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Whys recycling so cost effective and labor intensive?

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:02 am

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So this is the first moment Ive had to write. Been busy, but its a good thing!

I picked up about 12 wood pallets from the grass farm down the way on monday. ..... I've had fun with those. Its a shame you cant sense my sarcasm. They're awesome, I'll have tons of lumber to work with, I was planning on picking more up but honestly I think I'll have enough to last me through all my projects this year LoL. I've had to chop off both ends and pry off the middle part. If they hadnt double nailed each end I wouldnt have had to cut em off.. Meh, whats done is done. It was really hard on my hands trying to do all that prying n such. Im still gonna have to take all the ends off but at least this way I can do what I can with whats available (meaning getting my backyard garden up along with my daughters fence) right about when its getting too hot to be outside I can retreat and pry ends off in front of a swamp cooler :)

Lowes started putting out seedlings! EEEEEE! I bought 4-pack cells of spinach, broccoli, butter crunch lettuce and iceberg. I have the seeds but I couldnt resist. That and I havent really had the chance to start my seeds. Or attend to my greenhouse.. :(

I have, on the other hand, orderd a ton of seeds. I've mapped out my garden, Dug out my new asparagus patch and sweet talked my husband into ordering some purple passion and jersey giant 2-3 year crowns (yay me) and a 4 cb ft bag of vermiculite. I also picked up some raspberry canes (gold and heritage) and a concord grape. Hopefully I'll get my first frames set-up, filled and some carrot and beet seeds in followed by my new seedlings.

I got some interesting seeds, purple cauliflower, purple tomatillos, tickle me nots, thai pink egg tomatoes and purple jalapenos (on a purple kick this year) i have to say that the biggest let down out of my seed orders were the cilantro. I can get heirloom and organic here where I live, slo-bolt, for one reason or another, is nearly impossible to find. I figured since I was ordering I might as well finally order em, it wasnt slo-bolt, even tho thats what the descrition at check out said, blah. whatever. I was really looking forward to it,...

On the bright side my plumerias have decided to send me flowers! I noticed a sort of bumpy nodule forming. Granted I've never seen em flower, but Ive never seen this growth either so i've ruled everything else out and theres no other option but for it to be flowers :D

In conclusion, Lots to do, Lots to plant, lots to prep, lots to mix and not alot of extra time. Same sheets different bed (tryna clean up my type ;)) Hopefully my next post will be less pointless bland chatter more pictures and excitment. Im just too tired for excitment, that and knowing several hours of pulling nails is in my future tomorrow :)

*LiCk*

Last edited: Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:04 am

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The day that wouldnt end..

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:14 pm

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You ever wake up and just.. feel like you know "this is gonna be a long day. My daughter called me around 7:30pm, "Mommy, my ear hurts" I passed it off as her not wanting to go to sleep in her bed (when shes sick she sleeps with me) About an hour later she calls again "It still hurts" sure kid, take some tylenol, call me if it still hurts kiddo.. 45 minutes later I get that call, where you feel bad cause you doubted them and they're now clearly in pain, And since i work out of town (30-35 minutes away) and still have to gas up before going home, she has to wait even longer. Ugh.

Ugh.

Its 5:36am... I left work at about 9:45pm.. I just barely got her to sleep. We spent about 4 hours in urgent care, and another hour at the pharmacy (thank god for cvs' 24 hour pharmacy) I made sure I sent my sleeping husband some not-so-nice texts, just tryn to relay the you're a bleephole factor loud and clear ;) She ended up having a double ear infection and strep throat (If you werent scarred for life holding down your infant for routine vaccines, try holding down your almost 5 yr old daughter to have the back of her throat swabbed for strep... yeah)

So while waiting for her prescriptions to be filled I spoiled her with various things at my sleeping husbands expense (thanks hun), I came across these seeds called Giant Tomato tree from Gardeners choice, 5 bucks.. Why the hell not, always up for something different. While we were doing some additional waiting for her meds, I looked up some reviews for my new find, Turns out the company doesnt have the highest marks in customer satisfaction, But I wasnt ordering with the company, cvs handled that for me. And that seemed to be what drove the complaints, Being billed 60 bucks for something that had cost me 5... I guess Id be pissed too, LoL. It has promises of growing over 8 ft tall and producing over 60 pounds of tomatoes, most being bigger than a large grapefruit. Like all the reviews said, if its too good to be true...

AH HELL, IT WAS 5 BUCKS. Plus, If it doesnt germinate, I didnt buy it, so I'll have no shoppers remorse :) Now my worry has shifted over to where to find a space for these guys, Id like to have em where I can watch these "monsters" grow, But I dont want them cross pollinating with my other maters... Something tells me Im just in for a really nice beefsteak.. Which wouldnt terribly upset me. Tho next year all be more wiser about jumpin on board of too good to be true ship.

On an exciting note, I got my first double yolker! I looked in the nest and immediately saw the gargantuan size of it! I always thought the forums from backyard chicken were a little exageraated when it came to the double yolker talk. Wow. It was the first Ive ever seen.. It was a white egg, so its either from alfredo or stirfry.. I cracked it immediately (after taking pictures of both the egg, the egg against a standard sized egg, and then the yolk and whites itself) and made my famous mozzarella stuffed meatballs (btw, breakthrough technique for cooking them just perfect... sooo happy I have fresh basil available) Had to add a little bit more panko to account for the extra moisture but the end product was my best meatballs to date, even my hardly a meat eater daughter had 3, thats damn near unheard of!

Oh the fun to be had with a contagious almost 5 yr old kiddo with a double ear ache... And on my deep cleaning day too :( Wish me luck...

*LiCk*

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Sweet mother of pearl! I'll do it!

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:12 am

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I so should be getting ready for work, im lacking serious motivation.. meh, After 2 days off who could blame me. Sweet taste of deep sleep... See ya next week :(

SO, Im very interested and intrigued about square foot gardening.. So interested in fact that I believe Ill go for it this season.. What have I got to loose? Tried the topsy (psh), raised beds, and although sq ft is a somewhat raised bed, its not as drastic of a cost as that was. I'd love to say that I'd just give it a try with 1 bed set aside for this, but seriously, its me. Who are we joking? Its all or nothing. Plus Id hate to have incredible results and just have that one bed. I WANT VEGGIES DAMMIT! I refuse to have another failing garden. REFUSE HEAR ME!! I want the sweet crunch of carrots and the unsurpassable taste of freshly plucked beets. The pleasure of waking up before the sun to harvest some heirloom corn! I've only had really good luck with tomatoes (not last year, damn you topsy) and jalapenos, and of course some really awesome herbs... I just refuse to give up on a good layout. And with the chicken coop being on the garden side now I had plans to re-layout the area anyhow. Might as well give this a shot.

OKAY, seriously. I have to cook supper and get dressed.. Ugh.. So starts my working day (okay nite)

See ya soon

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For the love of money.

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 5:57 am

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If you're anything like me and my other half you hear a verse from tupac ringing through your head "For the love of mooonnaaaaaaayyyy" I can only imagine how many gardeners out there listen to rap, its true, most of it is crap, especially now a days where its all just noise... horrible noise...

HI! I know I was hoping it wouldnt be a week til my next post, 7 months later im back LoL. Lifes funny that way. Im not sure if i wrote about my "newest" venture into aggriculture, but i now have chickens! I started out with 12: 3 giant cochin pullets 1 black and 3 blues, and 6 straight run (unsexed) chicks. on the way home I stopped at the feed store for straw woodshavings and a heat lamp and ended up leaving with all that plus 2 more chicks LoL, 2 sexed white leghorn chicks. when they were about 2 weeks old they were out in there pen under the tree where my greenhouse now is and were attacked by a squirrel of all things, 2 were brutally killed. About a week later I came across a sexed cuckoo maran chick, So I added that to my flock. After my husband found out i had chickens (SURPRISE!!) He insisted I down size, so I negotiated and decided to let go of 2 of the cochins. I adopted them out to a woman looking to restock her flock.

Around august I noticed 2 of my chickens constant fighting but couldnt tell if they were roosters just yet or if they were just establishing a rank of order. About 430 am one october morning my fears were confirmed (i was starting to think that it might not be so bad to have a rooster, like a solar alarm clock... Silly me) Later that morning I called the breeder and returned my 2 roosters, which im happy to say were so healthy hes decided to use them for breeding.


After a couple weeks of hard hot work I finally got my coop up, unfortunatly where I had planned to put my coop, my husband didnt like, So last minute we (he) decided to put it in my garden area and move my greenhouse out. The coop ended up being bigger than I had wanted, and a bit out of place looking but im confident that with some greenery and the right planning I can pull it off, and I think with as hot it is durning the summer and how cold and windy it is in the winter, overall its going to need to be the way it is to have happy chickies. Final tally (okay not final, just for now, I want a more mixed flock down the road) 6 happy hens, 1 New hampshire red (henrietta), 1 Giant black cochin
(fancy pants), 1 cuckoo maran (nugget), 2 white leghorns (alfredo and stirfry) and 1 barred rock (taco) But im looking to find new homes for Fancy pants, Taco and either alfredo or stirfry (my only white eggers, but fairly flighty) and get an olive egger and an easter egger, and one more purely for looks, maybe a pheonix of some sort, those are incredibly beautiful n harder to find. I get 4 eggs a day... and its still winter.. can you imagine the amount of eggs Ill have when the days are longer?!

If anyone live in los angeles county and are interested in my 3 chickies, shoot me a message! Though thet are strictly for laying, not eating, and will only be placed with a caring individual :)

SO, I reported in my last post I had a generous amount of peppers. Infact I had a decent garden going on... until the chickens ate it. Did you know chickens have no taste buds? Which means they cant taste heat, like lets say habaneros and my THAI PEPPERS? Huh, me either. Now I know. Which means that i have to restrict there access to my garden, and due to the large amount of poop that would accumulate on our concrete deck, they are no longer allowed to roam the backyard to their hearts content. So now I have to cut my garden in half and fence it off well to ensure I actually have something to harvest this summer. Oh, the work at hand and the procrastination afoot. This is gonna be fun. And seeing how I could really stand to loose a few pounds, It'll all be manual again :/ BUT! Since it'll be a smaller garden I can afford to buy some shadecloth for overhead! and I'll be using about a fourth of the dogrun area for my corn patch. It'll be a slightly raised about 4 inches, in about 4'x3' beds. And I loved having a garden along the side of the house in the front yard. Something about watering the plants and chatting with the neighbors as they walk by.

Granted, this isnt the greatest neighborhood, But I imagine that they have alot of questions about my ongoing projects, particularly my chiicken coop and very visible ever growing garden(s). I like answering questions and hearing comments like "so thats how that grows, huh" Its amazing to see someone look at a head of artichoke after the bloom, always stunned, never knowing what they've been missing. My dragonfruit bit the dust, tho i do admit I still have it, hoping the expensive little plant will make a comback this spring I guess. I left it out when it snowed, more because it snowed over the course of the nite whilst I slept, i had no idea it was forcasted to snow... thats my defense anyhow. My new special plant is my kaffir lime, Given to me as a birthday present from my dad, its my understanding that the fruits are too bitter to eat, and instead is used as a cleaning aid, in toothpastes and shampoos. Who knows, maybe making my own toothpaste and shampoo is the next step to becoming more self sustainable. We've been looking more into going fully solar powered, and I'd really love to add a small wind converters to the roof while were up there, Since it does snow it'd be nice to not have to go out n clear off the panels, And we have a crap load of wind here almost year round, its time we tapped into it.

Since I started gardening, this being my 4th year, and adding my chickens, I notice people arent so against being more sustainable, i hear more "oh how cool"'s now when im out in the garden then "ugh, what a waste" and in the end, thats all I ask. If I can get someone to realise that homegrown and raised is far more supierior than that of the radiated 1500 miles to get to your mouth waste they have at the stores, then yay me. My only hope for this up-coming season is the funds. I have a whole lot of things I want to get done this year. A whole lot of changes that are gonna need to happen, and soon, especially since I have a new puppy to break in. Oh, the anticipation :)

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The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah!

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Wed Jun 09, 2010 7:10 am

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Unfortunatly for me, its not one by one :( I've had quite the infestation goin on within my property lines.. I can only imagine what some of the un-tidy neighbors around the corner are dealin with *shrug* :) They've taken a liking to my plumeria which I recently moved outside on my front door "patio". They dont seem to be causing any damage, I can only hope they're not immune to the poisonous sap... Ugh, now I have guilt. Im a vegetarian, Hurting animals isnt on my agenda... But ants arent animals rite? I refuse to use the poison my husband bought for them when we recieved our first invasion of them 3 years ago... I yell at him and restrict his *privlages* when he uses it since he doesnt believe in organic anything... Im at my witts end with the damn little things... I heard they're pretty scrumptious with a peppery overtone... Hmmm. Anyone have any botanical ways to keep them out without dancing naked under the full moon? (Im all for it, its the neighbors I worry about *wink*) Im just happy they arent in the house as of the moment, Well.... rite now they're not. I seem to have the luck to find a thick black stream of them when im heading to bed or out the door (dont you hate that?) My method of ridding them consists of a wet ant-rag (old washcloth lol) and lots of me begging them not to come back (begging between sobbing)

So I didnt get a computer for mah B-day, I decided on my rotozip, a jigsaw and some bits for it LoL. We're still lookin at comps, but I've got what I really want rite now.

My greenhouse is bumpin! Its almost all peppers with some basil thrown in there along with some seedlings. My Thai peppers have boomed! I've only really gone in there to do quick waterings, so I havent really looked at all the pepper plants (probably around 20 or so... I like peppers :) ) but today since I had the time I poked around, I was surprised to see how many peppers were on them, with a boat load of flowers in bloom and buds still quickly coming in... I cant wait to cook with em! I think I mite try and fuse them with some oil.. That'd be a nice little kick in a salad! I orderd a couple packets of Peter Peppers from pepper joes, Im looking forward to selling em, I'll have my second greenhouse up by the winter, so I'll be able to house even more peppers for retail. Im super excited about starting this. Unlike every nursery and do it yourself center around here, I (for the most part)know what Im talking about, Im friendly, kinda bi-lingual, and I actually care about what Im doing. Plus I'll have peppers NO ONE here carries. Among some of them will be Naga Jolokias (My main crop), Black Cobras, Wild card carribeans, Peter peppers, Kung paos and various others! I dont mean to knock nurseries btw.. Its just the ones here could really care less about the plants. They're so very dry, and when I ask the staff questions that I KNOW the answers to, and they couldnt be further from the truth, And thats IF i can get someone to give me the time of day. Quite honestly the last time I went to the nursery up the street looking for a very specific type of rose, all I got was "The roses are over there, if you cant find it, we dont carry them" Wow, really? So preceptive! I was looking for Florabunda playboys, I can guarentee you, if I owned my own nursery, I'd be alot more attentive to my customers, And I would be able to tell you if we carried a specific item, being that I would be doing all the ordering/growing, And if I didnt have it I would be able to get it for you or refer you to someone who had it available to them. I'd be as resourceful as possible, maybe even have a weekly class for begginer gardeners or persons with interests. I cant tell you how put off I was with the lack of knowledge my local garden centers had on gardening.. Why work there if you have no idea and dont care to know what it is you're selling. The lack of passion people have is incredible, I always believe if you were going to do something, you should do it with all your heart! I want someone to look at my buisness and say "WOW! She loves what she does!" I can only hope starting out with these pepper seeds leads me in that direction... Oh, to dream. Another one of my buisness ventures is chicken tracktors, I've fallen head over heals in love with them. I really want people to realize what lives chickens lead in order to provide week old eggs (some studies show that your eggs could be 3 weeks old by the time they hit your store shelves, EW!) How incredible would it be to go out to your patio/backyard and retrive your own organic free range quality eggs and make em into an omlette with your garden fresh veggies! I actually wouldnt mind eating eggs again (I have tremendous guilt when it comes to a good deal of animal products, im a sap, I know) Anyhow. Anyone with any interest in what I have going on, hit me up, im only a click away. Im thinkin up shop names too if anyone would like to chime in :D Rite now its looks as if Helping Hands is in the lead with Pepper Parade in close second, I dont want to limit myself to just peppers tho, my goal is to provide organic producing plants/trees at an affordable price (Not 80 for a bartlett pear seedling) Maybe even have local delivery in spring/summer for our busy homestead customers! Im tryin to come up with something natural for the second title grabber for instance
Helping Hands
Bringing Nature back to home
or
Helping Hands
Natural Resource

Something to that effect. Im at a total stand still with the name...

Anyhow, I've got to do things with stuff, Hopefully it wont be a week til I have the chance to write.

*Muah*

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Pop tarts and soy pudding, mmmm.

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 6:18 am

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Chocolate to be precise. The pudding that is. Brie and I are in a Brown sugar and cinnamon fix as of late, I have no clean spoons and was cravin somethin sweet and presto! I know, A complete fat girl move but bah! I care not, and I was good, I only had half of the tart ;)

I got everything in, all nice and pretty :) the down side is my hands were in my carpal tunnel braces all weekend. Not to mention the weather took a turn for the coldness, so im a bit worried for all the melons, pumpkins, squashes, tomatoes and peppers i have out there, well not for the peppers, they did well last go around, but all my cute lil 'maters? My melons and squashes? They were all doin so well and im afraid that with the wind we get it'll just tear em up. *sigh* It'll all be oookay.

So we went out and looked at computers the other day, looks like I mite be shackin up with a family/birthday gift this year, which I dont mind at all cause im pushin for a lap top ;) Which means I'll be able to post pictures *yay* and not be stuck in this stupid secluded room.. Why I could post from my garden! OH THE POSSIBILITIES! Of course I really did want that RotoZip dealy, Perhapse next year *sigh*. My father picked up Meadow over the weekend. I was sad to see her go (yes, I cried) and I gave my husband an earfull both on the drive to dinner and after they left (score two for me) It was the next day, Sunday, that he took me to look at lap tops, Not only did I get my point across but I get an extra nice sympathy gift... :)

So instead of being here... during the day... by myself whilst the little one was at school... I.. went.. shopping.. !!! Granted it was with my own money so I really didnt get *into it* like I wanted to, but oh, it'll make him cringe when he sees my statement LoL. I wanderd about Home Depot for about 40 minutes looking over seed starters (Taking a go at makin some extra money this season by growin Ghost Peppers, more to come on a future episode *dun dun dun*), Looked for Kid friendly plants for my daughters now available flower bed (dog ate everything there) Bought the worlds biggest bag of organic potting soil (almost bonked my noggin putting it into the back seat of my rio because it was so damn heavy) made several wise selections in the terra cotta pot isle, and of course I had to glance over the newly arrived seedlings! What kinda gardener would I be if I didnt at least walk down the isle.. you know.. just to make sure they're gettin enough water.. (yes I have been known to water dry plants.. it makes me sad knowing their dry *hangs head*) and low n behold! A beautiful 6 Pack of bell peppers.. a Gourmet Variety cheifs choice.. !! So I got one pack.. Then they had corn! Well there was a couple seedlings that didnt survive the transplant.. I have to replace those, so I got one of them too, Then Sage... OH THE SAGE, Golden, Pineapple, Common... hop aboard! Basils? SURE WHY NOT, Got a perrenial(?) basil and Greek basil, Im interested to see if the perrenial really is a perrenial.. or if im just confusing the two of them again.. I found a deal too! A 6 pack of Dahlias for 2 bucks! Im not sure what their specific names are but they appear to be peony, all sorts of colours as well, thinkin about boardering my daughters flower bed with them but im not sure if they're miniatures or not, their flowers are pretty small but I've heard of 7 foot tall dahlia trees with small 1 inch flowers so im not lettn these guys fool me... So now im at a loss of what to do with them. I ended up choosing the pineapple sage and golden sage, Calla lilies (orange and purple I believe), Pink jasmine, lambs ear, white allyssium, and gerbera daisies for my daughters flower garden, soon to come is an adorable bird bath with a frog as the stem holding up the bath, 2 baskets of Thai delight bouganvilla, and irish moss up the yahoo! I know bouganvilla has thorns, that specific variety doesnt grow too long and they'll be hanging from hooks installed into a ghastly huge palm tree. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the grape trellis in my daughters play area on thursday, it looks soo out of sorts, all bare and unfinished.. I need to find a way to cut down the next door neighbors hovering tree limbs, they're starting to shade out the grapes.. If only I wasnt afraid of ladders and chainsaws...

I re-arranged the greenhouse a bit today, It looks as if someone has been jumping my fence and re-arranging my peppers, probably hoping thinking and praying im growing pot in there... Its a shame I cant even have my greenhouse safe, which leads me to wonder if my new "buisness" venture will be safe in there.. I dont want to have had spent this money to have it all taken from me before I even had a chance... WHY CANT PEOPLE BE GOOD! Even my 4 year old knows its not okay to take things that dont belong to you, for pete's sake we've even had solar lites stolen from our front yard. After I finished planting the butternut squash in the front yard my dad asked "are you sure you want to plant them there? what if they steal them?" :| My god. Would someone really steal my butternuts? TeeHee, turns out the voices in my head are still rather immature :) Happy Gardening.

moderator's note: removed swear words see point 2.1 of usage rules

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The task at hand

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 9:40 am

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Tomorrows fixin to be a pain.. Literaly. I hafta hafta HAFTA get 3 blueberry bushes in as well as a boysenberry.. I know i'll love the outcome, I always do.. but oh, the PROCRASTINATION afoot... I was hoping to make a little more tip money to buy another bag of amend or some organic miracle grow garden soil.. I'll just have to make do with what i got, I guess there has to be some point where I put my cars oil changing needs in front of my garden.. Its a shame you cant hear the tone of my type.

Along with the many garden to-do's that I'd like to accomplish tomorrow, I need to find a way to divert my dog from consuming my home. My husband called me on delivery stating very furiously that Meadow had chewed a sizeable amount of stuck and wall from underneith our bedroom window... Thus throwing my beloved lab into doggy exile. By order of the king, shes to be banshed to the soonest willing family able to cope with her oral fixations. I love her to pieces but after the dry wall incident I knew it was just a matter of time before he wanted her gone.. The good news is my father has been looking for a dog and they were interested in a lab so it looks like she'll be just fine and we can still see her tons. I hafta admit, after Peppers vanishing act, I wasnt really ready for another dog, definatly not one equally as hyper and 10 times as large. It pisses me off tho.. He wanted her. I admit I got really excited at the thought of a puppy in the house again, and Brie missed havin her best friend about, and I was more than willing to pick her up, I've just tried everything with the dog! Long walks, long games of fetch, chasin her and the kid around the yard, a small fortune in dog toys and chewing rawhide things (which vegetarian or not, are the most vile things like, ever.) Bitter apple sprays, Blah blah blah. My dads really good with dogs tho so I think he'll be able to break her of it... I'll miss her tho thats for sure.. I mean, who else will greet the bad guys and insist they play ball with her as they carry our ps3 and tv away?

Bah, im tired, lots to do. Hopefully I'll get my computer to let me upload pictures soon, I'll take some before and after shots. Anyone with some tips on planting blueberries?

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What was I thinking?

Category: The Garden Project | Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 6:58 am

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We bought our house about 2 years ago, rite at the begining of spring, and of course it being my first home I had big plans in mind, and being a first time gardener, I had no idea what to do or where to start.. Thanks to wal-mart and Jiffy, I started out with a couple packets of seeds, some seed starter and a small plastic dome green house... thing. My rookie mistake was not really mapping out where everything was going to go, or how it grew lol. My first garden consisted of several pumpkin vines, 2 tomatoes, (both romas i believe) sage, basil, parsley, and a watermelon seedling that never seemed to grow... after learning the unpracticality of pumpkings growing in my small garden space and the wonder with what to do with the 10 foot long vines wich, consisted of 6 pumpkins *cheesy smile*... I decided my second year garden would be better, and after reading several gardening magazines and buying many gardening books, I decided above ground beds would be the best option for me, much to my dismay (not to mention having to admit my husband was rite, for once) and loss of much money, I had to switch my plans around for this year, I have to produce something other than a handful of tomatoes and a variety of herbs, I want more than just jalapenos on my tacos this year damn it!

Enter The Garden Project:

I took apart my old garden, watered my new blank canvas, put together the green house my husband bought me for christmas (Cute and perfectly sized for our backyard at 6x8'), Came up with what I hope will be a space saving plan to plant everything a young whipper-snapper of a vegetarian can eat with hopefully something left over for the omnivours that surround me *Grin*.

My problem? I am one, the weeds are many, and the money is few.. Not to mention my husband faces downsizing which unfortunatly for us is gaurenteed by december. BAH! Garden wise thats not something im
trying to think of... Its my get away damnit! Oh yeah, my husband isnt crazy of the idea of a backyard garden, he thinks its a waste of time and money... But we'll prove him wrong this year, And hey, im already off to a good start! What I think sets my garden apart rite now is my space saving idea (which duh, im very sure im not the first persone whos thought of it, just havent seen it around here or in pics on the net so :P) of incorporating topsy turvys into the garden. I've suspended 8 TT's along the border of my garden going east to west almost rite above my wooden picket fence (I installed last year to keep my min-pin pepper from digging everything up like the year before) The structure is made out of metal pvc pipes, its about 9 1/2 feet long and has a center support. Each pole going into the ground has been burried about a foot and a half into the ground, so it stands about 7 1/2 feet tall.

In my TT's are Romas and 2 super sweet tomatoes (I believe. 1 for sure is ss100)Zuchinni (black beauty) Crook neck summer squash, cucumbers, and 2 Tomatillos, im debating putting up an eggplant but I think Ill wait and see how these turn out. Along the bottom half of my fence directly below the TT's are the peas, oh, the peas... Probably my only problem in the garden rite now, I think the window box I have them growing from mite be the problem (?) I havent had any luck with them the past 2 years.. I think I'll direct sow them next year :\ Rite next to the peas in a plot about 4x3' is the onion, thriving and lookin all chivey (teehee), the next couple of feet.. about 4-5 is empty... Im not sure what to put there... Then are my pepper boxes, 2 boxes about a foot and a half by a foot with 3 bell peppers to a box staggardededed, varietys are chocolate, yellow orange pale yellow or gold or something of that sort and classic green/red, (the first year my peppers never grew much, i proclaimed them minis and happily snacked on the 4 i recived from my mini bell plants) next are the bush bean plots, 2 side by side about a foot and a half wide by 2 feet long, I wanted poles but didnt check the packet, so bushes I gots. next to them is the corn, all humble and green, they're doing alot better and have decided to forgive me since I've planted them in ground this year. seperating side a from side b are 2 long wooden planks, end to end, at the very end is by beloved artichoke... Im pretty sure I have under estimated the space its going to need as its only been about 4 1/2 weeks and is already bigger than I thought it would be at this stage :) i have purple bush beans which are semi pole or something, trailing the fence behind the corn.

Directly across from the corn next to the artichoke is the newly planted asparagus, mary washington I believe, 6 crowns nestle inside a sligtly raised bed borderd with some wooden planks to keep the crowns from spreading (PLANNING!) I have a round stepping stone rite in the middle of the bed to aid in weeding and harvesting since its rite in the corner of the garden. Next to that I have a litte strech of carrot patch next to a small block of beets, a small pathway seperates the beets and strawberries which are too surrounded by wooden planks, directly next to the strawberries bordering the fence is a plot of napa bilko cabbage, then some Raab broccoli followed by a stretch of dino kale, the some more beets, a block of raddishes, some rosemary (potted) and pineapple sage (potted too) I have several potted peppers like habaneros (Carribean and reg.) mucho jalapeno and reg jalapeno, cayenne, jolokias, thai red, serrano, pablano and ancho.. I have potted lettuces and several basils which are also potted to place randomly where they're needed along with parsleys, mints, thymes and oreganos.

For mothers day I recieved some blueberry bushes and boysenberries too! My next task is to get those into the ground... I just worried ill make the soil too acidy or not enough and kill my bushes... At least the grapes and figs are doing well.

Besides my veggie garden I have a small orchard goin on as well. So far mostly citrus' like pink lemonades, pixie tangerines, valencia oranges, lemon, mexican lime, and blood orange, i have classics like pomagranite, nectarine and banana (super mini dwarfs which finally look like they're thriving now in my green house) when I get my front yard fence and some more money I'll be getting a dwarf avacado, some cherries, and peach, along with some kiwis growing along the fence and passion fruit..... mmmmmm...... the front yard will be devided this year too, though my husband isnt aware of it yet *bites nails* it'll be my gourd patch... Butternuts, pumpkins, honey dew cantaloupe and moon and stars watermelon will be gracing our presence this year... holy crap i cant wait!... All i can think of rite now is how much work has to be done, how much money has to be made, and how in the hell am i gonna pull it off? Please, someone tell me its gonna get easier!... after planting carrots and beets today.... will I ever feel my legs again?

So where are we? Oh, yes. Orchard, veggie garden, Green house for winter consumption, My chicken coop, yeah, mite as well throw that in there too. Though im being practical, I know that having a bird dog (min-pin pepper was stolen, long story) like Meadow (black lab) means that they'll have to spend a good deal in their coop, so im trying to make it as nice as possible, my ideal number of chickens would be 11, living in a residential area tho, i think 4-6 would be more advisable, no? plus as long as im under 8 animals im good :) legal wise that is, cant say my husband will be thrilled.. all this while still having an area for a duck or 2, a nice dog run for Mead when the chickens are out and a play area for our 4 year old daughter Brie *whew*

What the h*** was I thinking?



Last edited: Tue May 25, 2010 6:19 am

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