I just love sitting out on my porch with my computer on my lap, listening to the birds, the breeze, and at the moment my neighbors tractor! Sometimes it's their horses whinnying for attention. But I love sitting on my porch. It's peaceful and even on a hot day like today the breeze up here is cool. I just now put a light jacket on.
Just a few minutes ago I was listening to the most beautiful bird. I don't know what it was but it's song was spectacular. I'm trying to do a search to find out its name. I hope he's a regular on our property. There is nothing like listening to the birds and the frogs. Now if only I'd hear some crickets.
Well I did it! I finally got around to planting my garden. It wasn't that I was lazy, but that the weather didn't cooperate or I just didn't have enough time. But this last week the weather has been absolutely amazing and so I've taken advantage of it. Friday I spent about 4 hours, yes, 4 hours out in the garden making the beds. It's tedious work and it's huge. I felt that maybe because my soil has so much clay...okay, it's all clay, (I did work in some compost, but it'll be a few years before it's really nice), anyways, I felt like if I raised the beds up a bit the clay wouldn't interfere with the roots. I could be wrong but I'm going to see what happens.
Saturday I spent about 6 hours in the garden (that also includes all the times I stopped planting to help everyone else with whatever they needed and go fetch lunch), so all in all I probably spent about 4 hours, who knows maybe it was 6. It sure felt like it. As I bent over the rows, plopping in the seeds I prayed fervently that they would grow. As I battled some nasty soil I felt like I was on Little House on the Prairie. "Did they have compost?" "What would Caroline do?" I wondered...but I kept at it. By the end of it all I had my garden 98% planted. I still have some herbs and potatoes to buy. It is huge, but this also includes space for flowers as well. I felt satisfied with my accomplishment. I like plenty of space between rows and plan on planting several things a few weeks apart so I have a continual harvest. I realize this is a test year to see how things do. I'll continue to amend my soil over the year until I get it where I want it. It is so muddy that I'm considering getting some straw to put between the rows. More than it being muddy, it's slick because it's clay.
One thing I'm trying to incorporate into my gardening is
companion planting. This process was time consuming to research and plan where to put what. The purpose of companion planting is
1) to utilize space, (ie..planting carrots with lettuce...they share space), but also 2
) to use plants as natural pesticides. Certain plants will repel certain bugs, or they may enhance the flavor of other plants, or deter their growth. Don't plant tomatoes by your corn, tomatoes attract earworms. Chives deter aphids from attacking peas. Marigolds deter a lot of bugs. My goal is to get a lot better at this over the years. If you do a google search you will come across many articles. We'll see how well I did this year.
Hubby, the girls and a friend of ours spent Saturday cutting down trees, cutting those trees into firewood (for our bonfires) and burning the branches. Everyone worked so hard. We still have more to cut but that will come another day. I have blisters on my feet and hands. I have decided I'm going to invest in a good pair of those garden shoes I always see. Flip flops just don't cut it!
Last night we had about 30 friends over for a bonfire. Kat plans these and she's so good at it. It's always fun to gather friends around a smelly fire, roasting
hot dogs and marshmallows, laughing and enjoying one
another's company. The thing I hate is having to take a shower afterwards! It's usually late at night and my hair takes forever to dry! The only problem? Safeway was sold out of marshmallows!! Can you believe it. That's okay, we had chips, hot dogs, watermelon, fruit salad, and banana cake.
We are not doing anything special for Memorial Day. Hubby is going to cut some more trees. We'll probably help a little bit. I may take the girls shopping for swimsuits. I think our plan is to have dinner at my in-laws. My grandma has been at my dad and sisters since
Thursday and she'll be back tomorrow morning. I think we'll just lay low and hang out.
With Joy UNquenchable,
I just love sitting out on my porch with my computer on my lap, listening to the birds, the breeze, and at the moment my neighbors tractor! Sometimes it's their horses whinnying for attention. But I love sitting on my porch. It's peaceful and even on a hot day like today the breeze up here is cool. I just now put a light jacket on.
Just a few minutes ago I was listening to the most beautiful bird. I don't know what it was but it's song was spectacular. I'm trying to do a search to find out its name. I hope he's a regular on our property. There is nothing like listening to the birds and the frogs. Now if only I'd hear some crickets.
Well I did it! I finally got around to planting my garden. It wasn't that I was lazy, but that the weather didn't cooperate or I just didn't have enough time. But this last week the weather has been absolutely amazing and so I've taken advantage of it. Friday I spent about 4 hours, yes, 4 hours out in the garden making the beds. It's tedious work and it's huge. I felt that maybe because my soil has so much clay...okay, it's all clay, (I did work in some compost, but it'll be a few years before it's really nice), anyways, I felt like if I raised the beds up a bit the clay wouldn't interfere with the roots. I could be wrong but I'm going to see what happens.
Saturday I spent about 6 hours in the garden (that also includes all the times I stopped planting to help everyone else with whatever they needed and go fetch lunch), so all in all I probably spent about 4 hours, who knows maybe it was 6. It sure felt like it. As I bent over the rows, plopping in the seeds I prayed fervently that they would grow. As I battled some nasty soil I felt like I was on Little House on the Prairie. "Did they have compost?" "What would Caroline do?" I wondered...but I kept at it. By the end of it all I had my garden 98% planted. I still have some herbs and potatoes to buy. It is huge, but this also includes space for flowers as well. I felt satisfied with my accomplishment. I like plenty of space between rows and plan on planting several things a few weeks apart so I have a continual harvest. I realize this is a test year to see how things do. I'll continue to amend my soil over the year until I get it where I want it. It is so muddy that I'm considering getting some straw to put between the rows. More than it being muddy, it's slick because it's clay.
One thing I'm trying to incorporate into my gardening is companion planting. This process was time consuming to research and plan where to put what. The purpose of companion planting is 1) to utilize space, (ie..planting carrots with lettuce...they share space), but also 2) to use plants as natural pesticides. Certain plants will repel certain bugs, or they may enhance the flavor of other plants, or deter their growth. Don't plant tomatoes by your corn, tomatoes attract earworms. Chives deter aphids from attacking peas. Marigolds deter a lot of bugs. My goal is to get a lot better at this over the years. If you do a google search you will come across many articles. We'll see how well I did this year.
Hubby, the girls and a friend of ours spent Saturday cutting down trees, cutting those trees into firewood (for our bonfires) and burning the branches. Everyone worked so hard. We still have more to cut but that will come another day. I have blisters on my feet and hands. I have decided I'm going to invest in a good pair of those garden shoes I always see. Flip flops just don't cut it!
Last night we had about 30 friends over for a bonfire. Kat plans these and she's so good at it. It's always fun to gather friends around a smelly fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, laughing and enjoying one another's company. The thing I hate is having to take a shower afterwards! It's usually late at night and my hair takes forever to dry! The only problem? Safeway was sold out of marshmallows!! Can you believe it. That's okay, we had chips, hot dogs, watermelon, fruit salad, and banana cake.
We are not doing anything special for Memorial Day. Hubby is going to cut some more trees. We'll probably help a little bit. I may take the girls shopping for swimsuits. I think our plan is to have dinner at my in-laws. My grandma has been at my dad and sisters since Thursday and she'll be back tomorrow morning. I think we'll just lay low and hang out.
With Joy UNquenchable,
I did that raised bed effect in my garden to this year. I didnt really put in boundaries just mounded the soil for the boundaries. I plan on posting some gardening pics later this week. I am so sore from planting and making strawberry beds! But there now, I know you can sympathize! LOL
ReplyDeleteI put in a raised bed this year. Its a 'toy' garden according to my father because its only 8x4. But, I figure it will be manageable if I end up obscenely large and pregnant during planting time, or harvest time for that matter in the future.
ReplyDeleteI am also trying the companion planting combined with squarefoot or intensive gardening. So far it seems pretty successful.
Just now catching up. Looks like you have been busy!! So fun!!!!!
ReplyDelete