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Back in February, my husband announced he was going to have a garden this year. I told him this was a great idea since my Dad was getting older, Daddy would surely need some help. He told me in just a few short weeks he was planting lettuce, spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, brocolli, peas, carrotts and onions. The strawberries and corn would come soon after. He also announced he was planting fruit trees: apple, peach, pear and pecan. Shortly after all those announcements, he told me he was planting grape vines. WOW, where was he ever going to find the time for a garden this size?? When he informed me he was planting potatoes in tires, I knew he was crazy I had never heard of planting potatoes in a tire and was convinced this would never work. Besides, my Dad was the gardner in this family and he always planted potatoes straight in the ground. So with the help of my Dad on February 28th, the planting began.
260 days!? I didn't intend to take such a long hiatus, and I have visited a few times -- but it's now undeniable that I am pretty unreliable blogger. Apparently, I have too many passions, too many tasks, too much work, too little rain, too much beer, and a few health issues in the family to boot. These are a few of my favorite things!
Here in Texas, it has been hard to spend a lot of time thinking about gardening. Well, that's actually not very true -- I think a lot about gardening, but it doesn't pay to do very much of it. We were not allowed to water which quickly reduced my tomatoes and even my peppers to withering husks. My smallish pots couldn't hold enough water anyway and it was a constant - nearly hourly - battle against the baking sun. So, I pulled the plug and headed for the A.C.
C'est la vie, cold A/C - that's just the way it goes.
From my 260-day-year-old entry, You can see that I was enthused about my pomegranate leafing. It seems that my old Pom burst out of the gates like a young stallion in his reserved hand-stocked corral. However, for such a large and beautiful tree, my previously prolific pomegranate produced only a paltry pair.
Oh, the pain! Oh, the misery! The utter embarrassment as my neighbors recalled my promise to share the bounty this year. The tree was beautiful, but inexplicably failed to produce. I hope this year is better.
I had moderate success last year with cold weather vegetables. My lettuce was plentiful, and my beets looked good, but the edible root was the size of Roseanne Barr's shame (and that'd be tiny).
Speaking of shame:
As I type, my oven interrupts my thoughts rudely, "Beep! Beep! Beep!"
It reminds me that I just prepared a chicken pot pie family using...
using...
using...
aaargh!
FROZEN VEGGIES!!
@!$%!%!^!!%@!!!!!
C'est la vie, frozen peas - that's just the way it goes.
In any case, the drought seems to have broken and we now have rain, I have gathered a shot glass in which to capture my remaining pride.
Trowel raised high, I square my shoulders, and vow to dance with the one that brung me my last success -- that cute little filly, Lettuce.
Tune in next time for more Rocky and Bullwinkle! Will it be
LETTUCE BE !
Or,
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
Trowel On,
BrownThumb
Sprout Update - 7 February 2011
Round 1: Day 24
Round 2: Day 19
The Green Zebra sprout is doing pretty good. No new sprouts for any of the tomatoes, though. I think I am going to make some foil lined cardboard boxes to keep like 4 of the Jiffy Pots in to help retain some heat and moisture for those and see if that helps. If there's nothing new in the next couple of weeks, I'll scrap those and try again. . .
No new lemon cucumbers, but I have noticed that the one closest to the heat lamp (but second to sprout) grew and opened two true leaves to the first one's one true leaf. The third has seed leaves that look slightly misshapen, so we'll see what happens with that one.
No real change with the broccoli. The second one STILL hasn't popped up above the soil line yet. Kinda weird, I think. But it's the first time growing broccoli so we'll see what happens.
I think I'm slowly weeding out the weaklings in the pea section. So far, three have turned a little brown and started to wither. They didn't grow very fast (as compared to the others), either. So I think I'm okay with it. If the healthy looking ones start to turn, then I'll start to worry.
The mallow is looking a little thirsty, so I think I might have killed them. They get water at least every 4 hours when the lights are on so I'm not sure what the problem is with that. I'll make it a point to soak them a little more than the rest adn see if that helps.
The rosemary is still pretty much the same. No significant change there.
One of the kale bottle is showing some signs of life. I think a seedling is about to pop up. It's in the bottle that is most exposed to the heat light, so that's probably why. . .
And last but not least, the garlic chives are slowly worming their way up. . .much like the Tokyo Green Onions did. . .
31 January 2011 - Day 17 (Round 1) and Day 12 (Round 2)
Back from Montana and a few more things popped up while I was away. . .
Upstairs, the cilantro finally decided to make an appearance (not just in that one corner) and one of the Tokyo Green Onions stood upright.
The Detroit Red Beets and the Golden Beets have finally showed up. There are 6 sprouts (in 4 different cells) for the Detroit Red and 3 sprouts (in 3 different cells) for the Golden. Seed leaves are open on all the sprouts.
Nothing else is showing signs of life in the seed tray upstairs.
I finally got a tomato plant! The Green Zebra decided to come up. . .I thought it was a Sun Gold at first, but am damn glad I marked the jiffy pots! I sure would have been in for a surprise, expecting little orange tomatoes and get bright green bigger ones instead. But no more tomatoes, or peppers have decided to come up. My guess is they want a fashionably late entrance.
No new sprouts for the cucmbers, but the three that have already sprouted have opened their seed leaves and two of the have started budding their true leaves. . .once the true leaves open, I'm going to give them a little watered down liquid fish fertilizer snack. . .and if no others sprout by that time, I'll wait a couple of weeks and plant some more cucumbers so we have plenty this season.
So one broccoli has opened and one is still in the soil. Not sure what's taking that one so long - the other seemed to just spring up and this one looks a little lazy to me. Been laying in the dirt since before I left for Montana.
The Edible Pod Peas have still only sprouted 2, but both are looking very healthy. Hopefully more of those will pop up soon, but if not I'm planning a succession crop of all the peas in another 3 1/2 weeks or so. . .
The Homesteader Peas are all up, but one of the sprouts looks a little brownish yellow, so I don't think that one'll make it and if it does, it may not last very long. All the others look healthy so far, however.
The Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas are doing the best of the peas, by far. All 6 are up and healthy. I'm thinking about starting a growth chart for all the peas just to see how fast the different varieties grow and all that. . .more work, but would be fun to see the change.
The second Mallow pot finally sprouted. Only one so far, but those seed leaves have already opened up. The first pot is doing very well, too.
The Rosemary has emerged and opened their seed leaves. No signs of life in the second pot yet, but maybe soon?
There is some life in the Garlic Chives, but nothing upright yet. Those look like they should go upright in a few days.
The Chinese Lanterns I've got downstairs have more than a couple random sprouts popping up. It'll be interesting to see what they turn into.
And I think I need to grab another grow light and set up another station for the plants. Totally running out of room for the seedlings downstairs and I have only 1 shelf left upstairs. . .
01/27/11 - Day 13 (for Round 1) and Day 8 (for Round 2)
The Lemon Cucumbers are slowly, but surely, coming up. The first sprout has grown to 7/8" tall (from the soil line) and 1 3/8" leaf span. . .the second one is 3/4" tall with a 1" leaf span and the third has yet to open the seed leaves. I can see the true leaves forming in the first two lemon cucumbers and once those open, I'll fertilize with a liquid fish supplement of some kind (still checking those out).
My Mallow flower babies are coming along nicely. . .if you consider all four plants sprouting in one and nothing in the other nice. Although I did accidentally murder one of them today while I was checking them out. One (the smallest one, by the way, so I don't feel TOO bad about it), had stuck to my finger as I was trying to move a piece of perlite. . .oops. I figure if was that easy to kill, it didn't really want to live. . .but the others are still in good health ad I hope to see some life in the other pot soon!
I just happened to peek in the Rosemary pots today and, lo and behold, there's life! I see two tiny little guys trying to come up in one of the pots. . .I'm so excited! Hopefully they will have opened their seed leaves by the time I get back.
And there's another weird sprout from my Chinese Lanterns. . .this one kind of reminds me of Morning Glory. I tried to get close enough to get a clear shot, but this camera sucks. I really do miss my Nikon and look forward to having her back with me. . .
The Seed Tray (1.0). . .
So I finally took the tray out to figure out where I put what. I, with the great foresight I have, totally labeled everything with the sticker labels, then forgot to write it down and placed the labels on the end that's against the light box. But at least I put the labels on, right?
So in cell pack 1, I put the Edible Pod Peas (of which, only two have sprouted). So only a 40% germination rate (compared to 100% last year), but better than nothing especially since these seeds are from 2006. At least I know how much to plant when I do sow some outside. . .
In cell pack 2, I planted the Lincoln Homesteader Peas and ALL of them sprouted! 100% germination rate. . .gonna have a bunch. Anyone need some peas?
In cell pack 3, I planted the Dwarf Grey Sugar Peas and ALL of those sprouted as well! I'm just not sure why the other peas didn't. . .
In cell pack , I planted Leeks. Nothing has sprouted in there yet, and the packet told me 6-16 days and we are smack dab in the middle with nothing to show for it. Keeping them moist and well lit, so hopefully something will come up while I'm out of town. . .
In cell pack 5, I planted broccoli and it's kinda funny: three have sprouted on one side, but not the other. It just amazes me how fickel some plants can be. . .
And the lemon cucumbers live in cell pack 6. Their update is above.
I'm super excited to see how everything has changed when I get back on Sunday or Monday. . .I wonder what else will be sprouting by then?
01/22/11 - Day 8 (for Round 1)
Sprout Update:
One of the mallows emerged. The seed leaves haven't really opened up yet, but there's some green action going on in that little jiffy pot!!
The Tokyo Green Onions have started to show up, but they look like little white worms with black seed pods on one end of them.
Seed Tray Update:
Seed tray 2 (on the kitchen shelf) - I noticed a couple of cells that had some fuzzy mold on them, so I took the plastic cover off for ventilation and will put it on again before bed, and remove in the morning.
01/25/11 - Day 11 (for Round 1)
Sprout Update:
The lemon cucumbers are alive! The first one popped up yesterday and opened it's seed leaves today. I measured it and it's 11/16" tall from the soil and has a 7/8" leaf span. And a few of his friends showed up today, too. . .two more on the opposite end popped up and if they are anything like the first one, should open up tomorrow. I really do enjoy this stage, and then they change so fast during this part. Makes all the anticipation worth while. . .
All 3 peas are popping up. 5 of one variety and 2 in each of the others. I really do need to look at my labels and figure out which is which pretty quick. . .why I didn't write it down is beyond me.
This is a funny one. So now ALL of the mallows have come out in one pot (2 with open seed leaves and two with closed), and NOTHING in the other. And if I recall correctly, these shouldn't even be coming up until at least February 3rd, anyway. Weird, huh? And yet I can't get my flippin' tomatoes to sprout for nothing.
And a few days ago, a little sprout popped up in this container with some Chinese Lanterns we got on clearance from Wight's Nursery in Lynnwood for .50. It's all gangly and frail looking, and I'm not sure if it's a seed I dropped at some point for if it came from the nursery. I'm just kind of interested to see what it is. . .
When you met your husband/wife or significant other did they introduce you to some food that you have never heard of before? For me it was the white acre pea. If you are from Georgia, I am not, you know what it is, and otherwise, you may or may not know what I am talking about.
It is a pea in the Southern Cow Pea family, but it is actually a bean. You already know its more popular cousin the black eye pea. The white acre looks similar in shape, but is slightly smaller and white to green in color and no you do not need an acre to grow them. In fact you only need enough space for a few rows. They are small but each plant produces a lot of pea pods and each pod holds a lot of peas. It takes only 60-80 days to harvest. They fare well in the heat and can tolerate dry conditions but produce more peas when is plentiful.
My wife’s family is from Georgia and they love their white acre peas. You cannot get them in Virginia, where I live, unless you grow them yourself. Several years ago my wife’s aunt stopped sending them from Georgia. I decided I would grow them myself, so on our way through Georgia to Florida we stopped and got some seeds. Everyone said” I don’t think they will grow up there.” They were wrong, I just harvested my crop of white acres for the third year in a row. We have six quart size bags of shelled peas in the freezer. It takes some work to get to the peas as they are shelled by hand unless you have an expensive shelling machine.
My neighbor once saw them growing in my garden and ask "what are they?" I explained what they were and that we usually slow cook them for a couple of hours with a ham hock. He said, “everything taste good cooked with a ham hock.” They do have there own nutty kind of flavor that is enhanced by the ham hock. It is my job to bring them to holiday gatherings, but I will let someone else bring the ham hock.
I am putting some pictures of the plants and shelled peas in my photos, look under white acre peas album. If you have heard of white acres or know of a good recipe, then drop me a line.
Picked a bunch of stuff from the garden today between rain showers. A few late sugar snap peas, just enough for a snack, a handful of green beans that I added to the pile for dinner tomorrow, and... my first cucumber! It was off the plant and in my belly in under 1/2 hour! I think that I am finally meeting the USDA requirements for vegetable intake!
Hope you are all having a safe fourth of July! God Bless our Troops, Veterans, and all their families for the sacrifice they have made for us all.
I was out in the garden checking on everything and was kind of disappointed when I originally looked at the peas. Lots of flowers, but I couldn't see any pods yet. Then I got down on my hands and knees and peered into the row and this is what I saw. :D
Nature was telling me to slow down and enjoy the little things.
C has done a great job of keeping such a large veggie bed weed-free in my absence. While I regard weeding (especially hand-weeding) as a necessary evil, C calls it his relaxation. He gets down on his hands and knees with a little L-shaped hand tool and winkles those nasty weeds out from between the plants. He even worked away at my cutting bed despite his assertion that he won't tend any plants that can't be eaten. I shouldn't cut him up so much. Thank goodness he finds his carelessness as amusing as I do, but perhaps not as annoying.
Early this week, I dug three hills of fingerling potatoes - enough for a meal for us, one for the old gentleman who mows our lawn ( Before any of you think I'm taking advantage of him, he does it with a ride-on mower to keep hiself active. In return, besides paying him, I bake sweets for him.) and one for the friends who introduced the species to us. They were yummy. Next week, I'm going to make 'Spring Stew' which is simply small new potatoes, fresh peas, baby carrots and small onions in a basic cream sauce. I add fresh dill to the sauce sometimes, but it can be left unflavoured or any other herb can be subsituted for the dill. I'm a dill freak and there's way more in my garden than I can use. The recipe works only with veggies fresh from the garden. I've tried using purchased produce in the past and produced a dismal failure. I don't understand why. That's just the way it is.
Today, C and I are off to watch one of our granddaughters compete in a horse show. According to her mom, and judging by the number of ribbons on display in her bedroom, she's a very accomplished rider at 9 years of age. We are supposed to get thunder storms this afternoon. I hope not. I really want to see her ride in competition.
Take care, everyone, an happy gardening.
So I realized today that I had not posted photos or a blog entry in all of May and noticed that June is going fast. Here is the most recent set of photos I took. The mystery plant is not a peony. Here is the photo of it all grown up. It is in full shade.
Last year my mom sent some of her "Minchow" Iris divisions in a large bag. I cleaned them up and planted as many as I could then hoped for the best. Out of the newly planted (last fall) I had 3 sets bloom. They all looked like the one below. However my mom claims there should be some yellow ones. I will have to wait til next year to find out!
Lastly my vegetable garden is doing well. I have decided that I will not try radishes again next year. This is the third year that they have failed miserably in my garden and I am tired of trying. Other things are doing really well. The peppers are in and growing along with the 5 tomato plants. I have been harvesting lettuce for 3-4 weeks and I just started harvesting the sugar snap peas last week. My daughter has decided that mommy doesn't get any and proceeds to eat them faster than I can pick them. We have had lots of storms this week and some strong winds. I went out on Monday to find all of my peas knocked over. I propped them up as best as I could, hopefully they will continue to produce. Anyway, here is the pic of the peas and lettuce patch.
Happy Gardening everyone!
Now that you've had a peek at Melissa's Secret Garden, I'll have to post photos of Jacquie's. (I have to photograph it first, though.) Hers are very different from mine and Melissa's, but lovely, just the same. My eldest daughter, Dawn, studied landscape design and had beautiful beds when she lived in Ontario. She hasn't adjusted to the growing conditions in Georgia yet, but I'm confident she'll eventually create something terrific down there.
It's raining here today, so I won't be outside, which is probably a good thing because C is preparing to go fishing for pickerel (walleye) with several of his buddies this weekend.
We got all 40 lbs of seed potatoes (Banana Fingers, Yukon Golds, Cal Whites and Chieftains) in the soil, finally. That makes ten 40' rows. I may have bought too many, don't you think? We will share with family and friends, but I think I'll cut back to 30 lbs next year. I'm just not sure which variety to eliminate.
My teenaged tomato plants (21 of 'em - the rest were shared with family and friends) are nestled all snug in their beds surrounded by eggshells and makeshift cloches.
Our onions, peas and beets are up, and I put a row of Swiss chard and one of parsnips in yesterday after I transplanted more volunteer sunflowers and seeded my shade bed with amaranth. I still need to plant three varieties of beans, cucumbers, pumpkins and several different gourds. We sell the gourds at a roadside stand. I found a new variety of gourds yesterday. They resemble apples in shape. Had to buy a packet of seeds to try them out. Tri-coloured pears used to be our best seller, but last year crown of thorns took over. I also purchased a new, expensive hand trowel. It seems to me that I break the cheaper ones on a regular basis. I broke one of mine and bent one of Melissa's during our All Girls' Weekend.
I'm looking forward to having this weekend to myself. No meals to prepare! No interruptions! No working on someone else's agenda! I want to concentrate my efforts on edging up my shade bed and getting the last of the seed into my cutting bed, then weeding and mulching the beds at home. That is, if I survive the preparation for C's fishing weekend. I need to make several dozen of his favourite chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. That's the easy part. C tends to leave a lot of his preparations till the last minute then gets hyper about getting everything packed and ready to go. I'll likely have to help him search for some of his stuff and undoubtedly have to assist with putting new line on his reels, etc. He's just gone to town for some new swivels because he can't find the packet he bought last fall. Ah well, it's a small price to pay for three days of peace and quiet in my flower beds and, hopefully, fresh pickerel for dinner Monday evening.
Hello Everyone!
Yesterday (Tuesday), I spent a long time in the garden. I concentrated
mostly on the continued amendments of the veggie patch, but also
planted some of the morning glory starts. I had started them in a
cottage cheese container between damp paper towels, they ended up
growing through the paper towel and up the container). I planted them
under some of my bushier plants in hopes that they will get shelter if
it does get overly chilly.
I fiddled and faddled adding more
horse manure, 2.5 bags of top soil, peat moss, sand and ash. Working
back and forth, turning the soil in over and over, and back and forth
some more. My blisters returned! I hadn't been digging to that extreme
in at least 3 weeks! I will have to purchase a nice rototiller when I
get a larger garden area, it would be well worth it! Just think, I will
have so much pride when I get to harvest my veggies though! It's all
done by hand, every bit of it!
After working in the garden for
most the mid-morning to afternoon, we went for a walk to visit my
Mother-In-Law and see what she was up too. She had to head out to town
so we didn't stay long, instead we wandered around looking at some of
the flowers blooming in her yard. She has a really pretty area with red
tulips, grape hyacinths, the prettiest daffodiles (they must be called
a "double" or something, I will look it up tomorrow) and oregano. Below
are some pictures, I really recommend this time clicking on the images to make them larger to see the lovely details (especially the daffodil):
Above:
Grape Hyacinths, Red Tulips, Daffodils and Oregano (I think it is since
I smash it between my fingers and I smell oregano) and my daughter
stopping to smell the flowers.
Above:
What I think is oregano (not sure) because when I squish it between my
fingers it smells like oregano and my Mother-In-Law thinks that is what
it is (she's the one who planted it). It's a pretty little plant and I
transplanted some more into my garden (from my Mother-In-Law's garden).
While my daughter napped, I did some more fiddle-faddling in the
veggie patch amending like crazy. When I felt I had done my best I
decided it was time to build a natural trellises. My trellis has 3 pine
branches and Jute natural string. It turned out really neat! I am going
to make some more only slightly modified for my cucumbers to climb in
the few days. Below are a few pictures:
After
I finished the trellis I planted a row of peas (only half the length of
trellis) with some older pea seeds I had from 2 years ago. I watered
them in and by then it was dark out (above pictures show how dark it
was, my daughter was using a flashlight...lol) I figure it was natures
way of saying to go inside and take a break, the day is done.
Today
we spent most of the day inside because it was sunny but overly chilly
outside. I found it hard to "want" to go out there and work, PLUS I was
so sore all over! My left calf is extremely sore (is that the way you
spell the body part...hum???). I am currently applying heat to it since
it's been sore the entire day.
After deciding we needed some
fresh air despite the fact that the day hadn't improved (it was
supposed to be an amazingly beautiful day, but to our disappointment it
was not nice!), we headed out to the garden. I still have lots of
flower seeds to plant and I have been wanting to get my veggie patch
planted. I have been so cautious not to plant until I am totally
convinced that my soil amended to the best of my abilities, but I
really needed to get my veggies in.
I
have a few more spots to add veggies, but I am not sure what I want to
plant in those spaces. I have quite a few more to plant. I have more
cucumber seeds (which I will be building a modified natural trellis
soon), more carrots, lettuce (I have two kinds and would really love
fresh lettuce), and tomato (I doubt I will get fruit off of them, but I
still want to try, I will probably plant them in pots instead of in my
veggie patch that way I save space, can move them to sunny spots, and
can bring them to a safe space when it gets frosty...oh-how I do not
want to think about frost....).
Above is a picture of my clematis (Nelly Moser). First year having it grow in my garden and I can't wait to see how it does!This morning dawned sunny and warm. My favourite weather forecaster, Frank Ferragine on Breakfast Television, warned of the possibility of pop-up thunder storms, but that seemed highly unlikely. So after getting the morning’s chores out of the way and feeding my dear hubby, I grabbed my treasure trove of seeds and headed to the farm.
Ever since I acquired Dick Raymond’s book, ‘The Joy of Gardening’ several years ago, I’ve wanted to try his ‘wide row’ method of planting. C has steadfastly resisted, preferring to stick to tried and true methods, but I finally convinced him to try it as an experiment.
The dreaded tiller has been in the repair shop since my last mention of it. When the repairman called to say it was ready, I asked what was wrong with it. “Water in the gas,” he responded, being a man of few words (unlike yours truly, who tends to ramble on.) Who wudda thunk – just because it sat outside all winter? C intended to put it into the shed, but never got around to doing it.
Now, C absolutely hates putting seed into the ground without going at the soil one more time. That, and the fact I had virtually bullied him into trying the ‘wide row’ method, caused him to be a little grumpy. Well, actually, a LOT grumpy, but he helped me prepare the 15’ row with a minimum of grumbling. I planted half the row in peas and the other half in beets, scattering the seed randomly but fairly uniformly. I’ll share photos when the plants emerge from the soil. Hopefully, the block planting will be beneficial to the peas, making them better able to withstand the wind.
That was enough experimentation for C. He prepared two conventional rows for me and I planted them with yellow beets. We’ve neither grown nor eaten yellow beets, so I didn’t tell C about this new variety. I’ll report on his reaction after we’ve eaten some.
By this time, his good humour restored, C went to weed the strawberry patch while I turned my attention to cleaning up my holding bed yet again. Those darned weeds just keep a-comin’. After I got that bed weeded, I decided to attack the weeds in my new lasagna shade bed. They’re few and far between, but I’m a fanatic about getting my flower beds weed-free in the spring. I firmly believe that it saves a lot of work later. I planted some lily-of-the-valley (I hope I don’t end up regretting that.) and finished edging the first ‘link’ (the area between each of the spruce trees). Yahoo! Only five more to go!
C went to harvest some more asparagus. I was leaning on my shovel, admiring my handiwork, when the skies darkened, the wind picked up considerably, and I felt the first large drops of rain on my shoulders. “Oh, well,” thought I. “I’m not made of sugar nor salt, so a little rain won’t hurt me. I’ll just pull a few more weeds before heading home.” The thought had barely passed through my brain when a tremendous thunder boomer sent me scurrying out from under those tall spruce trees. (‘Scurrying’ is probably not the appropriate word to describe the way a chubby old lady runs for cover, but I really like that word.)
C had considerably more foresight than I. He hates to get wet, and had headed to our truck when he felt the first drop. He had the good sense not to laugh, although I noticed him struggling to suppress a grin at my hasty retreat. I should have given more credence to Frank’s forecast.
So much for gardening for a while! The soil will likely be too damp for a day or two. Maybe I’ll actually get around to cleaning my stove and fridge.
While I was staking and planting butterbeans I fiquered I might as well get my luscious zipper peas in the ground.I chose another wide row to plant my peas in.
I soaked them for about 30. min .I was in a hurry. Then I installed store bought wooden stakes .Peas were planted around the stakes ,watered and finally mulched with spoiled hay.
I almost forgot the companion plants.Around the edges of the wide row I planted petunias.Nearer the peas were planted a small strawberry plant.
On the leftt side of my walkway are several single rows. One of those rows were chosen to plant a banana pepper,bell pepper and jalapeno pepper plant .In between each young plants I planted marjoram as a companion plant.
The plants were mulched with hay and watered thoroughly.
I pray they do well I so love peppers.
Netx to the peppers I planted a single row of onion plants.I plan to try adding parsnip in that area of the garden soon.
A new entry is coming soon. Happy Gardening.
I thought that I would show off the latest growth in the garden. I was out repairing some water line the other day and I noticed that some of my peas had begun sprouting. We have had some really great spring weather here lately. Lots of sunshine and an occasional shower. We had a pretty good rain last Saturday night and i think that helped the garden out quite a bit. Anyway, that's all for now.
We BBQ'd for Memorial Day yesterday because DD an DH would be on the road taking DD back to school. So my oldest DD an her family came over also. It was a nice day for just relaxing an cooking out. The boys played under the sprinkler for a while an of course we had to ride the 4 wheeler an hunt for huckleberries down the dirt road. For supper we had BB Chicken on the grill, cabbage I had frozen from last season (experiment success), carrots (white, orange, an yellow) made a colorful pretty dish sauteed in some olive oil an real butter, throwed a couple leeks in the last couple minutes of cooking. I've laid off margerine due to the info I found here:
Today I have planted Jade Beans after pulling the sugar peas, Turtle Beans an Mayflower Beans. All new to me this year an will be interesting to see how they do an taste. All from trades so there isn't an abundance of them but enough hopefully to at least taste them to see if I want to save enough seeds for next year to plant more. I am also working on a spot at the end of the house to plant some Cream 8 peas. I've been reading an hearing about with the fuel rising in cost that the food is also going to be going up to ridiculous prices. To the point that the average person won't be able to afford food. Its early enough in the growing season that there is plenty of time to still plant a lot of stuff. I dug a lot of my garlic, so pleased with them also. Usually I have a good harvest but the sizes just aren't all that. This time they were nice size heads. I put them in the greenhouse on the wire tables to dry/cure. I still have some yet to dig that aren't quiet ready yet.
My strawbale garden is doing pretty good, I'm having to fertilize it weekly cause they really aren't in enough soil to hold nutrients, but they need watering daily for sure. My red plum tree is loaded with plums this year, gonna make some good jelly this year. Also my Santa Rosa Plum tree is loaded for its size. About a year or two ago a friend of mine an I were talking about her apricot tree an how sickly it looked an wouldn't bear fruit, the Lichen had taken it over. She said she hand picked them off an sprayed a fungicide all over it an by the following season it had put on new growth an was loaded with fruit. I got home after our talk an got to looking at the SR an noticed the lichen was on it an was trying to take it over. I got busy picking them off an gave it a fungicide treatment an it wasn't to long I started seeing new growth. Last year it only had 9 plums on it, the year b4 that only 5. This year it is loaded with delicious, juicy, sweet plums. No bug holes or marks on them. I am so pleased I took the time an gave it the extra attention I did as it has well rewarded me for my efforts.
I am discussed with the Mayhaw Trees though. At $15 a gallon (may be going up to) I really wanted these trees to do right. That isn't gonna happen as long as there are cedar trees within a mile of them. Cutting them all down isn't an option. So I've decide to cut them down an replant some Hybrids that are suppose to be disease resistant an produce larger fruit than the native trees do.
I have just about finished picking strawberries, they are now coming in sporatically now. I have enough to do awhile so I don't mind. Not that it would do me any good, lol. I finally acquired a Tree Dahlia an it is growing good. I had potted it up for awhile til it had some growth on it, I planted in the front flower bed on Saturday. I can't wait for it to get mature an bloom.
Well I've bored yawl long enough, just came in to cool off a bit. Gonna go try an work on the bed for the peas awhile. Later, T
Now is the time to start the spring time gardening. Here in IL, we have received so much rain that there has even been some flooding. We are fortunate to not have had any flooding right where we live, but all the rain has slowed us up in being able to till the garden and plant our seeds and small plants. I am so looking forward to being able to get out into the garden. I just love gardening. And last years garden was such a success, that I am praying this years will be as great, if not greater! I want to plant similar things as I did last year, like lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach (which I think I love the most of all the spring crops), peas and so forth. In addition to my garden being a success, I pray your is a success as well. God bless all who read this post.
RubyRedTomatop>
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