Little Gardener

As Thanksgiving was just around the corner, my daughter, Anna Paisleigh, and I planted bulbs just before a rain. Anna enjoys being outside and in the garden. She is so much fun I am so very thankful to be called her mom. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

HARVESTING COMMUNITY GARDEN

Our community garden is looking great. We have already been harvesting from it.Good looking plants!

GROWING SHITAKES

My first mushroom!This is a mushroom growing kit another MG bought on our recent trip to the mushroom growing operation.I think she got tired of fooling with it and told me to keep it for a couple of weeks.When I went to bed the other night there was nothing here and boom the next morning a big mushroom-now that's the way to grow stuff! All the little white things on the block are where mushrooms were cut off already. They will grow more.

WEEDING THE GARDEN

I recently shared our planting the community garden, well this is what we found when we went by to check on it. NUT GRASS- and WEEDS-oh my gosh! It was time for some serious weeding.

Then a little fertilize and water. Fall is such a pleasant time to garden, of course here you still have to watch out for the fire ants!

MYSTERY FLOWER

Two of these flowers appeared in my garden and I have no idea what they are. The foliage is like an amaryllis or a milk and wine lily.They smell heavenly. I don't even remember planting these or where I got them.

I do know what these are and they are finally blooming after our dry summer. With these and the late blooming roses and the sweet olive, my garden smells like I think Heaven must.Oh yeah can't forget the moon flower-I wait all winter for these!

VISIT TO A MUSHROOM GROWER

Do you love mushrooms-do you wonder how they are grown? Well the Master Gardeners want to let you know-we took a road trip to bring you all the information. We have a mushroom growing operation right here in Mississippi,hidden away in a nondescript building in a small town in the South Central part of the state.The first step is loading sawdust and millet in plastic bags, that after sterilization,will become the growing medium.

The blocks of medium start out brown and change to white as the mushroom spores that are added after sterilization, begin to grow. It takes about three months to get mushrooms. The ones below have hardened like a brick. The plastic is taken of and in seven days mushrooms grow on it. They are then cut of and in 21 days there is another crop. I think our tour guide said they get four harvests from one block.

Sorting those delicious mushrooms. They sell them here to the public as well as to restaurants,etc. They don't waste anything. The bits of dried mushrooms are combined with spices and sold as mushroom dust. Use it for seasoning  as you would any other spice.

COMMUNITY GARDEN

The Master Gardeners have joined up with the Garden Club in planting a community garden. The produce is shared with the elderly and shut ins as well as anyone in need. A lot of the produce will be taken to the local food pantry. We planted broccoli,brussel sprouts,spinach, collards and cabbage. Lettuce will soon be planted as well as carrots. The garden club planted onions and turnips and several varieties of mustard and turnip greens.