AngelsGarden's Blog
AngelsGarden's posts about: Fire ants
Sep 11, 2007 | 9:34 AM PST
Tags: Romaine Lettuce , Bloomsdale Spinach , Bibb Lettuce , Neon Lights Swiss Chard , Fall Veggies , Grass , Fire Ants , Early Girl Tomato , Cabbage , Pacman Broccoli , Crispy Frills Lettuce , Collard Greens
I must write this down before I forget what exactly I planted. Yesterday I finished cleaning up the 2nd and 3rd beds in the garden. The one that had the sweet potatoes in it this summer was an easy one. I just evened out the soil and took out a few small weeds. Fertilizer was then sprinkled over the whole bed and mixed into the top few inches. I watered the bed lightly and waited a few hrs before planting. Then I made shallow furrows across the bed. I planted the whole bed with greens. A couple of rows of each, Parris Island Romaine Lettuce, Bloomsdale Long-standing Spinach, Bibb Lettuce and Neon Lights Swiss Chard. I did leave some of the small sweet potato vines that were around the edge of the bed. I don't think they will have time to get large enough to bother the greens and the vines are pretty but still small.
The next bed took a little more work. It still had a little of that nasty grass that spreads by runners, that had to be removed. I dug a small furrow around the entire bed and put that soil up into it. The whole bed is raised about 6in. There were fire ants at one end of the bed so I had to be careful. I did end the day with plenty of mosquito and ant bites, hazards of the hobby I guess. After the bed was ready I fertilized, watered and waited just like the other one. In this bed I planted the Early Girl Tomato, Cabbage, Pacman Broccoli and Crispy Frills Lettuce (which is one of my very favorite lettuce types). I also planted a little bit of Collard Greens seed around the end of the bed where the tomato is, the greens will last longer into the winter than the tomato plant. It might seem silly to be planting a tomato plant this time of year....but, its a quick ripening tomato and I am hoping to get a few red and plenty of green. It will be a good excuse to try RKaynes recipe for fried green tomatoes.
I didn't take pictures of the beds yet. I think I will wait until the greens sprout, then take pics of both beds and add the pics to this entry.
Aug 20, 2007 | 10:07 AM PST
Tags: Fire ants , eggplant , compost , heat
The temps are moderating a little. I have miss being in the garden, working and feeling strong from the exercise. Frankly, the garden looks terrible!!! Since I've not been feeling well, and the heat so intense, I have just stuck mainly to housework. But when I got up this morning it was only 71F, so by the time I got back from taking my daughter to school it still wasn't too bad.
I went out to have a look around. Collected some eggs, eggplant, peppers and the first cucumber from my second planting.
My compost pile is ok to spread around in the flower beds, even though its not completely broken down, I did find the occasional egg shell. I even found a banana sticker. I spread four 4 gal. buckets around in one area. I will keep at it until the compost bin is empty of usable stuff. Then I will put in the spent plants that need to be cleaned from the garden. I can also start adding grass clippings again along with the fall leaves.
I also took the pitch fork and loosened around the eggplants, then pulled them up. They weren't doing very well anymore. Fire ants had decided that they liked them. They were climbing the stems, eating holes here and there. They especially liked the flowers and the fruits, right were they connected to the plant.
I set the sprinkler for the peppers and melons then came inside. It was good to get back to gardening, but enough for this morning.
If you look really close you can see a couple of fire ants in the center of the black area where they have been chewing.
