Yesterday I dashed out between rain storms to gather our first harvest of the year from our raised bed, square-foot-garden. I harvest just part of the leaf lettuce that’s ready. I’ll harvest more so I can share some with our friends this week.
This is the first of the spinach. I hope to have a large enough harvest that I can serve some in salads, saute some as a side for dinners, AND freeze a bunch for later. Greedy, aren’t I! :0)
I’ll check on the garden, plus our two planters of tomatoes tomorrow. I’m feeling a little bit under the weather today, so I’m taking it easy and resting a lot.
I hope to harvest more lettuce, plus watch the video of how to prune my tomato plants for more yield and less greenery this year, then go out and see if I emulate the video..
The rain finally stopped and the sun is shining brightly today.
We have two tomato planters. We converted two brick planters on the opposite side of the house from the garden to square-foot-garden planters, though I used bags of potting soil to top them off this year. The one in the picture above we call the “niche” planter, since it’s tucked in beside the back porch and is shielded by the house.
This is an 8-foot brick planter east of the house. It’s more ‘out-in-the-open,’ much more subject to wind and gets more sun that the niche planter. Sometimes all of the plants do equally well. Sometimes the plants in one planter or the other do better in a given season. I’ve planted 8 plants in this long planter and 4 in the niche planter this year.
I found a good video on pruning tomato plants to increase yield. Usually I just leave our plants and they end up with vines all over the place – an unmanageable ‘mess’ with treasures here and there throughout. I would like to learn to prune the plants so we have plenty of greenery, but they don’t get out of hand. The video I found is “How to Prune Tomatoes for Maximum Yield and Plant Health” by Epic Gardening on YouTube. So far, I’ve learned that the type of tomato plants we grow are “indeterminate,” meaning that they continue to grow until Mother Nature kills the plants.
I’ll watch it over and over again before I actually try to prune the plants, and then I’ll take my time to sit beside each plant and really study it in a way I’ve never done before. Fingers crossed it’s a successful experiment.
They’re getting a good watering with the rain we’ve gotten overnight and today.
It’s too rainy to be out working in the garden or the yard today, but –
“Save a boyfriend for a rainy day – and another, in case it doesn’t rain.” ~ Mae West
David Hobson – Better Homes and Gardens – QuoteMasterMy veggie garden is doing well. I’ll start harvesting some lettuce and spinach probably in the next week or so. Leaf Lettuce – RomaineI have to admit I’m not really sure whether this one is broccoli or cauliflower. SpinachIf you look closely, you can see the CUTEST broccoli ever in the center of this plant.Zucchini
I checked the weather website yesterday evening right before dark to find that, not only were we supposed to get rain after sunset, but HAIL. I went out and clothes-pinned sheets over my veggie planter boxes to protect my sweet, young veggies as much as I could.
It DID storm overnight and we’re still under a ‘thunderstorm and hail’ forecast this morning. It’s raining and very dark outside now, though the thunder and lightning are so noticeable. It looks like the sheets won’t come off until at least lunch time. I hope the plants don’t get squashed by the weight of the wet sheets!
Here was what 3 of the 6 garden boxes looked like last night –
I’ve only had to cover up my veggie plants once for a freeze since I put the plants in the ground, and for that I’m thankful. I’m watching the weather forecasts like a hawk, but so far, things are going well.
leaf lettuceSpinachBroccoliCauliflowerYou can see the red onion sprouts, too. You can also see some of the neon-pink surveyor’s tape I put on the fence so the deer won’t run into the fence.
Next up, I plan to put in radishes, bell pepper, and celery.
Today’s plan is to start prepping the two brick planters on the far side of the house that we converted to square foot garden planters, preparing to add some tomato plants, probably next week, depending on the weather. I need to get the weeds out, and then add a bunch of Mel’s Mix (a mixture of peat moss, Vermiculite, and at least 3 different types of compost) to each of the planters. Who knows where this stuff GOES?
I just came in from working in the garden a bit. I strung pink neon-colored stretchy surveyor’s tape all the way around the garden, working it through the fence in spots so that the deer will ‘see’ there is something weird there in the dark and hopefully won’t run into the fence.
Then I mixed up our two-gallon sprayer with KillzAll and sprayed it under the planter boxes in the veggie garden. My back started yelling, so I’m listening to it and taking a break for awhile. Later I’ll mix up another container full and hopefully finish the job.
In my travels around the yard, I went out to check my early spring raised-bed square foot garden. So far, the plants seem very happy.
“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
This is my veggie garden. I have yet to plant radishes, and I’m still on the look-out for head lettuce, since that’s my husband’s favorite. We both love fresh, ripe, home-grown tomatoes, but it’s too early to plant those. I’ve converted two or our handmade brick planters on the other side of the yard on the far side of the house to be tomato planters. I’ll share pics of those when we get them planted later on. As you can see here, one of the next things I’ll do is mix up some weed killer and spray it on the ground underneath my planters. I’ll also spray a perimeter around the whole garden, outside the fence. Another chore is to find our bright, neon-colored tape to string through the fencing so the deer don’t run into it. Here’s a closer view of a couple of the six planters we have. You can see I’ve really spread the plants out this year. some of the squares are empty, hoping for the head lettuce or radishes, but you can see the wispy sprouts of the sweet red onions on the right of the picture if you look carefully. SpinachLeaf Lettuce – Romaine
I’m thankful for a warm, dry home this morning. I really got chilled on my walk, but my spirits are definitely lifted now.
I’m reading Life Force by Tony Robbins. One of the suggestions is that you drink half your weight (in ounces) of water daily. My eyeballs are already swimming, but I’ll work on it. (He says that coffee actually dehydrates you. Since I’m a coffee-a-holic, this is a sad thing to hear.) So I’ll try to cut back on my coffee and TRY to drink even more water.
Another is to eat a more plant-based diet. My husband tends to dig in his heels, so I just talked to him, telling him I will include more veggies in our meals. Since he told me last night he LIKED the way I cooked the broccoli, I’m encouraged that I can do more of this type thing without riots. Small, gradual changes in a good direction.
I’ll go out later to visit our new early spring garden to see how our new plants made it through the latest rain. I’m hoping that the rain was greedily slurped up and that all are feeling happy. I’m reading about growing cauliflower better, since I’ve only been minimally successful, growing very small heads before having to harvest. Fingers crossed. I’ll take some pics.
Shutterstock
I’ve been neglectful regarding saving stuff on my computer lately. SO neglectful that I actually had to refer to my NOTES on how to make a new system disk and save my data to another. I’m embarrassed, but I got it done. I’ll put it on my calendar now so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Norman Machine Tool
I told you that our air compressor suddenly quit working. My husband took apart the top of it, finding the part that he thought was causing the problem. He ordered what he HOPED was a replacement part, and it arrived yesterday. So when we got back from Lunch Bunch, he took it out to the shop. He spent a couple of hours, and he FIXED it! He replaced the part, put everything back together and tested it. It worked perfectly. So now we’ll be able to change our snow tires on the truck for the regular tires once we really believe we are finished with snow and ice for awhile. :0) Another wonderful thing was that he fixed the compressor for around $80. If we had had to buy a new one, a much smaller one would have cost around $450 plus tax, plus shipping. He’s a miracle worker.
Giphy
I’m starting to feel a difference in my efforts to move more. I’m feeling less creaky in my afternoon old lady yoga practices, and the working in the garden is definitely getting me moving more. I’m going to see if I can increase this as the weather improves.
I finished the weed whacking I wanted to do yesterday! The tomato planters are clean, the debris is gone, and I got the grass and weeds down from around the planters, under the house, under the deck, down the back sidewalk, and around the brick planter beside the garage pad. And now it’s raining, right on schedule. Hooray!
We’ll run our errands in half an hour, delighted by the rain even if we drown while we’re out. My husband will spew bad words because he’s tired of mowing for the season, but the plants are all breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s quite dark outside, looking like nighttime instead of morning, but we aren’t supposed to have severe weather, just a cold front with cooler temperatures. I’M READY! :0)
If the wind isn’t blowing a lot when we get home, I may get out my umbrella and enjoy a walk in the rain.
This is the way I feel at times working in our yard. I don’t know how long it would take for things to go back to completely wild if my efforts had to stop, but I don’t think it would be long. We live on top of a ridge line and have left most of our 8 acres wild. We keep a small ‘civilized area’ at the very top, around the house and shop, with space for my square foot garden.
I will go outside soon to try to finish the latest effort – clearing out the two tomato planters and weed whacking around them, plus around the yard. Today is supposedly the last of the really hot weather here, with a cold front, rain, and cooler temperatures forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Hooraaaaaaay! I’m ready.
Since our weather is much more civilized than it has been – only 90 degrees F. today with much less humidity – I’m planning to pull out our tomato plants today. They have spread their vines all over the place, making it impossible to mow or weed whack, and have stopped producing tomatoes, so it’s more than time to get them out. Fresh ripe tomatoes are one of the joys of our lives, so it’s well worth the time and effort to put them in each year. We get spoiled from the color on our plates, the fabulous aroma, and delicious taste for two to even three months each year!
I have a lot to clean up in the yard, particularly since I’ve neglected all but the absolutely necessary with the heat we’ve had, but I’ll try to do a bit each day until things look better around here.
Toronto Star
I have never coveted money, as such, but it would be really nice to never have to worry about it. I’m happy whenever I see someone who has really been successful in this regard due to hard work and providing something people enjoy. I read awhile back that Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, one of my favorite authors, has a net worth of around $400 million. I couldn’t be happier for her and her family. She has given me so much through her writing over the years, providing entertainment, escape, and challenge. I selfishly want her to live, thrive, and write forever. :0) (I’ve preordered the paperback version of a new J.D. Robb book that will be delivered in December, and she has a newer hardback coming out in February…)
I think you already know that I’m a champion procrastinator, having given myself several awards for it over the years. (Everyone should be good at SOMETHING. :0) ) My latest procrastination is about bookkeeping. I’m TRYING to make myself catch up. I’m several months behind right now. As one of my friends, Maria, suggested about my dieting efforts – that I should break the big goal into doable chunks so it doesn’t seem to intimidating – I’m trying now to say ‘one month at a time,’ and have put the first one on my to-do-list for today, along with the removal of the tomato plants. Fingers crossed I can get it DONE.
After a lot of lightning overnight, we’re having a truly lovely day today. I will finish my blog writing and “have at” my to-do list. Have a great day!
I’m keepin’ on keepin’ on regarding my efforts to lose the lard. My old body is stubborn, but I’m eating right, exercising, either going by my routine or working outside in the garden. I’m trying to drink all the water. My efforts vary, but yesterday was a 4-bottle day. Nothing exciting to report, but efforts continue.
This is my square foot garden. I finished the weeding of the six 4’x4′ foxes. The next step is to spray the soil alternative with EIGHT to kill the bugs and KILLzAll to take care of any weed roots I missed. Finally, I’ll cover the boxes with tarps to stay until the next planting time. The heat index today and tomorrow are supposed to be around 110 F., so I’ll do what I can in the mornings and then wait until the next day.
The onions are drying now. The sun, wind, and any rain will work together so I can put them in mesh bags and hang them on hooks in the pantry soon. I’ll check when we get back from doing errands to see if we have any ripe tomatoes to gather.
Not sure what the rest of the day will hold. As usual, I would appreciate a quiet day.
I’m a “Good Girl” this morning. This doesn’t happen often, so I have to pat myself on the back while telling you about it. :0)
I told you that my plan was to work in the garden this morning. Many times my plans go awry, I get distracted, my husband wants me to help him do something, or I’m just plain lazy. I have good INTENTIONS, but it just doesn’t get done.
I’ve just come back from working in the garden! I harvested as many onions as I could find and then weeded three of the six raised garden boxes. I did NOT get bitten/stung by a swarm of red ants! On the way back to the house, I spread the onions out on the trailer edge. I unhooked hoses. I am cooling off and glugging a bottle of cold water as I type.
I am substituting my work in the garden for the elliptical trainer exercise I was scheduled to do, and am putting a gold star on my calendar. I PLAN to do my yoga practice as usual this afternoon. :0)
So far, it looks like I won’t have to mix and spread Mel’s Mix. The three boxes I weeded today were fine on the amount of soil alternative.
The PLAN is to finish weeding tomorrow morning, harvesting any remaining onions. Then all I’ll need to do is cover the boxes with tarps and take down and store the irrigation control from the outdoor faucet.
I’m heading out to my square foot garden soon to pull up the sweet onions. Our weather is such that, even with our irrigation system, most of our plants have given up the ghost. This was a weird summer, much cooler and wetter for a lot of it and then super-hot and dry with sun hot enough to almost boil the plants right on the vines.
The only thing left in the garden now is the onions. My plan is to go out this morning, armed with my 2 gallon sprayer filled with EIGHT, and pull the onions. If ants start swarming, I’ll hose everything down with the EIGHT and try again tomorrow. We have an old trailer which basically sits in one spot all year round. It has a metal mesh bed that allows great drainage, so it’s a wonderful place to spread the onions so they can dry. I’m hoping to get the onions pulled up and drying today.
I’m hoping that I can get the garden boxes weeded, topped off with Mel’s Mix (peat moss, Vermiculite, and three kinds of compost), unhook the irrigation system, and then cover each of the six 4’x4′ raised boxes with a tarp to keep the soil alternative IN and the weeds OUT until I’m ready to plant again. I’ll try to show you my progress.
Please keep all appendages crossed that the fire ants don’t attack me. :0)
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you remember that I was devastated when I tried to winter-over elephant ear plants my friend, Laufrain, had given me, but failed. I re-planted them and nothing at all happened. I finally bought some ‘bulbs’ (is that what you call them?) from an online nursery. I got six and spaced them around the yard a bit. As you can see, they seem to be happy, and I’m thrilled.
I’m especially happy because my square foot garden is over, except for harvesting onions, and our tomato plants are looking very sad. Many of our flowers have just given up in the heat, even though we have an irrigation system.
These are to the left side of our front porch. They seem to be smiling, too. They have good protection from gusty winds and blowing rain here, too.
These are on the far side of the house. They seem to be doing fine, but aren’t as large as the others.
I just love these huge leaves!
And the surprise of the day is here. We have an area around the house we have dubbed “civilized,” keeping it mowed, etc. The edge of this drops off into woods we just let grow wild. A lot of yard waste we throw “off the edge of the world” here. If you look really carefully, you can see – two batches of elephant ears! I threw the failed bulbs here and some of them have NOW made leaves! Wonders will never cease. :0)
Our mailbox decoration represents a return to our ‘normal” summer in Arkansas, rather than the cooler, rain-filled summer we’ve had this year. We’ve gotten quite spoiled, not fearing heat stroke as we mow, weedwhack, tend our flowers and square foot garden veggies.
All that ended about a week ago now. The rain stopped, the sun came out with a vengeance, raising our actual temperatures to 100 or more in the afternoons, and the heat index to surge even higher. UGH.
The only thing left in the garden now is sweet onions, weeds, and our two planters of tomatoes.
My husband managed to get the civilized part of our yard mowed, mowing right before dark one evening and then first thing in the morning the next day. I followed that with weed whacking right before dark night before last, and then finished it up last night and blew the debris off our sidewalks and driveway pad with our leaf blower. I was planning to use our push weedwhacker this morning in the area behind our shop and beside our garden, but we talked about it and decided I would really be risking heat stroke. I walk outside, with my headband on, and I’m instantly wringing wet. I think we will only do what is absolutely necessary until this “Punishment from Mother Nature” passes. We might even wait until fall…
I WILL pull the sweet onions and start drying them soon. I don’t know how much longer the tomatoes will make. Even with our irrigation system, the tomatoes are almost boiling on the vines. Happily, my elephant ear plants and phlox or doing well, even with the heat. I’ll try to get out and get pics for you.
When I get out there early enough, I’m still working on the refurbishment project of of our yard critters. Right now I’m repainting “Mama and Baby Snail.” I post a pic when they’re ready to go back outside.
Every summer I regret the fact that we ran out of money when we were building our home over 30 years ago. We managed the main house and the small shop, but we had to give up my dream of a pool. I taught swimming every summer from age 14 through college to help pay for my education. We live on top of ridge line, and had to dynamite several times to be able to have our basement, septic system, and the pool. We got the first two, but not the third. Every summer I dream of a beautiful in-ground pool. Of course, I also dream of Sven, the gorgeous pool man, coming to take care of it – and me. (If I’m going to dream, I’ll include it all… :0) )
I made a quick trip to the east side of the house where our two tomato planters are to see if we had any ripe tomatoes. WOW!!!!! I left the ones that looked ripe, but were still firm out there. We have enough that I can share with our friends!
Two updates:
The experiment where I bought and planted two live lettuce plants last week was a bust. It’s just simply too hot now for them to live. There is the possibility that a plant or two could live IN the house on the window sill, but I didn’t see them the last time I was in the store. Maybe next time.
I managed to find a place selling seed packages, so I bought two and will read more about what they need. (Here’s the link to the post if you missed it)
The grocery store was selling lettuce plants yesterday! I bought two, having little hope that they would do anything this time of year, since they are a cool-weather plant. One of them has already croaked :0( – but this one is still alive as of this minute. I’ll probably have to go ahead and clear out the garden for the season, since my yellow crookneck squash plants are producing lots of huge leaves by very little else. I’ll go ahead and pull everything out, unless this sweet plant is still alive. I’ll pull the onions and start drying them out. We have possibly severe storms coming in this evening-into-tomorrow, so this will wait until next week. It was a fun thing to try, though.
Meanwhile, though my tomato plants don’t look pretty, they are producing. This is what I brought in this morning. There are more to come tomorrow. This is the time of year we feel super rich. We have lots of ripe tomatoes to each for both lunch and dinner. :0)
I’ll take pics of the onions when I get them onto the trailer screen to start drying.
Usually, I have the better crop from the two plants in what we call the ‘nook’ planter – a brick planter we converted to a square foot garden planter that is square and is in a niche beside our back porch and in back of the house. It is protected from a lot of the wind that whips through here and doesn’t get the unrelenting sun the other planter gets.
This year it’s the opposite. The eight foot planter – also converted to a square foot planter – getting full sun and unprotected from the wind – is giving us the better yield.
We are very grateful to have ANY tomatoes because I’ve heard from others that this is a ‘hard year’ for tomatoes. People are getting plants, but they aren’t blossoming or growing tomatoes. We have sharing one larger tomato or two smaller tomatoes as part of our dinners this past week – the first of the crop – and enjoying every bite. When I told my husband that we had hit the lottery today, he wanted to have some – RIGHT NOW.
You can’t get fresher than right off the vine and still warm from the sun. Love and tomatoes! :0)
The tall plant on the left of the picture is lettuce that has bolted. I still managed to harvest some lettuce, but pulled this plant, and others out because the leaves will be bitter. The combination of the suddenly much warmer weather and all the rain we have had lately brought my lettuce harvesting to an end.
My poor spinach plants will do the same kind of thing soon, since they are an early spring plant. I’m going to harvest from the remaining plants as long as I can because the spinach can be frozen.
These yellow crookneck squash are cute, aren’t they. I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I’m having fun watching the sweet little things grow.
I had to pull the other two cabbage plants, and I still need to do a lot of weeding to get the garden in reasonable shape. I didn’t take pics of the tomato plants but they have little bitty green tomatoes and lots of yellow blossoms on them. I’m really hoping we have a good tomato harvest this year. Ripe sliced tomatoes are one of our favorite things.
Good morning. I’m not feeling very energetic this morning. No problems, really – my get-up-and-go just got-up-and-went. :0)
I harvested a lot of spinach yesterday. I still had some in the fridge, too. After watching a YouTube video on storing fresh spinach, I’ll take mine out of the gallon bags. The guy recommends using plastic containers and paper towels. I’ll store some that way for salads. I’ll chop up the rest and freeze it.
It hasn’t started to rain yet, but it’s supposed to today. In fact, it’s supposed to rain all week. I’m actually looking forward to it because I won’t have to feel guilty that I’m not out in the yard working. :0) I really want to start playing with the new art stuff I received last week.
I have materials to try an ‘acrylic pour.’ The Internet defines this as, “Acrylic Paint Pouring is a fluid painting technique used to create art by pouring acrylic paint onto a canvas. … The Acrylic Pouring technique allows artists to apply colour in puddles, pools and marble-like patterns. Pouring results in a smooth, glossy paint film that is perfectly even and blemish free.”
A lady did a beautiful demonstration of using some leftover “pours” that she did on a piece of plastic, transferring that to a piece of wood. She used a material called, “crackle gel” to add texture, and then rolled on gold paint to highlight that texture. The resulting piece looked like this –
Mii’s Paintings
This makes me drool, and itch to play. So Mother Nature, please bring on the rain so I can give myself permission to play in my art room! :0)
I hope that you are safe and happy this Monday morning. Have fun with your day!
I may have mentioned (griped) that, starting about 6pm this evening, we’re supposed to get rain every day through the 27th! So Thing Two on my list today was to harvest some of our veggies from the garden.
The garden has gone nuts. I filled my basket with spinach, then went back and harvested lettuce. By the time I got everything washed and stored, I was too tired to go back and harvest more.
The thing I’m MOST pleased with is that I grew an actual head of lettuce. Just like one you can buy in the grocery store.
Today’s lettuce harvestToday’s Spinach Harvest
It’s about 4pm here now. I’m going to get a cup of coffee and enjoy my book for awhile, now that I have finsiehd Thing One and Thing Two. :0) I hope your Sunday has been a good one.
Raised bed square foot garden May 13thThis is cabbage. I’ve never tried to grow this before and I’m like a kid at Christmas. The center portion is where the head of cabbage is forming. I’m going to find as much information as I can. It’s FUN!One kind of lettuce.2nd kind of lettuceCan you see the cute yellow crookneck squash?I have blossoms on the tomato plants, although none show in this picture.
The forecast is for thunderstorms EVERY DAY between the 17th and the 27th. I’m going to try to get a nice harvest in, either today or tomorrow, before all the rain starts.
Today’s spinach harvest is the best I have ever had. I am really amazed hat how large and healthy the leaves are! Some of the leaves are 8 inches long!
This is a small head of lettuce. frilly lettuceButter Crunch Lettuce
I could have harvested a lot more today. I’m HOPING that the storm tonight doesn’t batter my sweet plants. I have a gallon bag of spinach and a gallon bag of lettuce that we’ll give to our hairdresser when my husband gets a haircut tomorrow. Meanwhile, we will have a huge chef salad for dinner tonight. :0)
And today we welcome Mal, Humphrey the emu, and May, 2021.
The fact that all of these gorgeous Australian firefighters are young enough to be my sons doesn’t diminish my ability to appreciate the ‘view’ in the least as I help them in their fund-raising efforts by buying their calendars each year. :0)
I hope that things will get better and better as we start a new month.
I just walked out to my raised bed, square foot garden to see if the recent storms pounded my sweet veggies into the ground. (We had bad storms particularly Wednesday evening with high winds, lots of close lightning that had me cringing at times with the loud bangs, and some hail. Thankfully, all seems to have come through fine. Pictures to follow, and I will do my second harvest.
I’ve been covering my veggie plants and tomato planters with sheets for 4 nights now, and so far, things seem to have come through the freezes all right. The Zucchini has had the most reaction. I’ve had to cut off several leaves from the plants. They blackened with the frosts and freezes. There is enough left of the plants that still looks good I think they will make it.
According to the weather website we are now past the freezes. This is really unusual here. Usually, our last frosts are April 5th, and that is even pretty late since I have been trying to grow things. We are supposed to get rain tonight and all day tomorrow.
I have the sheets spread out on the fencing around the garden, trying to dry it out during the day today so I can bag them up and put them away.
I HOPING that things will get back to normal for gardening soon.
Although the veggies seem to be doing all right, my elephant ear bulbs did not make it over wintered in the garage. I have finally given up on them and ordered more bulbs. I am hoping those will arrive soon so that I can get them into the ground.
I gathered my first harvest of the year recently, and we enjoyed a main meal salad last night, featuring our own spinach and lettuce! It’s been quite awhile since we were able to do that. I loved it!
We had quite a storm last night – heavy rain, gusty winds, hail, flying hairballs…. I went out this morning to see what havoc had occurred.
Two of my three new azaleas were pretty battered, but I’m hoping they will perk up once they get a chance to catch their collective breaths.
My garden plants seem to have come through fine. As you can see, one of the next jobs will be to spray weed killer under the planters.As you can see, I need to pull off yellow leaves and weed this tomato planter. The ‘nook’ tomato planter is looking pretty good..
I’m feeling very lucky that the hail storm didn’t decimate my garden, as they did one year in the recent past. I’m trying to ‘hold my mouth right’ so the good luck continues. :0)
I went out to check on the garden and everything seems to be doing all right.
I’m trying to grow spinach, leaf lettuce, head lettuce, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, red onions, radishes and celery in the main garden.
This is what I call the “nook” planter. It’s in a nook between the back of the house and the back porch. It is shielded from the wind and rain a bit better than the other, longer planter.
This is the longer planter. Things are not growing really fast yet because of the cool nights, but things are looking healthy.
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
My sweet daffodils which shot spears of green up around the well house in anticipation of glorious blooming are now dull and frozen-looking. I don’t know if the plants will bounce back now that temperatures are warming and the snow is melting, but I hope so.
I am trying to get some seeds started for my raised bed, square foot garden. I have read a bunch, but really have no clue what I’m doing. I used a seed tray starter kit, filling it with seed starter medium, planting some seeds and marking them, sprinkling some fertilizer, spraying them carefully with water and covering them with a transparent cover. They have been sitting on the dining area table, the best place for getting whatever sun there is.
I planted spinach, lettuce, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and green peppers. When I saw that some had sprouted, I took the transparent lid off. I have been turning the tray each day, trying to provide equal sun and encourage the sweet little sprouts to grow up straight. Some sprouting has been good. Some of the seeds haven’t done anything.
I would love it if I end up with some nice plants to put out in the garden when the time is right, but the biggest thing for me at this point is the HOPE. The PROMISE of spring. The CHANCE of new life, The ANTICIPATION of being able to play in the dirt again sometime reasonably soon.
I hope that you are seeing – or creating – some signs of spring wherever you are.
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