Le jardin

Click on pic to see how much fertilizer 1/2 cup is on one bale. Looks like a lot. Of course this was watered in afterwards.




Finally!

The beds have been moved to their new resting place and the bales are in. We are on day 4 of the prep. The other 2 beds were where we consolidated the old cuke/squash bed and a leftover bale that was never planted in. So, now we have 9 hot banana pepper plants and 2 mexican pepper plants just planted this morning.(The mexican peppers grow ~10 in. and are supposed to be good for rellenos). I've bought the tomatoes and they are ready to go as soon as the bales are finished in 6 days!

I know it doesn't look like much, but it is the same size as last year, just arranged in a "T" formation rather than 2 rows. I did it this way because I felt the tomatoes would get better air circulation and plenty of sun on both sides, as opposed to the row method where one row shaded the other row depending on the position of the sun.

I'm still trying to decide if I am going to plant cukes or not. If I do, then I am going to need another bed. Monty didn't mean to buy as many pepper plants as he did, so the bed where the cukes were going to go, now have peppers in them. I'm still going to sow pole beans at the end, this time in the ground. I think picking the beans for stir fry will be fun, if I can get them to grow.

So here's the recipe for the bales:

It takes 10 days to prepare your bales.

* Days 1–3: Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet. They will still look dry shortly after watering, and do so even after the 10 day prep. But still water thoroughly.
* Days 4–6: Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales.
* Days 7–9: Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.
* Day 10: No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.
* Day 11: Transplant your plants into the bales. I used a spade to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can. I added a spade of miracle grow potting mix to each hole before planting.


We found the ammonium nitrate at our Farmer's Supply.

I'll post another pic after the 10 day prep is up and the tomatoes are in.


And if you are planning on growing tomatoes, buy Amelia or the Christa variety, as they are virus resistant. Lowe's has the Amelia variety.

Good Luck and Happy planting!!

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Skronsk

Birthday greeting to my "middle son", aka as Skronsk or Aaronus, son of Aaroni as La would call him.

So this is how it went on the day you were born:

3 am - water broke, Me and your Dad very excited, but don't know what the day will bring. We are hoping for a natural birth and not another c-section.

7 am - admitted to hospital, labor cranks up and yes it was labor, and lots of pain and misery to go with it.

2:32 - You're here and we are so excited to have our little "Buddy row" (which was your original name by the way). You are long and lean, weighing it at 8 lbs 8oz and 22 inches long. Lots of light brown reddish hair. I bask in the whole birth experience and my heart is filled with love for you.

Your childhood filled us with joy and pride as you amazed us with your steel trap memory. Reciting the alphabet by the time you were 2, learning the planets, singing Randy Travis songs and learning all the GI Joe names by age 4. Not to mention learning all about dinosaurs, the state capitals and capitals of all the countries by the time you were 7. Then came your love of Basketball and the "lists" you were so fond of composing. Remember the Phoenix Suns and Charles Barkley? Shooting 3's? Basketball faded to Soccer and the years that followed..training, visiting Italy and countless hours spent "scoring" in a make believe goal. When you decided to play the Trombone, I have to say I was skeptical that you would be ever learn to play it. But, how we loved going to hear you play in the Jazz band! And somewhere along this time you developed your love of birds and bird watching, you remember the platform feeder we built? I can still see it now, under the Dogwood tree on Bonham Ave.

You continue to delight us with your mandolin, ukulele, song writing, and birding talents! We are so very proud of you, love when you come home to visit with us and so happy to wish you the Big 22 Birthday!!

You are handome, talented and opinionated.
Stay that way son!

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Trees no more!

Today is big!! The trees in the back yard are cut down, clearing the way for the raised beds to be moved. Also allowing us to take stock and visualize how the terraced deck will come off the back of the house.

I am sooo excited. I cannot wait until we have a deck. We will be able to spend more time out back and I can start to plan how we will eventually landscape back there. I can already see, many more trees will have to come out. I am going to start marking the ones we want to save. Monty will have to do a little at a time, but progress has been made today.

Yea!!!!!!!!!!

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A little known fact ....

Red hair is the rarest natural hair color in our species. Trevor is in the elite group of being one of 2% of the world's population that has this phenotype.

Now, if you are wondering how I came to this little known fact about red hair, here is your answer. I was blog hopping the other day and ran across a girl's blog in which she noted several of her children have red hair. She had recently participated in a "cross the country" contribution for a book on red hair(www.littleredheadbook.com) Of course the book was filled with red haired children of all ages, with each having varying shades of red. Supposedly there are 5 types of red hair. Until this, I had really not given much thought to it. It is interesting to note that I once had red hair like Trevor's. I have a lock of my hair when I was little and compared to his when he was younger, we matched! Hard for me to believe my hair was once as red as his.

Other relatives to have red hair: Granny Steed, Grandma Withrow

Now a little history:

A 2002 study found that redheads are harder to sedate than any other people requiring twenty percent more anesthesia. Inadequate doses cause people to wake up during surgery and have increased recall of procedures. (I can vouch that study is accurate)

Archaeological digs in the Chinese desert of Takla Makan found mummified redheads dating back 3,000 years.

Red-heads' hair maintains its natural color longer than any other hair color. A little known fact about natural red hair is that it never turns gray. As a person ages, their red hair will turn to a sandy-blonde color. It will then ultimately turn white.(Grandma Withrow's hair was white!)

Red headedness is, genetically speaking, a recessive trait. It may appear after several generations of darker hair.

On a lighter note- a little known fact about natural red hair is, that, red heads generally have less hair on their heads than blondes or brunettes. Adult Blondes have approximately 140,000 hairs; brunettes have 110,000, and red heads only grow about 90,000 hairs on their heads but the diameter of each hair is greater.

Since red-headed people have the fairest of skin, they tend to sunburn more easily. They are also more susceptible to skin cancer and wrinkles(Now I know why I have wrinkles!-lol). That's why people with natural red hair need to protect their skin with moisturizers and sunblocks.

Red haired people have had to endure a range of unflattering nicknames and phrases including such oldies as carrot-top, red on head, red, agent orange, big red, fireball, and fire truck. They've also been greeted with such salutations as “Is your hair on fire?” and “Here comes a fire truck!” Is there any wonder that red haired people tend to develop a good sense of humor?

Red hair is most common in the British Isles, with a full 13% of the Scottish population possessing the phenotype for red hair and at least 40% of the population carrying the gene. It is easy to see why red hair is often associated with Celtic origins.

Red hair is a pretty new for us humans--scientists estimate that the gene for red hair has only been around for about 50,000 years, a pretty short time all things considered. Geneticists believe that a mutation of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) lead to the rise of red hair. Northern European groups that invaded and settled the British Isles likely carried the mutated gene.

Two factors contributed to the gene being dispersed in these groups: geographic isolation (island separated from mainland Europe) and genetic drift. Genetic drift is when, by chance, a trait becomes firmly established with a population due to there not being any selective pressure against it. In addition, it is also present in Neanderthals, and probably shows up in the common ancestor of sapiens and neaderthals.....The gene goes back at least 100,000 years, according to the article at www.rdos.net/copies/red-hair-origin.htm

Don't forget to check the link out above..it's really a cute and interesting site!

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Victory Gardens

What is a Victory Garden?




During World War I and World War II, the United States government asked its citizens to plant gardens in order to support the war effort. Millions of people planted gardens. In 1943, Americans planted over 20 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly a third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year. Emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort -- not a drudgery, but a pastime, and a national duty.

Why plant a victory garden?

Today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming.

Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.

Our current economic situation is other good reason to start a Victory Garden. Every time that food is shipped from the farm to the store and your table, gasoline is used. As gasoline prices rise, food costs rise.

How can my actions make a difference? I’m only one person.

Each one of us may only be one person. However, we each have an impact on the environment and can make changes to reduce our impact.

I have no backyard, what can I do?

* You can combine vegetable plants with flowers in your front yard.
* You can plant containers on your porch, patio, or balcony and can grow sprouts indoors.
* Check to see if you have a community garden available.
* Perhaps a neighbor or friend without time or ability would let you garden their yard, in exchange for some produce.

If these options are not available, you can also choose to purchase foods which are grown close to home by visiting your local farmer’s market or joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). If local foods are not available to you, choose foods which use fewer chemical pesticides - such as organics, are in season, or have minimal packaging.

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"Lesson Learned"

We've made progress on readying the raised beds to be moved! I ended up moving the 10 ft long raised bed to the front bird garden to plant flowers in. This is mainly because I read you should not use the same dirt/compost to plant successive plantings of tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes. Since 2 of my tomato plants appeared to have developed southern wilt late in the season, it would not be wise to replant and possibly transmit the virus to the new plants. So the decomposed hay bales in those beds had to be consolidated. Flowers are unaffected by the virus and can be planted, without any problems in last years bales/compost. I bought some dahlia bulbs to plant, so I'll think that's what I'll start with in the new bed.

I thought I would be able to save some money by not buying so many hay bales this year. Oh well. Lesson learned, should have known I would have to be careful of the virus. But on the other side of the coin, I'll be getting fresh compost for the flower beds every year. Recycling at it's finest! They recommend spaying a diluted bleach solution mix on any containers you will be reusing. So after the beds are moved into place - they'll get a little sterilizing before the new bales go in.

On a brighter note I think I will only have to buy 14 bales. I'm hoping I can get them for ~ $2, so my cost will be $28 + tax. Plants will probably run another $10-12 for the tomatoes, pepper plants. I'll be planting the squash, cukes from seed.

So for under $50, I'll have my little garden of fresh veggies! It will be work and dedication to bring in a full crop, but it will be worth every penny when I cut into the 1st fresh tomato of the season. MMMMMmmmmmmm!

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Itchy, Itchy, Itchy...

"Leaves of three..leave be"

I had the misfortune last weekend to get into poison ivy and it's cousin poison oak or sumac, but the net of it is, I broke out immediately. Potent stuff this time of year and while I didn't see it, I was definitely in an area where it was last year.

Ended up getting a low dose pred pak from one of the Doc's at work, which helped greatly to begin with, but I think I needed 2 weeks worth. I continued to break out for several days and I still have some pretty itchy places. So today, while weeding, I really had to pay attention. I have also washed my hands practically every hour with Technu to hopefully ward off getting any more.

I also washed all my bedding and my clothes.. twice, since I have continued to break out. It has to be on something..and I keep touching it..and keep getting more of it.

It sucks and I certainly do not want anymore of it this summer. Once is enough!

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