YIKES!!!

The garden is so overrun right now.  I haven't been to work on it in probably 2 or 3 weeks.  It was either way to hot or it rained everyday.  This is not complaining or excusing, just stating a fact.  This is what was ready today.

July 19th

There is a beet, cucumber, zucchini, and two tomatoes.  Yikes. The old adage 'If you don't use it, you lose it" seems quite appropriate here. Cabbage bugs (or beetles) are everywhere as well.  Some cleaning and weeding is what is going to be going on for the next couple of days.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

The herbs are doing well though. Basil aplenty, tarragon galore, and more oregano that I need.

Sign of summer

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

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Not Kansas

Well, I now have seen something corny :-)

I first noticed this on my corn stalk and had no idea what it was.  Is this what makes the ear of corn?  I thought it was cool. These must be the kernels before they get pollinated or something.

It has been so hot here thought that I have slept late and hadn't been in the garden for a while.  When I finally returned, here is what I saw.

It had turned into that antenna thing that I always see at the top of corn.  I do have an ear of corn forming with the silks and everything. WooHoo!

Here is the other stalk.  As you can tell, it isn't as high as an elephant's eye but hey, I will take what I can get right now.

Two of my loves!!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Learn something new...

While straightening up the garden, I noticed this.

Looks like toes

This is what the bottom of two of my cornstalks look like. I had never noticed it before.  They look like little toes to me. I am wondering if this is normal or not.  I assume they help stabilize the stalk as it grows.  I just think it is kind of neat.

My favorite is the zucchini blossoms. 

If I did not know any better I would just pick the blossom to have and then I would never have any zucchini.  I wonder why nature made it that way.  I guess it is designed more for the bees than me huh?

Hydrangea

I am so excited that my hydrangea is blooming!!! It got caught in a frost and I SEVERELY pruned it and was worried that it was the death nell for the plants.

Month of Sundays

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see

 

 

Try, Try, Again

I have had some "learning experiences" with my garden this year. My Dad didin't call them failures, just learning experiences.

1) Eggshell containers- You need to make sure you Carefully wash out the contents before storing. I didn't get a couple of radished to sprout but being so little they dried out rapidly

2) Strawberry plant- I think you need two different types of plants for them to flourish.  I have one left over from last year. It has done really well, but the strawberries weren't as plump as I thought they would be.

3) Make sure to cover plants even if it is close to freezing weather. Weather people are often wrong.

So... here is my latest.  You know how they have those watering globe things for plants.  I have some old bottles so I am going to try that and see how it works are far as watering goes.

Don't worry it is lemonade

Strawberry bottle for strawberries :-)

Potato Patch

I was watching a video called Homestead Blessings by the West Ladies.  This particular one is about gardening.

They showed how to make an easy potato patch. So I have decided to try it.
You just put down some newspaper to keep down the weeds.
Throw some potatoes on the newspaper.

Extra! Extra!Potatoes are coming!!

Then cover it with 6-8 inches of covering. When the covering (hay, mulch, compost, etc) goes down, just add some more.

Just make sure no light gets through

Bad Weather Blessings

There was a really bad storm on Thursday night. Nothing major in my neighborhood was effected, as far as I know. However, my onions did get knocked over. But look at these blessings.

no crying here

These were the first things that I planted this year.  I am so pleased with how they turned out.

At Easter

This is what they looked like at Easter. The lettuce is right behind them.

Other onions

These were planted at the same time as the others so the size is the same. Yeah!

Hopeful Sign

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Salad anyone?

I am so excited about the harvesting. It isn't alot but it helps make all the hard work easier.

Reminds me of Beatrix Potter

The veggies in the basket are Kohlrabi, Easter Egg radish, lettuce(Romaine), broccoli and carrot  It made for a nice salad. I love all the veggies but it is getting tiring all the washing and cleaning off of food. Can't complain though.*

tomato plant

LT invited me to a Memorial Day cookout.  I asked if there was anything I could bring and she said "You could bring a tomato".  This is what was brought :-) Hey its will have tomatoes in a while.  A real tomato ready to eat made it way to her house as well.





*Be careful pulling out carrots. I wasn't and it broke in half when I pulled it. :-(

Garden Craft

Well, this is my first try and making something pretty for my garden.

Railroad ties

I was walking one day to the local "big box" store that is right near my house.  On the path I cross over some railroad tracks.  One day while walking I noticed these spikes on the side of the tracks. They had recently been doing some work and these were left.

These have been with me for quite a while and I have been trying to figure how to use them. I just couldn't let them go to waste. :-)

Finally, it came to me, I can use these as garden markers for my herb garden.  So, to the garage for some spray paint.

Coat #1

Orange would be eye catching and I had a little left over. This is what they look like after the first coat.  Not very exciting huh?

Coat #10ish

The paint ran out and the nozzle was crooked so it was getting everywhere. The paint that I had the most of was green. So, they were repainted.

Coat #1 of green

Finally, I think they turned out well. No labels yet, but they're a'comin.

blast from the past

I was trying to find a picture for a friend and came across this one on a CD.

Spring (2005?)

This is from the first year I every tried to grow something in my yard.  I know it is the first year because that is the only year I have planted sunflowers.  I don't know why I haven't planted them again.  I think it might be because of the birds they attracted.

Summer (same year)

I was doing ghetto gardening even then.  The branches were to hold up my tomato plants that had fallen over. I didn 't know what to do then and for some reason didn't ask anyone or look up things on the Internet.  Oh, well. Live and learn.

Happy Memorial Day

Hope you have a wonderful relaxing Memorial Day :-)

Ghetto Gardening??

I think maybe I should rename this blog to "Ghetto Gardening" because of my methods. Here are some examples:

notice the packing tape?

For the pea vine(?) I had to add another stick because it was growing so tall.  I used packing tape to tape the two sticks together.  Then, I used some leftover yarn from my tomato "cages" to tie it to the old grill leg for more support. Yikes!

not bad huh?

This is one of my homemade tomato cages.  I used sticks and some rose branches that I had trimmed earlier.  These are the supports and the yarn is some that I had leftover from my knitting.  For right now they appear to be doing well.  I have other cages but they look horrible.  This is the best of the lot.

Hope you have a great Memorial Weekend.

Soft kitty, smart kitty little ball of fur

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

It is beginning

I am so excited that I am finally seeing some things that look like vegetables :-)
Besided the leafy variety which is kind of hard to judge when it is ready.
The first was some Easter Egg radishes.  I don't like radishes that much but they are pretty easy to grow and grow quickly.

They look like turnips but I promise they are radishes

My favorite pictures is this one of the broccoli. I am really proud of it (the picture,not the broccoli) I can't take credit for making the broccoli.  I will say it seems to have taken FOREVER for it to finally like like broccoli instead of just big leaves.

Pretty enough to eat. (almost)

I had totally forgotten about the asparagus.  It came up about 1 week and 1/2 ago.   I was so surprised. Now it has turned into that ferny thing.  I don't think I am suppose to do anything with it but i will read up and double check.

Sometimes it is best to leave things alone.

The watermelon is already past this stage and in the ground.  However, I love it when the plant has sprouted but you can still see the seed attached to the plant.

The black part is the seed it came from

My strawberry plant is getting in some nice looking berries.  I am learning that things happen on their own schedule. Everyone else was making strawberry jam and such so I was a little jealous.  Now, mine are coming in and all is better.

My favorite plant in the garden :-)

Lastly, are the sugar peas. I finally have a pea pod.  I am so excited.  I learned that the flower is what turns into the pod.  It is rather quickly from flower to pod.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and summer.

Before and After

iFrom Amanda Blake Soule at www.soulemama.com

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

A Dirty Movie

Well, Daisy Janie has done it again. She told me about Dirt! The Movie that is available to watch on Hulu.com
1) Jamie Lee Curtis, my fav, narrates this movie.
2) It isn't one of the dry, preachy movies but gets its point across
3) Speaks to Nobel Prize Winners, Harvard professors, and brought up points that I never thought about.

Digby

There are several popular gardening trends that I do not like and after watching this movie, I felt better about the decisions I have made.
It also echoed the Back to Eden video that I recently watched and wrote about.

HELLO!!!

this moment} - A Friday ritual begun from my reading SoulMama - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Celebration of Mother.

On May 9th

Here is what my garden looks like today. I must say that I am kinda proud.  Of course I haven't done anything, Mother Nature has done it all.  She is one of my favorite mamas. :-) She gives us water, food and air without asking anything in return.  The key is to take care of it.
So in honor of Mother's Day Sunday I want to take this picture.  It has rained here all day so I will say, the garden was looking particularly lush.

The Onions and Swiss Chard are ready for picking

On the lookout

{this moment} - A Friday ritual begun from my reading SoulMama - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

another first

Last year I was reading an article in a magazine about using eggshells as seed starters. They are biodegradable and are a source of calcium.  I finally decided to try it.  I have been saving shells for a while in the refrigerator.  I think you are suppose to wash them to get any remaining yolk or white out.
I put soil in the eggshells and added the seeds and watered.

that is a stick not a worm :-)

As you can see, the egg carton is made of clear, plastic. I am hoping this is an added bonus and will act as a terrarium and help the seeds sprout.

Hope this will help the seeds and soil stay moist

The only other drawbacks were that:
1) there is no drainage hole so I don't know if I overwatered

not the neatest I have planted

2) if a seed needed lots of depth (1 inch or more) it was difficult to find that much room