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(I hope this post goes through ok...with all the weird stuff going on with the site today...)
The last few days we have had a good steady rain. Great for our drought situation! Of course, I have gotten used to doing something in the yard most every afternoon. So, instead...I had some nice cups of coffee on the front porch and watched the rain :)
One morning, when I woke up...I noticed an owl perched on the fence by the creek. We hear owls a lot around here...and my husbad has named the one we hear, Norbert. Maybe this was Norbert showing himself :) . A little later, I also saw some sort of giant bird walking across the creek (might have been a white herron?) I couldn't catch a picture of him though. Here is a little shot of the owl:
It dried up enough today for my hubby to go get some loads of compost for the newly built veggie beds! Hooray!!!
And, in case there was any question as to the necessity of the chicken wire surrounds:
HAH! needless to say...the doggies had a fun day in the garden too!
While my husband was picking up the loads I also took advantage of the wet ground and did my first (of many, I am sure) spring weeding sessions! It felt good to get that done. We got most of the beds full and just need to finish up one bed. Yeah! Gotta love progress!
It has happened, it arrived! Of course I am an the only one here doing a jig- What you ask?
The twin compost tumbler! For the last few years I have salivated over the tumblers. You have to understand that our soil is clay-I know, hard to believe, but clay oh and ROCKS. This area is full of rocks and ledge. Not the best combo for gardening in the traditional sense. When I was turned onto the concept of Lasagna Gardening last year I embraced is, tried it, loved it! Living in a rural area many of the items are free for the taking once you make connections but the amount of compost that could be had from our kitchen scraps, grass clippings and leaves was like an untapped gold mine.
As much as I enjoy watching my seedlings grow, the life of the compost pile just didn't bring me the same joy and I find myself impatient. Lasagna gardening is very rewarding and the three new beds will soon be layered and ready to plant.
Because my yard plans always include improving the soil in current beds in addition to creating more the concept of having compost galore on a routine basis............well it got me. I squirreled away for such an extravagent item and fortunately this year,none of the cars needed tires when it was time to order. It will be hard to keep my mind of putting it together as I make my way through the workday.
My hubby worked so hard for me this weekend and construction of my veggie beds is complete! Hooray! We went from 2 to 5 total. Next year we will add 3 more for a grand total of 8 :)
As you can see: He had a little help too:
Milo approves:
Now, we just have to fill them all with compost and then hubby will build the wire fence panels to keep out the wildlife. I am super excited to implement my companion garden plan that I worked up:
While he was busy working away for me...I tackled a couple of projects of my own.
First, I bermed up some compost around the porch where I plan to sew flower seeds this season. I can't put anything permanent there....b/c we hope to rebuild the deck in the near future. So, I purchased Sweet Pea Flower Seeds, Moon Flower Seeds, Sunflowers, Bells of Ireland and Sweet Alyssum. I got the compost nice and spread and then put up a temporary fence so the seeds can germinate in peace and free of doggie paws. Once they get growing well, I will take up the fence.
Then, I saw an episode of curb appeal that inspired me to try a paint technique on my front walk. I was going to extend this even onto the driveway...but our driveway is REALLY beat up and I think it might have accentuated the flaws instead of hiding them. So, for now...the walkway only got the special treatment.
BEFORE:
And After:
I just got a gallon of porch paint and applied it with a wet sponge. Its subtle, but that was the idea. It just gives it a little somethin'. The biggest difference is the bottom step going up to the door. It had been added by a previous owner and the brick did not match the house, so I did some sponging on it to make it blend better.
I have pretty much gotten all of my to do list done and now it is a matter of waiting for spring to sew seeds and plant plants. Once the weather is forcasted into the 70's for a couple of days...I will spray some weedy spots too.
I am very excited that our little cold front was a small one and we were back into the 60's today. Yay! When the little one went down for her nap, I began work on my to-do list. It actually didn't take me much time at all :) I did some various small pruning tasks and then set out to try my new pole pruner. It was a bit tricky...but after a good lesson from my hubby, it seemed to do the trick. We just took off some lower branches from a large tree in the backyard...to keep things opened up. My husband was kind enough to pick up a load of compost on his way home from work, so I also got that spread. I spread it around the back porch where I plan grow a flower garden from seed this spring. It looks great and the small bit of leftover compost is sitting in water tonight for a good batch of compost tea that I will use to water the azaleas with. Tomorrow is my hubby's day off, so we will hopefully get the veggie beds finished up :)
Here are some fun shots I took around my front yard today in between chores:
The daffodils are emerging under the redbud tree:
>
Crocus bulbs emerging: ( I always forget that their foliage has that great variagation on it until I see it each spring)
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Clematis Armandi forming its buds:
I am just loving the anticipation of spring!
I really wanted to put in Walla Wallas today but the soil is still 'dirt' so I went to the local Home Depot and got some 'emergency cow poop', came home and I dumped about a bag and a half between the two spaces.
At this very moment I am reading a book called 'Cubed Foot Gardening' by Christopher O. Bird. Well, I really like what he has to say. So, I am doing an intensive seasonal rotation garden. Going through it I decided to ignore the packets suggestions (I know! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???) Either way, I looked through our last frost, possible first frost...and found that for some reason (Ring of fire? Could it be the volcanoes? Hmmm...maybe ;) ) that our growing season is actually LONGER then where I grew up in NC! Maybe a month or so longer! Wow.
So, I planted! I planted the Walla Walla's that I was going to anyways, but also planted the smooth leafed Olympic spinach according to the 'cubed' ft design. Spinach is kinda tall so it gets the north side of the garden all over! Then I put the onions in front of the spinach to fill the area on the north side. On the south side I planted all the lettuces and some onions. I put the butterleaf and greenleaf through my newly opened area and then a 'garlic rectangle' and early radishes. So, assuming things work the way I have been reading, both online and in the book, and from what I saw last year....I should have solid green in about a month! wOOt!
Next week? Cold Frames based out of the containers that our greens come in.
I
shall plant the tomatoes, I have Brandywine and my cross breed black
prince/brandywines from last year, and some cherry sweets :D
Well I did get some things on my list done today. The red onion seedlings, shallots, asparagus (went with the in ground method this time) all planted. Cut back some of the roses, esp. the one at the front porch. And one bed of lantana, an my grape vines, hibiscus an some of the lavender obiedient plant stems that had gotten bit an cut the suckers off the 2 magnolia trees I had cut down last year, they were in a really bad spot. I am noticing a lot less tree roots where I have some raised beds at by cutting them down.
Got 6 trays filled with some potting soil, now to go thru some seeds an decide what to start seeding out. Added compost to the existing asparagus container beds that didn't get it in the fall. One thing I did notice when I was loosing the soil where the red onion sets were being planted was how rich the soil is looking. Back in the fall I had planted brocolli an cauliflower there an had added composted manure an it has finally paid off, I hope. So far its not looking so sandy, but nice rich soil.
I hauled the cuttings to the woods an burned the other pile while looking around for a place to experiment with the Strawbale Garden method. I think I'll put it either on the side of the house an use a somewhat level area near the garden to grow some corn. I don't ever have much luck with corn, but I keep trying. Thank goodness I have a BIL that farms in case I fail at it once again I can get some from him. Will try an get the red onion bulb babies planted tomorrow if I'm not to tired after work. Now to call it a day!
A worm bin is definitely a challenge and a learning trip if I ever had one! I still have not mastered it but have gotten better - the trick is time and patience. April will officially be one year since I purchased this unit and the picture looks so shiny and brand new - it's worn in now ....
It has 3 drawers or sections and the lower one with the spigot you can turn and it releases liquid which I use for watering my plants - compost tea which I dilute with water. Now I did try and make my own before I bought this and many folks do make their own with great success. I think I just wasn't that mechanically gifted for constructing one of these on my own. Basically you can make one with a plastic bin and probably at this point I would attempt making one again since I have experienced the worm bin life lol Making compost with worms is No overnight miracle by any means - I thought it would be and learned otherwise. I did lose a few bins due to my impatience - the one I thought would be really wonderful was adding weeds from our pond OMG bad move! You have to balance dry material with wet material and just let the worms be. The moving up and down from one bin to another I still have not figured out - I put kitchen scraps, leaves, shredded paper in two of the bins and then I kinda stop adding to the bottom one (let them work on the material) and hope for the best. When I am planting new seeds or plants I will dig around and grab what compost I can and add it to the soil. These are not earthworms they are red wiggler worms which are much smaller and I did receive complete instructions for setting up and maintaining the worm bin. There are books out there and websites so information is plentiful. I came across this one site where this guy had a worm FARM and had tons of worms and piles of compost which he sold. I truly believe this is an art and one that takes time and patience to master.....so I wait.
This is the third week end in a row that it has rained, but today so far it hasn't an is suppose to hit near 60* so I'm hoping to get outside an get some things done. My truck is loaded with hay that isn't usable except for compost that I need to unload b4 tomorrow. I have a pile of Jon Quill bulbs that need to go in the ground. And I haven't finished pinestrawing my beds yet. I can't decide if I want to do away with one of my large beds or not an turn it into another veggie bed. Either way I go it'll have to be watered this summer an chances are this summer will be like the others, hot an humid an probably dry.
I still have some lantana to cut back an here I thought I had it all done b4 it got cold. Yesterday we unloaded DH's truck full of crush an run to fill in the holes in the driveway where the water beat a gullly in. Still have a few roses to prune the dead out of. Dang I'm tired just thinking about this, anyone wanna come over a help? I can at least feed you good!
We had quite the weekend in the garden! Very productive! I got a lot of things checked off of my to do list :) I divided some Iris, transplanted some cannas to pots, spread pine straw in the back yard, moved a pile of compost to the veggie bed, planted 70 allium bulbs and started the sculpture for the front window seat bed. But, most noteworthy is the 30 foot tree my husband took out for me! I felt kinda bad as it is a nice tree, however...it had been planted way too close to the tree next to it and during the growing season, it was growing crooked trying to reach the sun. Not a huge problem now, but would be in the future and then would be too costly to fix, so my hubby took it out.
Before:
During:
<
After:
Its funny, it looked much larger once it was on the ground LOL! Now it will be another chore getting rid of all the brush! Whats going in its place? 3 Threaded False Cypress and possibly a blue evergreen of some sort. The vines are doing fun things right now too. The winter jasmine is just starting to bloom :) I look forward to watching them in the spring as they cover the chain link fence.
This week I will finish spreading the pine straw in the back and will finish up the sculpture in the front. But I tell ya, I sure am worn out! I don't have quite to energy now that I am 6 mo pregnant. I guess I better get as much done as I can before I am 9 mo!
It is my intention to invest in a compost tumbler and am looking for input from others as to thier experience with this product. I hope this topic is ok for the blog.
Yep, this is truly Indian Summer. The temperature around here has been really unseasonally warm, for at least the last week. Usually, this time in October, we expect temps in the upper 60's or lower 70's at best, often cooler. All this last week, though it has been in the upper 80's. Of course, the warm weather wont last, so I have been doing my best to get done what I can in the garden. The warm temps have fooled some of the plants, though, into putting out more blossoms and fruit, so I hesitate to rip them up yet. I put a Rose of Sharon in last fall, and I wasn't expecting it to bloom until next year, but guess what? It has blooms. I might be mistaken, but isn't Rose of Sharon a spring blooming shrub? The zucchini is still (of course) putting out more fruit. It takes a hard frost to kill that. I was all set to yank up the cucumber vines, until I discovered more blooms and tiny cukes on them. I had harvested all the ripe butternut squash, and was going to pull those vines, too, but it also had tiny baby squash and more blooms. The few green bean plants I hadn't pulled yet are setting more blossoms, too. So, as an experiment, I think I'll leaves these be for now, and see how far they get before a frost hits them.
The compost area that I emptied last week was filled again this weekend with chipped and shredded tree trimmings. We plan to use this as mulch after I pull up the plants. I also got a lot of yard cleaning done. I am still wondering how I am going to go about setting up my "rain garden". Hubby is on overtime, 12 hrs. p/day and the days are getting shorter so it is already dark when he gets home, so I can't count on help during the week. He apparently made other plans for the coming weekend, so I don't think we will get a chance to start it then, either. I suppose I will have to try to get what I can ready, the plants are ordered and on the way.
Friday night brought us 4 good thunderstorms and lot's of steady rain in between! Yesterday was glorious. I did a lot of cleaning up in the flower beds, then headed out to the veggie patch to plant spinach, lettuce, beans & radish seed. Put in the broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts starts too. Also discovered that something had eaten all the tops off my new little beet sprouts. :( I was not pleased. I reseeded them and will hope for the best.
The major heat we had looks to have shut down the tomotes. Still have alot of fruit but no new flowers. The cukes got a second wind and I have about a dozen more pickle size cukes growing. The third planting of beans are about 3 feet high now and starting to flower.
Wally World got in a shipment of mums and I loaded up a cart. Potted some up for the deck and will put the rest in the front bed this morning.
Daughter #2 arrives Thursday evening for the long weekend. Looking forward to being able to show her around. She was here two years ago at Christmas but there was not alot we could do at that time, that and she thought it was too cold! Should have perfect weather while she is here. Suppose to be in the low to mid 80's.
One of my co workers has two horses and I think she thought I was off my rocker when I asked her if I could have some of their horse apples. When I told her I wanted it for my compost pile the light went on. I also kept her in tomatoes, peppers and cukes all season, so I think the idea of more fresh veggies won her over. I told her I would come out to her place and even shovel, but she said she would have her hubby load me up some large garbage bags.
My compost pile is finally large enough and has begun to cook and I am so thrilled. Doesn't take much to make me happy!
The light through the trees at sunrise this morning
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.
My lovely hubby went to go get more of the city compost today for my new bed. This is a process that he is not very fond of and getting him to do it usually involves some sort of begging and bribery. I can' t say that I blame him as it is a very messy and stinky job. To prove his point he had me take this pict for all the world to see how dirty he gets:
As you can see...the dogs don't seem to mind so much getting dirty:
We got this unloaded just in time for an afternoon hail storm! It was mostly rain, but there was pea sized hail mixed in and SO great to watch from the front porch!
A nice good drink for my newly planted goodies from yesterday! Hopefully, I will start planting up the new bed this weekend!
Soooooo many Peeeeeeeeeaas!
And some garlic. Yum!
Clearly the bed that has lots of compost in it grows everything and anything 10 times better than the bed with no compost. Except beans. My beans are sad all around this year.
anybody have any good ideas about how to dry/save seeds over winter for next year?
I could not bring myself to do anything inside this weekend, so the dust bunnies are still hopping around my house this morning. Oh, well. I spent both days out in the flower beds and veggie patch. Watered early Saturday and got the holes dug for the butterfly bush and hardy hibiscus that I got. As I was weeding and deadheading, there were a lot of thin spots in the mulch. I went down and got about 10 bags and brought that home to spread around. I love new mulch. Covered all the beds and had enough to put back behind the pond.
Some of the other daylilies have put up scapes and have buds. Can’t wait to see them. The gereberas have finally decided to bloom again and for some reason the wave petunias have also gotten a second wind from the something and are flowing all down the side of the old stump, thick with purple flowers.
Hubby helped me finish the three sided slat fence to put around my compost pile. My pile isn’t very big yet but I am working on it. Chopped up the kitchen scrapes in the food processor and put them out there too. Bill got me a pitch fork this weekend. I was trying to turn the pile with a shovel. Wow what a difference that made. (Duh!)
Cleaned and weeded in the veggie patch and tied up some more tomato limbs to the trellis. I have two zucchini left that haven’t been hit by the vine borers YET. My cukes have climbed nicely all over the fence and there are dozens of fruit hanging down. They are so good and crisp.
We did not get the new raised bed up. Hubby brought home work for a project that he was under a crunch on, so it will have to be next weekend. Will go by the dump and pick up some compost (have to make do until my own is ready) and some topsoil down at the landscape yard.
Had enough tomatoes to make another batch of sketty sauce. Added a few of the yellow tomatoes to it. They did lighten the color of the sauce but it still tasted great. Used loads of fresh basil from the herb pots of the deck. Made some Penne, a tomato, cuke and pepper salad and had a yummy dinner. Only things not from the garden were the pasta and the bread. You just can’t beat that!I had a fairly productive weekend in the garden. Got more work done on my many ongoing projects. My hubby went to get me more compost for the new bed:
As you can see, Milo likes it :)
Just one more truckload and this bed will be ready to plant! I have a small red maple that will be the center. A pass along from my inlaws...
We also got some more work done on the creek clean out project. My husband cut down some of the BIG branches and trees. But, we had to stop when his saws all blade broke. But, it gave me plenty of stuff to work on getting to the curb for pickup!
Its amazing what we are uncovering back there...it makes all the work fun!
I really spent most of the weekend in the backyard and mostly did routine work in the front. I finally got around to weedeating with my new blade attachment and it is the best thing since sliced bread! no more string nonsense! Here are some picts I took along the way of the backyard and its progress:
Sunflowers
blooming among the veggies:
Inside the world of a tomatillo husk:
The first signs of a ripening tomato:
Baby eggplant! YEAH!!!
Kale seedlings coming up:
My attempt at a squash vine borer remedy... I slit the vine and covered the wound with compost...I do not have high hopes for this:
The veggie beds as of today:
The backyard as of today:
Hope you all had a great gardening weekend!
Today was a pretty mundane but productive day in the garden. Mostly did chores such as weeding and mowing. I also put in some more sugar snap pea seeds for yet another succession planting. I also worked a bit more on the creek clear out project.
Heres a pict of me and my girl mowin the yard:
see that pile of dirt in the back? thats the free compost for the city, we are getting it to berm up a new bed right there...gettin rid of more grass!
Here are some snapshots I took along the way while doing my chores:
EGGPLANT FLOWER :)
GREEN SWEET POTATO VINE AND MINT IN BLOOM, LOVE THE TEXTURES!
HIBISCUS BUDS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL...
PURPLE POTATO VINE WITH FEATHER GRASS:
AUTUMN FERN FOLIAGE
PROGRESS OF CREEK CLEAN OUT...
COULDN'T EVEN SEE THE CREEK A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO...
MY FRONT YARD AS OF TODAY:
HAS ANYONE ELSE GOTTEN AS ADDICTED TO DOCUMENTING THEIR YARD AS ME.... SO FUN!
It's been a while, and everything's growing so well. I should have given the peas something higher to climb up because now they are climbing out. But they are delicious, and they seem happy enough.
The raspberries are getting close to their end, but they have been so delicious. Kudos to the previous tennents who planted them.
The parsley is looking happy inbetween the tomatoes, though I'm not sure the tomatoes in the terrace are going to bear fruit. I think the soil could use some compost in a bad way, but it's probably going to have to wait till fall. The beans are struggling on too, and so far one of them is trying for a bean. I must have kept them inside too long, because once I planted them outside, they all got eaten and sunburned (despite my shade cloth and soapy water spray), only to recover slowly with new, darker leaves that can handle the outside clime. Not sure if they'll get around to many beans, but I'm glad they struggled though.
And lastly, I pulled a garlic up yesterday. Not sure if it's too early, but next time I cook, we'll find out!
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