Pages

Friday, May 31, 2013

Potatoes

The potatoes May 27th

The potatoes May 30th

I've never planted potatoes before. Do they always grow this fast?

Monday, May 27, 2013

Please don't hail!

The garden May 27th
Almost all of the garden projects are done, and severe weather is in the forecast. That just sucks.

I was out of town Saturday and Sunday, so I had to do all of my weekend gardening today. One of the first things I did was buy some awesome new gardening gloves. They're awesome because they're orange.



Then, I made this:



I totally love cinder block gardens, but as much as I love them, a whole block wall wouldn't work in my world, so I settled for a cinder block bed. In the bed are sunflowers for the birds, with some pretty annuals around the edge. After I got the blocks set, I had to mix up the soil to fill it. I mix my own by throwing compost, peat moss and vermiculite on a tarp and mixing it with a pitchfork. Once the cinder block bed was full, the rest went into these:


And this:



The wheelbarrow is probably older than me. Someone left it at our house several years ago, and has never taken it back, so I got trendy and put flowers in it.

The other containers have rosemary, sage and thyme. I've never planted any of those herbs from seed, so we'll see if they grow. I also planted some basil today. It went in the big garden, next to the tomatoes.

Last but not least, I took care of my f-ing potatoes. D says I shouldn't cuss at something for growing, but they're growing so fast I can't keep them covered. Look at how tall they were.



Luckily, D thought of Tractor Supply. Of course they had straw, so now the f-ing potatoes look like this:



While I was gardening, D was working, too. He finished up the rain barrel.


It was a very productive day, and I am exhausted, but it's a good kind of tired.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Around the garden

Not much happening, except that everything is growing!

The garden May 22nd

I swear the potatoes are growing six inches a day. I don't completely cover them, but I've put a lot of top soil on them and they just keep sticking out. I want to find some straw to cover them with, but that's not very easy this time of year in the city.


The zinnias and marigolds are already sprouting but are too small to photograph yet. The carrots are growing slowly. There are sections that didn't germinate, so I may try to replant, but we'll see.

Some of the peas have figured out what the fence is for.


The garlic is a foot tall. Spring may not be the best time to plant it, but it seems to be doing just fine.


The peppers and tomatoes are looking good.


Only a few things left to plant. Beans are next. I'm going to plant both pole beans and bush beans. I'm trying a new trellis design for the pole beans this year, so I need to get that made before I plant them. I'll be out of town this weekend, but D and I will be working on that soon. I've also got various planters and beds I'll be filling with herbs, sunflowers, and flowers so I've still got lots of work.

Wednesday's birds: chickadee, robin, grackle, house sparrow, mourning dove, bluejay, ringneck dove, red-bellied woodpecker (first time in my backyard!)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Whew

Saturday was an amazing day. I spent most of the day outside in the garden!

I started the day by putting up a fence for my peas to grow on. In keeping with my white-trash aesthetic, I used the chicken wire that used to surround my raised beds. It's not pretty, but it'll work.



Next, I planted the zinnia and marigold seeds. The marigolds are to the right of the peas in the above picture, and the zinnias are the string in the upper left.

Then I moved on to the peppers. Nine pepper plants, six different kinds. I'm looking forward to roasting some on the grill.


After the peppers, it was time for tomatoes. I only had six tomato cages, so I had to make two more. In the process, I scratched myself on the rusty wire, so I took a break to google tetanus shots. I had one eight years ago, so I'm good for a couple more years.

Back to the tomatoes. Here they are waiting to be planted. I got this far and remembered that I wanted to put some additives in the soil, and I didn't have them, so I had to run to the store.


After a quick trip to the grocery store for some Epsom salt and powdered milk, I was back in business. I don't make this stuff up; I read it on other people's blogs. I usually have a problem with blossom end rot, so I decided to try the Canned Quilter's trick. Anything she does is worth trying.

With the tomatoes in the ground, the next thing on my agenda was mowing the yard. The grass was so long, I probably could've baled it. Instead, I used it to mulch around my tomatoes, onions, peppers and potatoes. I call it mulching, but what I was probably doing was planting thousands of grass seeds in my garden. Only time will tell.

The garden May 18th south half
The garden May 18th north half
And last but not least, the garden supervisors. When I was taking the picture of Scout, the dog in the foreground, I didn't realize Lucy was photo-bombing on the patio. They don't usually cooperate, so this is one of the best pictures I have of the two of them.



Thursday, May 16, 2013

They're here


They're just hanging out, waiting to get into their new home. I'm not smart, organized, experienced or cool enough to grow tomatoes from seed, so I order them or buy them at the local garden center. I got one Sweet Baby Girl cherry, two Amish Paste, two Early Girl II, one Caspian Pink and two Arkansas Traveler.

The view is going to change considerably this weekend.

North half May 16th
 
South half May 16th

Today's birds: grackle, robin, cardinal, house sparrow, blue jay


Monday, May 13, 2013

The tomatoes are coming! The tomatoes are coming!



The garden May 13th
It won't be dirt and string much longer.

I got two very exciting emails today. Both my tomatoes and my peppers have been shipped. Eight tomato plants and nine pepper plants are on their way, so I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Before they get here, I'm planning to get the zinnia and marigold seeds planted.

In other news, the carrots have started to sprout. They are sparse and tiny, so I don't have pictures yet, but they're growing! That means everything I've planted so far is growing. The sixth potato has also sprouted.

I have one failure area at this point. A two foot section of the peas did not sprout. I'm sure it's because the soil was too wet. I have drainage problems in my yard (as in standing water when it rains), and one corner of the garden is wetter than the rest of it. It's something I'll be working on.

Monday's birds: I'm out of bird food and I didn't spend any time staring out the window, so all I saw today were two robins and a blue jay.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Things are growing

Garlic


Beets

Ruby Queen
Onions


Asparagus

I couldn't get a good picture of the asparagus to save my life. It's so skinny, my camera won't focus on it.

Peas


Potatoes!


Of the six I planted, five are sprouting.

Thursday's birds: grackle, chickadee, house sparrow, ringneck dove, blue jay, cardinal, goldfinch, mourning dove, white breasted nuthatch.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Not a failure yet!

I didn't step foot in the garden all weekend. It was cold and wet and yucky. It was also 14 days since the peas went in the ground, with no sprouts in sight.

I spent a lot of time staring through my kitchen windows at the expanse of mud and string that was my garden. I also spent a few minutes peering over the fence at the piece of string that marks where the peas went. I was contemplating a total pea failure. I might've planted them too early. The weather's been too wet and cold.

Late Sunday afternoon, the temperature finally reached 50 degrees, and I took one last look. Guess what I saw?


You have to look closely to see the tiny spots of green. This afternoon, there are a whole lot more of them. They're still too small for me to get very good pictures, but they're growing, and that's all that matters.


Now I can concentrate on the spot where my potatoes are supposed to be.

Weekend birds: robin, cardinal, blue jay, house sparrow, starling, house finch, grackle, downy woodpecker, ringneck dove, mourning dove, chickadee, white breasted nuthatch, northern flicker, and a sharp-shinned hawk did a flyover.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

The good thing about spring snow



The garden May 2nd 6:30 am
 

The garden May 2nd 6:00 pm

It doesn't stick around for long. I think I heard it's the first time we've had snow in May since the mid 40's. Nothing seems any worse for it, so I'll just be thankful for the moisture.

Thursday's birds: house finch, grackle, house sparrow, robin, starling, bluejay, chipping sparrow, chickadee, downy woodpecker.