This week in my garden: July 12th

This is a post inspired by Amanda Soule and her blog Soulemama.  My garden is "not looking good" right now. I have decided(har har) to have cool weather garden. So right now this is day one of the garden (again).

The blackberry bush is growing well. You can't even really see the borders of where the grass ends and the "garden" begins.

 





My favorite thing about this picture is that you can see the fireworks that neighbors are setting off.  It isn't the 4th of July but the house is outside city limits.

 

That grey little thing in the right corner is my cat. 

 

One of the reasons I have kept a blog is to see the progress of my garden. Right now it is not well, but through the blog, I can see what is was like when I kept it up.

 

It is hard to tell but under all that grass is really good soil. When I was moving stuff aside to walk, I could glimpse the soil. It looked rich and dark brown. Hopefully since this is the ultimate in "no till" right now, the dirt is doing well.

Effing dammit. The one picture that shows what little I had done to clean up the garden got deleted when I went back to compare pictures. Well shit.

In the middle of the picture I hope you can make out a corner. That corner is my hope right now.  Last year I set out some ceramic border in the garden.  That corner is a piece of one of the ceramic titles.  That is my starting point. So I cling tight to the song "Inch by inch" that Peter, Paul and Mary sang.  It helps to to not give up. Mother Nature does some amazing things with a little helping hand.

 





 

 





It begins....again

Tonight is the night that I started digging in the dirt again :-)
The day was beautiful and a balmy 79 degrees.  We had a great time, my kitties and I, pulling and planning the upcoming seasons.

 

This is what the begining of the season looks like at my house.
Fortunately the ceramic tiles appear to be doing their job and have kept the outline of where the garden was last summer.

 

I think I have learned a little from last year. I remember that when I took out all the green from where I dug, it soil got so compacted that nothing would grow.

After 1 1/2 hours

I am so glad a started this last year.



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. :-(

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.

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.

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.

Freezin for a reason

Well we had another frost warning this week. I was more prepared this time.  I was able to cover up everything before it hit.

Is this why they call them veggie  beds?

Last time the hydrangea and tomato got hit, but this time no damage seems to happen.

The cat didn't get frost bitten either :-)

I read in an Extension Office pamphlet, that it is better to use sheets and blankets and covers.  That way, the heat from the ground gets "trapped" in there. If you wrap them around to tight, it doesn't work as well. 

As if you wondered

If anyone wonders why this blog is called Goofy Gardening, show them these pictures.

Crazy chard

 Everyone said I put things out too early but in my opnion if I bought a plant...I needed to put it in the ground. Anyhoo... Tonight, they have a forcast for frost. So I ran out and covered everything in grass clippings and some of the material they but down in the "flower bed" out front. Fortunately, the lawnman came today so I had plenty to put out. 

Do you see the rose bush?

Please note that I did this after work and a trip to the tax agency.  So I was raking grass and placing it without much light at all. As you can see, I overdid it.

Thyme for a change :-)

I felt guilty because I planted to early. I didn't want anything to die because I was too stupid.  Now, they will die because I was too stupid to mulch the correct amount.

Hope you are having a great week and are a little saner than me.

New additions

We have had alot of rain lately, so my seedlings have sprouted.  I feel like I am late in planting these but I am always amazed at what Mother Nature can do.

Kohlrabi is planted. Now, what is it?

It is amazing to think that you put this little bitty seed, that you can barely see, add water and some fertilizer, and it comes something you can eat.

Carrots for Easter

I am learning that things do get better over time.  If only I can have the patience until May?

Making a pie from scratch

Today I finally was able to plant my blueberry bush.  Actually right now it is just a stick but hopefully with time and patience, I will have blueberries to much on this summer.

Bare root blueberry plant

Hopefully there will be blooms in a few weeks.

It just looks so sad right now.  Just planted a couple of twigs in the ground

Inch by Inch

Well, I just wanted to show that not all the veggies are in the garden.
First up- seeds and seedling are begining to sprout.

Pepper, collards, mustard, carrots,etc

Leeks, kale, broccoli, lettuce, etc

Next, are the veggies in containers. Of course the ones, someone else planted are doing WAY better than mine.

Swiss chard - Yum

Onions

Finally, the herbs in the planters

Cilantro and mint

Parsley and oregano

Fixin' Friday

I don't know if this officially counts as "gardening" but I am redoing my deck.

As you can see, it has been awhile since it has been painted. Unfortunatly, I don't think the railings have EVER been painted.

I went to Lowe's and bought some solid color stain to restain the deck. I really liked the green color. I know it is hard to tell that is what it was. The stain I chose was Olympic Maximum in Woodland Green. I decided that it would match my "woodlands." BONUS- all the materials I bought, from the paint to the brushes and roller were made in America. WooHoo!

Hopefully I will have great looking pictures when it is finished.