Random Thoughts

For some reason this time of year makes me somewhat nostalgic. It signifies another trip around the sun. It takes me back to when the kids were smaller and school had started. I felt happy they were going off to school but there was always a little sadness thrown in because they were growing up and changing.

The slight chill in the morning air takes me back to when I was younger and living in W.Va. This is the time the trees would start turning and by October the hills were alive with color. Following on the footsteps of fall would be winter and everyone looked forward to the first snow of the season. The house would be warm, toasty and windows foggy from a pot of soup boiling on the stove. And by the way who hasn't taken their finger and done a little drawing on a window with condensation?

Today I'll start my fall garden with leaf lettuce, broccoli and collards. There is just something about being able to grow your own food. While I may not harvest enough to completely feed my family I am reducing what I buy from the store.

And that is a good thing!

Read more...

Straw Bale Gardening Wrap-up

My first straw bale garden season is coming to an end. It has been a great project! If you haven't given any thought to backyard gardening - you should! This year's garden produced enough cucumbers to eat until we got tired of them. My gourd plants have so far produced 5 that are currently drying on the dying vines. Our tomato plants have continued to produce and have slowed dramatically in the last several weeks, although I do have a few green ones left on the vines, the vines themselves look terrible. On a better note though my second season of tomatoes show promise with a few green tomatoes on the vine currently. I haven't had one ripen but I'm hoping soon. The weather will influence this crop immensely... so it is an experiment at this point to see exactly what I will get. Pepper, squash and zucchini did good and would have done better if I had pretreated for the vine borer worm. Next year I will definitely be more diligent to fight that little vine destroying pest. The okra plants are producing now and while I only have 8 plants I am getting ~ 5-6 daily, which I am cutting up and freezing for yummy winter soups! I have 10 half pint ziplocs so far.

So what worked this year? Pretty much everything except the pole beans. I do believe they need to be in a larger space than what I used, which was 1/2 of a 55 gallon plastic barrel. I think they would have done better in one of the raised beds.

This little garden provided plenty of food for us this summer. We did not have to buy any tomatoes, peppers, squash or zucchini. Of course I hope to have a ripe red tomato soon and I may have to buy for a couple of weeks before I start to get some ripe.

I do plan to "hoop house" the raised bed with the tomatoes to extend the growing season before the 1st frost.

This is a must project for anyone who wants to try gardening in their backyard or patio. It is absolute proof that small scale gardening is possible and doable.

The only drawback to this system is watering. You must water 2x daily in the heat of the summer - or at least here in eastern NC. I solved this dilemma by catching rain water in tubs placed near the garden. I then kept 2 one gallon containers that I used to water with. It was a little work carrying the water...but I enjoyed the exercise.

So start planning your space and little garden next year! You will be hooked.

Read more...