A Little Behind

I've been so behind on this blog. I have so many pictures of the garden to post but it has not been a priority so it has not been happening. My spare time has been focused on digital scrapbooking, reading, running and working in the garden. I've built new garden boxes and two trellises and added several planters. I'm still working on another trellis for the pumpkins. More to come when I get the pictures organized.

Welcome Spring!

Spring officially started about a week ago and we were welcomed with about 6" of snow. My kids were so disappointed that they had to be stuck inside the house on their first day of spring break. Luckily, the snow melted away and we had a pretty decent week.

Last week, the weather was so nice and warm for early spring. We had Emily's two little friends over for a playdate and they spent most of the day in the backyard. I gave them each a plastic bag and they ran around the backyard picking wildflowers and weeds. If only we could appreciate the simple things of life like these little friends.

While weeding the large garden bed, I noticed that the spinach seeds I planted last fall had actually germinated. I was suprised with three bunches of spinach plants. I have not been in the backyard since the blast of snow and rainfall so we'll see if they are still there.

Closed for Winter

I finally gave into the cold weather and cleaned up my fall garden today. With single digit temperatures and snow coming soon, I decided to hang up the gardening gloves and take a break. I harvested the last of the collard greens, radishes, cabbage leaves, and mustard greens. All the other vegetables did not mature enough to eat so I'll just let it sit for the winter and maybe fertilize the dirt.

Next year, I'll be more prepared for the frost and snow since I already have all the materials needed to build a nice cold frame. According to the Farmer's almanac, the average last frost date is early April and first frost date is late October. Hopefully, I can get the cold frame built between now and April so I can get an early start on spring planting.

So for the next couple of months, I will work on creating a planting calendar specifically for this area so I can get the most out of the next season.

See you in the spring!

Winter Update

It's been really cold the past two weeks so I have been trying to protect the garden from the frost and freezy wind. However, the plastic cover keeps blowing off. It's been so cold, I've only been out a couple of times to check on the garden. The last time I went out, some of the Brussell sprouts and collard greens had not survived the frost. I had to pull them out.

The seeds I planted will probably not mature enough to survive the frozen ground coming in January so next year I will have to start earlier!

I've been researching a better method to protect the plants and came across a couple of ways. The best one I found was a hoop cold frame built by the people who run this website called http://www.gardenfork.tv/ They have some videos on Youtube.com that were pretty helpful.
http://www.youtube.com/user/erochow#p/search/1/v6bWeYCV53A

I will probably modify the method a little bit to fit my garden for this year.

• Use rebar staked into the ground to give the PVC pipes extra support for the frame.
• For a 4' wide garden, use at least 6-10 ft PVC pipes.

Lesson Learned: Don't plant the fall garden in the 8'X8'. Use the 4'X8', it's easier to cover during the frosty nights. Do a thorough clean up before the weather gets too cold.

Enough for now.

Fall Garden Update

My garden is doing really well despite the blast of cold weather in the past week. We had really nice mild fall weather for about 3 weeks straight then this week it's back to cold and frost. I have not covered my garden yet and it's still doing well. The frost hit really hard last night and I thought it was a goner but the plants managed to bounce back. I'm still trying to figure out the best design for my 8'x8' garden. I have the plastic but need to build the frame. Here's a picture of the garden on one of those nice fall days.

The mustard greens are so yummy. We usually eat it with a Lao chicken salad dish. Very nice minty and peppery taste. It seems like the plants that I started from seed are coming up way faster than during the spring. Hopefully, everything will be well established before the hard freezes hits in December. You can see the radishes on the top part of the second picture.

Fall Clean Up and Garden

I got some free plants from a local discount store and decided to go ahead with the fall garden. First, I had to do some major clean up. I cleaned out the dead sunflower plants, tomatoes, gourds, and marigolds. There were still tons of cherry tomatoes left unfortunately, most of them had already fallen onto the ground. I'll probably have a million tomatoe seedlings come up next Spring.

At first, I planted mustard greens, collard greens, green peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. The green peppers died when frost came so I moved it and planted some other things from seed. I planted radishes, carrots, lettuce, and cilantro. I checked on the it today and the radishes have already come up. Hopefully, the other plants will follow through. I moved the herbs from the 8'x8' to the flower garden after I removed the sunflowers. The plants are doing well even though I have not protected them from the frost. Building a frost protector will be the next project.

Gourds, Peas, and One Giant Spider

The gourds did a good job of taking over most of the garden. The harvest however was meager. My mother-in-law came and harvested most of it. My plan was to use it for Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations but she cooked most of it. The gourds were bitter and tasted horrible. Next year, I think we will probably do pumpkins.

Sugar-snap peas are yummy but they have not been producing as much as I had expected. My girls eat them like candy. Next year, I will try to grow more and maybe add more fertilizer. More research to come on how to help them produce more peas.

Finally, we found a BIG surprise next to the peach tree on a lovely summer day. This huge spider was building a giant web from the peach tree to our clothes line. I didn't know if it was friendly or venomous so I killed it. After doing some researching online I found that it's called an Orb Weaver. They are not suppose to be aggressive but I was not taking any chances.

Watermelon

We harvested one of the smaller watermelons because the bottom was starting to rot and turn black. I haven't found out what was causing it. The watermelon was not too sweet but still very good. We continued to harvest the rest of the watermelons each week. The biggest melon was excellent. My youngest loves watermelon. Watermelons take a long time to grow and the harvest is not as good as other vegetables but it was worth it to see how big the watermelons can grow.

Stinkbugs and Aphids

I can't believe how much the stinkbugs have multiplied. They are all over the tomatoes. I thought they would die out with the cooler weather. I have been trying so hard to keep my garden as pesticide-free as possible but I am not winning this war against bugs! I found another great website for gardeners and they recommended that I spray with insectide. Since it's so late in the season, I'll just let the stinkbugs live for now. http://garden.org/pestlibrary/bugs.php?q=show&id=1636

There are only a few hybrid tomatoes left but the cherry tomatoes are still going strong. I harvested a bowl full of cherry tomatoes and a couple of hybrids the other day.

Suprisingly, the chili peppers plants are still producing. I picked enough to fill a quart size bag. They have black spots on some of them but I have not figured out what is causing it yet. They have not affected the taste though. It's still HOT!!!

Now, for my dilemna with the aphids. They just love the long beans. I have tried insectide and hosing them down but nothing. It's only a temporary solution. They just keep coming back. I am tired of dealing with it so I'm just letting them have the beans! I'll have to try something different next year. http://garden.org/pestlibrary/bugs.php?q=show&id=1586

Brick patio

The patio in our backyard is pretty tiny. We wanted to expand the patio for a long time but was waiting for the right time. During the summer, we picked up some free brick from a construction site. I spent a lot of time researching online and home improvement books on the right way to lay down the bricks for the patio. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of all the steps but you can find it online from any home improvement site. Lowe's and youtube has some pretty good videos on how to do it.
I love the way it looks. It was back breaking and a very slow process. I just wished that it could somehow blend it with the existing concrete patio but it doesn't. It still looks pretty neat though. I also added a flower bed along the side to add some color. I planted some marigolds, mums, butterfly weeds and a Rose-of-Sharon shrub.


Lovely butterfly weeds. Hopefully, we'll see some butterflies in the spring.





Beautiful mums!

Front Yard Landscaping

There was plant sale at Walmart's Associate Store so I decided to extend the flower bed of the front yard. I was going to wait until the spring but it was hard to turn down the deals. It's half of the Walmart price so that's hard to beat. I bought mums, coneflowers, lilies, butterfly weeds, hibiscus and rose of sharon.

The hardest part of landscaping is the digging. We have Bermuda grass which is like pulling teeth. Jimmy has been so busy that I had to do most of the work myself. It was hard work but I enjoy the exercise and love the results!

Early September

I have not done any new planting. It looks like we might not be doing a fall garden after all. I have been busy with having family in town, the new school year and my running. It's been busy, busy, busy...The flowers and vegetables are thriving even with the cooler weather. The watermelons are growing so big. However, I had to throw one out because it was rotting on the end; probably from sitting on the moist dirt. The tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat so I had to freezer them. Currently, we are working on extending our patio and some landscaping so that will take up most of my time.

Late August

Fall is just around the corner and I have not done any planting for the fall garden, yet. I finally cleared out the cucumbers and some of the scallop squash plants. I disconnected the long beans from the fence attached them to the other side where the cucumbers used to be. Now, I can actually walk through the back of the garden. The garden is starting to look a lot thinner and maybe even organized.

The tomatoes have been a pain to harvest because it has over-grown so much! I had to cute out some vines just to get to them. I need to do a little more planning next year and leave some more space for exponential growth from the tomatoes. We harvested mostly cherry tomatoes but the hybrids are finally turning red. The sad thing is I am not a big fan of eating raw tomatoes. I usually freeze it and keep it for soups and papaya salad.

The hanging basket plants are blooming like crazy. I just love it! They just brighten my day. I feed them a couple of days ago and look at it now.

Watermelons have been doing so well this year. The biggest one is probably close to 5 lbs. After transpanting mid-summer, I didn't think they were even going to make it. The girls are so excited to pick them. We just have to wait a little longer.

The ornamental gourds are also doing well. They spreading everywhere and it's been difficult trying to keep them within the garden so Jimmy doesn't mow over them. Hopefully, they will be ready in time for Fall.

Watermelons and Other Random Things

Beautiful sunset. I don't have the best camera but I thought this pretty good. I heart sunsets.

I was poking around in the garden yesterday and found a watermelon about the size of a football. I can't wait to pick it but I think it still has a long time from now. I also saw 2 other smaller melons. My girls are going to be so surprise to find them.

My biggest scallop squash so far. The picture doesn't do it justice but it's probably close to 10" in diameter. I should have left to see how big it could grow.

I have seen these bugs all throughout the year and I thought they were ladybugs. Apparently, not! It turns out they are really spotted and striped cucumber beetles. They have been reeking havoc in my garden and I thought they the "good" bugs. I thought ladybugs are suppose to come in all colors. http://www.ladybuglady.com/stripes.htm

Photos courtesy of:

http://www.iowavoice.com/2008/07/27/spotted-cucumber-beetle/ http://www.gardenguides.com/pests/pestinfo/cucumberbeetle.asp

I made this trellis out of drift wood from the Arkansas River. I am going to plant some honeysuckle when I get around to it. One of my favorite summer smells. Nothing like a drive down a country road with the windows rolled down and the faint scent of honeysuckle.

A perfect sunflower. The bugs have not gotten to it, yet.