Preparing for the Upcoming Gardening Season

Many of my non-gardening friends think that we gardeners have nothing to do in the off season gardening months, but they couldn't be more wrong.  Actually I think the off season is busier for some than the regular season depending on your gardening style.

This is the time of year that we research new techniques we have yet to try and make tweaks on things we have tried but want to change.  There are so many excellent ideas out there right now that there is no way that anyone can have tried them all successfully.  Each year I hear about something new, be it hydroponics, square foot gardening, lasagna style beds, composting, vertical gardens, beds for small spaces, companion plantings, integrated pest management, I could go on and on.  Even as a more experienced gardener  I am still trying something different each year.  I am not sure that any gardener ever gets everything completely down to perfection.

It is a time that we gather our information of what worked and what didn't work last year.  Some gardeners are actually organized enough to take notes about their gardens as the season progresses.  When they started their seeds, what they used to feed their plants, how they amended their soil, when they hardened and transplanted their seedlings, how often they watered, how often they weeded, what kind of harvest they got,...  Maybe someday I will be organized enough to do that, but I do write down what I remember though.  I am thinking my blog would be the best place for me to take those notes.  It's rather easy to lose a notebook, but how could anyone misplace a blog?

At this time we plan what we will do this year.  We don't always plant the same things every year.  For example, if I have a bumper crop of green beans and have a 3 years' supply then I don't need to plant that particular item.  Likewise, if I ran out of tomatoes 7 weeks into winter then I need to plan to grow more tomatoes.  If we know we have a major event or trips planned we may chose to plant differently than if we are staying close to home all summer.

Many of us figure out a plan of what we will plant where this year.   Anyone who has grown plants knows that they need to rotate crops if they want the best performance and the least problems.  I like to create a map from one year to the next as to what seeds I planted in which plots.  Some seeds followed by a different one the following year gets more benefit from the soil, while others should not be planted in the same plot as a veggie from the same family because they have similar nutrient requirements as well as similar pest problems.

Pouring through seed catalogs is a favorite pastime of many gardeners.  The descriptions of plants are just dreamy.  It's almost like reading a romantic novel really.  Just thinking about sinking your teeth into a large, ripe, purple tomato is enough to get some gardener's toes curling.  The hardest part is limiting the number of seed packets you buy.  I mean, these things are SO tempting who can blame anyone for buying twice as many seeds as they actually need?

If we start our own seeds, we also need to plan when to plant those so they are ready for planting to get the earliest possible start.  I know there are many who think it is just way easier to just buy their plants from a nursery, but in my experience it is much more satisfying to plant my own.  I mean, if you buy seedlings from someone else you are limited to growing whatever they decided to plant for you.  Planting your own seeds opens the possibilities to just about anything you might want to grow.  You would also know of they are GMO, if they are organic, and all of those other buzz words that people worry about.

As you can see, there are plenty of activities to keep us busy even when the snow is on the ground and the dirt is frozen solid.  Most of all though, I think we dream of the sun warming our faces, butterflies and bees flitting from flower to flower, and picking basket after basket of produce to nourish our families with.  Think spring!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Practical Container Plants

Onions replaced the spikes in
my whiskey barrel

If you've known me for any amount of time, you would know that I just love to have containers of flowers everywhere you look.   Flowers attract beneficial insects to the garden needed for pollination, I view them as an essential part of any garden.  You can also eat many of the flowers or use them for craft projects or medicines

In the past I have used spikes, sweet potato vine, and other items as accent pieces in my flower pots.  The foliage is striking and interesting and it gives a nice contrast to the flowers.  It can be rather expensive to buy these though.  6 packs are much more reasonably priced, but they don't seem to sell these accent plants in 6 packs. Over the last couple of years I have replaced those items with other, more useful items.

Over the last several years I have used many items such as mint, rosemary, onions, fennel, basil, and parsley, but this year I am expanding my repetoire into more new and different things such as cucumbers, mustard and collard greens, and kale.

Shed planter

 My husband built these great boxes for me that sit in front of our shed.  In the past they have been filled with 3 rows of different kinds of flowers.  Last year the back row was made of curly leaf parsley, but I had more parsley than I knew what to do with so this year I am doing something different.  This box shows an alernated back row of both basil and parsley.  The middle row of flowers has been replaces with flowering kale of varying colors.  I asked at the garden store since I have never raised kale before and she told me that this would be a great idea and should last all summer as long as I kept them well watered.

Hanging baskets

My hanging baskets have held strawberries in the past.  Since they have been taken and planted in our berry patch, I will be trying come cucumbers in them.  Of course I will still have the ones out front as well, but they will hold a wildly varied bunch of plants.  Next year I will plant more varieties of basil such as red ruffles because of the interesting looking foliage.  When you limit yourself to what the garden centers grow and have available it makes the selections a bit boring.  One can never have too much basil.

You may recall my hanging tomato planters that I have had in years past.  I have done it with a plant in the top and the bottom.  This won't change, but those bags are rather cheaply made and are falling apart and getting filled with holes.  This year I will be making my own out of 5 gallon buckets.  More on that in a future post.

Ground planter

Planters also abound on the ground around here.  I have grown spinach, lettuce, and herbs in these.  It actually worked really well for me to put the cool season crops into planters last year because when the sun got too hot for them it was easy to move them to a shadier location.

My stevia and patchouli plants did well in containers all summer last year, until they came inside for the winter and my cats mutilated them...  Most of the time you can overwinter tender plants indoors to ensure they come back again next year.  If they are tropicals they would need a warm location, but I think next winter I may try my luck at sheltering them in my garage instead.

This year more tomatoes and peppers followed me home than I have room for in the veggie gardens out back, so some of those will also find homes in those giant pots that you buy trees in from the nursery.

A word of caution about container plants:  They do dry out faster than plants would in they were in the ground because of the added air circulation around the soil, so check them regularly.  That is one reason I won't buy the hanging baskets from the nurseries, they use inferior soils with no water retaining ingredients mixed in.  I like to make my own potting mix and top it off with mulch so the plants stay evenly moist.  This is especially true for the hanging baskets because air circulates all around them.

There, now you can combine both beauty AND utility all around your garden.  Don't be afraid to experiment, just because you've never heard of anyone else trying it out doesn't mean it won't work!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Starting your Own Seeds

It is amazing how many people there are out there that think starting your own seeds at home is hard or takes a lot of time.  It does require a small time commitment every day as well as the time to fill seed starting trays with growing medium, but it frees you from so many concerns!  (And don't forget about all of the money you will save!)

What are the benefits?  You pick the kind of seeds you grow so you won't have to worry about the nursery running out of the ones you want,  since you choose your own soil, fertilizer, and water source you don't need to worry about what has been added to your plants (especially if you'll be eating them), you will know when they were planted (IF you remembered to keep track...), you will know what was planted since you picked your own seeds,  not to mention the cost and...  I could go on and on of course, but that was not the intent of this post.


Let's get started!  You will need some basic equipment to start out with.  Containers, soil, seeds, water, a source of light, and heat are all that you will need for a successful operation.

Seed tray prior to sprouting

Any clean container will do.  I used the trays you can buy at the store for maximum usage of my little table top green house.  I have seen others use egg cartons, old cool whip containers, etc as well.  The containers need drainage though, if they get waterlogged you will get mold growth as well as other problems.  It is also a good idea to have your container in something else to catch the water that drains out of your container if you over-water to cut down on the mess creation factor.  To reduce the risk of fungi and bacteria being present on your containers and in your soil you may wish to sanitize them.  Soil can be sanitized by baking it in the oven.

Spouted cucumber seeds

Once you have your container ready, it is time to put some growing medium into it.  I have heard of people using plain sand, perilite, sphagnum peat moss, regular soil, or any combination of these things.  The important thing to remember is that it should be able to retain moisture.  If a seed isn't kept moist, it's not going to sprout!  Pack the soil into the container thoroughly, if you don't the soil will settle and there won't be enough room for the roots to grow.

Next, plant the seeds.  Read the directions on your seed packet to know when to plant your seeds, how close to plant them together, etc.  Some seeds need to be started indoors in order to give you the longest growing season possible while others can be planted outside prior to the last frost or after the last frost.   If you don't want to forget which seeds are planted where you may also want to consider marking them, especially if you aren't good at identifying young seedlings. Generally seeds are covered with about as much soil as they are big.  Covering them with the recommended amount of soil can mean a difference between a successful sprout or a failure.  Too little soil will allow the seedling to dry out and it will also be visible to seed eating birds if you are outside, too much soil may cause your seedling to run out of stored energy before it hits the daylight.  Once you get the hang of growing your own seedlings you can also collect and store your own seeds for an even bigger cost savings, but that's a post for another time.  You don't need to plant every seed in the packet either, save some for next year or the year after that....  The date on the package indicates when the best germination period will be for them, they don't automatically go sterile after that date.

Reaching for daylight

Make sure to keep the soil evenly moist, but if there is standing water in the water catching tray, dump it out. Standing water invites mold.  I should know, I had some starting to grow.  In the past, that has killed my seedlings so I stood watch.  If you do get mold it can be defeated if you catch it early enough.  I simply mixed a tiny bit of hydrogen peroxide into my spray bottle that I mist the soil with.  It kills the mold, but won't harm the plant.  I also dried out the seedlings with some air circulation from a fan, either of those on it's own *should* work by itself, but I wasn't taking any chances.

I had to put my containers into a protective greenhouse to keep the cats away from the tender sprouts, but you can keep them in any sunny location to give them the light they need.  If you don't have a sunny location many people also use grow lights with the full UV spectrum in them.  Technically they don't need light until you see the green leaves though.  See how the seedlings grow toward the light?  You may want to rotate your trays if you're using the sun for your light source.

Provide some heat.  Seedlings need different amounts of heat for different types for optimal growth but not providing optimal temps will just slow down the germination and growth of the plant, it won't stop it.  There are optional heating mats that people have used to warm their soil faster, but they aren't necessary.

Now, we wait for the seedlings to grow their true leaves and grow bigger and stronger.  At this point if your seedlings are growing outside you need to beware of cut worms that will cut the seedlings off at soil level.  Cut up pieces of toilet paper holders have worked for me in the past.

Keep watering and watch them grow!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Self Sufficiency Update

Okay, okay. I haven't been blogging much recently so I doubt I have any "regular" followers left, but just in case I thought I'd post an update on our attempt to be self sufficient. My new life style has left me much busier than I ever thought I would be!

Several years ago (was it 2008 or 2009?) we started planting some fruit trees and shrubs that we are beginning to get some fruit from. We have expanded our orchard from just a couple of trees in our side yard to so many trees it is hard to keep track of them all. Our orchard has expanded into our front and back yard. Once we filled those areas, we expanded to the area along the front of our tree line up by the road in front of our house. This year we added 2 plum trees as well as a pear and a couple more varieties of apples (like we needed more of those, lol).

My square foot gardens have continued producing a ton of produce to can each year. I have become fairly comfortable with the canning skills I gained from reading library books, blog posts, and other things several years ago. We are getting enough to have to begin making additional areas to store all of our canned goods. Each time I pluck some edibles from the yard I feel so richly blessed.

In 2010 my wonderful hubby built me a grape arbor that has been heavily planted with grape vines that have also begun producing fruit this year. It looks wonderful. On the decorative top cross braces we have hung those topsy turvy bags which provided us with so many tomatoes last year I'm not really sure that we needed to plant more tomato plants this year.

We have begun working on an area in the back yard where we are moving our strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, and rhubarb to so they get more sunlight. That will be a lot of work. It had been difficult this year to have enough cool days to do such intensive labor, but I am still hoping to get it done this year.

Another venture I began last summer was to add a bunch of herbs to my garden. This year I began drying them for future use. I have even added them to my containers as accent plants instead of the traditional varieties that we have used in the past.

The negotiations continue for getting bunnies and chickens.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Square Foot Gardening

My garden vegetable garden was so successful last year that I decided to build two more beds. I had started building them last fall, but just finished filling them this past weekend.

I know that I didn't get as many vegetables into my garden last year as Mel Bartholomew's book said I could, so I decided to mark the squares as he suggested. This isn't really required, but I am not very good at judging the proper spacing without these visual markers. My raised beds are 4 feet wide by 12 feet long.

The first step to adding the markers is measuring out each one foot section. I used a tape measure locked just over 1 foot to make it more manageable to manipulate. At each 1 foot increment, I used a galvanized exterior nail to mark each space.

Once each section was marked, I simply slid the tape measure up by the next nail and pounded in another nail. I suppose any nail would probably do, but if they aren't graded for exterior use they'll rust more quickly.

Once I got each section marked off, I connected some twine to each nail opposite each other. First I strung the ends together since there are only 3 nails. They will also act as supports for the cross twine as I weave the twine under one string and over the next as it crosses.


Once each section is marked off, we are ready to plant. You can plant pretty much anything that can be 12 inches from something else into this style raised bed. Read the planting instructions for specific plants. Divide each section into the proper number of sections by drawing lines with a stick prior to planting your seeds, bulbs, or seedlings. Some plants do not require this work such as tomatoes which require 12 inches between plantings. Those plants are placed in the center of the square.

I decided to try to plant some corn this year too. I've never grown corn before, so this is another new thing for us to try. I read that corn needs to be planted in blocks. Most gardeners prefer to cut extra seedlings off once they are growing well, but I had these great little corn plants growing two per section. How could I choose just one? I gently pulled them out of the pot, squeezed the dirt to loosen the roots from each other. Once most of the dirt had crumbled away, I slowly separated my corn seedlings from each other. It looks like my efforts were successful too, each of them looked to have a nice healthy root system. I was so happy! This doubled my corn supply. I planted for corn plants per square. Normally you don't group food in rows with square foot gardening, but corn is an exception.


Interspersing blocks of onions, marigolds, garlic, and other strong smelling plants can help to disguise the scent of more favorable plants preventing many insect infestations that most gardens fall subject to. Square foot gardening is a great way to put some of the organic gardening techniques into practice. Once my seedlings are up, the whole bed will be mulched to prevent weeds, to preserve moisture, and to add additional nourishment to the soil.

Today I got all of the seedlings that I purchased at my husband's place of employment planted into the gardens. Tomorrow I will plant some of the seeds I got from Hometown Seeds last fall (to check them out, please click on the link in my sidebar).

Following is a list of the plants I planted (or will plant) as well as how many plants can be grown per square.

1 per square- broccoli, cabbage, head lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, asparagus
2 per square- cucumber
4 per square- potatoes, arugula, corn, leaf lettuce, Swiss chard
9 per square- peas, beans, spinach
16 per square- onions, turnips, beets, carrots, radish, chives

I hope to have an even more successful year this year and plan to get lots of use out of my canning equipment. What are you growing this year?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Cindy

Living and Gardening Sustainably

My blogging friend Jan is running this great little giveaway over at her blog. For details please click here. It is a sustainable living giveaway in honor of Earth Day which is on April 22 this year. To see what other garden bloggers are doing, please visit Jan's page.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has put forth an effort to help make our earth a more sustainable place to live in. I want to do all that we can to help preserve the pleasures we have been able to enjoy all of these years for our future generations. It's all the small things that can really add up to make a huge difference for everyone.
One of the many things I have been diligently working on is reducing the amount of trash that my family creates. At the rate some of our landfills are filling up we will run out of room in no time. I am doing my best to keep things that will break down quickly out of them altogether. My husband built me this great compost bin last summer to aid me in my efforts. In it I place all fruit and vegetable waste as well as leaves, hair, dirt that I sweep up, small pieces of cardboard, shredded up paper, and grass clippings. I am also trying to produce more of our own food so we don't have so many cans and plastic bags to recycle since that also uses precious energy. This food can then be frozen in plastic boxes or canned in my reusable glass containers. Reducing the number of plastic bottles that my family uses is also a major feat I am working to accomplish. We do this by reusing them and drinking water from our faucet whenever possible. Anything that we get rid of that is still in usable condition is donated to a charity such as Goodwill as well. I send less meat fats to the dump too as I am saving them to try to make my own soap. I have yet to get to this, but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually... I'm also still working on trying to figure out if it would be possible to ground the animal bones down to make my own bone meal too, if I find a good, practical way to do this I'll be sure to let you know. Cutting down on frivolous waste also slashes our bills by large amounts because we are sending less to the dump and buying less from outside sources. It's a win-win!

Often we waste precious resources as well. Think of all of the back breaking work it takes to make a traditional garden work. You need to till up so much soil, pick all of the rocks out of it, and dig through copious amounts of tree roots. So many people think that it's such hard work that they often give up altogether only part of the way through the summer. I mean think about it, there's weeding, watering, fertilizing, and thinning the plantings not to mention all of the space a garden takes up it the first place. My garden beds were so successful last summer and required so little time, attention, or resources I decided to add more of them this year. These gardens are modeled after Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Garden method with a lasagna style layering design to it as well as integrated pest management. The amount of water needed is drastically cut because once your seedlings emerge you simply mulch bed with grass, paper, leaves, pine needles,compost,... whatever. This mulch helps the soil retain moisture in the hot summer months and also adds nutrients so no artificial fertilizers or pesticides are needed. Not only does it decrease the amount of time we spend, but also water and money too. It also limits our exposure to chemicals that are abundant in many commercially prepared foods. Could there even be a better idea than that?

Conservation has always been pretty high on my list of priorities as well. Part of that tendency runs in my family, I think. We have a long line of frugal people that I am perpetuating by teaching these same values to my children. I don't like to use more of anything than what I need and I look for the cheapest possible way to get a job done. Let's think about water for a minute. If you live in town, you pay for sewer and water usage, but if you live in the country you want to be careful not to use too much water or your well may run the risk of running dry. We turn out water gets off when not in use, the water heater and hot water pipes have blankets and/or wraps to retain their heat (I'd also like to purchase a recirculator but I can't afford it now), I wash most clothes in cold water, and we use low flow shower heads to cut back on the amount of hot water used when showering. Then there's the whole issue of electricity which costs everyone everywhere money no matter where you live. Some of the steps we take to conserve energy include keeping the refrigerator and freezer full so they run less often, I use energy saving light bulbs which I try to use only one of at a time whenever possible, we live on a heavily treed lot so our central air is rarely needed since I artificially shade the house from the sun's rays when trees aren't blocking out the heat using blinds and curtain, I keep most appliances unplugged and put away when not in use, and I have installed power strips on the electronics I do keep plugged in so they only use energy when the power strip is turned on. Then there's gas for both our cars and heating our home in the winter. I try to plan my trips to town so I go as few times as possible, I keep storm windows closed in the winter to keep out additional cold but open the sun facing windows' blinds to let in as much light and heat as possible during the day, and we bought a programmable thermostat so we can lower our home's temperature when no one is up and/or home. I'd love to be able to afford a rain barrel to water my gardens with so I can conserve my well water for family drinking too someday, but they're not cheap to buy.

What are you doing to make our world a better place for our children and grandchildren?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Inexpensive Greenhouse Lighting

As I was surfing the internet the other day, I got a great idea from one of my blog roll buddies. I don't seem to get much of a chance to read blogs much anymore, somehow I always seem to be busier than ever even though most of our major household projects are getting wrapped up. I read Cheap Vegetable Gardener's Blog and he had this great idea for using LED lights for starting plants in grow boxes. Since we were just in the process of putting away our Christmas decorations, I thought now would be a perfect time to start that project. I decided that would be a wonderful idea for how to solve my issues I had last year with my table top green house.

If you recall, I attempted to start my own seeds last year for my brand new raised lasagna style square foot veggie garden. I had attempted to use my table top greenhouse once before when we lived in MN to start my own flowers, but I had little success. Last year I used a reflective light, heat mats, a timer to turn the light off and on (I tend to be a bit forgetful sometimes), and domes to help the seedlings keep in the moisture better. Apparently they were a little too toasty in there since all of the seedlings shriveled almost as soon as I used my new setup. I think the bulb I have can be used as an incubator bulb, so I'll keep it just in case Cheesehead ever changes his mind and lets me get those chickens I'd like to raise.

I needed a new, inexpensive way to light my small table top sized greenhouse. It isn't long enough to fit those nice conventional sized grow lights in, so I had to be creative. These LED lights I got on clearance at Menards a few years ago seemed like a good solution. I still have 3 boxes I had never even opened. They had only been $3 per box, so I guess I went a little bit crazy. They are much cheaper to use than conventional lighting too, which is a big bonus when you are looking for ways to save money. I think I would have bought some now if I didn't already have some as most stores are clearing out the leftover Christmas stuff this time of year.

To attach the lights to the frame, I used some of the smaller sized zip ties I had sitting out in the garage. I simply wrapped the ties around the wire racks twice, once on either side of the bulb to direct the light in the proper direction. Twine would have worked too I'm sure but I like the sturdiness of the plastic ties as well as the ease of securing them tightly to just about anything.

I am planning on lining the top of the greenhouse with cardboard backed aluminum foil to add extra brightness for my plants as well as prevent the remote possibility of melting the flimsy plastic exterior cover with the low powered bulbs. I also think I should have some protection between my grow trays and the electrical wiring, so I will line the middle shelf with towels on top of the cardboard backed aluminum foil sheets to absorb any possible spills.

The seed starting will actually have to wait quite a while though since winter has just begun here. I'll have two additional veggie beds to fill with seedlings this spring too, for a total of three raised beds. I am also trying to do everything with home made organic products and ideas to save even more money as well as freeing us from the use of potentially harmful chemicals. I'm sure hoping this scheme of mine works out!

What are some of your winter projects you are working on?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

WInter Plans

Wow, fall has really flown by this year. I am glad that I was able to get so much done out in the yard this year. It is not usually possible to get some of the things on my enormous to do list done, but it was usually warm this fall. Strangely, our ground has just recently frozen so I was able to get the bulbs I purchased at 75% off planted. Our lakes are also frozen by this time of year most of the time, but we are still waiting for that to happen.

Winter has rolled in with full force and unusual brutality within the last week or so. Though we are having "normal" temps for this time of year, I feel like it's colder than usual. Winter will officially begin this month, but the garden catalogs have already began flooding my mail box. It is time to begin thinking ahead to the spring gardens.

I know I sometimes complain (okay, maybe a little more than sometimes...) about the cold and snow up here, but I feel like it's is a much needed enforced break that I may not otherwise take. Sometimes we gardeners get so wrapped up in our "stuff" that we forget to take time for ourselves. I think that winter is God's way of reminding us that we need to take a break and take care of ourselves. Frozen grounds and feet of snow really make you stop in your gardening tracks. What will I do this winter?

Well, you know me, I always have something up my sleeve! I am hoping that I get a chance to work on some of my long neglected craft projects this winter. My craft room is finally almost as organized as I would like it to be, so that should help me feel more motivated. I will hopefully also get a chance to do some more blogging and blog hopping. This year has been especially busy and I seem to have been neglecting spending time with my blogging buddies lately. They have done so much to help to bring me back from the brink of despair, I'd hate for them to think that I have forgotten about them. My larger home improvement projects seem to be winding down so I shouldn't have too much of that type of thing to do. One day I would like to put an egress window in our basement as well as a door onto our new deck, but I am thinking these projects may be past my amateur skills.

I have also been working on cleaning stuff out lately while thinking about the possibility of having to move again within a few years. Along the way, I have discovered many choice pieces of wood collecting dust in the scrap wood pile. I am imagining a wonderful cold frame being built from them as well as making some various bird, butterfly, and bat houses.

Although I am banished to the indoors for the winter, fear not, I have plenty of winter plans. What are your plans?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

I Think I Got a Little Carried Away

I went to bring Cheesehead some lunch and dinner yesterday at his new store since he was working open to close. When he does that he doesn't like to have to pack a lunch in the morning before he heads off to work, I don't blame him! I had told him ahead of time that I'd bring him his stuff because I only worked a half day and I actually like to be able to spend a little time with him each day.

In the course of our discussion over our lunch from the local BK, he happened to share with me the fact that their flowering bulbs were 75% off. He knew I had been eyeing up some bulbs but managed to restrain myself from buying any of them earlier in the season. I mentioned that I'd go check them out before I got the stuff he needed me to get to put in the work car's gas tank. I don't imagine he'd really thought about what a hog I would be after browsing for a few minutes.

They had such a wide variety of the lovely plants left I just couldn't resist their alluring temptations. At around $1 or $2 per package it was much harder to just say no. Look what followed me home!

I guess this means I have some more to do out in the garden before the ground freezes. I will be planting these honeys this weekend. I was thinking about waiting to move and divide some plants needing division until next spring but now I'm not so sure. Should I just get all of the beds done now so I can have a little more time to relax in the spring? I also want to mark where they were planted so they can come with me if/when we sell this house. We keep wavering with that decision. We love this house but hate his new commute. With two homes out of 6 already for sale in the neighborhood we know we won't be selling it this fall or winter.

Someone came by the display I set up to see what was going on. I think we may know which one is the plant eater... what do you think?

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Where Did June Go?

The month has brought about much growth both in my life and in our yard, I am constantly amazed at the progress I'm seeing. It's also brought me much needed peace too.

I'm looking at the calendar and I see that there in only a week left of June. Where did this month disappear to? I've been working on getting our current home loan modified, getting lots of little things done I've wanted done in the last three years, finding ways to cut our expenses so we can make it on our reduced income, and just generally getting everything in order.

I seem to have suddenly sprung to life too. I feel so much happier, unencumbered. I feel like life is good again and things are only going to improve. I see hope and harmony and I'm loving it. My energy levels reflect that too, I can't believe how many things I get done in a day nowadays. Not like the days when I was happy to even get one thing done!

Looking around I can see so many blessings that God has sent us, I think that helps lift my spirits too. Everywhere I look I am reminded of these wonderful things that tell me he still loves us. Blackberry brambles seem to have overtaken the entire woods surrounding our house. There are drifts of white blackberry flowers floating all over on the fringes of our yard. Any picture you take seems to inadvertently include pictures of these blooms. If we didn't like wild fruits so much this may annoy us, but it makes me feel truly blessed. I wonder if my blackberry jelly is good enough to sell to raise money to buy my dad a headstone....

The apples I pollinated with a paintbrush continue to swell into fruits. It looks to be covered in numerous apples that are on their way to becoming food for our table. One of the new trees we just planted this year even has one apple growing on it. I'm pretty impressed!

Our first strawberry of the season was ready today. I picked it and gave it to Cheesehead as a gift. He's been kind enough to water the veggie garden even though he hates any vegetable that's not corn or potatoes. He has even talked about giving me more room from his back yard for more future veggie gardens. Will wonders never cease?

I planted two tomatoes in coconut lined baskets earlier this spring. You know... like those green bags that hang on a hook? It's a little experiment. So far it seems to be working out great. Look at all of the blooms it is forming!

Our other tomato plants are taking off too. I have all 16 plants that are in the ground caged up with those cheap little cages. Two of them aren't doing so well, but the others seem to be thriving. Would you believe I got all of these as those cheap little 6 pack plants? We have a total of 18 tomato plants. Looks like I may need to start looking for ways to prepare and can some of my garden goodies! I also planted a six pack each of green peppers and zucchini and a three pack of broccoli in the garden.

Cheesehead can't believe the difference between this year's garden and the gardens of the past. We were just talking about that earlier. I guess I might not believe it either if I weren't living in my body feeling so much better and getting so much done. Cucumbers, beans, and peas are all growing from seed. I also planted some carrots, lettuce, water melon, banana peppers, and squash seeds last week. It may be a bit late but I guess we'll see soon enough. I think I'll try planting a late summer garden of spinach and other goodies too.

This fall I will move the asparagus I planted this spring to a sunnier location with much better soil.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Planning Our Deck Garden

If you know me at all you'd have to know that Cheesehead's building of a deck is inspiring me to plan yet another garden. When I told him of my plans I got the typical eye roll. It will be a while before my plans come to fruition since the deck is still not finished, but I'm having fun making plans. Let me know what you think!

Our deck is rather oddly shaped. It was originally going to be 12x20 and all materials were purchased for it. Since Cheesehead mentioned a change in plans to a smaller 12x10 size, I grabbed two of his 12 foot boards for my veggie garden. He took my two extra 8 foot boards and made an 8x10 extension "for the grill". Yeah....

I have decided to surround the deck with curved lines with wood mulched beds. (Hopefully I'll be able to make some free mulch out of all of the dead brush I've accumulated.)

I think it would be wonderful to be able to sit at my table and smell the wonderful fragrances of my plants. I have already added 3 fruit trees (apple, peach, and pear). I would also like to add peonies (which I will divide from existing plantings after they've bloomed), roses (I bought last year and they died so I will put the replacements here), and maybe a compact lilac bush as well as some soon to be divided creeping phlox. Herbs are also on my list, but I have yet to plan the exact areas and layout. This is assuming I can get some of those darned seeds I bought to grow of course....

Since money is extremely limited (what else is new?) I am thinking of migrating my woodland garden plants to this garden area. I think I'd be able to keep a better eye on them if they're closer to the house anyway. The deer really did a number on the hostas Lisa sent me last summer. When I went to check on them earlier this spring there were no dead leaves to show me where the plants had once been. (Luckily they all seem to be coming back now.) I also have lily of the valley, astilbe, periwinkle, traditional bleeding heart, and lavendar in there. I may be missing something.... Right behind the house has an area that always shaded too, perfect for some of those shade plants.

Cheesehead also wants me to move my arbor garden with the three clematis I brought from Big Lake up near the house into this garden area. I'm not sure if it would be sunny enough there though. How much sun do you think they'll need? It would be a shame if I killed them after they've been through so much!

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Waste Not, Want Not

With these more difficult economic times, it is making some us us reflect on our past behaviors. Things that annoyed us, we find uses for and maybe have even come to like, use and depend on. Things we may have once thrown away become valuable decor. Take a look at some of the things I've been working on lately.

Let's first think about rocks. I'm sure we all have plenty of them, they can be dug up from just about any corner of any . Usually they're piled in a corner of the yard once we run out of uses for them. I've been known to throw a few into the woods around here. I hated digging these things up in my yard and I didn't knew what to do with them. Sure I had a couple of uses last year that I shared with you such as filling in the bottom portion of a raised bed, edging a garden, and filling in the window wells so sand would stop splashing onto my basement windows, but then the ideas ran out.

Today, I found some more uses for them.

They make great weights for the bottoms of flower pots when you don't have enough soil to fill a whole pot. Who ever said the whole pot needs to be filled with soil anyway? Some pots are quite large. Why not fill the part that no roots will grow into with those extra rocks? They'll also help keep the plant from drowning in too much standing water. They promote good drainage in those pots.

They also keep out mulch in place around our plants. These plants need plenty of TLC while they become established. Sure, just mulching them will probably work just as well... Unless you live here with oblivious children playing in the yard or people who don't watch what they're mowing down. They serve as great garden markers to call attention to sticks that may otherwise be destroyed.


Did you run out of mulch? Rocks can help shade the soil, keep it moist, and prevent weeds too. They work in containers as well as gardens.

Do you need splash blocks? Why waste your money on those store bought ones? Just arrange as many rocks as you need at the end of your downspouts to divert the water.

Let's not forget about the soil we used in our containers last year. Cheesehead used to throw the containers, soil, and all out every year. How wasteful was that? If your plants were not diseased the soil can be used again, but it may need some rejuvenation.

I dumped all of my hanging baskets out into my wheel barrow, broke up the clumps, and added some leaves, compost, perlite, and spaghnum to the mix and refilled the baskets. Not only did I avoid buying $10 hanging baskets but look at all of the stuff I kept out of the landfill! I'll show you my filled baskets on bloom day.

Memorial day is coming soon.

What do you do with your cemetery flowers from last year that have faded in the sun? Why not repurpose them?

I placed some of the stryofoam over the rocks in the clay pot I showed you earlier, cut stems from various faded cemetery flowers, and rearranged them into a plant to place in my wishing well. After all of the flowers were in place, I weighed down the styrofoam with more rocks.

I seemed to forget to water that a bit too often. With the roof on it I can't count on rain to keep it watered either! I don't need to remember to water fake flowers.

Sprouted potatoes? Don't throw them out. I was thinking about placing mine into my compost pile, but I decided to see if they'd give us some potatoes to eat instead. Mine were rather large potatoes, so I cut them into smaller pieces. You should let them cure prior to planting to help prevent disease.

Look what's popping up already. Looks like we should be getting some of our very own potatoes soon!


Cardboard can be used in places other than lasagna gardens too. I cut pieces to place into some of my containers to help the plants retain a bit more moisture. They dry out very fast in the summer. It is my hope that this will help them have a happier home.

Broken clay pots? One of those pieces will make a nice toad house I think. The rest...
can be broken down further and help keep the roots of the cardboard lined planters dry and happy.

The bluebirds really did a number on my coco lined basket. There were a few places that were getting rather thin. Cheesehead wanted to throw it away and buy a new liner. Not me!

I made those thin spot into holes where more plants could round out the fullness of the planter. I tore up some leaves and placed them around the holes I cut to help the soil retain some moisture that might try to evaporate out of those holes.

What about all of those pesky pine needles?

Why not use them to mulch your acid loving blueberries? The sand looses moistures pretty fast so the pine needles also make a wonderful mulch for that blueberry patch. Maybe I'll add some rocks later....

Lots of lumber but no place to burn it?


Then cut them into thinner pieces and make them ready to be used as stepping stones for your garden. I haven't had the time to get them dug in yet. So many projects, so little time! I'd better get back outside and get back to work.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy

Building My Accidental Lasagna Garden's Soil

Upon the well-educated advise of my wonderful blogging pals, I have foraged ahead with my lasagna garden. I started to fill my new veggie bed with inexpensive, good soil and other free amendments found laying around my yard. Not only is this a cheap way to build up dirt for my garden, but it will help to suppress weeds and gives me some organic fertilizer too.

I didn't want my new garden to be any wider than 4 feet wide so the soil wouldn't get compacted when I work in the garden. I can work from the edges and reach the middle without a problem. I was told to make my garden small, a 4x4 area and work my way up from there.

Those of you who know me know that I can never do anything small. It's only 3 times larger than the advised size at 4x12. If all goes well, I will expand next year, adding 2 more raised beds. If you're wondering why I am doing raised beds I have a lot of tree roots in my yard. Along with the fact that my "soil" is pretty much pure sand so amendments need to be added no matter what.

The carrots and potatoes will be kicked out of the garden this year, I hear they do well in sandy soil anyway. I want to save space for the plants that need better soil.

Would you like to see my work?

I raked the area I wanted to place my garden in order to eliminate grasses and other weeds from the garden. This isn't necessary with the lasagna-style garden, but the weeds were easily pulled out of the sand with two swipes of a rake.

In order to suppress weeds, keep in moisture, and attract earthworms to my veggie garden, I added a bottom layer of cardboard. Newspaper is another alternative that can be used. Either of them should be wet ted down before proceeding. I used small buckets to catch the snow that was melting off my roof since it is still cold outside and didn't want to turn the exterior spigots on just yet. Hopefully someday I will be able to get rain barrels.

After wetting the cardboard, I added a layer of pine needles, leaves, and grass clippings. They had begun to decompose in my new compost pile. It smelled wonderfully rich when I was pulling the materials out to put into my garden. I also grabbed several loads of leaves from the woods. Such a sweet, earthy smell, it was like heaven on earth!

After putting in a nice layer of mixed browns and greens, I started to use my reserves of topsoil topped with sphagnum. I didn't have much of either leftover, but it was enough for a thin layer. I also emptied any containers I wasn't planning on using this summer to add to my topsoil layer.

As I was emptying my 2 bags of sphagnum that were both half full, I found a mouse nest in one of them. There were 4 babies in it along with their mom. Cheesehead wanted me to kill them but I refused. MIL thought I was crazy, but I took the bag off into the woods and released the family quite a way from the house. What an ordeal!

Working in small sections, I added a thin layer of sandy soil from my yard onto the soil that I had placed in the bed. It took quite a bit of time to dig up this soil from my yard, especially when I couldn't get to my wheelbarrow to make the job easier. I only did one corner with this sand since I was using our spreader to carry the dug up dirt. It worked okay for a small amount, but I really wouldn't suggest using it for a big job like this. How could the shed be so messy after such a short period of time? I had to take some time off to uncover my garden tools by cleaning out the shed.

After all of that hard work I got my new plants so this project was put on hold for a few days.

On top of the layer of sand I added another fine layer of pine needles, grass clippings, and leaves. Then it rained for several days.

Today I finally got a break from many days of rain, so we got back to work on the garden. After I got back from my second day of full day subbing in a row, I saw a wonderful present was waiting for me in the truck. (YAY!). I needed the garden cart for the surprise Cheesehead brought home for me, so we had to empty out the rocks. Wasn't Peanut helpful? I think she's getting too big for this job anymore.

What was my surprise? A pallet of broken bags of miscellaneous soils, manures, and composts. Hurray! Now I don't have to dig up more dirt. At times like these it's nice that he works at the garden area of his store! He told me it only cost him $12.50. Not bad for so much good soil and stuff, right?

The whole family pitched in this afternoon. Son was more than happy to putter around on Cheesehead's tractor while hauling the dirt. It took much less work than the wheelbarrow would have.

Peanut helped me even out the piles of poured broken bag contents in the garden. Isn't it wonderful? Whew, is my back sore! Tomorrow night it's supposed to rain off and on for a few more days. I'm hoping to get some of the direct sown seeds into the ground tomorrow morning.

Thank you for stopping by to chat with me. Please leave me a message, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Cindy