Success! We have a surprising number of potatoes! We had all but given up on our limp, sad-looking potato plant but, today, Akemi decided to do some digging around and unearthed these earthy gems. Yesterday, I fried up some peppers and zucchini blossoms from our garden and made a delicious sandwich with potato bread. I’m really enjoying the gardening thing. Or, more precisely, I’m really enjoying Akemi enjoying this gardening thing.
Earlier today during a thunderstorm…
Akemi: It’s a thunderstorm! Hide your belly button or the demon will take it!
Me: Why would a demon steal your belly button?
Akemi: Who knows why people do things.
Hide Your Belly Button When You Hear Thunder
Yesterday’s movie-themed question…
What was a film adaptation you refused to see because the book was so damn good?
Answer with a gif – or book cover pic! pic.twitter.com/HhQiWOm1go— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) July 10, 2020
Tonight’s movie-themed question…
What was a film adaptation that inspired you to read the book? Answer with a gif. pic.twitter.com/vHKULIL5CR
— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) July 11, 2020
Amazing people with whom I have worked…
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Naomi Ward showed off her wide-ranging management and organizational skills as the Production Coordinator on #UtopiaFalls, overseeing not only the production office but birthday celebrations and a John Wick-themed lunch party! pic.twitter.com/1uVFv1fPCe— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 23, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Huse Madhavji (@HuseM) played the role of the cold and conservative Mentor Watts on #UtopiaFalls, a character in marked contrast to Huse's warm and ebullient personality. A great guy and a terrific actor. pic.twitter.com/tMQQRmzZbb— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 24, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
The late Carmen Argenziano had many great roles over his 50 year career, but #Stargate fans knew him best as the good-hearted Jacob Carter. He was not only a wonderful actor but a genuinely warm and kind man. pic.twitter.com/8mL5B2V59u— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 25, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
Milton Barnes played the part of the sympathetic Mentor Chapter on #UtopiaFalls. He's a gifted actor with tremendous range and gravitas. Also, a warm and thoughtful human being. pic.twitter.com/0MRGQ0ynn2— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 26, 2020
#AmazingPeopleWithWhomIHaveWorked
The wonderful Kate Hewlett (@katehewlett) played the role of Jeannie Miller over three seasons of #Stargate Atlantis. A gifted and gracious actress.
P.S. Her brother also appeared on a few episodes of the show as well. pic.twitter.com/dLx8IusDxd— Joseph Mallozzi (@BaronDestructo) June 27, 2020
Who knows why people (or demons) do things, indeed.
Although I’ve been having great luck with my lettuce and onions, and the cucumbers seem to be coming along well (though only flowers so far), I’m more concerned with my beans and tomato plants. The beans are flowering like crazy, but it seems like the flowers just eventually falls off and nothing comes of them. I’m not sure if they’re not getting pollinated, or conditions aren’t quite right. My tomato plants are blossoming, but I’m getting some yellow leaves around the bottom which I hope isn’t some kind of fungus. Searches online are worse than diagnosing your own symptoms – “it could be this, this, this, or just normal.” I’ll keep you posted! Oh, and the nasturtiums are growing like crazy. Tons of flowers. I’ve even tried adding a couple of the leaves to a salad as well (as mentioned in some web sites) and they are fairly peppery/spicy! The flowers are much milder.
I gave up on growing vegetables. They just don’t take. So I started growing flowers for bees, didn’t go so well either. Now I’m trying to grow grass for cats in little tubs. I thought I’d start with stuff that’s less ambitious.
First day the cat knocked all the tubs over – and the Flower Power man said the grass will have suffered ‘trauma’. It reminds of the late 1980s, someone came out with this invention a kind of vocal emitter you stick in the soil near your plant, it picked up the moods of your plant. So if you watered it, it made a funny underwater (‘happy’?) sound but if you cut it, it screamed. In fact if you cut them to much every time you entered the room they would scream. Lot of excitement for the product initially but died really quickly after a short while. I’m glad I don’t have that thing, the grass would be having apoplectic fits around me.
Good harvest there. Keep them coming! Eventually you’ll be able to share your produce with your building!
Those potatoes look delicious. Great job master gardener Akemi!
So I just dug through the last three years of your blog because I stumbled upon your Dark Matter Virtual Seasons and I was wondering if Episode 4.04 came out and I missed it in my mad dash thru the archives?
Not yet!
Those are some pretty new potatoes. There may be some deeper you can grab later.
Every day is an adventure with Akemi!
Finding your own harvest of potatoes is like finding presents under the Christmas Tree, don’t ya think? You never know what you have until you find them. I love it!
Congratulations, Akemi on your success!
Another wonderful thing about growing your own is if you have a glut, you can swop for crops you didn’t grow, with other gardeners. It’s a great way to try out new veg or varieties and swop techniques etc. plus you make new friends along the way.
GForce, re your tomatoes… I wouldn’t worry too much. I’d just pull the old yellowing leaves off and throw away 🤭
Tomatoes can be greedy little… I know a few gardeners who regularly feed them with tomato fertilizer. I just let them get on with what they’ve got. They taste nicer.
Potatoes, ugh. They aren’t difficult harvesting them in small pots but my dad used to make us dig a large field of those suckers up. Hot/dirty work and after those summers of digging potatoes, I’ll never grow them. I love eating them though.
Is Akemi growing any peppers for you?
Gforce: I never had much luck growing tomatoes. Okra, however, will produce massive amounts of pods from one plant. Have you ever seen Disney World’s hydroponics nursery? Their vertical gardens are a thing of beauty. It’s one of my favorite exhibits there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNQAz8T7dlk
She IS! Hungarian Hots and some Chinese peppers that youtube claims are ornamental but I eat them anyway.
Some very nice taters there!
Please share some pics of Akemi’s garden if she doesn’t mind… I’d love to see it!
I was happy to see Huse in Utopia Falls. I enjoyed him in Saving Hope. You know I am highly critical of actors playing roles of characters who have autism spectrum disorders and he was perfect.
I envy people who can grow their own food. I don’t know if it is because of being a city girl, no one in my family really being able to do it, and my self attempts being unsuccessful or what it is. Now, if a client has things growing already I have been able to keep them alive until they get back and they’ve often told me to take, for example, some tomatoes home with me and they are so delicious. There really is nothing like it; I love the Farmer’s Market too. They shut ours down for a bit but now it is open again (for how long I don’t know) and they have restrictions on it and set up the vendors to keep them safe as well. I haven’t been back yet.