This Year's Failure

Right now I am very disappointed. The garden is a wreck. I spent a couple hundred dollars last year and about $700 this year. I started to buy a few AeroGarden's but nooooooooooooooo, I was going to put in a full garden and harvest lots of goodies.

Last year I had no water to keep the garden going so I got very little harvest - about three cups of tomatoes and nothing else. This year it has been too much water. First my onions drowned, then the potatoes. My cucumbers produced one each and shriveled up and died. My tomato plants got leaf rot, produced about a dozen grape tomatoes each and 2 patios each then died. One eggplant, about 6 cayenne peppers, one bell pepper (stunted), one yellow pepper (stunted) and that's it. Oh, I fogot - one small salad of lettuce.

I am disgusted, aggravated and feeling pretty much over it. I worked really hard on the garden and could barely walk each day when I finished. However it was all for nothing. I could have bought 4 AeroGardens for peppers, tomatoes and lettuce and pretty much had enough to make me happy.

I am still hoping that the broccoli or Brussels sprouts will produce when the weather cools down but I am not holding out much hope. I should also be looking at fall crops but I am having problems and can barely walk from the bed to the bathroom right now so I am not going to worry about it.

I need to find out how to store all these seeds. I have been told to keep them in the fridge crisper but others have told me to put them in the freezer. I will do some research and let you know what I find out.

The one good thing - I spotted a black snake a few days ago and he is taking care of the mouse population. I hope he hangs around as long as he stays outside.

Happy gardening,
Linda B:)

The Rain Continues

Day after day for weeks now, rain and thunderstorms. Every time I start to work in the garden other problems crop up or there are bolts of lightning flying. I did get most of the plants transplanted but the peppers are still waiting plus a few things I started along with all the other unfinished chores. I have the pots but haven't redone the potatoes. The asparagus is in the bottom of the fridge and the Jerusalem artichokes are sprouting on my washer. Sigh.

The only thing producing is the strawberries. They are putting out about 3 to 4 berries every day or two. Sometimes I have to toss a few because they rot before I can get to them.

The onions are totally gone. They drowned in all this rain. They had looked so gorgeous and suddenly the tops died and they are rotting. I still have a bag of onion sets that I was going to put out in late May but I think I am going to save them for the early fall.

The cabbage have giant leaves but nothing is heading. The Brussels sprouts - nothing!! They have not changed one iota since the day I planted them. The broccoli is finally growing a little since last week. The fig trees are finally beginning to grow and leaf out nicely but the blueberries don't look much different from the day I planted them. The spinach drowned and my lettuce refuses to grow.

They only thing that seems to be thriving in all of this is the tomato plants. They all look great and are lush.

In the meantime, I am still finding a mouse here and there. There was a small one floating in the dogs water bucket this morning and I saw one scurry from under the dog's house. I poured almost an entire canister of that fox/bobcat urine under there but it doesn't seem to be discouraging them.

I also need to get some more borax. I found 3 planters covered in ants yesterday. I need to clear them out so I can start my melons in them. Guess that will be my project tomorrow or the next day.

Happy Gardening,
Linda B:)

Not in MY Garden!!!!

I spent several hours putting up the new rows and moving things around Mon. Tues I managed to get the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes transplanted. I also did some other maintenance and cleaned a bunch of pots for the eggplant, stevia and spearmint.

Wed I thought I would tackle the Roma tomatoes first and then see how many more I could finish after that. Well things did not go well. I have two super size pots that I planned to put the Romas in. I had filled some shallow round pots with flower bulbs that I plan to transplant to the front yard later. These were sitting on top of the giant tomato planters so I was going to move them to another spot.

First one - no problem. Second one, I lifted the small pot and in the middle of the giant pot was nest of mice - there had to be at least 30 of them from large to babies. The big ones scurried out and took off in all directions. I grabbed the hose and filled the top of the pot with water and drowned the babies but the rest got away.

My stomach was in knots, my skin wanting to crawl away and my mind was screaming "time to move". It was awful and I still get pains in my chest and stomach when I think about it. They were all wrapped up in a ball about the size of softball. NOT a baseball - a BIG softball. EWWWWWWWWWWW !!!!!!!

I was so freaked out I headed inside for an hour. While I calmed down the rain that was supposed to come in Thur arrived. We had thunder, lightening and rain the rest of the day and it is continuing today and tomorrow so my gardening is on hold again.

I had suspected mice were getting in the garden. I have had an ongoing battle with them taking over everything here the past year (since losing my cat) and mentioned it several times in my main blog:
http://villageramblings.blogspot.com/

I had done a lot of research about getting rid of mice. I was going to buy some of those plug in ultrasonic gadgets for the house but I read they don't seem to work after 3-6 months. I had been reading about using fox urine pellets to keep them out of my car and garden. I have read blogs all over suggesting their use and praising the effects so I thought I would give it a try.

After searching the net I finally found the best price on Ebay -

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Denny-and-Kathys-Superstore__W0QQ_nkwZshakeQ20awayQ20rodentQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZR10QQ_sasiZ1

It is called Shake Away Rodent Repellent and is a powdered form of fox and bobcat urine. You can buy one 20 ounce container for $10.49 or two for $20. I went for the double order and paid $26 with shipping. It arrived Wed evening so I can't give it a try until the rain moves out but I will let you know how it works.

In the meantime I will try to get some more housework done and calm my nerves. Would margaritas be considered medicinal in this instance LOL.

Happy (critter free) Gardening,
Linda B:)

Another Wet Week

It rained so much over Sun - Tues that a 5 gallon bucket overflowed. Most things are looking OK but my onions look awful. The bright green stems are falling over and going pale. Also I would swear that I have less onions. I can't think of anything that would steal onions so I think it is just me LOL.

I was finally able to get a ride to town and went to WM and picked up about 30 plants. Two each of cherry, patio and roma tomatoes plus eggplant, cucumbers, melons, and more. I am still sore from the trip to town so I will tackle transplanting everything Monday and Tues and get new pics up.

Happy gardening,
Linda B:)

Blackberry Winter is Here

They are calling for a frost tonight but I did not cover anything. I don't have any tender plants out except for a hanging basket of petunias. I put them under the table but I am letting everything else sit as is. Everything out right now are cool crops so I guess it is good that I am running behind.

Two weeks ago I planted potatoes in totes and buckets. I didn't have enough to use them all but I added extra plants to the totes that I am hoping to transplant when I get some more places ready for them.

Last week I spent a day starting small pots of various types of lettuce, peas, more flower bulbs, and various other items. It has been almost 6 weeks since I have been to town and all my "promised" rides to the Co-Op/Lowe's/Walmart to get plants have fallen through. Since I have no plants I also planted some tomato and pepper seeds.

I mentioned the rain Thur through Sun. Well Sunday was what we would call a gully washer. I left an empty laundry bucket on the porch and it had over 6 inches of water Mon morning. I have not wandered out into the garden to see what kind of damage was done to my potatoes but I could see from the deck that the peas were uncovered.

Tomorrow is supposed to bring a warm afternoon so I will try to go out and add more dirt and see what can be saved of the seeded flats. I want to put in the last 3 rows but I am waiting for the grass to die down a bit more. I sprayed it with Roots and All last week and it is slowly dying down. I ran out of cardboard to cover the ground and don't want to spend too much time while it is still up to my knees.

Happy Gardening,
Linda B:)

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yes I will be begging for it soon but it has been raining almost nonstop since last Wed evening. It is playing havoc with my sinuses and I haven't accomplished much. Rain or not, I need to set out another round of onion sets and get the potatoes planted over the next few days.

Last week I finished getting the transplants out. In this picture you can see where I used milk and water jugs to plant Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli plants. I also put some of them in the white hanging basket planters seen in the upper left hand corner and in 2 liter soda bottles (seen in the second photo).

My first long planter of onion sets is mixed in because my companion planting guide says for the cabbage family - celery repels cabbage worms, onion family deters maggots; rosemary, sage, and thyme repel insects. I am not planting celery but I may add some sage and thyme plants in between them. The book says enemies are beans (pole), strawberries and tomatoes.

In between the clay pots you can almost see the green pouch with the lettuce plants. I am not sure I like the pouches for the lettuce and spinach but I am thinking I can hang them on the back of the poles so they only get the afternoon sun when it gets hot. This should keep them from bolting too soon and might keep them going until fall.

As of Wed evening I was able to get the 4th row set in and all work has stopped since then. Too much rain and I have been too sick but I am going to tackle it again over the next few days. The purple tubs on the right are for the potatoes. I will put about 4 inches of soil in the bottom, lay the potato sets on top of the dirt and cover them with a little straw. I want to keep adding straw as they grow so I can harvest small potatoes all summer since I don't intend to store any of them. The companion planting guide suggests beans so I may set the tubs in my bean teepees. It also suggests corn but corn is also good for pumpkins but potatoes are bad for pumpkins. I am only putting out a small amount of corn - just something for grilling - and a few pumpkins so I may put them together.

You may also notice that I put a lot more distance between the 2nd and 4th rows. I have a lot of 3 foot planters that will go sideways and need more room. Right now nothing is where it is going to stay. The blueberries and figs will go on the deck, some of the cabbage and broccoli may go near the deck to get less sun and to make room for more of the sun lovers.

Happy Gardening
Linda B:)

Fig Trees & Blueberries

The rain continued Tues but a little bit of clearing Wed gave me time to pot the fig trees and Thurs I did the blueberries. I bought 3 Chicago dwarf figs from Park Seed and 4 Top Hat dwarf blueberry bushes from Gurney's. I researched all my books and some called for 12" deep pots, some called for 18" for both plants. I went with the 12" pots because all of the books said they need to be root bound to produce fruit. Also they will have to be moved inside for winter and easier to lift but mostly because I had eight 12" pots and only a couple of larger ones which are reserved
for my peppers.

Since transplanting the figs are looking very good with tiny green leaves sprouting and the blueberries have fanned out and are looking well. I added extra humus to the berries. The humus has chunks of clay and blueberries prefer more acidic soil.


I spent a few more hours Thur, Fri and Mon getting my cold crops transplanted - Brussels sprouts, broccoli and cabbage - and setting up row 3. I didn't get pictures so I will go into more details about them tomorrow or Wed.

This was taken last Fri. The large green planters on the left are the fig trees. The ones on the right are the blueberries. The clay pots in the back left are broccoli plants and you can see the other trays waiting to be set out. More about the cold crops tomorrow.

Happy gardening,
Linda B:)