* * * I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but the lady who bought the house next door moved in – she started moving in while I was in Maine, I think, and completely moved in a few days after I got back. She has, in the past few weeks, been a GREAT neighbor. Waves and calls hello, but not all up in my shit. (Probably my shit is not quite as fascinating to others as I might like to think, ya think?) A couple of weeks ago when I was mowing the lawn to surprise Fred*, she came over and asked if she could use the phone, because she’d locked herself out of her house. We went inside so I could look up the number of a locksmith for her, she called them, and then we talked for a few minutes before she went back over to her house to wait for the locksmith, and I went to finish mowing the lawn. She’s quiet, she keeps her lawn mowed and her deck is lovely to look at, and all in all I don’t believe I could have asked for a better neighbor. The only problem – and it’s certainly not her fault – is that my kitchen window looks directly into her back yard, and she spends a lot of time on her deck. Now, I didn’t think I spent all that much time in the kitchen, but since she’s moved in, it feels like I’m CONSTANTLY in there, either canning something or washing something, and of course if I’m at the sink I look out the window, and I know that several times she’s seen me standing in the window looking at her, and probably she thinks I’ve got nothing better to do than stand and watch her (I like what she’s done with the deck, by the way. Lots of plants and a pretty baker’s rack). What I need to do is plant something bushy and fast-growing that will grow enough so that it will block my view of her back yard, but not so much that it’ll block the morning sun. I’m in Zone 8, people – I’d like something that stays green and bushy year-round (I thought of butterfly bushes, but they lose their leaves in the winter and are supposed to be cut back). Suggestions? (Don’t forget – fast-growing is what I’m looking for, not something that’ll take 10 years to get big enough to do the job.) *I don’t know what you do to surprise your husband – lingerie, or a gift from the local “adult” store, perhaps – but I know the direct way to Fred’s heart, and mowing the lawn so he was free to come home and work on his shed instead of having to mow the lawn made him one happy man.
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With the cooler weather, the jalapenos, habaneros and bell peppers have really taken off, and they’ve been piling up in the refrigerator, so I finally decided to do something about it. First I made a batch of habanero hot sauce (no pictures), and when the hot sauce was all mixed up, Fred took a little dab of it and put it on his tongue, and reported that his tongue burned for five minutes afterward. He doesn’t know that he’s going to use an entire batch of the stuff in this lifetime, but it’s good to have around in case he wants to add heat to something, I suppose. Then I took care of the jalapenos:
I ended up with two jars of whole pickled jalapenos, three jars of sliced pickled jalapenos, and since I had room in the canner, I did a jar of whole habaneros (when he saw the jar of habaneros, Fred just looked at me like he thought perhaps I’d lost my mind).
I use this recipe for the pickled jalapeno peppers, but I don’t use the pickling spice (Fred doesn’t like the peppercorns) or the bay leaves. And I used this recipe for the Habanero Hot Sauce (scroll down). Oddly, that recipe is the exact same as this one, but the one I didn’t use calls for 1 1/2 cups of white vinegar. That might explain why my hot sauce ended up being so thick. I think I need to go add white vinegar to the stuff I made, and see if that works a little better.
Once those were done and cooling, I did what I’d been meaning to do for quite some time: I made and canned spaghetti sauce.
My recipe: Approximately 12 cups of tomato sauce (made and frozen at a previous date by moi); a small can of tomato paste; a package (8 ounces, I think) of mushrooms, chopped coarsely; 1 medium onion, chopped coarsely; a couple of cloves of minced garlic; a generous sprinkling of Italian Seasoning, and plenty of salt (I thought I’d added too much, but a taste test told me that I absolutely didn’t). Mix together, bring to a boil, turn it down to a simmer and let it simmer for about an hour, or until it’s reached the thickness you desire.
I ended up with three quart jars of spaghetti sauce, and I tell you what – this stuff was GOOD. I processed it for 25 minutes in a steam pressure canner (at ten pounds) and let the jars sit overnight. One of the jars didn’t seal, so rather than re-process it, we had it last night with leftover meatballs, over angel hair pasta. I thought it was really good, but Fred especially sang the praises of the spaghetti sauce.
One caveat: I didn’t know until after I’d canned the spaghetti sauce that onions and garlic aren’t particularly recommended in canned spaghetti sauce, because they can turn bitter. Had I realized that, I would have frozen the spaghetti sauce instead. The sauce we had last night wasn’t bitter at all, but I don’t know if it’s the canning process that’s supposed to turn them bitter, or sitting in the jar for a long period of time.
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“Hey! Take a picture of me! A picture of me and Da Boog! Like this! Take a picture of me and Da Boog!”
“You might have mentioned that I looked like an idiot before you snapped the picture. Is my head really that big?”
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Fred took this picture a few weeks ago, and since he hasn’t used it yet, I’m claiming it for my own journal.
I honestly didn’t expect this to come out so well – I snapped it through the window (that white string hanging down goes to the blinds).
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no, your head ain’t “that” big– it probably just looks that way (to you) because you have a cat head next to ya :
Those cats have some damn good life!
Aw. I like the picture of you and Mister Boogers! I think you guys should take, and post, more pictures of yourselves with the cats of the house, and the cats of the garden. So sweet!
Yaupon hollies grow well here in Texas (I’m zone 8, too, but that varies a lot across regions). And crepe myrtles have gorgeous blooms through the hottest part of the summer. Crepe myrtles can be found in shrub or tree sizes, so you’d want to be sure you got the size you wanted.
Your best bet is probably to find a local-ish guide to native plants and shrubs. It’s (almost) always better to plant natives, rather than standardized imports. Native plants can better withstand your local climatic idiosyncrasies. (Did I just write that?)
Hi Robyn: I so wish that I could take the three orange tabbys home!
Clearly you do not have enough cat beds in your house. I can still see several feet of free space in those pictures. Oh the shame you must feel!
Have you ever made jalapeno jelly? Because if you haven’t, you should! Even wimpy people who don’t like jalapenos (me!) like this stuff. You should give it a try.
Boy, Fred must like hot. My mom bought a bottle of habaneros hot sauce in Mexico for my uncle who said nothing was too hot. He used it on tacos the first day and cried like a baby (OK his eyes watered, but the baby sounded funnier). He said the very small bottle would last him quite awhile since he will have to use a very little at a time. Maybe you can put fancy labels on the jars and give them away as Christmas presents!
GAH! That last picture of Sug makes him look like a vampire! Or, perhaps, a viper? I LOVE LOVE the pictures of the three orange tabbys with their color variations! Especially the one of them all sitting side by side and looking up. Too cool!
I clearly need to trade in my brown tabby for those 3 orange ones! (just kidding) (but sort of not). Good thing I live too far away to come and get them. Must resist the orange kitties. I had one when I was really little. *sigh*.
In spite of my best efforts to kill them out; these grow up pretty fast at my house http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/788/ (rose of sharon). They keep growing up around my AC unit b/c it’s a good spot I guess but I’m worried they’ll damage a line or the foundation. I need to transplant them to the other side of the yard, they grow so well.
Or Snowball bushes – I’ve hacked mine down to the ground each fall and it’s come back gangbusters and is 6 ft tall and 6 ft wide – you could just leave it up and it will still give quite a bit of privacy for the density of branches. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/21746/
Also, there’s plume grass http://www.daytonnursery.com/Encyclopedia/Ornamental_Grass/Erianthus.htm – you can just weed whack it down if you get tired of it.
And maidengrass – Hey Nance, isn’t this the stuff you like?
http://www.westongardens.com/page%20content/plant%20library/cabaret%20maiden%20grass.htm
It must be a first…I don’t think I’ve seen a photo of you with your kitties??
The orange tabbies are just too cute and that’s a really great color on you, Robyn!
The fastest-growing vine I know is one that took over not only an archway, but the
whole side of the house where we used to live. It’s called “potato plant”, but it isn’t
a potato at all. It’s called that, I think, because it is covered with pretty white flowers
most of the year. It has no fragrance at all. It flourishes in the SF Bay Area, where there
is a temperate climate. (I only know western climate zones, not eastern, so can’t tell
you how it would do in Alabama.) I spent half my time in that house cutting this damn thing
back, and still it grew. But the flowers are very pretty.
Bougainvillea is also a fast grower but it probably wouldn’t survive your winters, and it
has thorns that look like some kind of medieval weapons.
Have you considered putting “privacy curtains” — thin nylon curtains — over the kitchen
window? Check out what they have at Country Curtains: http://www.countrycurtains.com
for a huge variety. They can be very pretty indeed, and you don’t have to iron the see-through
nylon ones, just throw them in the washer a few times a year. Your neighbour wouldn’t be able
to see you at all through them, but you wouldn’t have any trouble seeing out.
You know your head just looks big because Ben Affleck has put bad ju ju on your ass! LOL
Those kitties are SO sweet of course we share the orange kitty love and now I think I have brown kitty love too.
Also, we’re in zone 7.
Tangerine Beauty Cross Vine aka Bignonia Capreolata are fast growing/climbing. They get tangerine-orange blooms and the attract hummingbirds.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56818/
Yep, Starr. That’s the stuff I like! Robyn, you’re head is not that big.
Hi Miz Robyn! I think you should put a couple of jars of your canned goods on Ebay! I am sure a couple of your readers would bid on them! I know I would – I would love some fresh canned salsa – or jalapenso or whatever you are willing to put on there!!!! Pleazze think about it?!?!
Aww Robyn, Your orange tabby’s have some serious cute going on! Thanks for the Trio pics.
Oops! I meant tabbies, not tabby’s.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54320/ This is the plant info for Chinese Fringe Flower shrubs. They grow very fast and are beautiful.
http://www.paghat.com/fringeflower.html Here’s a pic of the flowers, as well as more plant info.
Have you considered entering some of your canning at a fair? We’re coming up on State Fair time here in Texas and I love looking at the canning entries. They’re like jewels on the display wall!
You’re getting really good at taking pictures.
I love the hummingbird picture and the way the cats are all lined up in threes.
It’s so cool ^_^
I agree with the poster who recommends Jalapeno Jelly.
I have a GREAT snack/appetizer that I make – you just take stoned wheat thin crackers (Canadian eh… maybe they’re American though, too??) and put on a bit of plain cream cheese and a dollop of jalapeno jelly. YUM.
I put some of that UV blocking film on my south windows and during the day, you can’t see in at all. It’s just like a big mirror. (Bad for bird collisions though. I bought some decals for the outside and so far so good.) At night the situation reverses though and you can’t see out unless you turn a light on outside.
i have tried warmed pepper jelly over softened cream cheese with triscuits. delish! my friend’sm mother called it “red hot jezebel”. i like saying the name over and over when i am serving it.
i also canned some lemon-garlic jelly and it makes a wonderful topping for chicken.