gettin' 'maters in

We went to Florida on break and while there, I bought Celebrity and Big Boy tomato plants at WM.  I brought them home and put some in the ground.

I just dug up enough ground for tomatoes, and because they are indeterminate, meaning they will just keep growing and producing throughout the season, I have moved fence over to a spot where tomatoes didn't grow last year so I can tie them up.    I put Ball jars over them for mini greenhouse effect.

I also planted some in pots and put them in a wheelbarrow and a big pot which get moved outside of the garage everyday and back in at night.  Here is a great view of the back garden, with the schlumpy compost heap to the right and the potato tires on the left.  The strawberry patch is to the front, it is coming up great!   I love to have a big bowl of berries, freshly picked, with a bowl of whipped cream to eat it with.... heaven!  I also transplanted some strawberries into a bed in the front yard, lots of sun, and I don't have to mow that bit now.  If you look closely by the side of the barn, you can see the grape arbor and then the raspberry trellises in front of that.  Our yard is 3.24 acres in town, I love that it feels like I'm still in the country. 

I found some broccoli and red cabbage starts, have them in the ground.  I bought peppers, but have not had time to get them in. We are expecting rain all week, and not really cold, so I may get the tiller out tomorrow and get some ground worked up.  I got a tiller many years ago when Bill went to Guard for two weeks, left me at home alone with a new garden, he came home for the weekend, we hit the hardware store, and I got a tiller.  It has served me well for probably 20 years. 

This is Holy Week, eveyone have a peaceful and productive week, and may you be prayerful in this time in remembrance of the crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and be in celebration of the greatest event in the history of creation, the Resurrection of the Christ.  Alleluia!!!

Dianne, dirt and all and SAVED by the blood of Jesus!

Pallet Love In Action

My friend JB posted this week on Pallet Love.

Here is love in action. Step One: Read someone's blog and follow link to tutorial.
Step Two: Craigslist free pallets and send husband on a 'honey do' errand that includes retrieving eight pallets of varied sizes. Extras to be given away or used to trellis potato and cucumber vines around the yard's existing and coming beds.

Step Three: Buy stapler and staples, garden fabric and a few more plant starts than the lettuce, arugula, pansies, mint, basil and rosemary already on hand.
Step Four: return stapler and staples. Husband has one already- hiding apparently. Buy worm castings with the extra $$. Use these to fertilize transplanted tomato starts. That's another project. -- By the way, does anyone know if fire extinguisher chemicals are toxic, 'cause some of those starts got sprayed in a small cooking fire in my kitchen last night. That too is another story.
Step Five: Follow tutorial to staple garden fabric on pallets in the kitchen because it's cold and rainy outdoors.

Step Six: Use iPhone for quick pics.

Step Seven: Next warm day, transplant pansies, mind, lettuce and arugula to first pallet love. Set up extra pallet next to the bed where seed potatoes will go. Tutorial says to wait a few days, seven at least, to perch this at an upright angle.
Step Eight: Blog and rest.

That Dang Walnut and Progress...

I have a Black Walnut that, when we moved back in, was not covered in the lovely ivy I planted years ago. Nope. That ivy migrated to my precious house, lily patches and my siding. Darnnit.

Nope that stinking Walnut was covered in poison ivy. I'm boiling tons of water to throw down, but having just read of two more interesting ways, I'm considering the vinegar solution. I would borrow my friend's goats but I think the township will frown on that. I'll save the boiling water for the bed where I've just propped a flat, then put in my seed potatoes there tomorrow morning! Yay.

No, I will make the following solution for that vicious IVY and maybe a few other plants:
Poison Ivy Vegetation Killer
1 cup salt
8 drops liquid detergent
1 gallon vinegar
Combine the salt and vinegar in a pan and heat to dissolve the
salt. Cool the vinegar, add the detergent, and pour some of the
liquid into a large spray bottle. Spray the vegetation. (You can
also just pour the mixture onto the weeds.) Refill the spray
bottle as necessary. Note that this formula will kill all the
vegetation, so make sure that you are only spraying the plants
you want to kill. If you need to use a lot of this spray, avoid
spraying it near wells, as the salt can leach into your water
supply.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/vinegar-for-poison-ivy.html#ixzz1Jo4rVNhE

After that, I need companion plants. Anyone have a wide variety of Hosta's I can cut? I will move daffodils and my day lilies there too. I was wondering where to put those, now that the sunnier places in my landscaping are to become homes for food producing plants.  

Lastly, I need some good cuttings of Black raspberries. Looks like those can take the juglone that noble, old Walnuts produce. If it wouldn't cost so much, I'd consider having this tree cut and selling its straight tall boughs.

I ate from my garden today, April 11--and an herb caution

Asparagus!!   just a couple of handfuls, but none the less, fresh veg from the garden!!  IN APRIL !  I ate it raw with some salad dressing.

We planted the long line of asparagus three or four years ago,  it takes about 3 years to be fully productive.

Then you just need to fertilize, and keep it mulched, and weeded.   Clean out the spent "ferns"  in fall or spring. 

I referenced a great online photo guide for planting asparagus a couple of posts ago.   Now is the time to do it.  

I also have a caution for you about herbs--any kind of mint is very invasive.  Meaning, you plant it in one place, it will take up residence all over the garden.  I found lemon balm, a type of mint, coming up today, I dug up tons of it.  I wish I had never planted it.   I have peppermint that grows along the edge of the strawberry patch, that I control with the mower.   I have a patch that I moved back to the raspberry area, BUT I found an old washtub with a rusted out bottom,  and dug down a bit, fitted the tub down in about half way, filled it with soil, and then put in the mint.  That should go a long way to controlling the runners that grow underground , undetected, to reproduce like rabbits throughout the  garden.

If you visit someone's garden, and they offer you a shovelful of something they seem to have a lot of ,  be very cautious.  They have a lot of it because it could be hard to control.  Now, I don't believe there can be too many iris or daylilies in the world, but mint,  some groundcovers, lily of the valley, trumpet vine, wisteria, and many others, can really wreak havoc on your garden and lawn. 

If you do have some perennials that need to be split, or want to split some at someone's house, now is the time to do it,  cooler days and nights don't stress the plants when they are transplanted.  Throw some bone meal into the hole to help with root growth. 

Dianne, dirt and all

funny, stinky fertilizer story and keeping hints handy

Yesterday I hit WM and found the broken bag corner,  40% off manure, compost, and some mulch.  I love a bargain!  So I brought it home, made a mix and potted some pansies, and broccoli.  I potted the broccoli in a tall pot so it has a chance to get going before the rabbits nibble it off. 

THEN, I found a bottle of fish emulsion in the garage and mixed that up, poured on new plantings in flower bed, I'm telling you folks, I reaked!  I  went in, had a snack, and broke part of a tooth.  that's what I get for breaking my fast,,, harrumph.  So, had to go to the dentist, smelling of dead fish and cow poo.   Wonderful,  good thing the dentist gardens.  At least I took off the trousers, and put on clean!!!

I found a wonderful new gardening hint book at the library.  Trowel and Error:  Over 700 Shortcuts, Tips, and Remedies for the Gardener.
http://www.amazon.com/Trowel-Error-Remedies-Shortcuts-Gardener/dp/0761126325/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Here are some I found that I already use:
Boiling water or vinegar poured over weeds to kill them-----this works.   Great along cracks in sidewalk, or in the driveway.   When I'm canning, I always pour my boiled canner water out on the driveway.

I keep Aloe Vera in the kitchen for burn treatment. 

I mulch with grass clippings, shedded tree stuff I get from the tree trimmer guy when he's in my neighborhood,  straw,  newspaper.  I sometimes purchase broken bags of mulch for the front yard flower beds. 

A great idea for keeping handy gardening hints available while gardening would be to find a picture album that would let you slide in index cards,  write down your hints, keep them categorized, and keep the album in the potting shed, near the back door, or a nook in your garage.  Then you don't have to tramp dirt into the house looking for it.   Keep extra cards for record keeping on planting and harvest dates.  I'm going to have to get some spray bottles for mixing up sprays for the garden, and mark them clearly ONLY for the garden.

Mother Earth News --Living on Less , Sussex Publishers,  1997.  That one is getting a thorough going over by me.  It has chapters on building your own house, growing food, livestock, foraging, alternative energy, harvest keeping.  

I walked the dogs in the backyard this morning, and made some decisions about the garden. Last year I expanded to the back, but found that I couldn't get my hose back there easily, so I'm going to have to plant closer together and put more in front beds, which are more accessible with the hose.  I lost a whole raspberry bed because I just didn't get back there enough to water.    My black currant plants aren't dead, they  must leaf out later than the red currants.  I have lost all but one apple tree. just can't keep deer out of them.  My lilac have tiny purple flower buds, waiting for a few rains to pop open, I LOVE them!  Yesterday I raked out the asparagus patch, mixed up a bucket of poo and some bone meal and raked that in lightly over the patch. I noticed about three tiny spears trying to peak out at me.   I usually have several temporary fences that I grow "up" on , for tomatoes, beans, peas.  I'll need to move them around.  I need to get into the black raspberries and clean out old canes.  I highly recommend the thornless type.  HUGE berries, and not a danger to pick from.  BUT the grape arbor is next to it, and has tried to invade its space, so that will have to be trimmed back, also.

We burn wood  and Bill has a huge pile of bark just sitting there, I think last year I used it as mulch around the currant bushes.  I try not to let anything like that go to waste.  

I planted potatoes this morning, in a prepared mulchy bed, made from last fall's leaves and garden detritus, and this spring's raked leaves and old plant bits.  I just dug down in, scratched up the soil a bit, laid down the potato, and covered it back up.  Waiting on rain in the next few days.

I threw a bag of manure onto the compost heap and then turned the whole thing with a garden fork. 

If you buy big , deep pots, you don't have to fill them completely with potting mix.  I usually have a few broken clay pots, or packing peanuts, anything that will allow water to pass through.  I fill up about a third, then add the potting mix on top.  NEVER use just plain garden soil in a pot, it will turn to concrete, especially our Indiana clay soil. 
OH, one last thing,   I am highly allergic to poison ivy and have been cleaning out a fence row.  So, the signal for help is mom standing at the door, kicking it, and yelling, "someone open the door"  as I hold my hands up, don't want it on the knob.    I run to the bathroom, use special soap, scrub everything I can, carefully remove my clothes and put immediately into the washer.  Gloves and all.   Poison ivy oil can stay potent on clothing for up to 5 years.  Be very careful when working in areas new to you,  it can be poisonous even without leaves.

Dianne, dirt and all