ranchcollage

Welcome to The Rancher’s Daughter

Spring has sprung and I’m so glad to be able to start really getting my hands dirty.

I started tomato plants indoors several weeks ago, and they are now outside hardening off to be planted.

I have also had lettuce in the back beds for a while now, and it is coming along nicely. The back bed contains mesclun gourmet greens, Bibb Lettuce, Salad Bowl Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson, and I planted a small area of Round Dutch Cabbage.

It is early April and we have most everything now planted. I had tilled the large garden several times during the winter months with Daisy Mae (my plow) so the dirt was in pretty good shape for planting.

Yesterday we planted Clemson Spineless okra, Mississippi Silver Peas, Pinkeye Peas, and several pepper and tomato plants.

The tomato plants I started indoors are still pretty small compared to the ones I planted yesterday from the Feed and Seed store, but they will catch up.

I’ve started giving them a light “tea” made of fish emulsion and water, along with little “sips” of a light mixture of Miracle Gro. Those plants will end up in containers, most likely, as the garden is already planted with several larger plants.

For tomato plants, this year we went with determinate plants only. It is much harder to find determinate tomato varieties than indeterminate, or at last in our area anyway. We planted Celebrity, BHN 602 Hybrid, Talladega Hybrid, Bush Goliath, Homestead, Rutgers, and Celebration.

The peppers will be a good mix with red and yellow bells, green bells, Mammoth Jalapenos, Tam Mild Jalapenos, Chili Red, Regular Jalapenos, and Hot Bananas. We had a wonderful production last year of Tabasco peppers and they produced late into the season.

I’m skipping those this year, tho, for Jalapenos instead. I love Pico de Gallo and it is so delicious made with Jalapenos and fresh tomatoes.

The Tabasco peppers were used mainly to make pepper sauce last year and that was about it, so we are going with some different varieties this year.

We still have yet to plant our yellow and zucchini squash, cantaloupes, and watermelons. I’m thinking of planting a few bunches of onions in the back bed along with the lettuce. I should have started them earlier, but I’ll go ahead and plant them anyway and see what happens.

The pollen is heavy and no matter how hard we try to keep it rinsed down, it floats right back in. We need a good rain to rinse it away, and we hope to get that any day now.

LB and I took the boat out for the first time this year on Easter Sunday, and we were on the lake when the sun came up. The water was as smooth as glass, and no words can explain what it felt like to be on the lake watching the sunrise.

We then fished all day, cooked hamburgers on a quiet shore, and enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday.

The night before Easter, I was cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks ALL AT THE same time!

I had biscuits in the oven and country ham cooking along with bacon on the stove for Easter morning biscuits. I then roasted green peanuts to take to the lake with the ham and bacon biscuits, and yes, at the same time, I was also cooking a supper of soft tacos with flavored beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.

Then, believe it or not, I found the energy to pat out hamburgers for the lake and pack up buns, condiments, chips, sunscreen, towels, etc. while LB loaded the boat and hitched her up.

We rose extremely early and took off for the lake in the dark, wanting to be sure and see the sunrise at the lake. It was a wonderful day.

I wish all of you a terrific garden bounty this year. I know all of you have different planting times depending on where you live, and we’d love to have you post what is happening in your area with your garden.

Typically here in the south, many farmers strive to have their garden in by Good Friday. I will say, though, that I have experienced snow in the south in mid April, so one just never knows.

It has been very warm here for an extended period, our last heavy frost was in late March. If we do have an unexpected cold snap, I do not worry about it.

I have many times in the past covered tomato plants with cups, buckets, and even plastic bags if I had to, but let’s hope the frost is gone.

Happy gardening, and keep posted by signing up to our feed. We will be updating the site frequently with pictures of the garden, new recipes, and I hope to get that cookbook out there real soon.

Tonight’s dinner: country green beans and small whole potatoes, turnip greens with bacon and boiled eggs, creamed corn, cornbread, and sweetened iced tea. Dessert will most likely be fried fruit pies and a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Drop us a line, leave a post or comment, we’d love to hear from you.

Wishing you a blessed day from the Deep South, down here in Sweet Home Alabama.

the Rancher’s Daughter