Yea for free! Free is good!

I just scored some free plants. A nice flowering pot of chives for the garden and a Bluebeard plant for my front flowerbed. We have a very nice man at work that brings in plants starting around this time of year, free to good homes. Over the last couple of years, I’ve adopted several of these plants, killed a few, but have mostly been very happy with my new acquisitions. Yea for free plants!

Harvested some more radishes this morning for the DH. It occurred to me the other day that I’ve never eaten a radish. I don’t really have any intention of starting now, either. J Tonight I’m going to clip some lettuce and tomorrow I’m going to have a nice homegrown salad. Mmm… J

How much is TOO much?

Ouch. I am so sore… a seemingly simple garden expansion yesterday morning turned into an all-day ordeal, ending with a very exhausted me flopped on the sofa, unable to move. What happened? Well, if you recall, I’ve filled my already-expanded plot and still have seeds and seedlings left to into the ground. So I needed more space. I didn’t get any zucchini seeds, so while I was at the farmers market buying salad and bread, I searched for a zucchini seedling… and ended up with the following:

• Pineapple tomato
• Holy mole pepper
• Anaheim peppers
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• 2 Strawberries
• 2 Peppermints
• Catnip

And then one of my fellow belly dancers offered up some of her extra tomato and pepper seedlings for free. Surely I have enough willpower to say no. Nope, guess not. That adds to my pile of plants:

• Beefsteak tomato
• 2Roma tomatoes
• 2 Habanera peppers
• 2 Chile peppers

This is definitely more than I planned on putting into the ground – my intentions were just to make enough room for the several packets of squash seeds sitting on my counter. But I could handle it, right? I mean, the first expansion this summer took up most of an afternoon of digging up sod, but it came up easy enough… I got up early on Sunday and headed to the local hardware store/garden center for a new (supposedly better) shovel and some organic topsoil. I also picked up some more tomato stakes, a few stepping stones…and some lettuce and spinach seedlings. Eek! More plants! Oh, and some geraniums to help shield my tomatoes…

Back home, I started to dig. And dig and dig and dig. The sod did not want to budge! I’m not sure if it was too dry or if the season had advanced enough that our grass roots are really taking hold, but after 2 hours, I had barely made a dent. Finally I gave up so I could get to belly dance practice on time… Sigh… After practice, I got right back out there and dug until dinner time. And after dinner time until dark… About 20 minutes before the sun had sunk below the horizon, I decided I’d had enough and should put in as many plants as I could before the light disappeared completely. At this point, my dear husband came out and took up the shovel, offering to help IF I swore not to let the garden get any bigger! Not a problem, honey – this is big enough for me!

I still didn’t get my squash in the ground. Sigh… but the new tomatoes, pepper, lettuces, and flowers are all in. The catnip will be potted, as will the peppermint. A nice lady at the farmers market told me that she keeps squash bugs at bay by planting her gourds in her peppermint patch, but I think I’ll pot them and sink them in the ground that way first. I don’t need a yard full of mint! The strawberries will probably go in the current radish patch – tonight I’ll harvest radishes if I get a chance…

So, gardening season is in full swing in the Happy Little Garden…only it’s not so little anymore! I’ll throw up some photos next chance I get…

Early!

My heirloom tomato and pepper seedling sampler was due to be shipped the week of May 19th. So you can imagine my surprise when my husband called on May 7th to ask about "this box on the porch that says 'Live Plants'." Eek. I checked with some more-seasoned gardeners and determined that is was OK to put them in the ground, and so I did... along with some cilantro, anise, and wormwood.
Problem. If you look to the left, you'll notice this long list of things I have yet to plant. Well...I'm out of room! Despite the garden plot expansion, my desire to not overcrowd my tomatoes again this year has rendered me no space left for squash. Crap. Guess I'll be out there digging up sod again this week...
Oh, well. I won't be complaining when I'm eating all these fresh-from-the-ground goodies...

Another shot to rot

Well, I have officially failed as a composter.  Yeah, I pretty much stink at it… Last year’s attempt at letting my food waste rot in a box yielded some not-all-that-rotten food waste in a box.  Hmmm…I bet if I’d tried to prevent everything from rotting, it would have actually worked.  Go figure.

 

So, anyhoo, I’m moving on and starting a new with a beautiful overpriced compost tumbler, the Envirocycle.  It’s pretty.  It arrived on Saturday with blessedly little packaging – just sitting in its box with no padding. Not that it needed padding – it just seems that companies these days over-package EVERYTHING.  (Don’t even get me started on the gift card I ordered for my dad at Christmas that came in bubble wrap!)  I’m glad the Envirocycle folks figured out that a large flexible plastic can was not likely to break without the company of Styrofoam peanuts.  Good job, people!

 

So, as soon as I cover our back yard in Coop Poop this afternoon, I’ll roll out the new tumbler and we’ll let the rotting fun begin again… J

 

On a gardening note – I finally got my mile-long green beens in the ground.  I need to post some photos soon.  I definitley have dwarf sweet peas shooting up.  There are also sprouts in the lettuce and radish patches, but I have since forgetten which patch is which, so I’ll have to wait until they get a wee bit bigger to identify them. J  Happy spring, all!

Expanding

Phew...finally warm enough outside to dig in the dirt. This year I'm planting a lot more, so a little garden plot expansion was necessary. I started on Wednesday, clearing sod to make the plot roughly 3 times its current length. Then, of course, it rained for the entirety of the next two days. So, yesterday (Saturday), I was finally able to get back outside and finish up. I swung by Earl May and Menards for some Omagro compost and organic topsoil - my compost pile was not successful - I'm going to work on that this year, as well. Omagro will do - it's local at least, and heck, it it probably made from the sod I tossed last year!

This morning, I drug myself out of bed in order to spread the compost and topsoil. Ugh, 40 lb bags are not my friend! Then I sorted through my seed packets to determine what needed to go into the ground today. Lettuce mix, dill, radish, and sweet pea seeds are nestled safely in the soil, soon to sprout alongside the onions that are already growing. I'm not sure the origin of the onions for sure -they are either the ones that I didn't pull up last year, or the winter onions I planted in Oct/Nov (a gift from a friend's mom). Either way, at least something is growing!

Starting some onion seeds...outside!

I read about this in Mother Earth News a couple of months ago...you can start seeds in milk jugs as an alternative to using lights inside (for those of us without much interior room to spare). I decided to start my onions this way...hopefully it works!
I took several milk jugs (collecting from friends since I don't drink milk) and cut them in half, leaving one side intact to function as a hinge.

Using my organic potting soil, I filled each jug with about 3 inches of soil. The soil was generously moistened, and the onion seeds were spaced in the soil, about 1 inch apart.

I taped the jugs shut (all I could find was electrical tape, but I may replace it), leaving the caps off.

Each jug was paced inside a garbage bag, which was tied shut with a rubber band.

These jugs/bags will stay on a sunny spot on my deck for the spring, where the onion seeds will hopefully spout inside the insulated environment...we'll see... I'll check on them for water and heat needs as necessarily...those issues weren't included in the directions!

Planning for spring

I’m probably months behind schedule compared to “serious” gardeners who know what they are doing, but nevertheless, I have started!  The spring-like weather of the past two days has put me in the gardening mood, so with that comes a Garden Blog update. 

This years goals include: 

• an expanded plot
• more variety in veggies
• select herbs
• a new attempt at composting
• and a better effort at preserving

 

n addition to my veggie garden, the DH and I are joining a CSA (splitting a share with ML), so fresh local produce with be abundant come this summer.  I can’t wait!

Today, I put in an order for seeds and some transplants.  From Seedsavers, I order a variety pack of pepper and tomato transplants, to be delivered for mid-May planting.  I also order seeds for dill, anise, cilantro, wormwood, english lavender, purple basil (doesn’t that sound pretty?), dwarf gray sugar peas, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, brown onions, plum purple radishes, a lettuce mix…  I’m really excited about the transplants!  The pepper sampler includes Alma Paprika, Buran, Jimmy Nardello’s, King of the North, Sheepnose Pimento, and Orange Bell peppers.  In the tomato sampler are Amish Paste, Brandywine, Gold Medal, Green Zebra, Mexico Midget and Stupice.

 

From Seeds of Change, I ordered seeds for Calabrese broccoli, Charentais cantalope, St. Valery carrots, butternut and spaghetti squash…

Hmmm…I don’t think I ordered any zucchini…but a friend at work offered to share, so maybe that’ll do.  I also have a packet of green bean seeds from him. 

This year I’m going to do my reseach!  Things will be planted more carefully, at the right time, and with the right soil conditions (as best as I can manage).  A lot of the herbs I ordered are said to repel bad bugs and/or attract good ones.  I’ll give the tomatoes enough room to spread out, and keep them caged as best I can…I’ll be the best home veggie farmer ever!  OK, maybe I’m jumping the gun a little…J  Hurry up Spring!