Garden questions and catch of the day

I''ve had several friends and family members ask questions regarding my garden, so I'll attempt to answer them here for all to benefit. First of all, check out the beds once they've been grided with twine. Cool, huh? In the second edition of Square Foot Gardening they suggest using lath, but to grid the beds and it is very white and pretty, but also pricey, so we found twine works just as well.

This second pic. shows a close up so you can see the holes and seedlings. It's amazing how many plants you can put in these beds. So far we've planted sweet, yellow, and red onions, radishes, peas, several lettuce varieties, swiss chard, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and corn. A friend asked for the dirt recipe. Ha! I've had lots of recipe requests over the years, but I think this is my first one for "dirt." Here it is:

1 part compost

1 part peat moss

1 part vermiculite

Mix all together and fill beds. Our layers are: Newspapers, shredded leaves, and then the special dirt.

Someone else asked why this method might be better than container gardening. It's a huge space saver, and like I said above you can plant so much more in these 4x4 or 8x4 beds. Square Foot Gardening suggest you feed the plants some kind of fertilizer as the soil will become depleted eventually. This is why container medium should be replaced each year. There's nothing left to give to the plants.

These next photos are not gardening related, but I guess they would fall into the category of clever self-sufficiency. Kudos to my sons Carter and Blake who caught these trout on opening day in the Patapsco River.
The before and after shots of the trout. See that beautiful golden crust with all the flecks of orange zest and cilantro? Mmmmmmmm...... my mouth is watering just looking at it and remembering how good it was.

Carter's girlfriend, April found a tasty recipe for Salt-Crusted Trout and they treated us to a lovely dinner. The salt mixture included cilantro, orange zest, pepper, lemon juice, and basil. When it was baked the crust was cracked and each fish brushed off. It was incredibly moist and yummilicious. I know that's not a word, but it was the perfect word to describe the trout. They served it with rice, and this wonderful Thai cucumber salad.

You don't know how much it thrills me that my kids are clever enough to fish and are also creative in the kitchen with the catch of the day.

I'm leaving you with a gorgeous Maryland spring sunset. Enjoy your weekend with those you love. If you can't be with them, commit to praying for them.

Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 8:39