tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42656642615129683222024-03-05T04:47:00.449-06:00Dig It!Online News Editorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13105743785002811339noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-55865256917249237392011-08-25T10:55:00.003-05:002011-08-25T11:03:58.734-05:00Growing Lettuce
One of the vegetables I've had the most success in growing is lettuce. This is an Asian baby leaf mesclun salad mix from Renee's Garden I planted in my herb garden this past Spring. As they got a little bigger, I thinned them, using some in salads but mostly eating straight from the bed! They provided me with salad greens for months, with an amazing variety of flavors. My favorites are arugula Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-63356395149711540362011-08-23T14:45:00.007-05:002011-08-23T15:00:21.218-05:00Baby plants After preparing the stock pond beds this spring, I planted my first seeds and starter plants. In one bed, I planted cucumbers and beans. The second was all strawberries. The third big one held Bradley County (Arkansas) tomatoes, eggplant, radishes, beets, and assorted peppers (red bell, orange bell, banana, and others).
I marked each plant and checked every day to see how they were doing. It Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-4711885007321312142011-08-22T16:28:00.003-05:002011-08-22T16:42:52.995-05:00My new book is outHello to all of you who have stuck with me through this looong dry spell. I am grateful you didn't dump me from the blogs you follow. THANKS! The reason I haven't been posting is I spent the last 18 months working on a book about Hurricane Rita. While everyone knows about Hurricane Katrina, few outside those who suffered through Rita know about her. I am proud of this project because it honors Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-72385214080317956832011-08-22T15:26:00.005-05:002011-08-22T15:39:50.877-05:00Vegetable garden
For the next few posts, I will share my first spring garden project earlier this year. It was quite an undertaking. We decided the best way would be raised beds that would allow easier access for my aging bones. We began with galvanized metal stock ponds, which are easy to find here in ranch country. We put in several inches of wood mulch from the local dump. We topped that with a mixture of Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-1426752467316853702011-04-21T14:31:00.005-05:002011-04-21T14:48:13.902-05:00Surprise! She's baacck!Hey, everyone,I know, I know. Where the heck have I been?One word: Busy.About 9 months ago, I started working on my second book. This one is about the Heroes of Hurricane Rita (I haven't decided on the title yet). It is due to be published late this summer. The book has required tremendous research and extensive interviews (at least 50!) and I've done little else. I think it's a worthwhile book Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-79441450905116841202010-08-26T09:17:00.004-05:002010-08-26T09:36:44.833-05:00St. Stephen's Green If ever you are in Dublin, Ieland, be sure to take a long walk through St. Stephen's Green. It's a lovely 22-acre park (the second largest in Dublin) with lots of color and large green expanses. It's just across the street from the Shelbourne Dublin Hotel, a beautiful place to stay. It also borders the popular Grafton Street Shopping Centre.Here are a couple of shots I took when there this Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-31031510034984099242010-08-24T17:30:00.003-05:002010-08-24T17:46:03.667-05:00Dublin flowersWhen I was in Europe this past spring, I was impressed with the use of flowers in landscaping and as art.In the Shelbourne Dublin at St. Stephen's Green Hotel in Dublin, Ireland, the lobby was filled with a fantastic arrangement. Since the hotel is across the street from the famous St. Stephen's Green Park, which is magnificent, it seemed fitting. Here's what greeted us as we walked into the Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-33770291208809445272010-08-18T14:31:00.006-05:002010-08-18T15:11:14.060-05:00August birth flower - the gladilousYes, I know I am a bit behind talking about the birth flower for August. You would think a month planted right in the middle of the hottest time of the year, when the days last so long you think they never will end, would crawl by. Not so this month, at least for me.As a child, I loved glads. My grandmother always had a row of the tall, cheerful blooms along the side of the chicken house. I Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-70779511160941602682010-07-08T09:13:00.004-05:002010-07-08T09:29:02.438-05:00Go Texas!Cool Fact of the DayWhen the grounds-keeping team that manages the grass field used for the World Cup in South Africa needed a fast-growing grass to rescue their soccer field, they chose a turfgrass bred and developed in East Texas. The Panterra turfgrass was developed by Texas AgriLife researcher Dr. Lloyd Nelson, who said Panterra is great for sports fields to keep them green during the Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-12589995899884554422010-07-06T22:29:00.003-05:002010-07-06T22:38:42.790-05:00MushroomsAll the recent rain left a new theme garden on our lawn - mushrooms. These big white 'shrooms are so pale in the afternoon sun they seem to glow. They are about 4-5 inches and stand on tall, strong stems.In a corner of the rose bed, small yellow mushrooms have popped through from the wet mulch. Although I love mushrooms, I know enough not to eat something I can't identify as edible - and safe. Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-27234221848854302392010-06-29T10:34:00.004-05:002010-06-29T10:52:37.412-05:00Fertilizer 101As part of our volunteer work, Jefferson County Master Gardeners record brief radio spots on gardening. Here's one we did on Fertilizer 101 - a basic tutorial for those new to gardening:Every plant requires nutrients to grow and thrive. Three of the primary nutrients – carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – come from air and water. Gardeners will need to provide the other three – nitrogen, phosphorus and Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-13603522001508883732010-06-25T14:00:00.004-05:002010-06-25T14:11:56.153-05:00Blessed rainIt's raining! For the past two weeks, while my friends in Nederland, Port Arthur and Beaumont have been getting relief from the long period we've had without rain, it's been dancing all around us.Yesterday, we got a decent rain. Now, it's raining good and hard and the dusty field next to us that our neighbors just cleared to make way for planting hay looks like a lake. Of course, it's just a thinJane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-33590429517376807402010-06-17T20:02:00.001-05:002010-06-17T20:05:39.927-05:00Summer garden mealsIt seems my recollections of shelling peas and my family’s recipe for cooking up a mess of purple hull peas was a hit (see comments below). I decided to write my column on it this week, with a slightly different approach. Look for it Sunday in The Enterprise.Now I have a question for all of you. What is your all-time favorite home-cooked meal using fresh veggies/fruit from the home garden?Here’s Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-33426023418495189102010-06-16T14:05:00.005-05:002010-06-16T14:20:28.136-05:00Flowers in artIf you enjoy seeing art that uses flowers as inspiration, check out the exhibit "Blooms: Floral Art in the Stark Collections" at the Stark Museum of Art, 712 Green Avenue in Orange. The exhibit was supposed to close earlier this month, but has been extended through much of the summer. No specific closing date has been given. If you visited the exhibit already, you have a chance to see new works, Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-6565203676590754682010-06-15T11:14:00.000-05:002010-06-15T11:14:15.186-05:00Ladybug Vs spiderJane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-6829655829934705852010-06-15T10:45:00.005-05:002010-06-15T11:16:42.171-05:00Ladybugs and DillI was excited to spot four or five ladybugs on my dill this morning. I'm not sure if that's good - because the ladybugs are feeding - or bad - because the ladybugs have something to feed on. Either way, I'm happy to see them. I have plenty of pests in my wild-leaning, limited pesticide gardens, so I'm surprised that I don't see the sweet bugs with red and black bodies more often.Ladybugs eat Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-24113857081417747212010-06-14T09:15:00.004-05:002010-06-14T10:27:36.651-05:00Purple Hull PeasThis past week, I sat down at the kitchen table to do something I haven't done in years. I shelled peas. I grew up with a grandmother who plowed with a mule and had corn, several kinds of pole beans and peas, turnips, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, greens, cucumbers, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries and more.I hated shelling peas and beans and snapping and destringing green beans, but I Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-77571695040191778242010-06-11T10:49:00.002-05:002010-06-11T10:52:49.182-05:00Love Those Lizards!We've always been blessed with an abundance of lizards at our house. I've posted before about how their favorite place used to be on the broad, tall leaves of the hardy amaryllises that once lined a bed beneath a bedroom wall. We eventually moved those plants to another bed, and the lizards followed.When I took the Jefferson County Master Gardener short course last July, I intensified my efforts Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-23443493201103200042010-06-08T09:42:00.004-05:002010-06-08T09:54:41.746-05:00Spider in the houseI'm not one of those people who scream and grab a broom when they see a spider. While I certainly don't want them crawling on me, when it comes to harmless spiders, I have a mostly live and let live policy. There are exception, of course. I kill poisonous spiders and any that are so big they intimidate me. I try to keep the house relatively spider-free, because they freak my grandson out. But a Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-44233080878617321942010-06-03T10:32:00.002-05:002010-06-04T10:53:21.117-05:00Lotus and Bamboo Festival in Port ArthurIt's Friday - Yeah! Treat yourself by taking in the 12th Annual Lotus and Bamboo Festival at Buu Mon Buddhist Temple,2701 Procter St in Port Arthur. The festival is 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. If you've never been, you'll discover a peaceful place with beautiful bamboo and lotus gardens.The Texas Bamboo Society will be on hand to share information and sell plants, Artist Carole Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-86603700118299285292010-06-02T11:15:00.003-05:002010-06-02T11:31:59.272-05:00June Birth Flower: the roseAh, June - the month for weddings. How fitting that the birth flower for June is the rose. Roses are considered by many to be the most perfect flower, with their delicate petals, sweet scent and long stems. What woman doesn't enjoy receiving a bouquet of roses?The color of the rose has its own symbolism: white stands for purity, red connotes passion, yellow indicates platonic friendship and pink Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-35939106837022449132010-06-01T09:01:00.006-05:002010-06-01T14:52:14.014-05:00Old-fashioned dayliliesGardening is a constant endeavor to find plants that are attractive, dependable and low-to-maintenance free. If ever a plant fit this description, it's the standard daylily (Hemerocallis) When we bought our now 100-plus-year-old house 28 years ago, it had a long line of established daylilies along the fence. They are the classic yellow-gold-dark brown varieties. They've been growing so long I Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-87790741216992978792010-05-27T08:57:00.008-05:002010-05-28T12:37:32.217-05:00Growing clematis When it comes to vines, I've had my share of learning experiences. Flowering vines are a beautiful addition to a garden, but care should be given to choosing the right one for your needs. When we moved into our 100-plus-year-old home, the yard was rich with established plants. The first spring, we found the back fence line covered with wisteria. By year five, we were constantly fighting to keep Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-52329036287171799442010-05-26T16:07:00.003-05:002010-05-26T16:14:51.637-05:00Olive Barn is not closingOops. When I said Olive Barn was closing, I was wrong. What I should have said is that Olive Barn's Outlet & Warehouse in Houston is closing. Olive Barn still is very much alive and well online at www.olivebarn.com They have some unique and interesting items and are worth checking out.Thanks, Jacqueline, for calling that to my attention.Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4265664261512968322.post-50607097990175559222010-05-26T07:28:00.005-05:002010-05-26T16:18:48.285-05:00Easy to use gardening toolsFor gardeners, the older you get, the more important it is to find the right tools. Gardening is physical labor. Digging, weeding, hoeing, planting - all can take a toll on the back, shoulders, arms, legs, hand and feet. While the exercise is good for the body, sore, painful joints and unnecessary callouses are not.A couple of years ago, I found a set of hand tools at the Olive Barn in Houston Jane McBridehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16343717561319445286noreply@blogger.com0