Restaurant SALSA! Money Tree Day 4: Are we there yet? Told 'ya so. I'm made of rubber and you're made of glue...

Those are the lettuce seeds I planted day before yesterday.  They have become lettuce plants.  I'm not sure when they came up because I spent a day pretending to have a life and I wasn't here.

Did some couch surfing with the kids - about time they learned the art - at my friend Sarah's.  Remember Sarah?  My room-mate from back in the day?  She didn't plant the tomato tsunami at her house, so I took her some of mine!

When she lived in Mexico, she learned to make salsa.  Yeah, she showed me how.  Well yeah, of coarse I'll give you the cheat sheet.  What are friends for?  

On the way home we went to the Parthenon in Nashville.  After all, not everyone is entertained by bugs and vegetables.  Sounds kinda dull when I put it that way.

Since I slacked off on my prosperity plan for a day...

Growing Money: Day 3

TODAY, WE PLANT.

If planting seems very simple, it is.  But somebody messed it up or I wouldn't be explaining it.

Into the two gallon containers I put an inch of grass clippings.  These will get smooshed by the heavy gunk that sits on them, but it slows down any erosion from the container.  You can skip this step if you want to.  It doesn't make much difference.

On top of the grass are 2-4 inches of top soil.

Some people have selective hearing.  Some have selective memory.  Some people are self-centered psychopaths who refuse to admit mistakes and expect to get paid top-dollar for the failures they create.  To cut costs, some commercial growers use composted landscaping refuse as growing medium.  Don't do it.  I tried it.  The plants limped along, their suffering obvious to everyone except the person who talked me into that project.  

As the losses mounted, I decided to try another approach...

Growing Money! Day 2

Looking forward to lettuce!

Too many garden posts look like swimsuit catalogs. Who are they trying to fool? We know they cut and pasted stuff together to get those pictures!

The other possibility is they have added plastic flowers to the garden before they took the picture.  Or flowers in water picks.  Magazines really do this!  Never feel inadequate because of the media.

If the functional look of the project so far bothers you, spring for a few plastic Dollar Tree flowers to pretty it up.  I'm going industrial a little bit longer.  Enough has been spent already.  I promise, we will get paid back twice the cost.  Paid in vegetables.

Benjamin Franklin said "Time is Money" and he was right.  The money we are spending could be earning interest in the bank, or saving interest if we paid a credit card.  We want results ASAP so I bought...

Grow A Money Tree!

We will get there.

Let's grow money! 

Gardening should have payback.

Start by skipping the middleman: paper money.  Go straight to the things we want to buy with the paper money: a nice house, gourmet food, financial security.

We'll keep it simple: one easy project with payback everyday, peppered with information and funnies.  It will be Pretty -improve the home appearance, Useful -provide a usable product, or Thrifty -improve the financial situation.  Maybe all three!  Keep reading and grow prosperous! ...

Gettin' There

More of my son's photography.

I haven't forgotten that I have a blog and I am working on new material.

I just haven't eaten enough doughnuts to really get the juices flowing lately.  But I'm back to the trough now so expect more posts.

For instance, there is a myth that needs debunking: that gardening is dirty and messy and hard.  Gardening can be done by girlie girls with manicures.  The rustic approach is not necessary to reap the rewards of vegetable gardening.

That said, too many gardening pictures look like swimsuit catalogues.  Perfect pictures that try to make make gardening look foolproof.  Some people want to sell you bridges.  In the spirit of erasing some dead-plant stigma...

Nature Helps The Lazy

Birds can see them too!

Nature loves lazy gardeners. 

If you stake your tomatoes, the fruit are easier to see and to reach when picking.  They are also easier for the birds to eat.

If you stake your tomatoes, you will probably also be weeding them more often because the plant won't be able to shade out as many weeds.  This is just a cop out.  Lazy gardeners have tons of weeds.

Look closely to see roots growing from the stem into the ground.

If you stake your tomatoes, the plants will be smaller and require more regular watering because the root system will not benefit from layering - the process where a branch that is in contact with the soil puts down roots.  This is a major form of reproduction for azaleas and forsythias but tomatoes use it to get more food and water more quickly, thus developing into larger, stronger plants.

If you mulch your watermelon and squash...

World's Easiest Tomato Pasta Sauce

Didn't have a tomato picture.

It's the easiest recipe, short of eating an apple.  Remember, I don't like to cook and I am a picky eater.

The tomatoes need to be dark red, supper ripe, even with a few spots that need removing because they are SOOO ripe.  If bugs ate some, that's OK too.

Since I don't like potatoes, you can use them in a potato launcher to keep the critters out of your tomato plants.  Today we aren't looking for easily stored root crops to sustain us through the winter.  We don't need to dig carrots from the sand barrel. Today is the height of the season.  As good as it gets.  Don't look a gift summer in the mouth.

It is TOMATO SEASON.

And here is the easiest tomato recipe in the world - and it freezes well!...