Wildlife Warning

Apparently... the deer in my town are online. AND, they read my blog.


Thankfully it looks like only two plants where nibbled. And all of my tomatoes are in tact. Guess I could sprinkle some more of the repellent around the ground. They are being stealthy. I have not seen them in quite a while. But the evidence is clear. They are on to me.

Garden Watch, 2009

I would like to thank Mother Nature for all of the rain over the past month. Sure, I have had my moments of desperation begging for just a short burst of sunshine to brighten up the string of cloudy days, but it has really made my attempt at gardening easier.

As you may notice I added a small fence, that barely stays up on its own. Next year I will do a better job of installing it. For now it does the job of keeping the pups and child out of my plants.

There have been a few other changes in the garden. The tomatoes are flowering like crazy. They have passed the second ring on the tomato cage and are stretching up towards the third ring.

I was surprised to find there are a few small tomatoes. This one is from the "Early Girl" variety that I had planted

and I hadn't realized it at first but it looks like I have a few Roma Tomatoes too!


I have been adding fresh parsley, cilantro and basil to many of our meals in the past couple of weeks. The cilantro is about twice as tall as the parsley and my basil looks a little sad since a bug had munched on some of its leaves. Not worrying about it yet... but hopefully it rebounds soon. I have dreams of pesto and brushetta in my future.

Any one else having fun tending their gardens? What are you growing this year? I would like to do more next year, and I am already thinking ahead!

A little paint, a big difference

I am not sure why we didn't think of this sooner. K didn't know either. I know because we talked about it. When we first bought the house we replaced the white siding and the front door within the first year. Going with a beige/tan color. However our garage door remained an unsightly bright white. I am not against white garage doors. But ours was very utilitarian looking and because of its white color it seemed to stand out against the brick and muted beige siding. So we fixed it. And by we, I mean I.

Used a tinted primer to help with coverage, and cover the places where the white paint had rubbed and chipped off so the new paint would stick. I was happy to only need one finish coat too. We are very pleased with the results. So if you are a victim of an ugly garage door and no money to replace it. I suggest paint!

A Tail of Two Breakfasts

I have always been a fan of the coffee cake. It ranks in the top three breakfasts next to pancakes and cinnamon rolls. Over the past couple of years I have stuck with two primary recipes. There was the old standby, which was convenient, quick, and in my opinion tasty. Then more recently I had come across a Cooking Light recipe for a blueberry coffee cake that takes much longer to make, includes a lot more ingredients but is worth the effort if you have the time.

And then one day I was out of brown sugar. Knocking the old standby out of contention for breakfast that morning because it has brown sugar in the topping. However, I knew I didn't have everything for the fancy blueberry one either. Plus I was hungry.
Necessity is the mother of invention.

I decided to experiment. It made K nervous. I reassured him it was a minor modification, a simplified blueberry coffee cake. The merger of the two other recipes. And I must say it was rather successful. (otherwise I might not mention it).

The recipe:
Amanda's Blueberry Coffee Cake
2 cups Bisquick baking mix
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk (or water)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Topping
6 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp stick margarine or butter, melted
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease a 9 inch round (or square) baking pan. Mix the Bisquick, sugar, egg and milk in a bowl until combined. Fold in blueberries. Pour into pan. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter.

Bake 23-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.