Tag Archives: spring garden

March 20, 2024 · 9:18 am

Welcoming Spring 2024

leahbelle-thePixMix

Somehow I forgot to send Happy Spring Wishes yesterday. My apologies. I DO send them to you. :0)

I finished planting my spring garden yesterday afternoon. We got the rest of the plants yesterday morning and I waited until it warmed up to actually plant. Yesterday I planted 6 more spinach plants and 8 tomato plants.

This is the 8-foot planter. I planted Butter Crunch leaf lettuce, iceberg head lettuce, and spinach. Due to space, I just spread the plants out as best I could, changing from one type of plant to the other, rather than planting the spinach 4-to-a-square, and the leaf lettuce the same way. I’m hoping the plants will do okay like this.

This is a closer view. The plants have a bit more room to spread out than in traditional square foot planting.

This square planter has 4 tomato plants around the center pole with supports tied to the pole for sturdiness. Then I planted some of the lettuces and the spinach around the perimeter.

The ‘niche’ planter (because it is sheltered by the back of the house and our screened porch) has the other 4 tomato plants. I’m going to TRY not to allow the plants to spill over the side onto the ground this time. I really hate cutting healthy vines, but I’m telling myself that all the energy goes to the vines, rather than producing tomatoes…

Today I’m planning to get there this afternoon when it’s warmer (it’s 47 now) do some weed whacking, fertilizing, and soil-enhancing.

This yard work PLUS my yoga practice PLUS my normal other activities is really making me welcome the bed at night. Probably good for building my character, as well. :0)

Are you growing a garden this year?

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March 10, 2024 · 10:21 am

Sunday 3-10-2024

Bladen Online

I hope you remembered to change your clocks this morning. I keep reminding my husband to change his watch. I don’t know if he’s done it now or not. We are both having trouble changing the clock that lives in our entertainment center in the living room. I looked at it last night, pushed the buttons on its side one at a time, but there was no change. Then started pushing 2 buttons at a time, then got scared I would screw it up so it wouldn’t tell time at all and stopped. My husband doesn’t seem to be much better. We’ll tackle it together later. I got the rest of the clocks changed with the exception of our vehicles. Did I tell you I hate DST?

I read that two people have again created bills in Congress to address the problem and either go to DST or Standard Time. I won’t hold my breath on them even making it out of committee.

UPDATE – My husband woke up from his nap. I watched as he tried to set the clock. He couldn’t remember how to do it, but managed to hit upon it, so that is fixed. HOORAY!

Pond5

I got a bit more weight off. I’m now down 21.6 pounds from my heaviest. Every little bit counts! :0) If I can just keep moving and keep my mouth shut…

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Whereby.com is a nice video conference site that is secure and works well even when people are across the world from each other. Our son and I used it this morning and had a wonderful time. I LOVE being able to see his face.

He laughed when we compared ‘projects’ – he is doing some really technical stuff on the Internet and also making music with gadgets. And we are trying to set our clocks…. Although I’m proud of myself that yesterday when I came downstairs I heard a ‘chirping’ sound. I traced it to one of our smoke detectors. I got a stool, got the detector off the wall, opened it, changed the 9 volt battery, and put it back up on the wall. HOORAY!

No big plans for today. Our weather is nice. It’s 45 and sunny, with a great warm up coming next week. Just wonderful. I’ll try to arrange some time to work outside. There is SO much to do out there! My husband announced that he refuses to mow in March. I can’t blame him at all. I just told him to do what he wanted, but to make sure he was able to use the ride-on mower on the high grass when he was ready.

One of the next things I’ll do is see what veggie plants are available in town for my spring garden. I’m cutting way down on what I’m planting this year. I have three brick planters we converted to square garden planters with Mel’s Mix on the east end of the yard close to the house that I’ll use instead of my larger garden. I’ll plant lettuce and spinach in the 8 foot long planter and tomatoes in the two square ones. I’ll take pics as I get started.

I hope that today is a good one for you.

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March 17, 2022 · 10:09 am

Spring Lard, Sweet Chariot….

Hippopottermiss on DeviantArt.com

Lard is CUTE on this sweet hippo, but not so much on me.

Now that we finally seem to be calling winter over – at least according to the calendar officially designating spring this Sunday – I’m trying to call comfort food eating over, at least until next winter!

My husband and I have discussed NOT putting food that is NOT on the list in the shopping cart. This goes in one ear and out the other with SOME of us. Since my willpower is laughable, I have seriously asked for his help. We’re going to try to get back to our once a week salad night, as well as eating the good individual frozen meals we’ve been getting from Stu’s Clean Cookin’ and Real Food, both of which are easily accessible, now that getting snowed or iced in isn’t nearly as possible. I’m trying to include a side veggie from my list of ‘good’ veggies from various lists that are supposed to maintain or improve the status on our various health concerns. We also have some good low carb dinners we like that I can cook, freezing leftovers into individual dinners.

Happily, spring already brings me to more physical activity with our garden and trying to get the yard and our planters in shape. I’m also continuing to do my old lady yoga stretches each afternoon. If I can, I’m going to TRY to include a session three times a week on my elliptical trainer, now that the garage isn’t freezing.

Losing the lard will be in two phases –

PHASE I – getting back to where I was before the winter hit.

PHASE II – starting to enjoy new territory.

A full two-armed embrace of spring for my garden and hopefully, less of me, with the exception of a huge smile on my face.

Happy Spring!

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March 17, 2022 · 9:49 am

The Spring Garden Has Sprung

I had filled up our raised bed, square-foot planters with Mel’s Mix (peat moss, vermiculite, and three kinds of compost) at the end of fall. We put a square plastic bucket in the middle of each planter, then stretched a tarp over each box, using bungee cords to secure them. We had to replace the tarps about a month ago or so, since the weather and sun had pretty much disintegrated them. The purpose of this was to try NOT to have to spend several days prepping the garden before I could plant.

When I started yesterday, the tarps were completely water-laden. I pulled them off the planters and spread them beside the shop, holding them in place with bricks, to dry in the sun. I stored the plastic buckets and bungee cords in one of the trash cans and put it under one of the planters.

There were VERY few weeds in the planters, so I was able to get started with the planting almost immediately! Hooray!!!!!!

If you look carefully, you can see the wire we strung in two directions, creating the ‘squares’ for planting. I was able to get spinach, red onion sets, broccoli, leaf lettuce, and cauliflower plants in town.

I got everything planted except for the red onion sets. I’ll try to get those planted today.

I need to find the timer for our irrigation system, put new batteries in it, and hook it up to the garden faucet, and then hook up the hoses that go to the garden planters.

You can see the hose that runs down the middle of the three planters on one side of the garden. You can also see the sprinkler in the middle of each box. Both sides are set up the same way, then tied together so the whole system works as one on the timer.

I’ll try to get the red onion sets planted today. We’re due for rain late this evening-into-tomorrow, so it’ll be okay if I wait until the weekend to get the irrigation system set up.

I’ll see what other plants are available the next time we have a chance.

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April 7, 2021 · 9:22 am

Garden Progress 4-7-2021

broccoli
celery
leaf lettuce

spinach
tomatoes
Yellow Crookneck Squash
Zucchini

Things are looking very happy right now. We are under a possibly severe storms warning most of the day, so I’m HOPING that the storms are just rain and wind, rather than hail.

123RF.com

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March 26, 2021 · 10:07 am

Spring Garden Progress

Although the plants are a bit waterlogged from last night’s rains, all seems to be looking good. I still need to make markers for the plants, and we need to put the new sprinklers in when they are delivered; but otherwise, the spring garden is in. Whenever I feel down, all I need to do is walk out to the garden and my spirits lift.

“It was such a pleasure to sink one’s hands into the warm earth, to feel at one’s fingertips the possibilities of the new season.” ~ Kate Morton

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.” ~ Ruth Stout

“There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling.” ~Mirabel Osler

“In every gardener there is a child who believes in The Seed Fairy.” ~Robert Brault

“Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.” ~Lindley Karstens

“You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt.” ~Author Unknown

“One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides”. ~W.E. Johns

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March 23, 2021 · 9:35 am

Thoughts on a Tuesday 3-23-2021

Camelot Care Centers

There are lots of reasons to be down these days. Some of them we share. Others are personal. I think it’s more important than ever to be grateful we are HERE and ALIVE, and live with enthusiasm for the gift.

I just went out to check our spring garden. The plants are totally unaware of any possible problems in our world. I’m not advocating being UNAWARE. I guess I’m advocating living as IF “heavy, heavy” isn’t hanging over our heads. Much of what is happening is beyond our control. We can be aware of those things, but concentrate on the things over which we DO have some control.

My spirits rose today as I saw that my garden plants – well watered from an overnight rain – seem to be thriving. On the other side of our property, our tomato plants are also looking good. I stopped to remove the PVC irrigation pipe that was shattered on one brick planter during one of our last winter storms, saving the faucet part that we can reuse. There are many things to be done in the yard, and I’m happy for the normalcy of that.

I’m taking a new direction in selling my craft products. I’m concentrating my efforts on my page on Amazon Handmade, listing new stuff in a steady stream. Linda Lewis Artworks If you happen to visit, I would very much appreciate your honest feedback.

My husband and I are both in reasonably good health at this point, although our bodies remind us that we might have taken on too much sometimes. :0) We are trying to get the lard off, and I am trying to exercise and move more on a daily basis to stay as healthy as possible. We will both get our 2nd COVID shot next Monday. I will feel relieved that two weeks after that, we should be as protected as we can be and will not be a source of the virus for anyone else.

Today we are scheduled to have some windows replaced. Several years ago we had all of our windows replaced by Window World. We have lived in our home since we built it in 1987. Obviously, some things have really gotten better since then. Replacing our windows made a big difference in our energy bills, but also in the QUIET. Many times we get a hard rain and don’t even notice it! We are very pleased with this company. It has taken a long time for us to get the replacement windows, but we are lucky we are all in a position to do this at all. Hopefully, it will happen this afternoon.

Everett Ruess via Lisa Bearnes Richey

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March 25, 2017 · 3:39 pm

The Garden Survived!

Pixir Tutorial

We had several HARD storms yesterday afternoon, evening, and into early this morning. There was a lot of wind and DRIVING rain. I was afraid of what I might find in the garden with my tender, new plants.

 

 

 

The part of the garden that had the hardest time was my labels! They’re all dirty – I guess from blowing rain and Mel’s mix. I’ll have to clean them up at some point, but today was too busy. Here you can see the three raised bed boxes on the north side of the garden. The plant that had the hardest time was the red leaf lettuce. Some of it looks pretty beaten down, but I’m hoping they’ll perk up.

 

The Georgia Sweet Onions are doing well. The empty square will hold more spaghetti squash plants soon, I hope.  I planted three tomato plants today, plus one celery plant and three spaghetti squash plants today.

 

My spinach plants and Romaine lettuce plants are doing fine, so far. I’ll be able to start harvesting the outer leaves soon. On the right is a new spaghetti squash plant I transplanted today from the window sill.

 

I started two squares of radishes.

 

I have broccoli and cauliflower plants. You can see some of the celery plants on the upper left of this photo.

We have more forecast severe storms coming Sunday night into Monday morning, so fingers will be crossed again.

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March 21, 2017 · 1:53 pm

Playing in the Garden

Delightful Children’s Books

 

I’m very happy that our garden is alive at all right now. Our weather has roller-coastered between hard freezes and a high of 90 today. We also had a timer malfunction on the garden irrigation system, so the plants were really badly overwatered at one point before we figured out the problem and replaced the timer.

 

Now I THINK we’re finished with the hard freezes. Our temperatures are still roller-coaster-y, though. 90 today. 60 tomorrow. 80 the following day….

 

I need to take some sharp scissors to clean up the plants. Some have bad leaves. I did get out a few arrogant weeds today, though. :0)

 

Here you see red lettuce leaves and spinach.

 

As you can see in this, and the next, pictures, some of the celery is doing well. Some has croaked.

 

 

This is the south side of the garden. I’m growing Georgia Sweet Onions in the back, red lettuce and spinach in the middle, and broccoli, cauliflower, and celery in the box closest to you.

 

Romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, and red lettuce in the planters in the north row.

 

Spinach sprouts on the window sill.

 

One celery plant and two spaghetti squash sprouts here.

Hopefully, things will settle down now and my plants can grow in peace.

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