Catching up with the weeds...

5/7/2010 - My daughter and I went to the garden and planted flower seeds for her. She planted Aztec sunflowers, Autumn Mix sunflowers, Jade sunflowers, Vanilla Ice and Strawberry Blonde sunflowers, Cosmos, Zinnias, Shasta and Painted Daisies. She wants to grow flowers for herself, but also for the fair and to sell. These will be nice flowers for making bouquets and selling.

5/13/2010 - This evening was supposed to be a regular work night at the community garden. So I went with intention of doing some of my own work and helping with whatever other tasks needed. There was only a couple of people that showed up but more just to water their own plots and leave. So I spent the time weeding my plots and composting more around my plants.

My daughter's sunflowers are peeping up out of the soil. But I haven't seen sign of cosmos, zinnias or daisies. Wondering if we will need to replant? I will give some more time to see if they will come in another week and after the rains we are expecting.

 I took pictures but I will have to wait until I can download them before posting. My plants are coming right along. Although I still worry that my two new plots may be weak and not as fertile and rich as I would like. I am such a newbie gardener!




***UPDATE***


Finally here are some photos from 5/13/2010:


 From bottom to top: Crookneck Summer Squash (3), Beefsteak Tomato (l), Brandwine Tomato from seed (r), Slicing Cucumber, Beefsteak Tomato (l), Cherry Tomato (r), Pickling Cucumber, Rutgers Tomato (l) and Roma Tomato (r).

Bottom to Top: Romaine Lettuce, Poblano Pepper, Bibb Lettuce, Poblano Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Sweet Red and Green Peppers, Okra, Pickling Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, and Rutgers Tomato.

Left to Right: Same as above but from the side.

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Okra, Peppers, and Lettuces

Sunflower sprouts

Happy Birthday to a special 7-year old!

Today is a very special day - Seven years ago I gave birth to special little guy. He is our first boy and quite a handsome dude. (At least I think so!) He is so intense, smart, incredibly curious, and has a smile that lights up a room. He is quick-witted and sensitive towards his siblings. I am thankful we were blessed with such a special boy! Happy Birthday!

Here he is with his Spectacular Spider-Man cake and his older sister and two younger brothers. They are a special crew!!

Little more planting before the hopeful rain

4/30/2010 - My daughter and I went down to the garden after her art class to get a little more planted, pull some pesky weeds, and help with some community garden tasks. There is supposed to be big rain coming this weekend so a fellow gardener cautioned against planting seeds because they would get washed away. I had hoped to have these seeds in and they would be germinating before next weekend. I guess I should wait.

My daughter watered the plants while I did a little weeding. Then I also planted a slicing cucumber, two cherry tomatoes, and three crookneck squash hills.

The garden is looking so nice too. Spring is here and growing season has really begun!

Opening Day at the Garden

4/26/2010 - I picked up some more plants last night in search of Poblano Peppers. I didn't find any Poblanos but I did score buy one get one plants at Lowe's. I picked up a couple of Rutger's tomatoes, a six pack of Red Beefsteak tomatoes, a couple of Jalapeno peppers, a couple of Roma tomatoes, and a Patio Cherry tomato plant. I also picked up some herbs like provence lavendar, sweet basil, rosemary, and mint.

I roused my sorry body out of bed and got down to the garden & feed store at 7am this morning. OK, really I am not a farmer and don't get up with the chickens. I am a nocturnal creature. But sometimes we do what we have to. I scrounged around and found Poblano peppers! Yea, me! I also snagged some sage and cilantro. Still no patty pan or baby zucchini. Hmmm....and the garden guy wasn't so optimistic.

I hustled down to the garden and planted tomatoes, jalapenos, poblanos, and some cucumber seeds. The next day or two may be a little cooler, but then it will warm up. This is good for my lettuce!

I still have one whole plot and a half to plant. I also bought a slicing cucumber plant from an area FFA group along with a couple of Cherry Tomato plants.

This evening was our opening event for returning gardeners to the garden. Wow! I didn't realize there were that many. How exciting and encouraging. Good food was shared and it was really nice meeting so many folks.

I still need to plant those and also get in my squash. I haven't decided yet about a regular zucchini. I may have to go with it if I can't find the baby zucchini. I also need to spend time with other gardeners at the community garden planting corn, watermelon and cantaloupe. (Yum!)

I hope to have the time to plan and plant flowers with my daughter within the week. I also need to pick up some long and rectangle planters for my herbs I purchased and get in my patio cherry tomatoes. I have a number of spare small pots I can plant little flowers.

I keep thinking I am about done only to think of more. But I am so thoroughly enjoying all of this!

What to plant?

4/23/2010 - "What shall I grow?" is always the question rolling around in my head....here are my thoughts thus far but we will see how it shakes out. I am also listing what I plan to do with each. This is a long list and most things will be a one plant deal to try out except for things that I have really specific plans for like peppers and tomatoes. I am disappointed though - I can't grow corn! What is a garden without corn?? It is part of the guidelines of the community garden. They do have a long row on the back of the garden that they will be planting corn, so I hope it will do well and I can get some. I also won't be able to grow watermelon or cantaloupe again because of the garden guidelines. But again they said I could have a couple of mounds to plant these apart from my plots. They sprawl too much and may be a problem for other folks plots.

Planted already:

• Romaine Lettuce
• Bibb Lettuce
• Carrots - duds! May try growing at home in containers?
  
• Okra - pickles!
  
• Green Bell Peppers - family loves munching on these and will also vacuum pack/freeze
  
• Red Bell Peppers - same as green
  

To be planted?

• Pickle Cucumbers - pickles!
  
• Slicing Cucumbers - salads
  
• Jalapeno Peppers - pickles and stuffed peppers
  
• Poblano Peppers - chile rellenos!!!
  
• Crook-Neck Summer Squash - eat fresh, sauteed, casseroles, freeze?
  
• Patty Pan Summer Squash - sauteed
  
• Zucchini - freeze
  
• Courgette Bambino Zucchini - sauteed
  
• Cherry or Grape Tomatoes - eat like jelly beans!, salads
  
• Roma Tomatoes - paste, sauces, salads
  
• Beef Steak, Brandywine, and/or Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes - stewed (plain and Italian), sauce, juice - canned
  
• Yellow/Orange Tomatoes - sandwiches, munching
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon

I am sure this is much too ambitious. We will see what actually makes the cut. :-)

Hand-tilling, Back-breaking Heartattack work!

4/22/2010 - I invested in one of those 4-pronged cultivators. I thought that the pitch fork thing would actually go too deep for these plots. The plots are only about 4" deep and hard rocky stuff underneath. I got that 7 in 1 tool (shovel, serated edge, knife like edge, weeder, tamper, etc.). Let's hope this one doesn't break!

OK, time to till up this soil by hand. I didn't want to mess around waiting for someone to till for me and it rained a night or two back so maybe not so bad. I started on the first plot and there were so many rocks, stones and....poop! I am betting it is the Canadian geese that hang out in the park nearby. At first I thought it was dog poop - but I am pretty certain it is those geese. I have seen them waddle over from time to time. The neighborhood dogs don't seem to go as far back where the garden plots are.

As I was tilling the first new plot in the corner there were ants like crazy! Not good! I mean everywhere. I turned the soil under and put additional soil in there but I will need to put something down to combat these ants or the crops will suffer.







I got both of the new plots tilled and as I was raking them getting the rocks out my neighbor/friend's husband showed up to check up on additional work that was being done to set out more plots for future gardeners! He asked who tilled my garden for me. LOL! No worries! Well, I am done tilling now. It was good for me physically to get a good work out and work the muscles. I got two skinned up thumbs even though I had gloves on...no blisters just shaved off skin. Ouch!

These plots look so much nicer! It is supposed to rain this weekend. So that will give me time to plan more and get whatever I can't find locally ordered online.



I also weeded more around my initial plot the weeds were almost as tall as me! Still some more cleaning around the plot to be done but I will come back to it. I am whipped and ready to pack up and be done for a couple of days. :-)


Here are close up shots of my lettuce:

Weeds out - time to till

4/19/2010 - Finished weeding the two new plots. The dirt is hard as rock. I had considered hand-tilling the plots myself until I saw how hard they were. My friend's husband may come and till my plots for me. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so maybe that will loosen things up.

Fortunately the weeds came up easily in one plot since it was mainly just ground cover and not rooted. There were a few nasty deeply rooted weeds but not too bad. In the second plot the weeds were more rooted and took some maneuvering, digging, pulling and back breaking. In the first plot half way through I broke my hand shovel I was digging more rooted weeds with. That is what you get with a cheap shovel.

I am wondering what I should invest in to till this up if I have to do it by hand. A cultivator or pitch fork like thing? I guess it is also time to pony up more cash for a nicer heavy duty hand trowel/shovel. I saw one of those fancy 7 in 1 tools...Tim Allen tool of gardeners. :-)