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:)

The Garden Thus Far

This picture is what the old garden looked like less than a month ago.

I had purchased some cold weather plants but they practically froze in the house with those single digit temps. I babied them and they are still alive but I figure I am about 2 weeks behind getting them out. I am not panicking too much since we are still getting nights at freezing temps but I do need to get busy. Since I am right at the edge of the National Park and at a higher elevation I am sort of Zone 5 and Zone 6. In years when winter moves out early, I am more Zone 6 but this year I think it is definitely going to be a Zone 5 winter in these mountains.

The Lowe's order arrived Wed morning - three pallets full. I hauled and dragged fencing, lattice, bales of straw, steel gates and fence posts around as I tried to get everything organized. I was pretty much exhausted but this is how the garden looked at the end of the day.

The green striped tarp is covering the bales of straw for mulch (and bedding for the dog houses). I am moving the garden about 60 feet from the old location near the back corner of the trailer because there was not much afternoon sun and the morning sun didn't arrive until about noon. I have a little more sunlight here and have some friends coming who will help clear out some of the scrub trees seen in the back of the pic to give more afternoon sun. That should give me enough hours for my sun heavy crops.

The silver role of fencing in the front of the pic is 330 feet of field fencing. It has wide squares near the top and narrow ones at the bottom so it will be fine for the dogs - keeping them in the yard and out of the garden.

The garden will cover from about 4 feet to the right of the wheelbarrow and about 4 feet to the left of the concrete blocks. I believe I will be able to fit in 6 rows stacked on blocks plus two 4"x4"x6' high frames on the right for my hanging tomatoes, beans and sunflowers. I also want to put 2 or 3 of the 4x4's at the far end of the garden for hanging baskets that would be high enough that they would not block the sun to the rows.

Since I have been house bound I have ordered a lot of things plus friends have been bringing me boxes of food. I had broken down all of the boxes to haul to the dump when it hit me - they would be perfect for lining the rows!! So, I finished two rows Friday and this gives you an idea of how things will look.

Sat evening brought pouring rain and it will continue until Wed. I can't say that I am sad about it. I was so sore Sat I could barely get anything done. I spent Sun and part of Mon in bed but am feeling better tonight. I even managed to sort some seeds, do a little housework and read a couple of my gardening books. I will try to get a little laundry done today and be ready to hit the garden again when the rain moves out Wed. If it is not too windy I might even set up my umbrella and try to work a little.

A note: Gurney's, Burpee's and Park Seeds are running big clearance sales. If you are wanting some extra goodies, now is a great time to jump in and buy. I still want to order a couple of things from Burpee tomorrow - there were a couple of things that are Burpee exclusives that I just have to have LOL. Otherwise I have way more than I can use and will even be making up packets of the extras to take to friends at church Sunday.

Happy Gardening
Linda B in TN:)

More Rain and Cold

The cold and dreary weather continues. Easter Sunday was gorgeous but mostly it has been 50 degree days with rain and drizzle. It is too cold to put anything out yet but I have planted a few of the onions and have lettuce flats growing.

Tomorrow morning I have a huge order coming from Lowes. There will be about 50 bags of compost, cow manure and potting soil. I am getting 4x4's to frame out places to hang tomato and cucumber baskets, string up beans and stake out sunflowers. There will be slats for more rows like I did last year and lots of supplies for fencing in the yard.

There will also be lumber for building two raised beds. One is for the asparagus I ordered from Gurney's but I haven't decided what the second one will be for. I may actually wait and track the summer sun then decide where to put it at the end of the season once I have figured out the best placement.

Well, I am off to rest up for tomorrow.

Happy Gardening,

Linda B:)

Winter is Back

Sunday was gorgeous with 70 degree temps but temps fell all day Monday. It is 3am Tues and there is over two inches of snow on my deck. Luckily I have been too sick to get the cold crops transplanted so it was easy to drag everything inside. I don't have much heat so I am hoping it will be warm enough in here. I am also hoping the cold won't rupture my new water hoses and pipes. I left them drizzling so maybe they will be OK.

I did get several wheelbarrow loads of blocks and pots moved to the new garden location Sunday afternoon. I also found a stack of old totes that I am going to use to grow potato plants. I am trying to do some research right now on how many I can put in each tote. I plan to put a few inches of dirt, lay the potatoes on top and then stack straw on top as they grow so I can reach in and grab new potatoes all summer.

I am also trying to find more info on my dwarf fig trees. One book says a 10" pot, another says a minimum of 18". Everything says the trees have to be rootbound to produce a lot of fruit. One book gives the impression I should start with a 10 - 12" pot and move up to 18 over the next few years. That makes sense if I am going to try to force fruit this year.

As soon as things warm up I will try to get some pictures up of my progress so far. In the meantime, I may spend tomorrow gathering some container gardening links that I enjoy to share.

Hope everyone is warm,
Linda B:)

Homemade Bug Solutions

I tuned in to the Bonnie Hunt Show this afternoon and caught the ending of a segment with Ivette Soler giving recipes and remedies for getting rid of pests in the garden. You can get a PDF of the info here:

http://www.bonniehunt.com/as_seen_on/090330/03friday/gardentips.pdf

Visit her blog here:

http://thegerminatrix.com/

I've had visits from UPS the past two days. First the fig trees arrived and today I got several packets of seeds and some growing bags, all from Park Seed. I was a little upset about the high shipping they charged but I can see why. I got a giant box filled with packing peanuts both times and barely anything in either box and I still don't have the full order.

It is still cold and rainy here so I just unpacked everything and set it to the side. I will get pics of fig trees and give you more details in the coming days.

Happy Gardening
Linda B:)

Gardening Links

I was at Wal-Mart today and picked up some more of the .20 flower packets and some very nice bulbs for my shady hill - Lily of the Valley, Bleeding Hearts and mixed caladiums. I have all my seeds and plants either ordered or purchased now except the Little Finger carrots. I am thinking they are exclusive to Burpee so I may put together a small order there.

WM is not carrying Burpee this year. They are exclusive with the Ferry-Morris seeds plus the American Seed .20 packets. That is sad because I could always find a large variety of seed types there including the Burpee & BH&G seeds. Even the co-op only had Ferry-Morris and the "by the pound" items.

I have to spend tomorrow getting my water hooked up and recouperating from today's trip so for now I will just pass on some great links I have tracked down.

Enjoy,
Linda B:)


Find your zone and last frost dates:

http://www.burpee.com/ancillary/zonefinder.do

Type in your last frost date here and it will fill in the dates you should do each chore:

http://bioarray.us/Skippy's planting calendar.html

An extensive step by step, month by month calendar for planning your garden from University of Georgia. This is for Georgia Zone 8, adjust by the number of weeks needed for your Zone. I am in Zone 5/6 so I have to add 3-4 weeks to this plan:

http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/L174.htm

Old Farmer's Almanac gives you a planting chart based on phases of the moon. Just type in your zip code for your zone:

http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php

For fun you can also check out Old Farmer's Almanac's astrological charts to give you the best dates for everything from harvesting crops to starting a diet or having your hair cut:)

http://www.almanac.com/astrology/

Tons of links for gardening help at The Garden Helper - just about everything you can think to ask about:

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/guide1.html

Spring is Here!!!!!

Oh no, here it is several days into spring and I don't really have it together yet. I have been to the Co-op and picked up a few plants (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, onions and a few strawberry plants) plus seeds at various places. The bad part, I haven't set the plants out yet. I am hoping to get them into pots over the next week plus get my lettuce flats seeded.

I still can't drive and was worried about enough potting soil. However, a trek through the yard this evening has rounded up 4 leftover bags from last year plus enough pots filled with dirt that can be dumped and re-potted to take care of my cold crops.

Immediately after picking up the plants our temps dropped to single digits again and then we had a few roller coaster weeks of warm temps through the weekdays, rain on Fri and Sat which turned into sleet and 3-4 inches of snow by Sunday. Last week was mostly nice - about 60 degrees days and 40 nights - so I have moved the plants to the deck. I had to cover them for a few days when we dove below freezing again this weekend but they seem to be hanging in there since it didn't get below 29.

I am also behind on my seed orders but plan to finish that this week. I am trying to add more fruit to my diet especially cherries and blueberries. Both are great antioxidants and very good for you. Parks has a lovely small blueberry that can be grown in containers that I am considering. They also have a lovely fig that looks similar to the brown turkey figs. It is also small and can be grown in containers. Both are rated for colder climates.

I am off to finish those orders. Temps are in the 50's & 60's right now but it is steady rain so not much to do outside right now.