The long over-due garden post

I'll admit that I have been terrible about blogging this year. And since this had mostly been a garden blog I feel that I have dropped the ball on up-dates especially since my garden looks like this...

June 29

Compared to last year, I would say that the garden looks a lot neater with the raised beds and mulching around them. The mounds worked great and produced a lot of veggies. But, I lost some soil (erosion) and the mounds lost shape by fall.

May 18th

I started with three beds, one from last fall that I added after clearing the corn and green bean plants and two that I purchased this year. The beds are Greenes Fence 4'x8' cedar beds that I got from Home Depot. They were super easy to put build and install. I definitely recommend them for anyone who wants raised beds but doesn't want to put in too much though into how to build them.

June 16

This year, I planted tomatoes (Roma, yellow slicing, red cherry and yellow cherry tomatoes), basil, Thai hot peppers, spaghetti squash,  zucchini, cucumber, green beans, peas, butternut squash, radish, parsley, green onion, spinach, lettuce, and cilantro. It's a lot. No lie. But, I'm excited about the possibilities.

My garden, the best analogy to my life at the moment

Ok, it's been about two months since my last post. Life has been all sorts of crazy for me (which from some points of view is my normal speed). Mid-August I started another semester of graduate school, this time taking two classes instead of one, and I also started to teach another class at my school. Unlike the curriculum for the freshman, this one I or seniors and is a bit underdeveloped. My job is definitely harder this year than last year. In addition, I started volunteering for a political campaign. Technically, I am supposed to be an intern; however, I'm more like a canvassing pro. And on top of all that, I was also training (or trying to train) for Ragnar DC. So if being a teacher and student at the same time was not hard enough, I am also a long distance runner and volunteer. With so much  going on, I am surprised sometimes at the fact I can get some (but nowhere near all) things done.

One thing that has fallen to the way side was my vegetable garden. And though it looked quite haggard, it was productive! My messy little garden was very productive. Especially those tomato plants.

I hope that I am at least as productive as my garden, but my productivity and my garden's productivity are not really all that comparable. All i know is I've been crazy busy with life. And my garden has been going crazy producing tomatoes (I'm thinking some time to make a marinara sauce is in order).

P.S. Since I just finished running Ragnar this past weekend, that is one thing off the list. (I will post more about my post-Ragnar running plans later this week)

Being "skinny-fat"

I’m sure that we have all heard the statistics that morethan a third of adults in the US are obese, and this has caused a rise in obesity related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In April, I weighed around 142 lbs. and had a BMI of 24.7, which classified me as “Normal Weight”. I knew that I wasn’t at an ideal weight for my height but I wasn’t overweight. However, a check of my blood cholesterol and sugar numbers had a different story. They revealed that I was “skinny-fat”. My numbers for cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, and HbA1C (a protein that is associated with insulin production) were high enough to classify me as pre-diabetic. The scariest number was the HbA1C number, which was 6.4%. Another tenth of a percent and I would be classified as Type 2 diabetic. Oh the joys of being “skinny-fat”.

The first time I heard about “skinny-fat” was in a 2011article in Women’s Health. The medical expert interviewed for the article, Dr. Jimmy Bell, also called this condition TOFI – Thin Outside Fat Inside. People who are “skinny-fat” or TOFI are not overweight but still have Type 2 diabetes. I recently re-read the article and saw some warning signs that contributed to my “skinny-fat” condition.  

1.    Stress – This is a big one for me. Six plus years of graduate school where I spent 10+ hours/day doing experiments, working on grants/presentation/papers, and teaching kept me busy; but I also know that I was plenty stressed from it all.

2.    Not regularly exercising – during grad school and even for a few years after, this was one of my problems. When I did make it to the gym, I would be consistent for a couple of months and then not go for a couple of months. I’ve improved on that some. I just need to make sure that when school does start up again and I’m back at work that I keep it up.

3.    Genetic pre-disposition – I’m not 100% sure who in my family had Type 2 diabetes, but I do remember that a couple great aunties or great grandparents had it. Plus, it turns out that certain ethnicities are pre-disposed to diabetes – Asians being one of them.

One factor that I have avoided was yo-yo dieting. Getting to the low 140s in the past 10+ years since high school was a slow process up. I know that getting back down to a more manageable weight needs to be done in a way that would end up being sustainable.

…

While I can end on the note of the previous paragraph, I do have some positive up-dates. My most recent blood work did reveal some improvements. My aim at loosing weight has been not as big as I had hoped, about 4-5 lbs since April. However, I am working out more than before and have gone back on Weight Watchers. The numbers are getting better too! Previously, my blood sugar levels were at 123 mg/dL. If they were 2+ mg/dL higher, that would have been one indicator for diabetes. The most recent number is 100 mg/dL! Ideally, I would have it below 100 mg/dL. But, I’m making positive progress J. Also, my HbA1C value that was 6.4 before is now down to 5.8. Diet changes and medication have helped here. I gotta keep it up! I’m making great strides, but more can be done.

Success from the garden :-)

Tomato and Pepper Plants

Squash, beans, and corn plants

My first try at gardening has been going pretty well. The plants are full and lush and going pretty strong, in spite of the small battles with early blight, slugs, and other pests. I've been getting a decent little harvest - especially from my tomato plants.

Tomatoes, beens, and zucchini squash

Some of the tomatoes are half the size of my niece's head! And there's more to come.

While I haven't seen too many ears of corn on my plants, there are a couple almost ready to pick. Also, I have a bunch of plum tomatoes and heirlooms that just need to ripen. I'm going to have to get a bit creative with tomatoes. I've already used a few in a grilled chicken bruschetta and will be using some in a tomato tart. A fresh tomato salsa might have to be on the list too. I'll try to have the camera out to snap a few photos of my tomato creations.

Plum tomato plants surrounded by wild flowers.

The experimental garden in front of my sidewalk, where the azaleas used to be, has been successful for the plum tomatoes. There are a few green bean plants that have produced a handful of green beans. However, the squash has not done very well. I think it's because they are shaded and squash plants are fiends for sunlight.  Oh well. 

With the success of the garden, I'm already thinking of what I can do for a fall garden. Looking around the web, I think I'll soon start some beds with more green beans, carrots, lettuce, and maybe some kale.

Green beans

The other day, Aaron commented on my garden and we both noticed that some of the green beans were ready to be picked. I got a nice harvest, a few ounces away from a pound! Now the question is what to do with them. I'm thinking of using some for an herbed goat cheese and beets salad that I saw on Food Network the other day. Should be yummy! I'm thinking of bringing it over to my friend Becca, who just had surgery on her foot. 

In other garden news, I figured out what was the cause of the zucchini fruit to go bad - blossom end rot. A few gardening websites suggest using a diluted Epsom salt solution. I hope it works. 

Also, the tomatoes are looking better after I sprayed them with a copper based fungicide. There isn't as much yellowing and they're looking green again. However, there seems to be something that is eating one of the plants and the not-yet-ripe fruits. Puck identified deer the other night, and I think they might be the culprit. I'm going to see if I can find an organic repellant spray to put on the tomatoes and the rest of the plants. It could also be slugs, and one of the better traps for those is a beer trap. I have to get some cheap beer to set out. Then it will be only a matter of time before the slugs go to the "free beer"

Progress and set backs

Tomatoes and peppers, early last week. 

 

Early last week, I was able to get out to the garden and take a couple photos on its progress. This was after I had realized that I had neglected my garden for a couple of weeks and had let weeds grow all over the walk ways and sides of the beds. I had also found a few slugs (possible suspects for the near death of one of my bean plants and numerous squash flowers) that were also removed from the garden. But after all the unwanted vegetation was removed I was able to see that there had been some progress in veggie production

Here are a few specimens from the garden.

Beans coming soon!

Romas - starting to come in. 

First successful bell pepper

First tomato!

Zucchini... no looking so good

But, not all has been a success. I've already had to prematurely remove two peppers and a couple of zucchinis because they were infected with something. There were soft spots on them and I removed them in hopes that the infection would not spread. 

Erly blight on tomato plant *sad face*

Tomatoes as of this morning

It has also been raining here plenty, which is both a blessing and a curse. I haven't had to spend time in the morning making sure that my plants have had a healthy dose of agua before the heat of the day; however, high humidity and heat make for ideal conditions for fungal growth. And lo and behold... the blight has already beseiged my indeterminate tomato plants! I've gone through and picked off infected leaves and sprayed with a copper based fungicide. Only time will tell if I get more than one tomato from all four plants. I've seen some signs of it on my Romas, but I'm hoping that early enough treatment will help stem the spread. Since this is my first time growing tomatoes, I'll admit that I had not thoroughly read into growing tomatoes beyond planing them pretty deep into the ground to provide a strong root system for the plants. Had I continued to do more reading on how to tend to them as they grew, I might have done a different staking system and monitored them more carefully. (This video has some great suggestions http://youtu.be/pZWRfLGqH1M, which I will try to implement next year). 

Squash, benas, and corn

Butternut squash!

In regards to the rest of the plants, they seem to be doing alright. But, I think I burned a few beans with too much fertilizer. I was using a fertilizer that was supposed to be added with water but ran out of that when got to the beans and used a different one. I don't think I applied it correctly because some of the leaves have yellowed. However, where the little white buds first appeared last week have small beans on them. I'm hoping that they'll be ready to pick in a few days. 

The male flowers on the corn are up, and earlier I saw set of female flowers on my corn. So, there will be at least one ear of corn (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more) 

Also, I have noticed that I have winter squash already growing nicely! 

On another note, the hubs found a little snake in our yard. The little thing was about eight-inches in length and hiding in the mulch near the mail box. He moved it on to the side walk so I could get a better shot of it. We let it go afterwards because we didn't think it would be a threat to Puck. 

S-s-seee you later!!

Babies and children everywhere, but I still don't want one (yet)

No lie, it's hard not to think of babies in my family right now. My sister just had her first little nugget a couple of weeks ago and my sister-in-law had her second little nugget two weeks prior. In the past month, two good friends announced they're pregnant. Also, given that the hubs and I spent time with family this weekend to welcome my nephew, the questions related to when I'm going to have my own little ones have come up. These also prompt me to remember past comments like "you would want to have kids soon, while you will have energy to enjoy them" and "you know, you said that about a year after you were married you would start trying to agave kids." This latter comment, I don't remember saying. 

Some times the "pressure" to start trying to have children gets annoying. I realize my parents and in-laws really want to have little grand babies around that they could spoil (since a grand puppy doesn't seem to fit the bill). My mom used to remind me that by the time she was my age she already had my siblings and me. Sometimes the "pressure" is internal; I am in my early 30's, and I don't want to be too old when I have my own. However, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm still in flux. Between the current job and trying to prepare myself for a career transition, I doubt trying to bring a child into the craziness that is my life now would be a wise choice. But there have been plenty of people who have also been apted to remind me that as you get older it would harder to have the children. 

With all of this in mind, I could not have been any happier to have just finished Jean Twenge's article "How long can you wait to have a baby." (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-long-can-you-wait-to-have-a-baby/309374/?single_page=true) The things I got out of her article were 1) the information behind the "it gets harder to have a baby as you get older" is based on pre-20th century data and while it is true, it's not as severe as society would have you believe, and 2) when it comes to actually trying to conceive, the traditional family planning method will be the way to go since statistically there is no difference between women in their 20's and women in their 30's. Her biggest piece of advice is to "plan to have your last child by the time you turn 40". That is advice I would have no trouble listening to. 

There is no doubt that I want children, probably 2-3, but I know I'm not ready for them. I may be in my (early) 30's, but I'm still selfish. Perhaps I'll be ready in a couple of years, when my life is not in as much flux as it is now. Until then, my furry baby is all the child I need. 

     Puck, my furry baby, patiently waiting for a ball