mysteryluvr54's Blog

Tuesday my daughter & I thinned out the radishes that are coming up nicely.  We then put up the chicken wire to keep any animals out.  I noticed a strawberry that was fairly ripe was missing.  May have to put netting over the top if the birds are eating the them.  Still no sign of grapes so far.  I hope something happens next year. 

This morning I noticed the spinach coming up, too.  No carrots, yet.  They keep forcasting rain, but nothing yet although I feel a "weather headache" coming on which usually signals rain/snow.  If it bypasses us again I will have to get out there and water today. 

The herb pots and the containers that I planted are all doing well.  The climbing roses in the front are blossoming.  I took a picture, but the camera's battery died so I will have to wait to post it.  

There's a flower that was here when we moved in that is yellow.  I've checked the internet for pictures of what it could be and I believe it to be Evening Primrose.  Anyway, they are starting to bloom, too.  They are very hardy and if I transplant one plant, by the next year there's 5 of more growing. 

Today has been a "perfect day" weatherwise.  Sunny & cool.  We had rain all day yesterday so the new plants got a good drink.  Went out this morning to take some pictures with the digital camera because I don't really like the way my camera phone's pictures look.  Just not sharp enough, like they were taken in the fog. 

As I was photographing the garden I saw the radishes and lettuce popping up already.  I was so thrilled as this is the first garden I've planted in 15 years.  Now to get to the hardware store to get some chicken wire or something to keep the bunnies out.  My neighbor warned me of this problem and we've experienced it with the sunflower seeds my daughter planted in a pot and left on the ground.  Everything was beheaded and I'm assuming. . . Bunnnies, which we have lots of. 

So, today was spent taking pictures and figuring how to get them on the computer because my daughter had to go to work and just left me the cord and showed me where to plug it in leaving the rest up to me. 

Once that was finished I took "a plant" that my neighbor had given me in the fall because she has been cleaning out her house due to allergies.  It appears to be some sort of a palm (will do some investigating when I'm finished here) and in need of transplanting.  Just finished watering it and will let it enjoy some outdoors before bringing it back in. 

I think I'm done for today. Time to take a rest.

Oh, I wish that it would rain . . .          

Yesterday, I finished planting the seeds in our new garden.  There is one row of peas (package looks like greenbeans & the name is on the stake in the garden), two rows of radishes, one row of spinach, one row of lettuce mesclun, and two rows of carrots.  We shall see what happens. 

My neighbor has been cleaning out there house and asked me if I wanted any clay pots.  Well, that solved my dilema with what to do with all the herbs I bought.  I just put them in there own pots on the sunniest corner of our porch.  We have already enjoyed Artisan Garlic bread with olive oil, fresh basil & oregano leaves, chopped tomato and Parmigiano Reggiano or Feta cheese and toasted. 

Four of the clay pots didn't have saucers, so today I stopped at the garden shop to buy some and besides that I bought 2 Lipstick Strawberry plants for in front of my roses.  They have a deep pink flower and edible strawberries.  They were in the ground cover section (which is why I questioned the safety of the strawberries) and I thought they would add just a touch of color to that empty area.  Once I get those planted I think I can finally sit back and enjoy for a bit (at least till the weekend).  Need to devise a way to keep the bunnies out of the garden. 

I think we are finally going to get some much needed rain. 

Yesterday after work I purchased flowers, herbs and friut & veggie plants for my containers and garden.  I filled the 4 hanging pots and 3 containers on the back porch.  I still have 2 pots in the front that I will try to work on today. 

I finished turning over the soil and incorporating the mulches & compost.  I planted 3 strawberry plants, a tomato, jalepano and green pepper plant.  I must have forgot the serrano pepper plant at the store because it wasn't anywhere to be found when I got home.   I'm hoping to get the seeds planted today, too.  On the side of the house I planted another mint.  So I now have spearmint and peppermint.  I love chopping mint up in fruit salads.  

I am having trouble deciding where to plant all the herbs I purchased.  I have some big containers  that I can use, but I feel something shorter and just as wide would be better and not such a waste of dirt.  Will stop again at the store to pick up the serrano pepper plant and check out some containers. 

After watching a CNN special on Danger: Poisoned Food and the E Coli breakouts, I became leary of adding the manure to our garden.  I read up a bit on the internet this morning and I guess as long as it's "clean/ cooked"  it should be safe.  I re-read the bag that it came in and it said ok for veggie gardens.  So. . . I decided to go out and really turn the soil over and dig down deeper.  I guess it makes me feel better that I've mixed it up more.  Don't think I'll use manure again for a veggie garden. 

While out digging and turning, my friend, Mr. Robin stopped by looking for more worms.  I am amazed at how close he got.  Unfortunately I didn't have any worms to toss at him this time. 

I didn't get to finish because of rain so I'll try to finish up tomorrow.  Weather permitting I'd like to stop on my way home from work to purchase flowers for my containers.  It's been hard to get motivated because it seems so cold still.  I have 4 hanging pots  and about 6 -7 containers between the front and back porches that I fill with annuals.  Any flowers left I plant around the house where it more color is needed. 

5/19/2007 

Warm and sunny with low humidity, a perfect day for digging!

Work is complete on our garden plot.  I have finished removing the grass from a 4' x 9' area of our yard.  Turned over the soil and added 3 bags of mushroom compost, 3 bags of manure and 4 bags of top soil and turned that all in and raked it.  It looks good.  I've been watching the sun at various times of the day and I think our plot will have at least the 6-8 hours it needs.  As the years have gone by the trees around have gotten big and our yard is quite shady now.  I remember it being so hot and sunny when the kids were little and we first moved in 15 years ago.  (Back side of house faces the west. )

While working I had a friend keeping an eye out for worms.  I was amazed how close the robin was getting to me.  (about 3 ')  I threw him a couple of worms and it was like he followed me the rest of the time I was working out there.  I know, I should have kept those good worms, but hopefully I will learn to take good care of the soil and it will attract more.  I think my friend is standing outside my window now as I type. 

Next step is planting.  Ikandi says she will be home all day on Monday.  I work in the morning and she sleeps all morning, so maybe after lunch we can do some planting.  This year we will use some of the seeds that she bought me for Mother's day.  I told her I dont' think we will use the watermelon and cantelope because of lack of room. 

Oh, dear. . . a hugh bunny just hopped across our back yard.  I've been warned about them from neighbors.  I must put up a bunny fence, too. 

5/13/2007

Mother's Day.  My daughter, ikandi, bought me some pernnial plants and seeds for a garden which we don't have.  The plants I have planted by the front door on the southside of the walk which doesn't get much if any sun.  One pland is a False Spirea (Astible) and the other is a Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spictablis).  Both are supposed to tolerate shade.  So far so good. 

As for the veggie seeds, we don't have a garden patch anywhere.  So that means having to create one.  Now that my kids are grown and aren't using the north half of the yard for baseball and sprinklers.  This is where we will begin our garden.  I was using containers for tomato and pepper plants to make my homemade salsa.  We moved the pots and ikandi began digging.

First she plotted a very large area, which I felt was a bit to big and overwhelming to start.  Once she started digging out the grass, she realized herself that maybe we had better start small and in the years to follow we can make it bigger.  I let her do this herself so she knows the hard work that goes into gardening.  Her like myself love to start project on a whim and then they go uncompleted.  Geminis.  I have learned over the years to control my whims and now she must learn, too.