July 19th,
I FINALLY updated my Specials page. I wanted to update earlier today, at my usual time, but my camera was not cooperating. It kept giving me the "disc error". I know my camera is dying, but I refuse to get a new one until mine really dies. Today it was really acting up...much longer than usual.
Nothing really new in my garden. I planted some lettuce a week or so ago and they are visible now. I will thin them out in a few weeks. I also planted carrots a week or so ago and I thought none of those made it. It looked like nothing was there, except tiny weeds. I've never grown carrots so I didn't know what a carrot sprout looked like. Well, I found some today! Only half are up and maybe that is all that will come up, who knows, but I know we have some carrots!! And they look like weeds....easy to miss. And it's really HOT here lately. 85 to 95 degrees and HUMID. Argh! We have yet to turn our AC on this year though. As long as the nights are cool, we can close up the house during the hot daytime, and keep the temp in the 80's. It's tolerable, especially with fans.
Enjoy they beads everyone!
July 16th,
Yesterday I was looking at my garden calendar and I noticed I didn't write down when I should plant my peas. I have my harvest date set at Sept. 15th. I look on each seed pack for the "days to harvest" and I count backwards. Anyway, somehow I forgot about peas. Ack! It looks like I should have planted them a few days ago. No biggie really, but I did get right out there and plant those peas! I noticed my current peas are outgrowing their trellis. So, I made the new trellis taller. It says on the pack these things grow 5 to 6 FEET (!) tall. Wow..never really noticed that on the seed pack before. I usually just grow them without a trellis and let them be a snarly mess...lol. It said on the package you can plant a "double row" (one row on each side of the trellis). Since I had the pea seeds, I said why not!
I am a bit concerned that I will actually get any peas. Peas are a cool weather loving plant. It seems completely insane to start peas in the middle of July. I've read of people planting for a fall crop of peas, but not from my state. We'll see if I really get any peas. At least I'll learn something... Here is a picture of the new trellis. It was FREE, because I had all the stuff already :o)
Here's a picture of my snap green beans. They are doing terrific! There are 87 plants in this row. Next week I plan on planting more green beans. I wanted to stagger the planting so they don't all come to harvest at the same time.
Here is a picture of my Brussels Sprouts. They really are s-l-o-w growers, but doing well.
I STILL have at least one chipmunk in that hole by my foundation. They just won't LEAVE. There was no activity for a few weeks then, BAM, they remove all the cat poop out of their hole. I'll have to get even more creative to get them dead or gone. They just aren't going for the mouse tray any more. I really don't want to use poison. I'm thinking of using insulation foam next, OR maybe putting the trap in a box, all protected and "safe" for the little guys!
I do have some beads sets to sell. I'll have to find some time to put them online for you all. Maybe by the end of the week. Tomorrow should be a torch day...to add to the bead goodness!!
July 11th,
Last Saturday, my husband went out and rented a garden tiller and tilled up my new garden. Here it is!
As you can see, it’s much larger than my current garden, which is 13 feet by 13 feet. The new garden is about 31 feet by 32 feet. After the garden was tilled, I spent the next 2 days going back and forth from our woods getting wood compost to amend our clay soil. Those were a few hard days of work. I wasn’t enjoying gardening too much on those days. I was able to get quite a bit from our woods, but I won’t be able to do it again next season. There just isn’t enough. I’ll have to use leaves this fall to help amend the soil for the following spring garden.
Here is a picture of my green beans. They shot up FAST. They were ready to be transplanted in my garden in a week's time (which I did yesterday).
Today I moved my brussel sprouts to individual containers (Dixie cups…lol). I have 43 of them. I only have room for 20 in my garden (which is a ton of those plants, in my oppinion). I’m not that confident I’ll get good Brussels out of these plants, but I’m willing to try. From my reading, they aren’t the easiest things to grow. They are really slow growers and they need to mature in cold weather. Well, we’ll see what happens. I think I planted them at the right time to mature in light frosts… we’ll see, we’ll see. No pictures of the brussels, but they are certainly bigger than the last picture I took. Go brussels!
I'm trying to keep my speding on the garden to an absolute minimum. I just want to see how cheaply I can do this. Silly goal, but my goal none the less!
So far, my current spending on the garden is $55. WHA-WHO!
Seeds - $30 (I have lots of extra seeds for next year!)
Rotatiller - $25 (I included gas price of getting/returning the tiller and the gas used in the tiller)
This next week I intent to make some beads again. There is no more planting until the 3rd week of July. I should be able to have some nice beads for sale soon!
Have a great week everyone :o)
