it's container.

We're going to put a layer of recycled cannabis grow soil over the leaves in the beds. That will amend them from that junk soil we got stuck with last year. I have 2 more of these cucumber trellises to go in there, too. I am thinking that I need to make some dill pickles this year.

I've had the big raised bed planted out for a month or more now. I have broccoli, red cabbage, brussels sprouts and a whole lot of onions planted in there. I'll add in some bush peas and lettuce in the next few days.

My sole rose bush is starting to leaf out. I want to bring this up closer to the trailer so that it can be a bit more protected from the deer.

My friend, Rose, gave me this plant. I think it's pretty. I still need to figure out where to put it.

The Red Muzik garlic is doing very well.
I have 2 planter boxes of it.

The gooseberries and currants made it through the winter.

We have rhubarb growing and thriving. I'm thinking about putting more asparagus crowns behind the potato bed.

This is one of the snapdragons that I started from seed last year. It wintered over and is still growing.


Thanks for taking the garden tour with me. Hopefully, next week, I'll be announcing that we finally have gotten our baby chicks. Keep your fingers crossed.

Garden Update April 2023

 It's that time again. Everything is waking up. I see the wild currant bushes are blooming. My rhubarb is waking up.

Back behind the potato bed, I plan on getting a few stakes and some netting and fencing off a little area for radishes and lettuce. I'm hoping it will be enough to keep the rabbits and deer out.

Speaking of which, we've gotten a lot of rain lately and the big puddle down in the rock pit has finally filled up with water. It's deep enough for the deer to swim in. I saw them do that yesterday. You can see the pink blooms of the wild currant bush.

Here you can see one of the does swimming. It was pretty cool to watch.

We planted out potatoes a few weeks ago. It's about time to get these covered with straw.

These violas wintered over just fine. I'm glad they did. These are my favorite ones so far.

I bought some onion sets and planted this pot out with them. These are my spring onions. I don't let them get huge. I use as scallions.

I had planted this raised bed out with Walla Walla sweet onions and the bottom fell out of it. They were made from untreated lumber and will only last just so long and, well, its time had come. Bob cut the legs off and lowered it down so that I can get one last season from it. I'll get some onions from it, but I was pretty bummed about it giving up the ghost.

Another bed of Walla Walla sweet onions.

This is a Castelfranco raddichio. It's sharing this bed with banana shallots.

I planted out 2 beds with German Red Musik hard-neck garlic. It's coming along quite nicely.

We have the cover on one of the greenhouses. These only have 1 door on them, so we are going to make it to where they both open in the middle.

It's so much bigger than the one I had last year. I'll really be able to grow some super tender crops inside of there with no crowding problems at all. I think I'll put 3 rows of big pots.

We are tossing around the idea of doing a raised bed on the ground. We haven't quite decided on that yet.

 
I have so many beds of frigging onions! I went WAY overboard.

We let this get away from us completely. This is where the raspberry bushes are. Bob's got his work cut out for him, for sure.

In this bed, I have broccoli, red cabbage, Brussels sprouts and red onions. Yes, even more onions! I also have viola.

I'll be up-potting nightshades this coming week and they will go into the greenhouse.

We're opting to grow our peas at the end of our deck this year. The second greenhouse took up a lot of room, so we figured this would be a good spot to put them. I have 10 different varieties.

I have a few lettuce plants going. I'll have even more to plant out next week. I started 50 different types of lettuce and greens.

And, lastly, our chicken pen. We bought an old 10x53-foot used industrial tarp to put over the top as a roof. It's in the back of my truck. I haven't gotten pullets yet, but we're planning on that in the next week or so. We'll brood them in the coop. It's plenty big enough and we have a heat lamp and a brooder heater in there for them. I cannot brood them inside. The cats would be after them and, with the dust that they would create, it wouldn't be good for my breathing problems.

Thanks for taking the garden tour. I hope to post another one in a few weeks.

Miso Glazed Salmon Filet

 I got some news last week. My back is in shambles. I have a protruding disc and I have degenerative disc disease. I also am in need of both hips being replaced because of osteonecrosis. So, not only am I trying to bounce back from that toxic mattress, I have to deal with these other issues, as well.
It was suggested that I make an appointment with a health coach and talk to them about gastric bypass. I'm really not interested in that. I'm not saying that it won't happen, but I'd like to try to take the weight off myself, first.
I started by eating salads with a couple of boiled eggs on them for dinner for the past 2 or 3 nights. It got old rather quickly. I opted to go with a lean protein, salmon, for tonight.

First, though, I needed to make a side dish to go with the salmon. This is a recipe from Maangchi called Signumchi Namul. Click on the name to view the recipe. It's a super simple spinach recipe that takes, literally, just a few minutes to prepare.

It's a delicious addition to any Asian meal.

Now, onto the Miso Glazed Salmon.

Miso Glazed Salmon
makes 1 serving

1 4-oz. salmon filet
2 teaspoons white miso paste
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon coconut palm sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
Chopped scallion and toasted sesame seeds for garnish

In a small bowl, combine miso paste, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and sesame oil to make marinade. Whisk to combine. Reserve 1 teaspoon of marinade.
In a small bowl, add salmon filet. Pour over marinade. Cover and refrigerate 1-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a cast iron skillet with avocado oil. Put salmon in skillet, skin side down, discard marinade. Bake 12-14 minutes or until not quite done. Pour reserved marinade over the salmon, put under broiler and broil for 1-2 minutes.
Garnish with chopped green onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Enjoy!

Mattresses-Who Knew?!

We set out on a mattress buying journey at the beginning of the year. The one that came with this trailer was all wrong for me and I was waking up in severe back, neck and shoulder pain every morning. It was a really tall mattress and it was really hard for me to get in and out of or move around on. Bob and I talked it over and we decided that I simply needed a new mattress that was better suited for me.

I went to Mattress Firm's website and found a Tulo 10" Memory Foam Lavender Mattress. It was a super reasonable price. I called the toll-free number and talked to a nice salesperson, was told that I had a 120-night guarantee or so I thought. This person told me that the carton, that the mattress was shipped in, had lavender flowers in there so that it smelled good.

I grow lavender. I use it in my home. I ordered the mattress.

The mattress showed up and we put it out in our shed for about a month. We had other things that needed to be handled and we needed to find a home for the mattress that was in here. I posted the old mattress on Facebook Marketplace and it was gone by the following day.

Bob brought the Tulo Lavender mattress in and set it up.

By the next morning, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I lost my voice. My sinuses started bleeding again. I got a bad headache that I could not get rid of. I was continually wheezing. Just walking up to the bathroom was making me run completely out of breath and I was just sitting there, gasping. I started coughing up horrid green junk. I didn't put two and two together until several days later, while I was out of the house and breathing a bit better, that it could possibly be that mattress. We decided that we would utilize that 120-night guarantee and find a new one so that we could get that toxic lavender one out of here.

I have to say that I don't have many good things to say about Mattress Firm. I called the toll free number and was told to go to the local store to find a new mattress that was less poisonous/toxic to me. We did that. We found one that cost $170 more. We paid for it after being told that Mattress Firm would deliver our new mattress the very next day and remove the toxic one.

By this time, I was desperate to breathe. I was using my nebulizer 4 times per day and using my albuterol inhaler in between. I imagine I felt like a fish does when it's out of water.

The delivery truck showed up the next day, as promised, but they tried to tell me that they couldn't remove the old mattress because there was a stain on it. They claimed it was a blood stain. Like he double toothpicks there was! If there was a stain on that mattress, it was on there when they packed it in plastic. They wouldn't let me speak to the warehouse person who made the decision that the delivery drivers could not take the toxic one. They hung up on me because I kept asking to speak to that person. They wouldn't give me their names. Nothing. The delivery drivers left and took my new mattress with them and left me to suffer with the toxic one.

I wound up calling the store. The person who sold me the new mattress told me that he didn't have the number for Mattress Firm's corporate office. Funny thing is, about that claim, I'm fairly certain that the corporate office address would be on his pay stub. I looked it up online and got a direct phone number. I called the corporate office and told them what was happening to me. The lady put me on hold for quite a while and, apparently, listened to the initial sales call because I told her I was flat lied to. There were no lavender flowers in the box. This thing was infused with a toxic smelling chemical and, if I couldn't get it out of my house, I was going to have to go to the hospital. I went on to tell her that if that happened, I would be filing a lawsuit against Mattress Firm for not honoring their 120-night guarantee.

After about 10 or so minutes on hold, she came back on the line and told me that they would be taking the mattress back and delivering the new one. I'm quite grateful to her for that.

That toxic smelling mattress was picked up this morning. My new mattress was put on my bed. We have the roof vent open up there, even though it's not exactly warm out, and it's airing out. My breathing has done a 180. It's not back 100%, but the second that toxic mattress was taken out of here, it got better.
I was able to get up, do the dishes, walk around and, most importantly, I haven't felt the need to use my nebulizer or an inhaler since that toxic thing left.

The moral of this post is that finding a good mattress is important. Knowing all the possible things that could go wrong is even more important. Getting a good night's sleep is the ultimate goal.

I hope that, by posting this, I can stop someone from going through what I've just gone through. I seriously thought I might die because it was that hard for me to breathe.