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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Back In The Saddle Again


How is it possible anyone could suffer from over two weeks of Internet deprivation? It's hard to believe in this day and time of finite technology folks could actually only have one computer in a household and that computer was not equipped with a user that completed regular back ups. Still sighing...


It is true. Since I gave up my laptop with my last job over a year ago... these two weeks my internet access has been dependent on visits to family or friends.
Finally, we are back in business and admitting it is embarrassing I did not have a better back up system for the per chance occasion of a hard drive crash. Turns out I had not backed up my photos since August 2007. Thankfully I have every digital photo prior to then. I lost precious photos of family and holidays I will regret forever as nothing on the crashed hard drive was able to be recovered. Suffice to say, we will not ever be in that predicament again.


It just so happens I am walking out the door in 5 minutes for a short trip to North Carolina. Wanted to give a quick veggie garden update. Above you can see the raised beds at the top of the photo looking North just before rounding the corner to the side yard where they are still producing.


Surprisingly we are still harvesting veggies at the daily rate of what is shown in the basket above. Although I think this week with the record heat gauges in the 90's all of June, the bugs are just about more than I can fend off. And the veggies just do not like the extreme heat. If I can manage to harvest all the wonderful tomatoes still hanging on the vine I'll be a happy gardener.

We are still enjoying the green beans and pole beans. The worms have just now found the leaves but don't seem to bother the beans. They are just so tasty. I even par boil them and put them in salads. mmmm-mmmm good. But the best thing to do with pole beans is to cook them southern style with ham and red potatoes.

After giving up on the squash due to those evil worm borers or whatever they were... I sprayed with a little insecticide - as much as I didn't want to. They just perked right back up and started producing again.

The carrots were not so great. I definitely planted them too closely. They were only supposed to grow to 5" so they get credit for trying really hard. Tasty too.
Well, I've got lots of catching up to do. Completely missed bloom day this month. We are rejoicing in some rainfall here finally and all the foliage is even happier than me!

16 comments:

  1. Meems it is good to see you back again. A computer crash is as traumatic as a car crash I think. It looks like your garden is getting along well. Glad you are no longer computerless.

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  2. You have my condolences on the hard drive crash, Meems! My sister lost not only recent photos but many really old family photos that she'd scanned before a relative died and the photos moved a thousand miles away. It can be heartbreaking!

    Well, at least you can always go to your blog to see your garden photos, no matter what happens on the computer!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  3. So sorry to hear your loss of pictures. That happened to me once before and since then I copy pictures to cd's everytime I upload... although I don't back up my hard drive (shame on me).

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  4. Hi meems, I am sorry about loosing your precious photos. Your vegetables look "tasty" and the garden looks so fresh.) I had just a complete overhaul on my computer. I am lucky, my second half is 76 but he is still a computer geek and does all the work and looks that everything goes well. You have to update everything what you don't want to loose on an external drive.

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  5. Glad you are up and running again Meems. Your garden and veggies look absolutely wonderful.

    Have a great time in North Carolina....

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  6. lisa: Thanks... I really think it has been a hard lesson but one I have learned from... It's good to have 'access' again.

    annie: Hi... thanks I keep telling myself it could have been worse and reminding myself not to whine! I am retrieving several photos from my blog and thanking God for it... :-)

    karen: yes, my determination to back up to a DVD only lasted until last August... then I got lazy about it. I'm now paying for an offsite back up service then I don't have to think about it.

    titania: it must be nice to have at least one computer geek in the family.

    Cheryl: I think the garden is on its way out in the next few weeks... it is just too hot but it has been a wonderful experience I will definitely be ready to start again in September.

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  7. Welcome back Meems! I've missed you. Glad to see you're back in business.

    Your veggies look wonderful. There's nothing like home-grown produce.

    I hope you have a great trip. See you when you get back!

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  8. I feel your pain - I've been without home internet for the for 5 weeks now - between work and mooching off my mother-on-laws wireless (she lives across the road - If I sit on my front porch and hold my mouth just so, I can get a pretty good signal!) Welcome back!

    Re: family pictures - I upload them to shutterfly or another online service. Then I know they're save and I can share them. Now, I'm considering backing them up more often than once a year.

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  9. Hi Meems - since my last visit - it looks as if lots has been going on in your garden - what fabulous veg! We're definitely not that far on - I can't wait to get some tomatoes - just enjoying strawberries and the first batch of broad beans right now.. have a good weekend - Miranda

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  10. Glad you are back online! The veggies look wonderful...of course you have had plenty of extra time and attention to give them while you were computerless. Have a great time in NC! BTW, who is watching the veggies while you are gone?

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  11. Linda: Thank you... I've missed being around too. I've got a laptop now too so I can visit while I'm on the road- if I have time. Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants to get some things done... I've wanted one for a long time.

    mary beth: I did have some photos uploaded to Kodak but not very many. I now have an external hard drive where I will be storing all my photos on an automatic back up system. Gosh, I guess my couple of weeks wasn't so bad compared to your 5 weeks... hope you have that mouth thing figured out just right!

    Miranda: my tomatoes are almost gone... i only have a few blooms and about 20-30 fruit left on the vine... I'm not really sure with the intense heat we are having how much more I can expect but I'm hoping for the best. Hope yours bring you some great meals like I've enjoyed...it has been a wonderful experience. I would love to grow strawberries but not too confident about those prospects... maybe someday.

    Jane: I'm really enjoying the solitude tonight ... I'm not attending the conference so I've got some free time to myself... ahhhh, heaven! Hubby volunteered to do "veggie watch" for me as well as flower/container watering... bless his sweet self... he's calling nightly for explicit instructions. So far so good. I am also counting on the chance of some rain to keep things going...

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  12. Meems, I'm glad you're back. Missed you. Your veggies look so tasty I want to take a bite.

    How are you backing up your photos? I need to do that.~~Dee

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  13. Dee: Thank you - it's good to be back in business. I certainly have been pleased with the results of the veggie garden... savoring my constant fresh tomato diet that I will miss in a few weeks when it all stops.

    I've purchased an external hard drive that will automatically back up everything(data and photos) on the desktop everyday. It is very simple-I should have figured this out a long time ago. Unfortunately I guess I needed a kick in the pants to make me take the time to investigate. With an external hard drive you can also easily transfer specific files or photos to the laptop.

    All the technical stuff is challenging... I know just enough to be dangerous. :-)

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  14. Too bad this retreat couldn't have been a little sooner, during your blog withdrawal time. You could have been away from the garden and the crashed system at the same time. It is always so good to have a diversion from the same old, same old of every day routine.

    I was wondering about your garden keeper - would the man of the blogger be willing to devote his time to the watering required? Fortunately, we have been getting some much needed rain, so maybe he is not having to attend to the garden as much. Today is very heavily overcast, and I heard your area is getting lots of downpour.

    By the way, we enjoyed our pole beans with the ham and potatoes just a couple days ago. UMM, UMM! Delicious! Thank you so much for sharing your bounty!

    Glad you are able to be back up & running H&S. You are obviously doing this while away from it all. Isn't technology amazing? I have no idea of how to back up anything, so I will be talking with you more about this when you return. Til then, relax & enjoy your time away from it all.

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  15. I'm glad to see you back too! I still haven't signed up for a backup service. We've talked about getting an external hard drive. I just hope nothing happens while we're in the midst of indecision.

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  16. Oh no, I'm so sorry you lost all of those photos :( I realised last year that we had years of photos with no back-up and was having trouble sleeping at night. I spent hours and hours backing them up and organising them. Now, after reading your post I realise I have more to do. If only I could get to my computer downstairs...maybe in a few more days I can manage stairs again.

    Thanks so much for your well wishes and prayers. I'm healing well and slowly getting better, but there may be more surgery in the future. We just got home last night after another trip to see the surgeon. (We have to drive about four hours south as there is no orthopedic surgeon in our town).

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Have a blessed day,
Meems


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