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I am so excited to finally be starting a garden! My boyfriend bought me a bunch of amazing seeds for my birthday so I could start the garden I've always talked about wanting. I have never tried growing things from seeds, so we'll see how this goes.
I planted the seeds that could be started inside at the end of February and so far they're doing pretty well. I have seedlings for the Delpenium, Forget-Me-Not, Pansy, Viola, and Thyme. That's everything I've planted except for the Spanish Eyes; for some reason they are not growing :-(
I think I am going to plant some tomatoes this weekend. From what I have read it seems like the time to do that. This is all totally new to me and I really hope this works!
I live in Southwest Florida, and have been reading a lot about herbs and its medicinal use.
I have decided to start my herb garden.
I have been reading all I can find about it.
I am in the process of thinking about the space I have available for it and selection of the herbs I will plant.
Mobile planters ( those rectangular planters with 4 wheels for mobility 0 seems to be my first choice. Due to the space i have , I will probably do a "steps design". I also feel that I should include vegetables, plastic barrels seems to be more affordable to me.
I have found some sites that offers seeds for sale and they also have some beautiful flowers full of fragrance. hummmm! ...maybe I can include some flowers!
I have checked the Old Farmer's Almanac, and it only makes sense that moon phases influence the growth of plants.
I will have to settle for Lowes or Home Depot to buy soil. Certainly I will have to enrich the soil somehow. Many of my previous attempts to grow things did not work well, with the exception of the genura procubens ( that the rabbit ate with pleasure) and my Aloe Vera that survives my husband watering for it when I am away.
I have to do all in baby steps due to work schedule and funds available to it.
I can't wait to start really doing it!!
The heat index has been over 100 for 2 months and you are in your third trimester of your third pregnancy??? If you are me, you revisit and old hobby - one that is done sitting down and in the air conditioning...KNITTING! My mother taught me how to knit in my early 20's and thanks to you tube, I have been able to revisit the craft and have really enjoyed learning new techniques. Not to completely abandon my love of gardening...one of my first projects was a blanket for my oldest daughter complete with floral decorations:
I so enjoyed working on this for her! Many days were spent watching them play in the pool as I was busy with the needles in hand. Funny enough, the garden does go on with or without me! In this season of life, the lawn gets a little longer and the weeds are more plenty, but I am blessed to be at home with my kiddos and let them enjoy the outside while I attempt to survive the heat. The one place my lack of diligence is showing in my garden is the veggie bed. I am really finding out this year which crops are drought tolerant! LOL! Despite the lack of watering on my part, the cucumbers, beans, patty pan squash and hot peppers keep on keepin on! The tomatoes, yellow squash and zucchinni - not so much!
Only a few more weeks until we welcome another little one to our family and then we can look forward to some cooler weather and a mommy who can once again reach down far enough to pull a weed :)
Stay COOL!
-soapHOUSE
10 February 2011 - Day 0
Today, I ran into Molbak's in Woodinville to grab some Fish Bone Meal and, of course, I get sidetracked and walk out with more than I intended, and way less than I wanted. . .but I did walk out with the bone meal, another seed tray and the seed catalog that I've been waiting over a month for (and still did not receive). I also picked up a few more seeds while I was out earlier in the day, so my plan for the day was set.
I had picked up some Colombines, Nasturtiums and Hollycocks for my own pleasure and placed the colombines in the fridge and I'll plant those in a week. The Nasturtiums I plan on starting in the next round of seed starts, most likely within the next couple of weeks, depending on space.
I mixed up my standard soil mix for seeds (a combo of aged steer manure, potting soil and perlite), filled up the cells and got out my seeds for the tray.
In the seed tray I planted the following:
1. Hollycock - (1 seed per cell x 18 cells) planted 1/8" deep
2. Echinacea Purpurea - (2 seeds per cell x 9 cells) planted 1/8" deep
3. Red Kale - (3 seeds per cell x 3 cells) planted 1/8" deep
4. Black Beauty Zucchini - (1 seed per cell x 3 cells) planted 3/4" deep
5. Yellow Squash - (1 seed per cell x 3 cells) planted 3/4" deep
I'm keeping this tray on the window sill in the dining room which receives about 6 hours of direct sunlight and indirect sunlight all day long, so there should be plenty of sunshine for these seeds and hopefully the kale in this tray won't take as long as the kale I've got in the re-purposed water bottles in the garage. If they do germinate faster, I will most likely be moving all the plants I can out of the garage. . .we do have an empty guest room I could take over till the weather warms. . .
Two days ago, I picked up some potatoes (purple, honey gold, ruby fingerlings and a white flesh Japanese sweet potato) and am chitting those by placing them in indirect light in a relatively warm room (in my case, the dining room under a plant stand) until they start to sprout.
Chitting is a method of preparing potatoes or other tubers for planting. The seed potatoes are placed in a tray (often in egg cartons) in a light and cool place with a little water. All but one of the "eyes" (sprouting parts) of the potato are removed, leaving the strongest growth only. Once the sprouts are about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, the seed potatoes are planted in the ground.
I've always loved flowers. My favorites being Daisies and Lilacs. My husband and I moved here from Maine, and I now have a nice big front and back yard, and would really love to get some color in it. I've attempted a few times to get a garden going. One year it went well in our small one out front. I didn't plant there this year, I decided to take the whole side of the front yard, that lined the fence, to plant a garden. That didn't go so well. I planted from seeds with my two girls. Well I "forgot" or should I say got way to busy to remember!, to weed it properly. It was over taken by weeds, prickly bushes and ivy. Well I did find one patch of daisy mix that started to take, but I don't think it got enough sun to grow properly. I ended up getting so frustrated with the weeds, that I allowed my hubby to mow it all down!
So now I've started the same thing in the back yard. All along the fence, I'm starting to clean out all the weeds and junk that was left behind by the previous owners. I was going to take a before and after pictures so you could see the difference I've made already. But I forgot. Now I need help on what I should plant. I know it's probably the off season to plant, but I would like to get a heard start on what I need to do to get things ready for spring next year. I've noticed a lot of roots that seem just in possible to get rid of. Any ideas on what I can do to get them to die off or go away! Anyone have any ideas on what would look good along the edges of the fence? It's tall, and wooden, not painted. I'll try and post pictures later about the area's that I'm talking about. I would like to try and plant some lilac trees/bushes around the edges along with other bright and colorful flowers.
This is all I can really think of to write for now. I'll try and post pictures tomorrow.
New here, and just starting my garden. Seedlings are doing well. I need to build raised beds for the plants, and since I started late, I'll have to wait till fall planting season arises to plant more things.
But I am hopeful!
First Day In The Garden
The weather was beautiful and
since there is so much to do in preparation for the vegetable garden as
well as the flower garden I spent most of the day in the yard. Weeds to
pull, lawn to mend and mow, sidewalks to edge, patio to fill with potted
flowers and planning. It felt good to be outside in the fresh
air. There is something to be said for getting dirty, smelling the earth
with the breeze in my hair and the sun on my face. The last of which
gave me a slight sunburn – go figure – in April!
I am well known for unique combinations of colors and plants in the pots I place around the patio. Although most of the more interesting plants I use aren’t yet available this early in the season I couldn’t help buy but a few of the typical varieties for a colorful pot or two. I can bring them in at night if it gets too chilly. And of course I had help from the pups and interference from the cat. Well, in reality I had interference from them all but Sharkey, in her usual way, looks as if she’s lending a hand.
In one of the pots I used some flat leafed parsley. In my experience parsley likes to take over the herb garden and I have better luck putting it in pots with my flowers. Here it stays a bit more manageable. I don’t cook with as much parsley as I do the basil, cilantro, and other herbs so it’s a good option. It also fills in quite nicely and doesn’t seem to mind when I pinch it off here and there.
I weeded about forty feet of what will be the flower garden, checked the roses – I think I lost one, but will give it a bit longer to bud. The clematis vines are on their way back and this morning there were crocus blooming and what looks like grape hyacinth and tulips coming up! This part of the garden encompasses about 140 feet in total. There’s lots of work to do.
OHHHH... No! Not Again!
More Gardening Woes...
My dog Roscoe just can't seem to appreciate my flowers. Well, that's not exactly true...
He does really enjoy them.
He enjoys laying on them. He enjoys walking through them. He enjoys digging them up.
Along the side of my back patio I planted just a short strip of flowers. Mom always had beautiful flowers there and I thought to myself..."She would be proud!"
I lovingly worked the earth to prepare her to recieve my carefully selected plants. I eyeballed the spacing to have enough to do the length of the patio. I mixed and matched colors and heights. I watered and fertilized and went to bed with visions of of flowers dancing in my head.
Finally it looked just right.
We were gonna be abloom in June! Abloom I say!
The next morning I got up and Roscoe had dug a large hole, burying a few flowers and uprooting more. (I still have nightmares of that poor little flower gasping on the top of the pile of earth.)
I scolded Roscoe and quickly repaired the damage as best I could.
Ten minutes later he had dug another hole and was happily lying in the cool, freshly dug dirt.
ARRRRR! Dang dog!
I went and bought fencing to go along one side. Nothing fancy, just enough to let him know this was OFF LIMITS! Mommy's space.
He laid ON the fence!
I purchased another length of fencing to corral the area. Yep! That ought to do the trick!
I came home from the grocery and he had pulled the fencing OUT of the ground. Apparently a double fence was proving to be too uncomfortable for proper doggie napping.
The battle continued through June.
And July.
The nursery LOVED me. I had spent a small fortune on an eight foot strip of garden!
Finally I gave up. I rescued the few mangled plants that remained and potted them.
I purchased some garden statues - a couple of cute little frogs with bulging eyes - to decorate the patio with.
The next morning over coffee I noticed the frogs had migrated to the yard across the lane. I went to retrieve them and one was BLIND!
Roscoe had eaten the damn eyes right off the poor little guy!
As I turned to search for the guilty culprit I noticed something strange on the patio. The plants had uprooted themselves and leaped to their death.
It now sprouted a large bone. I think he was trying to grow a bone tree.
Now, this all happened a few years ago when Roscoe was but a wee mite. (I have trained him to only lay on a selected portion of that area. His special "Mommy lets me kill these plants" area.) He does still enjoy an occasional dig, however. He is still working on that bone tree.
If you have read about my puppy woes, you know Main Man and I adopted a pit puppy this past spring. Guess what he likes to do?
Yep, dig in the flowerbed. I tried the fence technique again, this time using mulberry branches to make an adorable woven twig fence. It ran along both sides of the flowers, tied with natural twine, complete with a wide, sweeping circle at the enclosed end.
It made an adorable pile of chewed up mulch.
Good ruffage I guess!
Note: This post has been moved from myspace.com/ahandful4u
. The really cute animations do not work here.
The warm days have brought out the blossoms of the Japanese apricot/ Chinese plum (Prunus Mume) and the bees are busy. The plum blossoms have been frequently depicted in Chinese and Japanese art and poetry for centuries. The plum blossom is one of the "Three Friends of the Cold".
All my life I have loved gardening, nature, and the outdoors, as far back as I can remember. Today I was looking at an old photo. It was a picture of my parents and me in my grandparents yard. I was just a baby. I hate to give away my age but the photo was from the early 1950’s. That yard is where I first saw beautiful flower and vegetable gardens, all created and planted by my grandfather.
My grandfather was one of those men that you don’t see much anymore. He made and repaired furniture in a building out back that he built himself, in fact he made some of his own tools. He was an artist, painted beautiful landscapes. Paintings that looked so real that you actually imagined being right there. Being right in the painting, standing under the tree or next to the stream. The painting that I have by him is one of my most treasured possessions. It’s a painting of an old dirt road winding into the woods. When I look at the painting I sometimes imagine that I am walking down that road, trying not to stumble in the ruts that the wagon and auto wheels made.
But I think what he was most proud of was being a gardener. My grandfather made beautiful gardens. As with his other talents, he was a self taught gardener. No big library of books, no fancy tools. He just knew how to be a gardener.
I remember watching him, following him around. Going from one flower to the next, like a honeybee. From one garden to the next. I was just a small boy but I remember filling up watering cans and watering some of the flowers. I remember the tin cup he had in the garden to drink from. And I can even remember the odd metallic taste of the tin cup when I put it to my lips. It’s funny how those things are coming back to me now.
He died when I was young but I wonder if he knows that I still think about those things. Who’s to say for sure?
Do any of you ever remember things like that? I hope you do. It makes you feel good inside.
The next time I look at the painting of his that I have, the painting of the dirt road winding into the woods I am again going to imagine walking down the road. Only this time I am going to imagine that my grandfather and my dad are down the road waiting for me. Maybe they are. Who’s to say for sure?
Best wishes, Rick
My site - HERE (you can see the photo of me at my grandparents when I was a baby there)
I usually advertise on twitter but thought i would let ya'all know i sell greeting cards of flowers in my yard as well as insects, even some birds. Come and peek at the images............
i dont have much in seeds right now, but hope to soon. Gotta go out in the garden and harvest. I live in San Diego and its been over 90 degrees the last few days.......... I also have a book out and published and their are dozens and dozens of images of garden and what you find there. I entitled it "THE EARTH DECLARES" and the earth certainly declares beauty and the like, may us humans see it! it is a coffee table book and i do give free shipping when i ship to the united states. Any questions?? just ask talk to you later NICOLE
I put the greenbeans out the other day. They are doing well. I couldn't keep them in the house any longer, small greenhouse running out of room. Watered well and watched over daily. Making sure they survive the night time weather. Staying in the 50's so they should be ok. The snow peas are starting to bloom, put them out in March. Set up fence for climbing and they caught on to it in a day.
Took a few pictures of my flowers today. The Iris's are beautiful, only a year old. The Day Lilies are almost ready to bloom. Many buds on them this year. They are only 2 years old and doubled in size since I planted them. I am surrounded by Honeysuckle, the scent is in the air and it is wonderful... I can never remember the name of the plants at the front porch, but they are white w/ pink .. Check the pics in a few days after I download. They came in thick after one year. Want to get wild flowers in with the Iris's for next year, hopefully that will get control over the poison ivy I can't seem to get rid of... It is an old fence row for a farm field.. Still have a few of the old wooden fence posts in it. Want to get more of the post to put up a fence behind it, since it is against the road and it isn't quite finished. I need to add a few more flowers and remove a few more weeds... My small rose bush has double in size since last year and now I need to train it to go on the otherside of the mailbox since it is covering up the numbers on the post.. I might move the numbers instead of disturbing the rose bush, it has a bloom on it already... many buds. More than I expected so soon.
Also, the potatoes and onions are growing strong. Saturday is the best for me to tend to everything and pull weeds. Even though this holiday weekend there is alot to do for the picnic Monday...I make all the food and desserts..
My son will be 18 and graduating high school in the next few weeks, decided to make Monday a birthday and graduation party.. More cooking and this time a birthday cake on top of it all. My seven year old girl likes to help in the kitchen, so this will be a breeze..
good night for now,
veggie
All this rain has made the weeds go absolutely crazy. But at least the ground is so wet, they come out pretty easy. So today I've been weeding. I used to love weed flower beds with my mother. She passed away last June, but we would weed her extensive flower beds side by side. You could always tell where she weeded and where I weeded. She grew up on a farm and weeded methodically and neatly. Me, I pull mine out and throw them behind me and then rake them up afterwards. My mom would pull, shake the dirt off, then lay them down in neat little rows, all facing the same direction - so neat and tidy. It used to fascinate me. Her sister, my Aunt Dorothy, would weed the same way, and when we all three would be weeding together, I felt very inferior! LOL!
I also visited Lowes today and bought some perrenials and annuals - some for containers, some for my flower beds and another hibiscus, just because! I really do love hibiscus. I remember living in Puerto Rico and they grew wild everywhere there and bloomed all year long. We had them lining our driveway - I just loved them. I hope tomorrow is nice so I can get some of these things planted!
A special thanks to all of you for your ideas on keeping the kitties at bay when it comes to my porch plants..this time of year they are like Ted Nuggent and get "Cat scratch fever"..lol..got one of them transplanted today..not the cat :) a plant , lol ! I can't believe how much they are growing...I guess I better be scouring the garage sales and flea-markets for some bigger planters...I occasionaly buy a new one at the "flower factory" but I do love a bargin so its hard to buy new..besides, so much more fun to put something back into use ! I really want to make some of the old type of macrame pot holders because I have got a ton of supplies that I got at a garage sale..plus lots of fun little bead animals to thread on it...do any of you know where you can buy those plant hangers...remember the ones that are like a pole with arms on them to hang your plants from..I really want one..h'mm..guess a little research is due. Anyways..thanks again and happy evening and wonderful tomorrow to you !
Well, I guess I need to start drawing up "ark" plans. We folks here in Ohio have certainly seen our fair share..and I see that next week its another wet one ! On the plus side, my garage sale went well and when I was all done I gave all that was left away to one person :) I am so anxious to start my landscape project if it would ever dry up, but I guess God has His own plans, so who am I to question. Maybe this is my que to clean the house :) I had some topsoil brought in and I noticed a pair of little foot prints going across it..funny because its like mud right now..oh did I mention they were little kid foot prints...otherwise meaning that some lucky parent got to scrub shoes when they got home..guess they could not resist ! Oh..while I am thinking about it, do any of you have any hints for keeping cats out of porch plants ? You see my youngest tends to feed every animal that comes into the yard and now we have 4 cats. Three of them are bobtails, all orange, all identically marked. Strange,huh ? The other is gray with an ear missing. One of the orange ones is going to have kittens any day...so that means MORE cats. I'm not sure if someone is droping them off here of if the word is out in cat world...anyways, I want to put my houseplants out on the porch as soon as I am sure its warm enough...BUT...last year cats kept getting into them..any suggestions ?...well , enough for now..have a blessed evening and wonderful tomorrow !
Just moving into a new-to-us house in W. Mass, and dug out 4 old rose bushes (no loss - not a rose-scent admirer) and am looking for input on any newer, even more aromatic variety of Honeysuckle. The old standby "Halls" (white with yellow throat) is my long time favorite for by a kitchen door or near a bedroom window, but am looking for advice of anything even stronger for those warm summer nights when windows are open! I also used to plant evening-scented stock, white alyssum and of course, nicotinia.
Suggestions? Not adverse to drawing butterflies, honeybees, hummingbirds, etc., at the same time~~ Joe
I am so excited that we are going to have one more nice day. I along with my plants are rejoicing in the sun and warmth. It is pure amazement how quickly plants grow with a little of sun.
I guess a little cooler weather and moisture is welcome...only because this weekend I was able to plant some seeds...peas, kolorabi, and squash. They join the parsnips, lettuce, broccoli, garlic, and shallots planted last November. I still need to get in carrots, potatoes and cauliflower. Then when it gets warmer, hot peppers and tomatoes.
After growing up with a garden as a child, it is nice to be able to plant a garden and have my own fresh veggies. I also got the herb garden cleaned out, the rosemary didn't like all the snow that sat on them this winter and they needed some pruning, but I think they should be fine.
Oh the joy of spring...it makes all other worries seem more manageable.
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