Tanya's Blog: Chad Ochocinco killed my veggie garden

Chad Ochocinco Killed My Veggie Garden

Why 85 86'd my little eden

Well, it's true…kinda.

If you've read my other entries, you know I want chickens and that I have a vegetable garden. I love having this garden. It teaches my children that getting a tomato isn't as simple as going to the grocery store and buying one. That tending the soil, watering, weeding (NOT my favorite job) and general cultivating can be tedious but a small example of what our beloved farmers and our forefathers do/did daily.

And I love having fresh produce. The zucchini, peppers and green beans. Nothing like 'em. Delicious.

Except this year Ocho was a killer for my garden.

This summer, my once-thriving patch of land is dismal and underperforming and I am over it.

So far this season (it's mid-July), I've harvested a sum total of three jalapeno peppers and three cherry tomatoes. A pathetic showing for anyone, but for someone with a pretty large garden and a reputation in my home as having a decent green thumb, this is utter disaster.

And, as previously mentioned, Chad may be the first and biggest nail in the garden's coffin.

You see, I had the great and wonderful honor to head west when Chad made a run for a mirrorball trophy worthy of any disco dance hall. It was a ton of fun covering “Dancing With The Stars” for the station and a great learning experience. But at the ripe spring moment that I should have been digging in the dirt, I was in Los Angeles watching Chad and Cheryl turn heads on the dance floor. The green beans didn't go in the ground on time and the radishes never had a chance.

Plus heading back and forth to the west coast three times in the span of a couple of months, working on a different time zone and fighting jet lag didn't energize me to run out to the garden and get the seeds started in a timely manner. I mean, I still forced my ever-obliging husband to till the soil (with the promise, of course, that I would be out there getting everything in the ground as soon as I took a nap). I still bought all the stuff. I just ran out of gas when it came to the hard work of planting and caring for those little growths. I would return from Los Angeles with great intentions and, to my great dismay, lethargy.

I have to admit that on weekends I tend to be a taskmaster. I'm no joy to be around (just ask that obliging husband of mine - or the kids). We don't lay around and lunch on the deck. No way. We have rooms to rearrange, laundry to put away and gardens to toil over. Only, I didn't. Absence from the homestead made my heart grow strong for not the soil, but sitting around with the kids, sleeping in a little on weekends and baking cookies. Forget the fresh stuff. Let's relax.

And now I'm paying for my trips west and overall laziness. No zucchini bread.
No pickling cucumbers. Not happening this year. My homemade salsa was set aside to watch salsa dancing Thanks, Chad.

Of course, the weather didn't help. It has been hot, hot, hot. Watering seems futile in this endless heat. The spring seemed to last for seconds, not weeks. Maybe my angst at Chad shouldn't be so strong. Maybe I should talk to Steve Raleigh about this… and why his forecast is killing my veggie garden.

Note: if you are lucky enough to actually get zucchinis out of your garden (or grocery store), here’s a recipe I really like for zucchini bread. It’s by Paula Deen and it’s delicious!

Paula Deen’s Zucchini Bread
¾ C All purpose flour
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
4 eggs beaten
½ C water
2 C grated zucchini
1 tsp lemon juice
1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine dry ingredients (minus the walnuts). Combine wet ingredients on low to medium speed of a mixer. Add dry ingredients. Fold in walnuts. Bake at 350 in loaf pan for 45 mins to 1 hour.