soaphouse's Blog
soaphouse's posts about: blackberries
Aug 4, 2007 | 12:36 PM PST
Tags: rocks , path , eggplant , white , purple , blackberry , blackberries , bumper crop , green eyed susan , sweet potato vine , front yard
Well, if I wasn't sure if it was summer or not, I know it IS now! IT IS HOT!!! And, our afternoon showers have stopped happening so I am back to watering. Its really just routine maintenance around here these days. Of course there is also the creek clean our project, the new berm in the back, etc....but I digress. The major projects are all in a place now where I need my hubby's help to continue (Chainsawing behind the creek, hauling dirt, moving pine straw) So, I have to wait until he has "time" (LOL)
So, today I mowed the lawn and did routine weeding and took some more pictures:
The other day we scored some free small rocks off of craigslist, so I nestled those in among the bottle path:
The purple eggplants are taking off and we have already enjoyed some for dinner!
The White Eggplant is lookin good!
A bumper crop of blackberries is ripening :)
The green eyed susans are blooming and adding great color to the front of the house:
In the spring I planted a variety of Sweet Potato Vines in the very front of my yard where I am still sparse on plants. My hope was that they would spread and help limit the amount of weeding I would have to do in that area. Well, it has been working GREAT! A small investment has saved me lots of time pulling weeds. Gotta love it:
Heres a good shot of my front yard as seen from the street. Must say, I am ready for fall and getting excited thinking about all the fall gardening projects!
My photos were also victim to the GG computer crash :( I'm SO bummed! That took me so long to do and I really enjoyed having the chronological slide show to watch of my yard. So, I will start uploading and redoing soon.
Jul 13, 2007 | 7:13 PM PST
Tags: edible , vegetable , squash , zucchini , tomato , Cherry Tomato , okra , kohlrabi , blackberries , Sunflowers , Eggplant , Bell Peppers , succession planting , success , failure , notes , season , companion planting , Growing Season , cardoon
Now that I am well into the summer here in my garden, I am starting to take note as to the successes and failures in my garden. There are, of course, many of both and most of them involve my edibles.
I grew all of my veggies from seed directly into the vegetable beds. I was kind of nervous about this as so many things suggest starting indoors before spring. But, every time I do that everything dies, so I took my chances and selected a lot of fast maturing varieties...to my suprise, that worked very well! I am finding great joy and satisfaction in producing food for my family. We are also enjoying a nice financial savings as well. I spent about $50 on all my seed varieties and I would say that I have dropped our grocery bill by about $20 a week if not more....I would say that was worth the investment!
Successes:
- Tomatoes: I am growing a purple heirloom and a hybrid red...all plants are bursting with green fruits now :)
- Tomatillos: Plants are enormous and husks are forming
- Sugar Snap Peas: One of my daughter's favorites so none have made it to the table...she just eats em off the vine
- Beets: Have done several succession planting and have had many harvests of both roots and greens. Hubby like greens better than root
- Eight Ball Zucchini: Very vigorous and enormous in size...has provided many, many dinners
- Patty Pan Squash: Also doing well and just so cute
- Sunflowers: First year that I have grown sunflowers and it is proving to be very fun. King Kong variety that is about to open
- Blackberries: Planted 3 years ago from root...this is first year that we had a very steady harvest.
- Okra: Plants forming very nice large pods and the flowers are beautiful!
Failures:
- Broccoli: UGH!
Things that have yet to succeed or fail:
- Eggplant: Just started flowering, I am growing a white and a purple variety
- Peppers: Also just started flowering
- Carrots: First crop got infested with something icky, second crop looking better
- Kale: Just put those seeds in 2 days ago
- Kholrabi: Not yet big enough to harvest, but looking good
Things I wish I had planted:
- Cherry Tomatoes: a no brainer, don't know why I didn't do these :(
- Potatoes: To provide our carbohydrate need and to have some for winter storage
- Lots of different kinds of beans: have really enjoyed the sugar snaps, wish I had done more
- Winter Squash Varieties: to have something else to store for winter
- Marigolds: For pest control and to add color to the veggie beds
- Egyptian Walking Onions: just so cool and great pest control
- Garlic: also good pest control
- Asparagus: needs time to get established, wish I had started that this year
- Artichokes: love em!
- Cardoon: not even really sure what this is, but I have seen it on some gardening shows and it looks super cool
I just got a companion planting book and am looking forward to incorporating more of that in my garden!
Its so helpful to think all this through and get in all on "paper"...will help a great deal with garden planning.
Other things I have learned this season:
- Annual Potato Vines really do need full sun
-
Mexican Heather always does well, I should just buy it each year and have a guaranteed success
- Petunias need to be bought larger than the little 6 pack size to really do well
- Lobelia likes partial shade
- Impatients didn't do diddly squat...must mulch and fertilize!
- If i see something in early spring that i want...buy it, they are all sold out now!
Jun 24, 2007 | 3:22 PM PST
Tags: daughter , blackberries , children
One of my favorite parts of gardening is teaching my 20 month old daughter to enjoy the garden. Her new favorite pastime is picking the blackberries (backbees). Every morning she requests that we go "side" to pick the "backbees". I can't even describe the joy of watching her enjoy my gardening efforts. Her Nana gave us her very own set of garden tools and sometimes she even "helps" me dig and rake.
p>
I can only hope that she too catches the gardening bug as she grows up! Hopefully my obsession doesn't make her hate it :)
She has also recently decided that she love picking the sugar snap peas out of the shell. the only hard part is figuring out how to tell her when she ate them all and there are no more :)
the wonder of a child.....
