Follow Us!
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
|
| Page 1 of 3 | 1 |
2 | 3 |  Last |
I live in Colorado and we had our usual Spring Snow Storm yesterday ( April 8th ). Thinking that the storm last week was our last one ( this is my excuse for maybe some dumb thinking) I had my backyard fixed up with new sod. The high heat of 105 degrees for 2 weeks killed the grass. Anyway.....to my question, the sod was laid and the day was 71 degrees. The next day it started snowing and the temperature went down to single numbers. 9 degrees was the lowest. It will be 30 today and 54 tomorrow. Any ideas on what is going to happen with my sod. Thanks for your help.
Cheryl
Who is the real one? The game is very popular in China for many years. Now still millions of Chinese play them on a machine desk.
Britishman Edward Little and his Villases
LU Shan is near my hometown. But I did not come to until 2009 with the clients from England.There are hundreds of Villas here.The British Churchman Edward Little, Chinese name Li de Li and his family. He built them on the mountain. He is the earliest real estate business man.they are beatiful houses like yours. Many governors ever lived in there. Like Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek, Leader of the two party.It is very cool in the summer.
Old US Church. some time use for wedding ceremony. most for visiting.
US famous writer Pearl S. Buck,(1892-1973) who is the only one that rewarded the prize of Pulitzer and Nobel literature.
She was brought to China when she was four month old.She lived in china for about 40 years. She ever lived on this mountain for years since 1922 and started to write in the Cooling town.
She spent her childhood in Zhenjiang city,jiangsu province.then came back to US to the college (Randolph-Macon Woman's College) when he was 17 years old. and back to China when she graduated.
She got married with a US Chuchman and then did missionary work and taught in the University of Nanjing. She wrote in the room the school offered from 1921~1935. And gained the Nobel prize in 1938.
She was the first one who translated one of the four most famous book in Chinese History. it is .
This took her five years to finsh. She thought out the name of the book soon before it set about to publish.
She lived back in USA in 1934 for the reason of back condition in China and missing her child in the US.She remarried in 1935 with a publisher. It is so pity that she was denied to have a travel to China before she died.She must missed China cause she had good memory in the childhood. She passed away in the gloom in Danby,Vermont,on 6th,May,1973,one year after the visit of US President Nixon to China. She was buried in Pennsylvania. On the gravestone only three Chinese Characters sound SAI ZHEN ZHU, her Chinese name.
Thanks to her write, it makes many people still keep a good memory to China after the Korea War and Vietnam War aand Chinese 10 years Cultural Revolution.
I do not read this book but I am curious what she wrote about Early China.
Up on the granite cliff I began building up a small patch of soil to grow potatoes. That is one crop the land critters pretty much leave alone. I gathered mulch from a lakeshore bank on a nearby beach, bags of decaying leaves from a small back bay, and add my annual compost from the float garden and kitchen scraps. An annual sack of manure and now I have enough soil to grow potatoes for us to enjoy. You can read more about my gardening at my blog if you like.
p>
Welcome to my garden. I live most of the year in a float cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC. I love to garden, but my yard is all water. Our good friend John who built our cabin came to the rescue with a cedar log float with four raised beds. A solar panel with a bilge pump makes watering easy and a pulley system send the whole garden out into the water to protect it from hungry land-based critters. You can read more about my gardening experiences at my blog. -- Margy
We know when spring has arrived in Northern Nevada because...it snows. Wont complain about the moisture though since the perennials, trees, shrubs, and Robins are always up for a drink; and it's free! As an affirmation of my hopes for an early spring I started seeds for 3 varieties of tomatoes and 4 of peppers. The toms germinate quickly and should be ready for transplanting in about 2 weeks. The peppers take a full 2-3 weeks longer. 300 seeds fit nicely into a 1020 seed tray and will give the plants plenty of leg room as they develop. Few things in life are as rewarding as watching over trays of seedlings as they develop and then literally enjoying the fruits of our labor this summer. Yummy!
I live in a quiet little section of Horry (pronounced Oh-Ree) County South Carolina. My family's little homestead is about fifteen miles from Myrtle Beach and the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean. I have a wonderful, loving husband, two beautiful heathen children, a loving American Staffordshire pup and a small flock of laying hens. Not to mention we moved here in the spring of 2010 and have been renovating our mobile home and the land.
This spring we will have our first real garden at this location. I cannot begin to describe how much I have missed having fresh veggies, herbs and flowers. We have been cleaning up the property since we moved in and are currently building garden beds after a failed attempt to grow in sand. Yep, we live on top of a sand hill. This presents a number of problems when trying to grow anything beyond scraggly, burr infested grass. To combat this we have been not only removing the trash left behind by previous residents we have been composting the leaves of at least the previous 4 seasons and adding composted manure. We will also be using manure tea created by the one and only Moo Poo Tea lady, aka Authentic Haven Brand. I highly recommend using manure tea on your garden and your house plants. It really does make a difference.
I am not new to blogging. As a matter of fact have a growing blog about everything in my life, however I do not have one dedicated just to my gardening adventures, of which there have been many over the years. This blog will be dedicated solely to the adventures that come with gardening naturally. We do not add any chemicals to our gardens and use only natural products to grow. The planned outcome on our homestead is to have completely edible landscaping.
My blog is about life in the backyard. I think it's about gardening.
http://michaelgrow.wordpre
ss.com/
Here's a taste, hope you visit:
flowers’ revengeIn gardening, poetry on September 10, 2010 at 2:13 pm
We call on our friends the bees to sting him.
Again, again!
On the ripe blue vein on his hand when he bends over to snip
At his neck as he swipes and jerks
Thank you, and again, please.
Oh the joy in his agony and twisted dance.
“Ouch!” is a funny word.
His cursing upsets his wife. She loses sympathy, calls him a child and slams the door.
Spiders get him! Touch his face! Bite hard!
Breathe in his groaning prayers!
Amen brother and sister bees.
We flowers don’t belong in vases besides photographs of dead people.
Kind as we appear, we have our ways.
In Uncategorized on September 10, 2010 at 3:16 am
All the early morning trips to the beach collecting rocks, hauling canvas bags of them up the bolder hill to the station wagon, stumbling, knowing I was stealing from the planet, worried about getting caught by the rock police, disguised as fleshy, pale, mid-western tourists. Unloading the thousands of pounds of ‘smoothies,’ ‘craggies,’ ‘striped ones’ and ‘faces’ and placing them around the gardens in front, side and back, creating a dried riverbed out front, where the Home Owners Association prescribes a choice of 3 standard lawn grasses. So happy at the importance of this act of creation. My wife’s warnings about my back, my back’s throbbing agreement, my mouth’s tightness, locking back groans.
Three years later here I am, doing the same thing, only in reverse, digging the rocks up from where I so caringly placed each, filling up the same misshapen bags, bringing the rocks back to their beach home. A suburban performance of Myth of Sisyphus.
I have decided I’m going to create and tend to a fruit and vegetable garden. Along with the rocks, I’m uprooting the plants and flowers whose names I don’t know from this 6 x 21 foot raised bed area in the North West part of our backyard.
I have big plans for cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce and onions.
Hello
I try to garden now and then. When my brother and I lost our house I bought some property for purpose of starting a micro-farm and selling enough to the produce to buy my brother's house back. So far, that has not happened, but I continue to be interested in gardening.
After the car broke down it became a little harder to get to my property to garden, but I try. After losing my last job (apparently) I decided to concentrate a little more on my writing in order to give myself an income by concentrating on my writing. I found this site by doing some research for my articles.
My writing gives me a little more time to do my gardening .and be at my property and I do enjoy it, but I'm still learning, and hopefully I can now spend enough time "at home" to be able to take care of my plants. My interest in gardening also got me interested in solar energy. My neighbors have traditional electricity-I don't-it was too costly for me. A solar shed light for $30 was more economical than paying $1800 to $2500 just to hook up the electricity.
Gardening can be economical too. I started gardening, before my brother and I lost our house, in order to grow food. The success I had there gave me encouragement to continue. Tomato seeds are around $1-$3 a pack, usually and they grow more than 1 lb. per plant. You can plant beans from the grocery store.
I did not start out to "be green". I used organic gardening methods because that's what the guy on the radio show recommended. In spite of plenty of reading saying that it wasn't economical, it was a low income that led me look for solar options. My laptop was a Christmas present a few years ago from my brother-in-law and I used it to research various things like gardening websites, wind energy, and "practical solar gadgets".
God Bless one and all.
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!
I've decided to do a scrapbook garden to help plan for next year. I know the planting season for this year is about to start, but I don't have the money or resources to do much this year. This year is just some tomatoe, craving pumpkins, & possiblly radish in the fall...which I might container plant instead of ground planting.
In case your not sure what I'm referring to with Scrapbook Gardening, it's just that, a scrapbook. I plan to take various pictures of my yard, especially areas I wish to do some gardening in. Than I will print the pictures & place them in a scrapbook. BUT I will also be searching gardening magazines & websites to cut out or print out pictures of plants, landscaping materials, pots, pond equipment, etc. I will also be including references to websites, magazines, & books for the things I find. Possiblly even include basic instructions for plants I know I want...basic stuff like when to start seedings, when to plant, etc ...along with a good reference that I can refer to when needed.
Doing a scrapbook garden will allow me to plan throughly for the seeding & planting season. It will give me time to research plants. I wish there was a way I could do the scrapbooking on my computer. I do have a scanner so I can just scan magazine & book pictures right to my computer. Than just save pictures from websites. I think if I do it on the computer, my best will be using a word processor & do like Garden Diary.
I will have to think on the best way to put all together...by doing on the computer I would save money. Doing it by hand would provide more hands on manipulation...but I would have to spring for printer ink, a scrapbook, paper, etc.
t apart. Both will sucker - send out
new shoots from the ground - and form thickets. In the home garden
this is remedied by pruning. I like to prune mine in late winter,
taking out the largest, oldest canes at ground level and leaving some
of the newer canes to mature. You can also prune some of the more
vigorous canes by a third which helps them branch and produce more
fruit. Mulching them with composted manure will help keep them
growing and aid in weed suppression. Most berries are not bothered by
diseases so require no spraying as some fruits do.So...You Think You Can Garden...
This past summer my Main Man and I had a pretty good sized garden. Mind you, I had not had even so much as a tomato plant since I was a kid! This year we had 48, yes, not a typo, forty-freakin-eight tomato plants! We tilled on a freakishly warm week in early March. (Mind you I live in NW OH…’nuff said.) I decided we should put some corn in the ground “just to say we did it.” The next day it snowed horizontal. That corn didn’t come up. I planted starts in the house in April. I set them on the patio in mid-May. My puppy ate some the next day. By the end of May I had 12 seedlings left. We went to the greenhouse. We shopped for plants. We came home with a trunkful of plants and grand visions of a beautiful weed-free garden. We re-tilled. We replanted corn. We carefully set out our purchased seedlings. I set out my two inch tall remaining seedlings. We babied the garden along at first. At first. We watered, we weeded, we waited and watched making a stroll to the garden our first priority in the morning. Finally! Corn! And squash blossoms and tomato blossoms! So very many tomato blossoms. The plan was to take produce to our local farmer’s market. That never happened. I got sick. My MM got sick. He injured his back while … let’s just say he injured his back. We started a lovely crop of weeds. They grew fast. Fast as weeds. Tall as weeds can grow. I was ready to give up. Then I thought, hey we have put in too much work to fail at this now! So I spent every available minute for the next two weeks “saving” our babies! I pulled, I dug, I cut, cursed and sweated. MM saw my efforts and rallied. He crawled - yes CRAWLED on his hands and knees through the garden, plucking weeds as he went. He really may have had the right idea - he was up close and personal with those weeds! They weren’t gonna hide from him! Success! We found the plants and they began to florish after being saved from those pesky weeds. I mean REALLY florish! I found 101 ways to eat squash. I found 101 things to do with tomatoes. Alas, it was not enough, I had to find MORE! I canned whole, crushed and crowded tomatoes. I canned juice. I made gallons of Vegetable juice in varying degrees of hottness. I canned gallons of Mom’s homemade tomato soup. I canned pasta sauce, tomato paste and more! MM said ENOUGH! We have enough! There is no more room! But we still had tomatoes. I searched the internet. I made tomato leather, vegetable leather and old fashioned tomato preserves. I know - jam from a tomato - whodathunk? Then “it happened…” (insert scarey sounds of dramatic music) The first frost. Nobody told me it was coming. I would have covered those precious plants up! But there they were…looking quite sad in the early sunlight. Staring at me, accusing me. I should have felt relieved. It was over! The long summer/fall harvest was over! I could put away the caning supplies and reclaim my kitchen! Hurrah at last! We spent the day pulling tomato and pepper plants and hanging them in the barn to finish ripening. We are still having an occasional fresh tomato in mid-November! I just canned some hot pepper jelly last week. Maybe just 45 tomato plants next year. MM wants an acre. We’ll see. Stay posted. This post was moved from myspace.com/ahandful4u
and the fun animations did not follow. Visit myspace to view complete blog.
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 saw the most wondrous sight this morning as I was sipping my first cup of coffee...one of my newly planted roses, that had six fat buds on it had produced two beautiful blooms sometime during the wee hours of the morning! Two gorgeous ruffled bright pink blooms standing up tall and proud. Okay, so the plant is only a foot tall…but they stood proud nonetheless! And it was such a vivid bright pink! Wait a minute; I never planted a bright pink rose. Let me think a moment…okay I know I’m still half asleep and I’ve only had one sip of coffee but I know what I planted…and I didn’t plant no darned bright pink rose!
I’ve babied the new roses from the start. I’ve watered them daily…I’ve fed them regularly…I made them a pretty bed to grow in…and I’ve complemented them every time I went out to my garden…I’ve told them how pretty and big they were getting. I’ve told them how large and green their leaves had grown. And I’ve let them know that they are loved by me. I’ve talk very nice to them…heck, I’ve even sang to them
I’ve watched, very intently, this one rose. When it started forming buds I got so excited. That’s all I could talk about for a week! But the buds were red, so I thought it was the Chicago Peace rose…at least that’s what I was hoping for…you see…when I planted them I had taken them out of their bags and soaked them in a bucket of water for a couple of hours…so I had no idea which rose was which when I put them in the ground…I just love surprises, don’t you?
I planted a deep blood red Chicago Peace rose…a lilac-blue Blue Girl rose…a stark white Pascali rose…a deep yellow Texas Yellow rose…and a pale pastel lilac Sterling Silver rose…BUT not a vivid bright pink rose! How could this be I asked myself. Oh well, as William Shakespeare said so eloquently…What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But I know I didn’t plant no darned bright pink rose!
So now...without any further adieu...I'd like to introduce my newest bloom...drum roll please.....Christianna........
......ta...da...!
I’ve asked a number of people why they garden and their answers are wide ranging. But the common thread among them is they love the feeling of satisfaction knowing that they grew their own produce and didn’t have to bend to the whims of their local grocery stores. I can get along with that logic…but I don’t feel satisfaction so to speak…no what I feel is quite frankly…smugness! I can proudly walk past the produce aisles and hold my head up high, knowing that my veggies have flavor and theirs don’t! I can look at their hot house tomatoes…looking all red and pretty…and smirk at their lack of taste…all the while thinking to myself…who wants to pay an ever increasing amount for veggies that they can “produce” themselves? Certainly not me!
I tend to feel a bit sorry for those that prefer to have a yard service company come to their home and do for them what they should be doing themselves. I’m sure they just don’t have the time to get out there and mow the grass and trim the shrubs…but honestly…aren’t they missing out on some “back to nature” fun? I’m sure they would say…if asked…that they don’t like the feel of soil…they don’t like to dig in the dirt and plant flowers…they can’t stand the sight or scent of fertilizing their gardens…and don’t get me started on insects and snakes!
Now since I’ve come to think of myself as an avid gardener, I’ve realized along the way that there are lots of things you should and should not do. These have been learned by me through trial and error…lots of error sometimes. Well the obvious “should” is…keep yourself well informed of the newest information available…new plant varieties…new propagation techniques…new soil supplements…and so on. Then there is another obvious “should”…you should water your garden regularly. That’s a no brainer there. Without water, seeds will not sprout…plants will not grow…you will not be smiling for long. The best method being touted is drip irrigation. That’s a wonderful way to do it but some of us “old school” gardeners prefer to do it the old fashioned way…you know what I’m saying…dragging out the hose and watering the entire garden area daily. Another “should”… You should make certain the soil is at its absolute best…built up and is able to drain well so the plant’s roots don’t rot. After all, you put out good money on those babies and you want them to do well. You want them to succeed. But I started thinking about the other things you should not do in order to be successful in your gardening endeavors and I’ve come up with a listing of what I lovingly call “The Ten Commandments of Gardening”. Snappy title isn’t it?
The Ten Commandments of Gardening:
There are a couple more that I should add to the list…such as…Thou shalt not beat your dog when they run across your freshly planted garden…fore they know not what they do!
Thou shalt not spend your entire weekly paycheck in Lowe’s or Home Depot on potted plants and shrubs when you could grow your own from seeds.
Thou shalt not poo poo gardening advice from someone that doesn’t garden. That’s not nice and they just might read more than you do! Just because they don’t look like they know which end of a hoe to hold doesn’t mean they’ve never gardened…they may have been raised on a farm. So just thank them kindly and invite them in for a cup of tea and a good conversation. And after all is said and done…
Thou shalt not ignore your garden…get out and enjoy the sights and sounds that your garden will bring to you…enjoy the birds singing…enjoy the butterflies flitting around your flowers…enjoy the buzzing of the bees as they flower hop and spread their pollen…and most of all…enjoy the knowledge that you’ve garnered from it all…it’s always a work in progress and a learning experience.
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
