Garden Escapades

Gardening as therapy

2009-05-01T10:43:00.004-04:00

When I feel like I am "loosing it", I go play in the dirt. It helps because I know I can control what is happening when I am manipulating plants and dirt.

This past weekend, when I was off, I built and installed this small arbor. I have been wanting to add something like this for awhile, and finally got to it. I have morning glories growing at at the base so that they can cover it and you can see them from the window when they droop down. It will also offer protection to the humming birds when they come back. I think I am going to move some of the clematis I have to this as well so that they can grow together and make some interest. I have added gerber daisies in the blue pot in the center. I eventually want to add window boxes which I will make out of old pallets. Once the wood dries I plan on staining it the same color as the deck, when we actually stain it that is.

I have also planted some things in the garden. Beets are the only thing to make it of the first seed planting. I am going to put some potatoes in the ground today. I started some in some trash cans, but I had to cut up the seed potatoes so they could scab over before I planted them. I also moved some herbs here because I wanted a specific place for them and could never decide. I am excited and can't wait for things to fill in!!

Later that day.....

2009-04-01T14:01:00.002-04:00

Look at my creation!!! Yes, I did this, and you can too!! HA! hahahaha!!! I am proud of myself. I am going to add another one on to this one so that I can turn the contents into the other to help aid in the breaking down of the materials. It is full now because I moved my free standing compost pile into this. Tomorrow, I will go get the rest of those pallets and add on. The cute thing I did was the back pallet has an area at the top there that I closed off at the bottom, added dirt and will plant flowers in!! Yeah, I am soooo smart!!! Hee, Hee!!

Saving money and being Crafty!!

2009-04-01T09:49:00.002-04:00

Compost Tumbler - More DIY How To ProjectsYesterday I went to my daughters work and got some pallets to make a compost bin. When I got to researching about making composting things, I found the web site called Instructables and found this cool rotating composter. I can't find any 55 gallon drums, but plan on doing such a thing in the future. Right now I am sticking with just making a regular, turn it yourself with a yard fork kind:
That is my job today before I go the the money paying job. So, I am off to my project!!!

I haven't resorted to that....yet.

2009-03-25T11:19:00.002-04:00

Did you know that dandelion greens are very good for you? We haven't had to resort to eating them to keep the house in these "hard economic times", but I have to say that if we had to, we wouldn't starve. I am "that yard" in my neighborhood that everyone drives by and cusses, because of all the pretty yellow flowers that will soon turn to seed and contaminate their own chemically altered golf course like lawns - MMMMWWAaaaahhhhahahahaha!!!!!

Dandelions are a good source of calcium, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin C.
One cup of dandelion greens has as much calcium as half a glass of milk.
Vitamin A is important for eye health, for building a healthy immune system and for maintaining skin integrity.

If you are considering eating the ones you grow you should make sure that you haven't used chemicals on your lawn. Otherwise you can buy them from a local farmers market or grocery. In the good old days, dandelions were picked where the grass grew tall and free before the last spring frost and before the first yellow dandelion bloomed. If you wait until after they flower they become bitter and chewy. You can add them to a salad or cook them like spinach or kale and there are a lot of recipes online if you go looking for them.

You should go to this site: http://www.prodigalgardens.info/may%20weblog.htm and find out a lot more about dandelions.

They're BAAaaaack!!

2009-03-17T09:20:00.002-04:00

Ok, so last year we had some swallows flitting about the back yard checking out the real estate which they choose not to purchase. This morning I look out to a commotion of them trying to decide if they want to put in a bid this time. Spring is so close!! All those birdies getting twitterpated, I am ready, bring on the heat!!!

Winter, woes, WOW!!

2009-03-11T08:49:00.003-04:00

I am very glad that winter is winding down. These past couple of days of nice weather has been a tease. I know longer, warmer days are coming and that is good. I will try harder to put more up here for those of you who might enjoy or get something out of this. On the left you will see where I am building a wall, a short one, compared to the last, and out of "stolen" rocks. I probably shouldn't mention that, but it is true. Several posts back you can see the bare spot where the deck was going to go, and here you can see the finished product. We are going to add another step down so that we don't have to build the wall so high. I love my deck and that is the WOW of this post.

You can go down to a previous post and see the before picture and I tried to get the same view after of the deck. That was taken this morning and you can see Angus on the deck and Peter in the lower right hand corner.

I had one real woe this winter during the ice storm. The layer of ice caused my red bud tree to split almost down the middle. Once it got warm enough to melt most of it off, I went out and tied it back up together, I sure don't want to loose that tree, it is lovely in the spring and give some green dimension through the summer and fall, so we will see what happens.

I guess that is all for today. I have expanded the garden this year added about 2 feet on each side and about 6 feet to the length. A sad thing I found out is that the Kentucky Horse park is no longer giving away their compost, you have to pay 40$ per load. So, I guess my compost pile is going to have to be pretty big now. I will probably make it a ground pile instead of contained in something, so that I can stir it regularly and get it hot and cooking, we will see.

I have been a slacker

2008-11-27T08:47:00.003-05:00

So, I have been bad this year. Well, I will give myself a little credit and say I have been busy. I did not do my garden winterization like I should have. My yard is a mess but I guess I can live with it, ok, I HAVE to live with it.

I am enjoying my Thanksgiving today but I just wanted to put something up here since I haven't posted in such a long time.

I dug it up at work!!

2008-10-29T06:50:00.002-04:00

Last year before I worked for Chili's they had ornamental peppers as part of their landscape. This year I watched a plant like this grow outside the front door. I researched it and found that it was called a "Black Pearl" ornamental pepper. I also found different suggestions as to weather you could eat it or not. With the cold coming on I didn't want it to die so I dug it, well actually 3 of them, up. I now have it sitting in my kitchen. I am not sure if the 2 large plants are going to make it, as they have been here for a couple of days and are still rather wilty. The third smaller plant looks better and will probably do ok.

As you can see it is rather a pretty plant. I hope to start a bunch from seed and maybe sell them. I have been toying with the idea of starting a business selling seeds and plants. There is a local domestic violence shelter, beautiful on 40 acres, close by that I would like to find the funding to start a business there that will allow them to make a little money and help the women make some money for when they go out on their own again. Right now that is difficult for them.

We will see where the future leads. Definitely toward some more plants growing!!

Not doing my job

2008-09-03T09:50:00.002-04:00

I started the foundation for the vegetable garden and planted it, but Alan has been the one to take care of and harvest most of it. I just really haven't been doing my part of the job. I am helping him today can some tomatoes, and his mom came up last week and helped do a batch then as well. If we are good about staying up with the canning then we will have tomatoes for forever. I told him today that we need to make our own spaghetti sauce and salsa. Next years garden needs to be more attuned to that idea.

On the left there you will see my real passion. Flowers!! You really don't have to do as much to them as you do vegetables, but they really aren't as beneficial either. Well, for me they are therapeutic and keep me sane, but they wouldn't feed me if I needed it. I think sometimes that sane is better than fed - HA!!

Anyway, that picture shows a little part of my front flower bed that has some Stella De Oro day lilies, morning glories and "Apricot" zinnias. It is a nice part of the whole thing.

This is part of my side yard where the trash cans used to sit. The spot was bald and ugly. I got most of these plants really cheap on the " 'bout ready to die" cart at Lowes. It is much nicer up close. The vine growing up the fence is a blue flowering morning glory. It is very pretty in the earlier parts of the day.

Yeah, I like my flowers. I have had lots of seeds from the day lilies and 4 O'Clocks. If any one has other day lily seeds they want to swap, just let me know, cause I would like to have some different day lilies.

First harvests and working hard

2008-07-10T11:28:00.003-04:00

This first picture is of the blue lake bush green beans I picked yesterday. It is a lot. The picture doesn't show them well, but believe me there are a lot of them. Alan and I were out puttering around and I happened to look close at the plants and semi shouted, "There they are!!". Alan was a bit confused because I started moving fast up into the garden. I explained myself stating that I had seen the plants flowering but didn't know when the beans would show up and then, TA DAH!! There they were in there wonderful glory!! I plan on pickling some of them. Pickled green beans are VERY good.

I had stated before that one side of the garden was growing better than the other. I think you can see what I mean. The right side there is definitely lagging behind the left. I did, however, get more beans from the smaller plants than the larger ones. It is hard to tell but there is a compost pile up on the upper right corner. We are just waiting to see if the right side there benefits from it. We just might have to wait a bit to find that out. So far we have gotten sugar peas and kale from the garden. There is "tons" of stuff growing, we are just waiting for stuff to ripen now.

As far as hard work goes, here is a picture of our deck, well, where the deck is going to go. I used the tiller to pull out the dirt to make room for it. We are getting ready to head over to lowes to get it all set up. Hopefully we will have it within 2 weeks. The contractor guy wanted to inspect the site before they committed to building it, and was pleasantly surprised to see we had actually done the work. He said that a lot of people don't do what they say they are going to do. He is also going to loan me his small jackhammer so I can bust up the concrete stoop right outside the back door. Ok, I am off to Lowes!!

I just give up

2008-07-10T10:27:00.002-04:00

Living in todays world just really sucks. I know things were "hard" back in the day, but damn, it just really couldn't have been as bad as it is now. I mean, what do people who make minimum wage do? How do they live? It has been a hard year, and I really HATE dwelling on it. I just keep pushing things away and focusing on other things so that the bad doesn't seem to be there, and then it just all explodes. My mom says that I am SO STRONG, I think that is a big bunch of bunk, or I could come up with solutions to problems and never really worry about them. I am really just at my wits end. So, does anyone know of a job that pays around 50,000 a year so I can pay my bills? It is just really hard to have your income cut so much and try to recover from it. Especially when there just isn't enough money.

And you know what? I really isn't "that bad". I mean all my kids are healthy and are great kids, I actually have a house to live in, for now. I have a job and friends, but the bills haven't changed since the income has and trying to juggle it all is just a bit stressful.

I think what makes me sad is something an old friend said when I went to visit in Somerset. We were talking about kids attitudes today and how in their 20's they want to live like we do in our 40's. She said, "They just don't realize that we have worked to be able to afford vacations, putting pools in, and buying cars, they want it all now!". So what makes me sad is that I am back there with the 20 somethings and can't even keep up, and it isn't just because I "want" things I can't afford. I can't afford the things I have to have!!! I just hate stepping so far back and I just can't think of anything else to do.

Like I said, I give up.

Allowing things to happen

2008-07-02T10:48:00.002-04:00

I am not much of a landscape artist. I get an idea about how I want things to look and then I go crazy and add, add, add until I don't like it any more and then I redo it. Of course, for me it is all fun and allows me to get some exercise. I can't pass up plants when they are on sale or on clearance more specifically.

In the front of the house the roses and coriopsis are working out great. I knew once they filled in more I would get the effect I wanted, it was the waiting that was hard. I got a Nandina "Jaytee" at Lowes, and as I just researched it, it doesn't have the growth I thought it would. We have some in front of the restaurant that grow tall, this one is compact and doesn't grow tall like I had hoped. Anyway, it is pretty and adds interest all year round. I had hoped to put it in a naked corner but it won't work and I will have to find another place for it.

I had to stop and think, but now I have to make another area to plant. I have been thinking about it for a bit, but I have just the place. There is a corner up above the garden that I have planted a Redbud in and I am going to landscape that area. The Nandina will work perfectly under that tree and they can "grow up" together. The Redbud is only 5(?) years old, still pretty young as I got it as a sapling and is only about 4 feet high at the moment. What is interesting is that I have 3 that are the same age, all planted in my yard in different areas and how their growth is so different. Anyway.

What I wanted to post about was allowing things to happen. That is usually what happens with me and thankfully things end up ok. I was going to talk about how I get things because they are cool looking or I just want it, and I do it without thought as to where they should go, they just end up somewhere and it ends up working. I wanted red and yellow as my main colors, and adding the red day lilies on the other side of the front door completed my idea. Now things just need to fill in and be even more beautiful. The area between my sidewalk and the road needs some tweaking. I have just been allowing things to grow and using it as a holding ground for plants that I don't know what to do with yet. Now the idea is forming more solidly. Roses and day lilies. All kinds of both, that is what I want that area to be mostly. Easy and beautiful and colorful.

Ok, I have procrastinated enough from what I HAVE to do today - clean and organize the garage. Yuck.

Recent aquisitions

2008-06-13T09:24:00.002-04:00

I am sure you all have heard me say that I don't like to pay full price for plants. This plant to the left is just such a thing. I got this Adolphe Rousseau Peony half price at one of the local Lowes. It was looking pretty rough as it hadn't been watered properly. Once I got it home and some good old H2O added to it, it perked right up. Of course it hasn't bloomed like the wonderful picture on the left there, but I am waiting in high anticipation for it. This is the first peony I have owned of my own self. Of course my mom had one when I was growing up and I remember it being covered in ants. Ants aren't always bad, so if I get flowers like that I think I can handle them.

Now this little lovely is a Scarlet Trumpet Honeysuckle. I DID pay full price for this one. I like things that are unusual and if I see them and get a hankering for it, I actually walk away. Of course I check the price and the availability and then wait to see if they get all bought up, and hope that they go on sale before they disappear. This one didn't disappear, nor did it go on sale, but that is ok. I have it planted with my other honeysuckle. I think once they start growing they will be beautiful together.

That is all for today. Oh, just quickly, the veggies are doing great. One interesting thing is that one side of the garden is growing better than the other. Our hypotheses is that having the compost bin at the good growing side made that one grow better, so, we are going to make another one on the other side and see what happens. I will keep you posted!!

Projects

2008-05-23T10:57:00.003-04:00

Ok, so this was one of my latest projects. I always wanted to "dress up" the side yard of the house. This is not the ultimate end of what I want, but it is a start. I just used my tiller to loosen the sod and moved it to my compost pile then dug way down to get the soil lighter and more ready for things to be planted. I had purchased red azaleas and some kind of low growing shrub evergreen thing that blooms white. They were on clearance at Lowes so I bought them - Ha!! I am sure I still have the tags somewhere so I can give the actual name sometime soon. I also planted four o'clocks to the left of the dogwood there. I have heard that flower gets the Japanese bettles that are on your good stuff to come to them, eat them, and then die. That is what I have heard.
Wednesday I went to the horse park and got a load of compost to put around all the stuff out front. It has been awhile and was due. It makes things look a bit neater and feeds the flowers too. Next step is to get me a bag of horse manure and make manure tea to fertilize things. I will do that a little later in the summer though, that way I kill two birds with one stone, watering and fertilizing at the same time. I still need one more load of compost this year to get everything done I want done. That is what I say now, but once I get it I am sure I will find a reason to "need" more - HA!!

I also added more planting area in the back. We are going to build a deck and this should butt right up against it so you can just look down
into the flowers.

I think growing flowers is easy, maybe it is just my attitude toward it. I like growing a vegetable garden, it is a bit more rewarding than flowers seeing as you get to EAT what you grow. You can eat some flowers but veggies are usually better. In this bed I put orange cosmos, orange marigolds, pink petunias, multi colored dahlias, red impatients, and blue lobelia. I love the mix of colors. As it grows and fills in I will take and post more pictues. It should be beautiful here soon.

Wow, I didn't know they were that big!!

2008-05-21T10:38:00.003-04:00

Okay, so there has been a mole in my yard for a couple of days, it just appeared, well the tunnels and mole hills showed up. I wasn't sure what it was so I looked it up on line and decided that it was a mole. Then, although I really don't mind them, I found out how to get rid of it. They actually aeriate the soil and they eat grubs that can actually kill your plants. The bad things about them is that you have raised areas and mole hills in your yard, and they can uproot plants and damage their root systems. So, since the garden is new I didn't want to take the chance he would get in there and tear it up looking for his invertebrates to eat.

We took pictures but they won't load so I will put it up later. What amazed me is how DAMN BIG that sucker was. I put a hose in the tunnel and watched for where it would come up at. McKenzie was prepared with gloves on and a cooler to put it in so we could take it away with out harming it. If it comes back then I will take it farther next time. I think it showed up because I don't poison my yard with pesticides so the eating is good there. I got the hose going and we just waited until he started to surface. I saw the earth moving in one area and then redirected the hose and he went a little further then decided to come up there so he wouldn't drown. He decided to come out right at the edge of the garden and once he cleared the dirt Kenzie grabbed him and put him in the cooler. I was shocked at how big it was, I had seen small, the size of mice, moles before but this bad boy was 6 inches long and about 5-6 inches in diameter. Lordy!!

We carried him down to the end of the street to the edge of "the woods" and let him go. McKenzie wanted to watch him dig away and it was pretty interesting. She named him Roger - Ha!! I hope to get a picture up as soon as I can because it is pretty cool!!

So I just had a birthday

2008-05-13T08:30:00.002-04:00

I just had a birthday and this was one of the best presents ever. That there is St. Francis. I have been wanting a St. Francis bird feeder for quite some time. Until just recently I hadn't seen one I liked. When I came upon this one in a Plow and Hearth catalog some months ago, I knew this was the one for me. I promptly planted the catalog, open to the page it was on, exactly where I knew Alan would see it. He got the hint too!! I am very pleased - it is 32 inches tall and really just makes the garden area. It will look even better when the coriopsis fills in more around him. And I want to find a red dogwood to use where I moved a rose from - it will be wonderful when it is done!!

I did a little rearranging of the garden areas. There was getting to be too much stuff in the area where Francis now resides. I moved most of the star gazer lilies, a yellow colored euonymus, and a rose that wasn't doing so hot. I had an idea for this area and it was getting too far away from that original idea. It looks much neater and simpler now.

I moved most of what I dug up to the area between the sidewalk and the road. I think it will all look pretty good once it grows in. Now my next project is on the side of the house where I planted a white dogwood 2 years ago, I think. I want to put some red azaleas and another low growing evergreen over there to spruce it up some. I think it will look great once it gets all in.

Plans and plants

2008-04-21T11:27:00.003-04:00

So, here are the flowers in my "orange collection". There are these cool orange tulips that smell like oranges - I just happened to discover that and it is cool!! There are daffodils and hyacinths as well. I am very pleased. This is the first time I have ever grown tulips and I think that are becoming one of my favorites. Of course anything that is easy I am going to like.

There is another bunch of bulbs I planted as well that include grape hyacinths and white tulips. Then there are some firespray tulips and some tiny "snowdrops" as well. I don't think I got a picture of the snowdrops but I will put up ones of the firespray later.

Here is the garden. I am going to plant peas, beets and kale today. I am thinking about making it bigger, but I doubt I will this year. And below you will see pictures of seeds that I started as well. Cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and broccoli. Those will have to wait until my birthday to go out into the garden. I have the windows open today to let them get some fresh air - ha!

I also started some marigolds, morning glories, cosmos, and alyssum as well. In the past some survive and some don't, I guess we will see, because I just couldn't resist starting SOMETHING.

Did you know that if you bring pepper plants indoors that they will continue to produce? I got 2 cheyenne peppers off of it. Although that isn't a lot it is something. And it has started growing new growth and blooming a lot. It will have to wait until my birthday to go outside as well. The reason I choose that date is because I have learned that if I plant things outside, before that time, that aren't cold hardy, it will inevitably will frost and kill what I plant. So, that is my planting benchmark.

So, I have to get to it today. I have to head off to work for a bit to finish the schedule so I can come home and play in the yard all day!!

Spring Discoveries

2008-04-08T11:26:00.002-04:00

Fall is my favorite season, but spring is very welcome every year. The older I get the more I "see" things and discover things. This year is no different. Last year I realized that borage will come back year after year, from seed I am sure, but it still comes back. This year it is kale greens. They were green all winter. They didn't grow, of course, but they were there. In just a short time since it has started warming up they have gone all the way to an emerald and shot up a good 3 inches, amazing.

The picture there is my new hyacinths. They are orange!! I got a whole "orange" collection from Brecks and I am very pleased so far. The daffodils have bloomed too, they have the orange centers and are lovely. There are more in the collection but I can't remember and will just have to wait to be surprised when they bloom.

AND I might have a new neighbor. I have a vision for the back yard and bird houses covered with plant life of some type is part of it. In the picture to the left you will see the beginnings of one such areas and there is a Tree Swallow checking out the free rent house. I was so stoked that I almost scared it away clapping and squealing!! Peter was out there watching pretty hard so I went and got him after the bird flew away. All the birds are pretty hard at it finding nesting material. I sure hope I get that new neighbor - THAT would be cool.

Blisters and longing

2008-03-12T23:10:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I couldn't wait any longer. I got the tiller out today. It was so nice and I wanted to get the dirt stirred up and ready for planting. I ended up giving myself a blister, but that comes with the territory. Alan told me I should have worn gloves but I reckon I need to start getting myself toughened up for what is to come. I was going to take a picture but didn't, I will soon though.

I hadn't thought much about it since it happened, but my wrist hung in there. What surprised me about it was my grip, actually, and that it was difficult to maintain after awhile. The mums got trimmed up. Did you know you shouldn't cut your mums back, the dead stuff, until early spring? I read that the old stems seem to collect just enough leaves, snow and such to protect them through the winter. I moved them during the last warm spell to the area between the street and sidewalk. I had a vision for the front of my house, close up, and mums were not part of that, so they got moved.

The Easter flowers are coming up. I sure hope they bloom, sometimes they don't the first year after they get moved, I guess we will see. Tulips, grape hyacinths, and regular hyacinths are coming up. I am pretty stoked. Now if I can just be patient enough to wait until my birthday to really start planting stuff. I know that is the first time it is actually safe from frost, but inevitably something will get planted and then die due to frost and my inability to wait.

Spring Fever

2008-02-12T11:13:00.001-05:00

Just this past Thursday, I got spring fever. Then, the next day it was so cold, and last night......IT SNOWED!! Unfortunately, as pretty as it is, we got ice and everything is coated and the roads are slushy. The picture on the left I took this morning, and I wonder if everything that had started to come up is going to be alright. I have to figure God knew what he was doing when he set it all in motion and that yes, the flowers that had started to come up are meant to go through such drastic things.

In the fall I planted a pretty little set of flowers, white tulips and grape hyacinths on each side of the sidewalk as you come to the front door. This picture is where some are planted and had started to poke their little green heads up. Looks as if someone did some marching band practice on them and I have to hope they weren't mashed beyond repair. Once the ice goes I guess we will see. The large hyacinths had started coming up as well, they are to the left of what you see there. I love those flowers, they are my favorite.

The other day I passed one of those small nursery's that plant and sell their own stuff and they had already tilled up their little patches of garden. I am wondering if I am too far behind. Then I think, how the heck can I till up my garden with my little tiller when it is either frozen or so wet that I would sink up to my ankles in mud? So, I wait, and look out the window at my vegetable garden area and dream about enlarging it and seeing things grow. And I tell myself to wait, wait, WAIT!!

WOOooooo WOOOOoooooooooo!!

2008-01-29T20:09:00.000-05:00

That is train whistle coming around the bend, you can't see the train but you can hear it coming. That is how I am feeling about the thought of spring being just around the corner. I am looking forward to it getting warmer and I am starting to get my head around what I want to happen this growing season. I really need to get the garden tilled "soon". By that I really mean early March, if it gets dry enough. I need to get a load of compost on it as well. I should have done that this fall, but I fell - HA!!

It should be interesting to see what my limitations will be once I can get back in the yard and have to start using my wrist for real, like I really like to work once I get going. I think I am in for a lesson.

I have no idea what I want to put in the garden this year. Tomatoes again, of course, some cucumbers, bean beans ( what the kids used to call green beans). I might give broccoli a try again, but I will start it from seed in the garden and not worry about trying to start it inside. Beets again, a lot more of those, hmmmm, I may have to expand if I keep thinking up things to put in there. We will see, there is still plenty of planning time.

Flowers, I was really bad and didn't dig up my dahlias. I really don't like the idea of having to dig up and then replant stuff. I think that if they can't go it over the winter then I will put something else in their place. OH MY, I almost forgot!!! There are some Hyacinths coming up already!! I think I saw either tulips or grape hyacinths coming up. I got a lot of bulbs and got them in the ground when I was supposed to. I can't wait to see them come up and bloom, but alas, I guess I will have to wait.

I will post pictures once things get going again. Yeah, and some things have got to be moved. I don't like them where they are, I am still thinking on that too. It should be interesting this year.

The waiting game

2007-12-23T09:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been awhile. The garden has been put to bed and the roses are piled up with leaves and all the fall bulbs are in the ground. Now, we wait. I am sure there are things to be done, but I don't plan on doing them. Here in Lexington they have a free mulch give away next month, but since I broke my wrist and I am not back to 100% yet, it will just have to wait. I need another good layer of compost for the garden, but that can wait too. I did start another larger compost pile this past fall, I think I told you about it, maybe not. Anyway, it is just laying there with a bunch of leaves and all the plant residue from cleaning up the yard. It should be good to go come next fall. Compost is the best.

I am beginning to wonder if I am going to be able to resist the seed planting bug. I am not very good at starting things from seed, well, I am sort of not good. All my broccoli and tomatoes came from seed. And I did start cucumbers outside, and beets, and beans. So, I guess if I had a better place to start the seeds inside it would be easier and better. HHHMMMM.......

Organic gardeners are scavengers!!

2007-11-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

So, every school day I take Meaghan to the bus stop. This morning on my way home I saw a treasure trove of mammoth proportions!! There on a side street were HUGE bags of leaves. I went back and took almost all of them. I have a tail end full of leaves from my moms house and I just happened to have one of the middle seats to the van moved and I had enough room to get 5 bags in there!! I have been waiting a year for this. Leaves are the best-est free-est things to put in your compost and around your plants getting them ready to settle in for a long winters nap! Here in just a bit I plan on going and doing a little maintenance and starting the clean up of the flower beds. Well, what will probably actually happen is I will wait til I am off for the next few days and do it all then. I am looking forward to getting things taken care of. Then I can start planning for next year.

Too busy

2007-10-16T08:24:00.000-04:00

You all I have this tendency to start something out in the yard or garden and then never take the time to go back to it. My vegetable garden is just one such project. Yes, I tilled it, added compost, tilled it more, grew things from seed, and planted my wonderful garden. Then I didn't do anything else. Circumstances were such that there was never money to buy the stuff to stake the tomatoes, but we have had so many that I have given pounds and pounds of them away. The broccoli never really did anything, I got one head and then it sat in the refrigerator and went bad. All the cheyenne peppers ended up staying on the fine til they turned red and dried on the plant. I only ever cooked 2 of the 4 messes of green bean I picked. The beets and carrots are still in the ground. I think I prefer the flowers. You never really have to do anything else except water them and look a them, maybe pick them if you want to bring them in.

Well fall is fast approaching and then it will be time to add more compost and pull up the annuals and get the ground ready for next year. I just wonder what will happen next year. I love the thought of it. The flowers starting off small and growing to wonderful beauty. A lot of the things I had planned for the flower beds have come to fruition. It is wonderful.

The first picture is of my morning glories. I wanted to have someone each side of the garage and have them meet - the one on the other side didn't cooperate with me. The second picture is of my mums. Last year when I planted them they were 8 inches high. That is what they look like this year. In the spring I am going to move the orange colored ones. I want red and yellow in the front of the house and these don't meet my criteria.

Taters in a Bucket results

2007-09-13T07:55:00.000-04:00

Well, my experiment with taters in a bucket was not such a great success. I personally have not figured out why, but I can guess.

First, did you know that you shouldn't replant potatoes where you last put them? They will probably get a disease and die, I do not know why. So, you have to rotate that crop every year. So, my most logical assumption is that there was a disease of some sort that liked to eat my taters instead of letting me do it. The next assumption I put out there was that the soil was too heavy. I really don't think much of that idea, but there you go. Oh, and yeah, I probably didn't water them enough too.

My friend Laura did the same thing with much the same results. We planted the potatoes and they grew, but then just kind of wilted away. Her red potatoes did the same as mine and produced just enough for one meal for 2 people. The yukon gold potatoes just didn't do anything. Oh, well. More research might help for next year, we will see.......