Tracey's Georgia Garden

2nd week in February...spring planting has begun!

2008-02-07T15:51:00.000-05:00

Today is February 7th and it's been warm and sunny for a couple of days. Spring fever is definitely in the air around these parts...I've been waiting impatiently for a day when I have the time to get out there and dig.

This afternoon I finished up with work (anomaly, that...), helped the kids with homework and headed out with a small rake and a handful of seed packs. It only took me 10 minutes or so to rake the residual fall leaves and pinestraw off the beds and prepare them for planting. I just let nature mulch the beds for me in the fall and left it as it fell. The dirt in my beds is rich, dark and black...a perfect mix for sprouting my new seeds! It's damp and cool in the ground now...they raised the watering restrictions for Georgia given our plethora of rain the past couple of months and you can certainly feel the damp in my garden soil.

I have a 1/3 bed of spinach, a 1/3 bed of short carrots and 1/3 bed variety of lettuces. Approximately 1' x 4' plot of green onions (chives) which will grow into summer...and the random garlic head from last year. I've also got a plot of catnip which I may remove before it gets warm and becomes invasive...haven't decided on that yet. If I remove it I'll just transplant it over by the pergola...

Yet to be done...I need to figure out about the broccoli and cauliflower. I thought those were spring-ish plants in my zone but the packs threw me off. Will read more on that and decide.

I also need to de-stump the corner bed and then clip back as much ivy as I can. I'll be using the (shh!) Round-Up on the English Ivy as I cut it back, hoping the killer will get into the vines that are cut and actually work. Ivy is so hard to kill and it's rather invasive in my yard (thank you, original owners) beautiful though it may be, once you are done with it you have a task to remove it. Round-Up is my chemical of choice since it has a relatively short life in the dirt and it's run-off is less offensive than others IMO. By the time I plant that bed with beans and peas this spring (post-frost) it will be long gone from the soil.

I'll be re-landscaping the front bed in the next month. I'm reworking my office/school room into an office/studio space and will need a more manicured front bed to accompany my plans given the client load I'm carrying ;)

2008...work begins on my spring garden!

2008-01-28T16:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is only January but we've started work on the garden so it will be ready soon for spring planting. Here in north Georgia, I can plant my cool-weather spring crops in February so I needed to get started.

Yesterday I had my first seed-swap meeting with severay friends who also garden. I'll be planting a myriad of greens, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions and garlic soonish...it's nearly the first of February so most likely by Valentine's Day I'll have direct sowed those crops. The summer crops I'll start by mid-February in-house.

I realized that given my surgery, I never had the corner of my garden area cleared where I wanted to put beans this year. Today I mentioned that to my husband (we were out trimming back the perennials anyways) so he went and found our chainsaw. You see, there were 3 LARGE shrubs over in that corner. It's a lovely corner, a naturally raised bed with a stone retainer wall in the corner of my fenced yard. I envision a bean teepee over there with a variety of green, white, yellow and purple pole beans that the kids can help me harvest (and play inside of) this summer. I will grow peas along side of it in smaller teepees and then bush beans along the edges. The 3 shrubs had to go...they were probably 12 feet tall and were definitely at least 10 years old.

He disassembled our (broken) chainsaw, reassembled it, tinkered with it until it worked...and then got to work on the shrubs. They are gone now...as you can see in the pictures :) The difference in light in that corner is clearly apparent already. I am thinking the entire garden will be full-sun now that those are gone. They overhung the garden and kept a lot of light out. Maybe I'll be able to grow melons over the edge of those stone retainers...I didn't have enough light last year.

BEFORE: (the first image is in April when we were building the beds, second is on July 9 -my birthday - and shows the garden in full summer bloom.)

Now:

So...it has started! The soil in my raised beds is lush...dark, fine and so very soft and fragrant. I'm pleased the lasagna method worked so well for me last year! I'll be adding some new layers to the top soon and begining my growing season in just a couple more weeks!

not much to say...it's Christmas time in the southland.

2007-12-23T22:20:00.000-05:00

I wasn't able to plant any winter crops due to my hysterectomy in September. My gardens are mulched and eagerly awaiting spring planting, starting in-house in just a few more weeks!

no more zukes...squash borers. weird cukes too...and a ton of jalapenos.

2007-07-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

We've had an abundance of rains here lately. Every afternoon we have an hour of storms, at a minimum...EVERY day. I'm talking downpours here...not just a mere sprinkle. That's great since the majority of our state is in a serious drought. The water our local watershed produces supplies counties to the south as well so it only benefits all of us in the end.

Turns out that our zuke issue (not getting bigger) was lack of water...yes, even though I watered it daily, it was still not enough...since the rains started I started having 12" + zukes...unfortunately, since I am unwilling to use any pesticide I also got some bugs.

Squash vine borers are deadly to cucurbits and squash. They are moths that lay eggs on the fruit, which then hatch and bore into the vines and fruits. I knew I had an issue last week when I had to pull 3 pumpkin plants...I found ants inside the vines but something had to start that hole/tunnel. The zukes were looking weird too but I couldn't figure it out exactly. I strongly suspected vine borers but couldn't find any when I cut into some of the suspicious vines (holes along base) so I took a wait-and-see approach.

Three days ago I harvested a lovely zuke. It was about a foot long and substantial. It also had holes...bugs. Cutting into it I found two sizable borer worms. :(

Today I went out and found an 18" and a 12" zuke...but the plants looked wilty and just not so good. I pulled the fruit off and both had NUMEROUS holes plus eggs all over the outside.

In the spirit of saving the rest of my garden (pumpkins) I pulled all my zuke plants. Production was not what it should be and the borers had taken hold. This is a learning experience and I'll study for next year what I can do to prevent it (besides pesticides...)

Further, I think my lemon cukes and vining/bushmasters are cross polinating. I've been seeing some interesting phenomenon in my cukes...the bushmasters are round with undeveloped pointy ends. My only explanation is that perhaps they cross polinated. I'm also having reduced production from all the green cukes, just in time for the lemon cukes to take over LOL...There is also a weird look to the regular vining cukes now...not sure what it is but we're not eating these.

I finally harvested a bell pepper, waiting for it to turn red was just not happening and I don't know why. The rest of the plant was not producing so I figured I'd just harvest it so the plant could make more peppers.

The jalapeno plants are in overdrive...this is just a fraction of what I've got on the plants.

My tomatoes are still not ripe but we're getting there.

The lemon cukes are going to take over my yard...they're producing at insane rates...

This is the garden as it was today, after removing the zuke plants. I'll be planting some fall/winter seeds soon...not sure what, I'm going to chat with Christy & Kelley about that...

I fully realize that the issues I've had (eggplant, borers) could be solved/prevented with various pesticides but it was my intention to have a (mostly...) organic garden. I did use a wee bit of Miracle grow early on but everything else has been all natural. I've learned a TON from my plants this year...and even just one harvest of anything (I've had dozens of cukes, beans, peas and about 7 zukes that were edible) paid for my seeds/plants.

The lessons I'm learning will only help for next year :)

Lemon Cucumbers!

2007-07-13T17:03:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting IMPATIENTLY for my lemon cucumbers to be ready for harvest. IMPATIENTLY. I LOVE LOVE LOVE cucumbers of any variety and had never heard of lemon cukes before I found the seed pack this past winter. I've watched them grow with interest and impatience since it seems my bushmaster (pickle-esque) and burpless vining (long and skinny) cucumbers have been producing for weeks.

Here they are the vine just before harvest...I have a few more that will be ready tomorrow and the day after:

After harvest:

They're in the fridge now, cooling off for munching this evening. This occasion may call for a new batch of salsa ;)

Speaking of salsa, in another 2 days I'll have more jalapenos than I can possibly eat. I need to buy several more bunches of cilantro (I have 3 in the fridge waiting) and cans of tomatoes (since my romas are still green.) I'll be making salsa and putting it up for later because I just have waaaay too many peppers growing. Nice problem to have after my worry a few weeks ago!

These are sweet yellow bells growing:

Last night I made fajita chicken with some of the sweet peppers I harvested this week. So far I have one bell almost ready but it's supposed to be red and is still green...I'm trying to be patient!

And then we have the interesting tomato dilemma. I found a baby tomato earlier today (did not photograph it) that had blossom end rot. Then this afternoon I found this one on a different plant. Seems perhaps I needed more water a couple weeks back (based on my reading this problem is either caused by drought or lack of calcium in the soil...I'm saying drought since I was complaining to my Mom about the zukes not growing and then after several days of heavy rain went out to discover an 18" zucchini the other day...I harvested it together with a 12" zuke and we made bread :)

lots and lots of peppers...and a weird bug?

2007-07-09T13:58:00.000-05:00

I visit my garden every day...sometimes I go out to say hi more than once in a day. It's always amazing to me how the plants change even just from morning to night.

Today I went to visit the garden and found a visitor...he was a HUGE green caterpillar of some variety. He was also quite rude...note the spike on his tail. He tried to get me with it...pesky guy.

Does anyone reading know what he is? Please let me know if you do. He was just over 3" long and fat as a marker.

(ETA he is a Tomato Hornworm...and I apparently need to go check for more of them.)

I suppose the worry I had over my tomatoes and peppers was unfounded...they are proving to be rather fecund lately. The tomato plants are as tall as me (I'm 5'4") or taller and the jalapenos are producing so many peppers I'll soon be eating poppers :D

I'm in need of recipes for sweet peppers...please share!

The zucchini are giving me an interesting issue...they are not getting very big. I tried leaving them on the vine and they rot so I have started cutting them off when they are about 7" long. They don't get any wider than the vines though...which seems odd to me. They taste ok...but they are narrow. My mom said her friends suggested lack of water. I'm not sure about that since you can see how large the plants are. They are taller than my 5yo son and have very prolific foilage. I'd think lack of pollination except that the cukes in the next bed have a ton of bees every morning (and are producing more cukes than I can eat.)

lemon cukes:

HUGE zuke plants:

typical zuke growth...

Ideas?

The pumpkin plants I sprouted last month are HUGE. They're grabbing everying in sight and spreading like mad. They all have blossoms now so it won't be long before we have pumpkins growing!

pumpkin blossoms:

The watermelon plants didn't do much. I'm disappointed but will try some other things next year. They weren't in the sunniest of locations initially so I am sure that impacted their growth.

2007-06-28T11:59:00.000-05:00

Funny how I didn't realize that it has been 11 days since I updated my garden blog! Wow...I've eaten a couple of vining cukes already. Somehow I eat them before I remember to take their photos...so I thought today BEFORE I harvested I'd snap some photos to share :)

Above are the left and right beds. Growing like mad...the zuchini plants in the right bed are about as tall as my 5year old son. I'm still waiting on lemon cukes but have plenty of lemon cuke flowers going now so it shouldn't be too much longer. The bush cukes are coming in now...I've harvested 4 in 2 days with about 20 more soon to be ready. You can see how long the vining cukes are...they are a burpless hybrid (I dug out the tag from under the foilage today to find that info.) The bushmaster cukes are more of a pickling cuke (they look like pickles on the vine...Morgan got excited when he first saw them until I explained that dilling pickles was a long process...months long.)

My pumpkins are growing really well...vines spilling over the sides of the right bed now. I moved some watermelon plants over last week since the corner they are in gets too much shade and they aren't growing. I'm not sure if they'll make it or not. I'm hoping so.

Daniel, my 5yo, loves to help me in my garden. Today he was wearing his favorite silk cape and helping me harvest. He is most excited by the plethora of cucumbers I'm growing :) He also loves eating peas fresh from the vine, raw out of the pod. I hope gardening together will help the boys come to appreciate their food more and learn to enjoy more veggies. I can only hope...

Remember how concerned I was about my tomatoes and peppers? Two days ago I harvested our first sweet pepper and today I found the first Roma tomato of the season!

The long awaited jalapeno peppers growing! I also have a few mexibells, yellow and red sweet bells and more sweet peppers growing. I may have too many peppers pretty soon...thank goodness they cook up fast and freeze well ;)

The zukes are trying to grow. So far I've had a couple small ones rot on the vine. I'm not really sure why...but this is about as big as they get. Then the flower drops off and the fruit rots rather than getting bigger. Are they not getting fertilized? I've got plenty growing in there...

The peas are about done. They've grown all the way up my trellis (so pretty!) and are barely producing anything now. I got enough peas from the many plants I grew to have a couple handfuls of off-the-vine snacking...beans on the other hand have been much more productive. Every day I go out there and grab a bowlful more. I'll be starting some more soon of each for fall...

My cilantro bolted and is flowering. It's pretty! I realize I can't eat it now and that's ok. The peppers weren't ready when it was so no big deal. I love the tiny flowers !

My harvest today...I'm including the sweet pepper from 2 days ago but today I got 4 bushmaster cukes, one burpless hybrid, a bunch of beans and a couple pea pods.

I'm so bad...couldn't wait until morning to take a photo...

2007-06-22T14:31:00.000-05:00

so I just ate the cucumber.

Yep. All by myself. I ate it at 11pm last night...alone, in my office. Muwhaahaaahaaa.....

snicker.

There will be a minimum of 50 more to share with the heathens (the kids) next week...

My backyard jungle is growing well.

2007-06-17T21:54:00.000-05:00

A week of rain almost every day (including two hailstorms on June 12) and my garden is growing wonderfully! Everything is HUGE. I counted nearly 20 cucumbers (or baby cukes/female flowers) tonight, some on the vining burpless I bought (which is where I had the first baby cuke flower) and several on the bushmaster cukes. The lemon cuke plants are getting tall and vining up. I see flower buds so they won't be far behind!

Day before yesterday the boys and I harvested our first vegetables! I wanted to take photos but we ate them too quickly. 3 entire pea pods and a BIG salad of mesclun and spinach. Even Charlie ate raw peas once they were washed! I brought more in yesterday and will have even more peas tomorrow. I think later in the week I'll be planting more seeds for another harvest.

The beans were blooming well earlier this week and this morning I couldn't find any...but tonight the boys found some baby green beans! They'll be harvestable in the next couple days and I'll plant more seeds...since the two varieties I planted turned out to be bush beans I'll plant a mixture for our second harvest so we'll have beans going up my trellis :)

I've got a number of zucchini growing now...I think I counted six?
Still waiting on the peppers and tomatoes to flower or *something* but I understand in our zone it may still be a couple weeks. The watermelon may be in too much shade to produce but our pumpkin plants are getting BIG. I have two varieties growing.

I think the most exciting thing about this for me has been watching the boys get excited this week about the coming harvest. They were all about planting seeds and building the beds...but I don't think they got it until they saw the baby veggies. Eating the peas I grew was too fun for them! I bet I'll get them to eat grilled zucchini too ;) They love zucchini bread so at least I know we'll eat the zukes somehow.

Playing in my garden and tending it as it grows has been peaceful for me. I'm working a lot right now and the time I spend each day sitting out there, weeding and tending to the plants, has really helped keep me calm and relaxed. It's a lot more fun than I thought and this is something I've wanted for years if that tells you anything.

(the last photo shows the hail damage on my zuke leaves...they look like philodendrons!)

(may i add here that the garden is growing like this mostly on it's own with the fabulous soil conditions created by the lasagna garden method? i did use miracle grow ONE time...and some of the seeds were planted in miracle grow brand soil when i sprouted them, i don't even recall which now...but besides some added epsom salts this is ALL manure and compostable vegetable *stuff* down in those beds! no pest control has been needed since the only problem i had was on the eggplant and it is gone...the vegetables are so dense i don't see anything really having much of a chance of getting in there...weeds or pests.)

June 12th...update on the first cuke and zuke!

2007-06-17T21:47:00.001-05:00

Remember that first cucumber...the first female flower? It's growing! And it looks like more are coming...

I've also got a zucchini growing! The size of the zucchini flowers startled me...it's been since childhood since I've seen one.

And...ironically I got photos of the garden before the hailstorm (late on the 12th...)

rainy day in georgia...

2007-06-08T14:15:00.001-05:00

can you see what i see? it's RAINING!!!!

that is all.

wait...i lied. i don't have a photo of it due to the rain and it not being so good for the camera and all...but i have another female flower coming ;) and the first one looks like it is growing!!!

We have a FEMALE cucumber flower...and the eggplant has finally died.

2007-06-07T11:17:00.000-05:00

After several days of watching the cucumber plant that I bought flower like mad...I have FINALLY seen the difference between a male and female cucumber flower! Today my first female cucumber flower opened!!! It's very obviously different than the other flowers with a baby cucumber behind the blossom.

I gave up on the eggplant. It was nearly dead anyways so I just removed it from the garden. Oh well. I guess I'll stick to Provino's if I want to eat eggplant this year ;)

The peas have flowered now! This is exciting...my garden is starting to produce! It's getting so big (and I know this is still just the beginning!) The zucchini plants *may* have blooms starting, we'll see soon enough and it won't be long until all the cukes I sprouted will be ready to bloom (bushmaster and lemon.) I'm most excited about the lemon cukes...

Since adding the epsom salts it seems the entire thing has just gone nuts. The pepper plants are deep green again, and they are growing like crazy (up.) Still blooming but not so much fruiting...I still see baby peppers on there but they aren't doing much. I'll have to read some more about that...I may need to pollinate them (I hand pollinated my female cuke today with a paintbrush JIC.)

The beans are growing well too but don't seem to have runners that will grab my trellis. Maybe I accidentally planted all bush beans? LOL...that would not surprise me.

Left Bed:

Right Bed:

A few days back I planted 2 varieties of pumpkins in the right bed, around the outer edge. I now have sprouted seedlings from every seed planted! We're going to have pumpkins!! Once they get leggy I'll lean them over the edge of the beds so they can grow on the grass,

towards the watermelon plants.

Mutant coreopsis? The front gardens...

2007-06-03T17:09:00.000-05:00

I apparently have mutant coreopsis plants. One is almost 7' tall! I planted 2 when we bought the house just over 2 years ago. The first year they barely bloomed...pretty unexciting. About 8" of scruffy, ferny foilage and little solid yellow flowers. They were supposed to be about 18" tall at mature height...

Second year I split one to share with a friend. Killed that one...doh. So I split the remaining one and planted it in the place of the one I divided/killed...they were really unexciting last year too. Maybe 12" of scruffy, ferny foilage and maybe a couple flowers.

This year? I've got one that is nearly 7' tall. I had to cut one down because it fell over (this was the end of May so it may well come back again.)

Interestingly I also discovered that I had one growing in the front of my bed...I'd only planted them on either side of my front bed...none in front. Somehow it propagated itself and grew a new plant SIX feet from the nearest relative! I moved that one today because it was over 5' tall and way out of place up front.

The flowers this year are different...yellow with brown centers.

Here is my oldest son, who comes up to my mouth & I am 5'4", as comparison for the tallest plant.

For giggles, here is my main front bed:

Around the mailbox (still need to sink the edgers and I am waiting for Round-up to help with the crabgrass that managed to edge around my fabric):

To the right of the front door if you are looking at the house (there are yarrow, salvia, day lillies, calla lillies and lirope over there...the callas are not blooming yet):

Epsom salt...never would have thought of that!

2007-05-31T19:42:00.000-05:00

I was doing some reading to see if I could figure out why my jalapenos were dropping their flowers (female flowers...with wee peppers behind them...the flower stem and all) and discovered that a shortage of magnesium in the soil (or oversupply of nitrogen) can cause that problem.

Makes sense...my beans are going nuts and they LOVE nitrogen...not more than 6" from my peppers.

Solution? EPSOM SALT! woohoo! Dissolve some in water and give them a foliar feeding (brush it on the leaves) and then pour the rest around the plants. It will help the peppers and tomatoes, potentially the eggplant and even quite possibly the squash plants (zukes and cukes.) I also sprinkled some on the soil around the plant bases and will dissolve that in when I water tomorrow.

If that is the problem (I'm sure it is...it also causes some leaf curl and yellowing leaves...I'm seeing some curl on newer bell pepper leaves and yellowing overall on the jalapenos) I'll see results in 24-48 hours.

How easy is that? I've always got it on hand.

Also...I checked on my fertile cuke when I was out there salting the peppers and tomatoes. The male flower is fully open and happy. The female flower (not visible in the photo below but over the day started to appear and should be open by tomorrow morning) is quickly maturing beside and a little below it! I'll go help them out (hand pollination) when I see them both open since I understand we have a shortage of bees this year.

The first cucumber flower of the season...

2007-05-31T14:07:00.001-05:00

I was happy this morning to visit the first cucumber flower of the season. It's on the plant I bought, not the ones I sprouted (but they aren't far behind!) and it's so pretty! Won't be long now until we have fresh cukes in the kitchen!

I've assembled trellises for the beans, peas and cucumbers from found objects in my home and yard. Recycled trellis pieces found in my compost pile (may need to replace or reinforce one on the pea trellis because of rot...but it may be ok for this season), hemp twine and a metal trellis I found in the landscaping of our yard. The metal one has joints so I've zig-zagged it between the lemon cuke mounds and the purchased/vining cuke plant. The rest are bushmaster cukes. I may end up doing a shorter trellis for those to keep them off the ground but I've not decided. As a rule they don't need trellising like vining types do.

I started using a mixture of peppermint castille soap, garlic, canola oil and water to spray the flea beetles on the eggplant. Looks like it is working better with the oil than it did before. Hoping that won't kill the plant. I'm going to let the plant go before I stoop to pesticides...I figure I've gone 11 years of living with my husband of only eating eggplant if we go out to eat so it doesn't make sense to pollute my entire bed over a $2 plant.

I did use miracle gro last night on all the beds. The drought is really hard here so I decided to give them one (early) boost since all the plants are established. I probably won't do it again since I don't want it on there nearing harvest.

Later this afternoon (the camera was put away) I found my first baby bell pepper! The jalapeno plants have had baby peppers but they drop the peppers with the flowers so I'm not sure what that means. All the pepper plants are flowering well now.

Planted pumpkins around the outside edge of the right bed since they didn't sprout in the landscaping. I figured I could lay them over the side as they vine out, so they grow on the grass not in the bed. Two types...jack-o-lanterns and competition-sized. With cross-pollination we should still end up with some sizable gourds! I'm excited.

Probably need to give away some watermelons soon. I think I have too many plants.

I could probably also give away one or two more cucumber plants.

Even though it is late in the season I took 2 big clumps of garlic out and planted the cloves all around the eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. It may be too late to get a harvest (usually they are harvested in early July in my zone) due to the heat but maybe not. At the very least, they'll help with the pest problems. Flea beetles and all that ;) I found some interesting red bugs on one zucchini leaf last night...no idea what they were and I squirted them before I thought to grab the camera. There were about 10 of them. Haven't seen them before or since, or anywhere else.

Also planted sunflower seeds all around. Various colors and sizes...all around the tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, zucchini, watermelon and inside the pea trellis. I can't wait until they come up. They'll be all around (but aren't planted thickly...just one here or there around the garden.)

I am perhaps most pleased with my makeshift drip irrigation system...I used inverted 2 liter bottles and drilled several holes into the screw-on lids. Using a saw, I cut off the bottoms of the bottles, effectively making funnels. Digging gently I placed them around the left bed. I still need more (will only use the clear bottles, not green...and I need them WITH lids so it'll be a several-day type project as I get the bottles.)

Now, I'll be able to water the plants deeply via drips from the bottles by filling the bottles up and letting them slowly empty into the depths of the beds. I'll supplement that with top watering as well, but this will help me conserve water (given the drought) and will encourage my plants to reach down D.E.E.P. for their water (deep roots = healthy plants and better production!)

I'll take photos in a couple days when I have more. I was talking with XT today and she was telling me about collecting her grey water (from her wash loads) for her plants. That's an idea I like too...I may not use it for my veggie plants since I don't use the eco-sensitive detergents she uses but I don't mind using that for my ornamentals out front! It would (maybe) solve the problem I'm having with my mailbox gardenscape...the sage plants I placed aren't establishing well because I can't water them (out front) very often, due to the restrictions. Grey water isn't restricted for ornamental residential use! ~happy day!~ Now to see my husband's reaction when I start draining the washer water into the cat litter buckets...LOL...

Save yourself $4, the jiffy peats are failures.

2007-05-27T10:48:00.000-05:00

Go with used (empty) strawberry containers instead.

NOTHING I planted in the Jiffy Peats took. Almost EVERYTHING I planted in the solo plates and strawberry containers did...and did well, I may add. (except the peppers...)

I'm going to try again to sprout some chamomile seeds. Bugger.

My Painted Garden...oh how it grows!

2007-05-25T12:05:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun today to let the boys have at my garden. Morgan was helping me weed (not a huge job since I spend part of each day out there...I just nip the wee weed buds as they appear) and I was setting up the trellis stakes.

Initially I was going to use a nylon net I bought at Wal-Mart for my trellis but once I opened it I could see that while it was a great idea, it was totally the wrong thing...so I'll take it back and figure out a trellis asap. Maybe a variety of trellis systems...some for different plants.

So...while I was doing that, I was talking to Charlie and offered up the option of painting the outsides of the beds. He jumped all over it! Soon both of his brothers were all about it...and now I have painted beds :D I love it!

I'm really loving this lasagna gardening deal. It's amazing how well the plants are doing! I'll need to add some more *stuff* soon to the beds but it's just phenomenal how quickly they are growing tall and strong. Won't be long until I have some fresh veggies from my own yard!

I've got flowers on all my pepper plants...this is a jalapeno flower. Not sure how to tell the difference btw male and female flowers (trying to help them pollinate so they don't cross-pollinate with the bells)...if you have any idea please let me know!

My poor eggplant is still struggling with flea beetles...the "tea" helped some but I'm still seeing the bugs. Not sure what I'll end up doing about that problem. It looks bad but is getting taller so maybe it's not as big a problem as it appears?

The zucchini, peas and onions are growing like mad fiends. Most of my onions won't be ready to harvest until next year but I have some that were "sets" that should fruit this year. I probably should go look at the potatoes...but then again they are 2ft tall and were nearly so before I even realized they were there! Maybe that means they're fine?

My left bed is doing great too...scroll down a few posts to see how it was not so long ago...scroll up to see it with Charlie painting it this morning. Here you can see the back side of the left bed...all the beans growing. On the left side of the left bed I have lemon cukes, roma tomatoes and beans front to back. Peppers and bushmaster cukes are on the right side of the bed (with beans across the entire backside.)

left side/left bed

I thinned things out 2 days ago...and ATTACK! Flea beetles...

2007-05-23T10:47:00.001-05:00

I gave away lots of cukes, Roma tomatoes, beans and peas to friends in my homeschool group. I simply had too many. I may be callous enough to pull random sprouts from my beds (since I know I've not sown any seeds recently...they HAVE to be WEEDS...so I have no qualm plucking those out) but I am not able to thin my plants and just leave them to die. So...found them new homes! Hopefully they'll produce lovely veggies for my friends ;)

Since doing so I swear the plants have doubled...again! Funny how that works. I thinned out and moved some things so they were better spaced. I've still got plenty of everything.

Here are the cucumbers (bushmaster & lemon...the lemons are on the mounds):

My beans have nearly tripled:

Tomatoes seem to like having more space...I moved some to the right-side bed since my salad greens are faltering (don't try to grow salad greens in the summer in Georgia...it won't work.)

The peas have runners! How adorable is that? I'm going to have to trellis them today. I'll do it and take pics later this week. I found some old trellis wood in the compost last week so I'll be screwing that into the boxes and stapling/screwing my netting into those, making a tent-like trellis net.

I moved the zucchini farther apart...the poor guys needed room to stretch ;)

My herb garden is happy. I went to Pike's (again) the other day, this time with Christy...they had their veggies and herbs 25% off! Whoa that's a crazy dark photo. That's what happens when I'm talking to my 5yo at the same time as I shoot...doh. (See...I can take really terrible photos too ;) )

~Oh happy day~She kept me from buying too many. Her thought was that if I didn't know what I'd use the herb for I probably shouldn't buy it. Hmm...lol. Dang it she's so logical!

So...I bought some catnip (to fend off the offending FLEA BEETLES...keep reading to learn about those pests), lemon thyme and lemon grass.

I like the idea of lemon grass and catnip serving as mosquito repellants this summer. I intend on turning the area around my pergola/deck into a functional herb garden (with truly functional herbs...not just little kitchen herbs but lovely things like cohosh and TONS of lavender and echinacea...oh and some calendula and...and...and...!)

Now...let's discuss pests. No, not your 5 year old. No, not your dog (although they can be rather pesty...mine keeps insisting that his potty needs to be right near my left garden bed. I apparently offended him when I usurped the yard corner for my garden...he loved to *use* it ;) ) I'm not even talking bunnies. We obviously have them so I spread wormwood clippings around the sides of my beds and thus far it works (while my marigolds are growing bigger...they're getting there.)

I'm talking bugs.

I'm not a big fan of pesticides. I love the idea of organic gardening...really I do. And you know what? Other than a wee bit of Miracle Grow dirt that I used to sprout *some* of my seeds, my garden IS organic. Now...I do realize that the hay the horses who produced the manure I used may not have been organic...and the cow pasture that became a shopping center and gifted me topsoil probably wasn't organic...and I didn't buy "certified organic" seeds...but I have thus far grown and maintained a *mostly* organic garden. I'm happy about that! I'd love to keep it this way all summer. The way I see it, the less chemical CRAP we use the better, right? Well...then there are the FLEA BEETLES.

Now folks...lemme tell ya...they are annoying. They are pernicious. They are TENACIOUS. (I love big words.) They are plain ole' DAMN ANNOYING is what they are. They apparently LOVE my eggplant as much as I do and are less patient than I in terms of waiting for harvest. They seem to believe I planted it JUST FOR THEM. Wrong.

I have tried the soap water (squirted on the plant several times a day to knock the bugs off.) I bought catnip and put it NEXT to the eggplant...nope, didn't work. Then...I sprang for the big guns.
No, silly. I didn't spray it with bug stuff...I brewed a tea. What am I known for? My tea! Of course (anyone who knows me well knows the secret I hide in my cupboards...TONS of tea varieties! I have a veritable PLETHORA of tea! I love love love TEA!) this wasn't your average cup o'chamomile, not even a fruity spring peach tea...this was vile stuff. Catnip, black pepper, chili powder and minced garlic all went into my tea. It steeped for A FULL HOUR. Then, I went out and brushed it on my plant at dusk. I poured the
remaining tea in a circle around my eggplant.

Today, the plant is covered in dried pepper, chili powder and minced garlic (that is what you are seeing in the 3 photos...dried tea *stuff*.) I found ONE flea beetle this morning. Just...ONE! I promptly squished it and left it laying next to the plant on the dirt, as a reminder to those who follow...DO NOT MESS WITH TRACEY'S EGGPLANT!

So far it seems to be working. Of course it's only been 14 hours... ;) Here's to lots of lovely, yummy roasted (fried?!) eggplant later this summer!!

catalogs in the mail yesterday!!

2007-05-23T10:45:00.000-05:00

I'm already planning next year's garden...I got these in the mail yesterday. Did you know you can order a 7' tall orchid from a nursery in Raleigh? Crazy.

I did it again today. I have an illness.

2007-05-16T20:37:00.000-05:00

Once the sting in the foot subsided...I was out the door to top of the groceries. I got sidetracked though...and ended up getting things for around my mailbox. It was a mess of trying-to-grow morning glory, bermuda and lirope weed-filled MESS. Did I mention MESS?

The former owners had edged it with bricks (sort of...half bricks on wood) but those long since broke as the mail person ran over them (they apparently run up on our curb...grumble grrr grumble). I was done with the mess.

Got the landscape fabric out of the shed, laid it down. Edged with concrete edgers (I actually need to do those better but a storm was coming...I'll sink them later this week or next but they work for now) I then added grass clippings, leaf mold, compost and topsoil...mixed it all up.

To that I added 3 salvias (love love love sage!) and a tickweed coreopsis (all perennial here.) Scattered my remaining marigold seeds, patted it down and headed in. It was nearly dark. The boys helped me tidy up and that was that. Took me under an hour and under $30.

Not bad. ;) And now (once I sink the edgers) I *should* be weed-free, or at least mostly so. It'll look much nicer now. In a few days the boys and I will take our empty bags (compost and such) to the county mulch pile and load up so we can mulch my front beds for free, including around the mailbox.

If only my foot didn't complain so much I'd feel quite accomplished today.

Just talked with my husband. I really don't like this traveling husband thing so much. :( Ah well.

I'm sore. Poison ivy, the compost hell pit and my husband is traveling.

2007-05-16T12:54:00.000-05:00

This is the first time he's ever done that. It's weird for me. He got up at 3a today to leave (had to be in Duluth by 5 to get on the company bus...they bussed them to some god-forsaken place in SC for a team-building/training at some state park.) I was still up from last night so that was interesting.

It's going to rain today. Sometime late I suppose...it's been sprinkling on and off all morning but it's cool, so I took the opportunity of the cooler air to dress head to toe and go work on the yard. I can manage ok with crocs if i go slow, but after what I did I'm sure in hindsight I'll regret some of it later (my foot) I cut back the wormwood. ruthlessly. That's out front.

I also did round-up on the wood sorrel that is determined to bolt and take over my front bed. Only half the bed has the problem...the other half has enough root structure to fight that off. I don't do a LOT of chemicals but the wood sorrel needs it...that stuff spreads by shooting out pods under the dirt that POP when you pull it out, so pulling it causes it to spread. Lovely evolutionary thing, that.

I then pulled up a ton of weed maples and some weed blackberries that wanted to take over. Cut back 4 shrubs in the deck area out back. Got the strong rake and headed to the compost.

Gloved up and went for it. Over the last 2 1/2 years Charles has dumped a ton of cut trees and limbs on top of what i intended to be our compost. We've then added some grass clippings and kitchen compost to that...and it had started to spread out into the sodded part of my yard (as opposed to back by the fence where it was mostly unseen and therefore ok IMO.)

I literally threw every piece of tree back against the fence. Pieces as big around as my leg or bigger. Pieces as long as almost 2 stories tall (literally) although thankfully pretty slim so I could pick them up and heave them. The pile of wood is now almost as tall as me.

I found 4 potato plants in the grass clippings, so I raked more clippings around the leaves and left those. Pointed them out to the kids so they'll not dump stuff on them. Raked all the rose bush clippings (I had to clip back an English rose on Monday...clippings 7 feet long or more...it was bad) back into the wood so it wouldn't hurt us when we were working the pile. I have about 7 pallets I'll be using to craft into compost squares eventually (can't move them myself with my foot...what I did today was more than enough.)

Showed the kids where to put kitchen refuse. Where to put NEW grass clippings. Where to NOT go (wood and poison ivy) and where to put bigger cuttings of *stuff*. It's mostly organized now (as much as a HUGE composting area could be) and actually already has a fair bit of yummy dirt stuff I can use in the garden.

I found several old trellis stakes under all that wood that the boys drug over to the garden for me to use to fashion a trellis for my beans and peas.Then I went around the yard and sprayed the various patches of poison ivy with round up. Again...I reserve that stuff for the big bad boys. I consider wood sorrel and poison ivy to be just that. (Bboth are invasive in my yard...one causes my kids a ton of issues and the other kills my plants.)

I'm tired! Thinking it'll be naptime later today.

companion planting?

2007-05-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

Does anyone have any suggestions about companion planting?

I'm considering planting some sunflowers in with my veggies. I am also thinking of moving some things from the left to the right bed, since my greens (salad/spinach) are wilty and not growing well. I knew that was a risk to planting so late...no big deal there.

The right bed is not quite as much full sun as the left though...so what to move? Not sure.

But...I'm thinking of adding sunflowers to help some things trellis up. I'll also be putting out some marigolds I sprouted in April and then sowing some more marigold seeds amongst the veggies to repel the bunnies and other pests.

Considering propagating some of my other herbs (sweet basil, chamomile, lemon balm?) to place in the veggies too...basil with the tomatoes for sure.

I'm also strongly considering rooting some lavender, wormwood and rosemary to plant around the garden (they are elsewhere in the yards.)

Ideas? Suggestions?

FOUND! Jalapeno peppers...and some more fun stuff :)

2007-05-15T18:18:00.000-05:00

What is it with the Jalapeno Pepper that makes it SOOO hard to find here in Cumming? I swear...I searched Lowes, Home Depot, two Wal-Marts AND Pike's. I very nearly gave up at Pike's when I found them. Up waaaaay high on a rolling cart...and by high I mean high enough my husband would have had to reach up...I found a few 2-packs of wee bitty Jalapeno peppers. Only .99 for 2 plants! I of course bought 4. MUST.HAVE.JALAPENO.PEPPERS. You really have no idea the obsession this has become for me...or maybe you do?

This is the left bed, showing beans in the rear, tomatoes on the middle left, lemon cukes on the left front, bush cukes on the right front, various peppers on the right middle...lots of plants. I'll be thinning this weekend.

I was also in search of calendula...which I did not find, not even in seed form. Just can't find that one anywhere either...and yes, you can bet I've searched all the above places for it.

I did find Valerian, Chamomile in bloom (I have some sprouting but I'm impatient at this point) and a particularly YUMMY smelling Chocolate Peppermint Mint plant. It claims to be invasive, which of course all mints are...but omg that plant had me at whiff #1.

So of course all this playing in the dirt has given me ideas. I've got all sorts of ideas of how

I can mulch that entire part of our yard...it's sort of a little off-shoot to the side in back. Not a part we've used much (until now) and it lends itself nicely to needing a lit archway, over which I could train a variety of yummy things, leading into the main part of the garden. I plan on removing some pretty fugly shrubs in a raised bed we have in th corner, and then laying waste to the vast growth of English Ivy I have back there. Next year that corner will grow my peas, beans and melons...or at least that's the plan right now. We'll see how motivated I can get my husband in terms of helping me remove huge (giant really) shrubs that are long-since leggy and a ton of ivy. He hates ivy. I'm starting to agree.

More on Mother's Day...

2007-05-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

Here you see my 5 zucchini plants, which sprouted from seeds I planted on April 19:

We had a lot of rain last night...overnight my cucumber plants sprouted! I planted them directly in the beds on May 6. I am also sharing my "cheat" cuke plant that I bought this week...after my peppers didn't sprout I was sort of doubting my sprout-ability LOL.

Just since I visited my plants this morning with Mom before she left, my beans have sprouted! Here you see one wee bitty one in between two of my pepper plants (I gave up and bought 4...I have a red bell, a yellow bell, a mexibell and a sweet chili...still holding hope that at least one jalepeno will sprout in my jiffy peats since I can't find jalapeno plants anywhere...)

I also have some lemon cucumber plants that sprouted today! I'm excited about these since I've never had a lemon cuke before but LOVE LOVE LOVE cucumbers.

Not pictured are my peas (sprouted today!), sweet onions, spinach, & salad greens.

Um, think I have enough Roma tomatoes? I sprouted these on April 19...I am not fond of tomatoes but use these for salsa and tomato sauce. I recognize I'll need to thin these soon...

I also planted some competition pumpkin seeds in with the yard beds...hope they come up! Our family watermelon plot is against the fence near our gate...the boys are probably most excited about that more than anything else.

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T18:59:00.000-05:00

The second round of plants seems to have sprouted! I planted them to sprout from seed on May 6. Today is May 13 (Mother's Day) and I have zinnia, bachelor's buttons and a few others.

I have established an herb garden too...it's small for now but we'll see...I've got lots of room if I pull out some English Ivy (no small task!) since I'd much prefer a fragrant (and useful!) herb garden to the veritable plethora of ivy we have all over.

It is right outside the living room, by my seat on the sofa. I have a birdfeeder in the same bed. So far I have Lemon Balm, Sweet Basil, Echinacea (transplanted from my front perennial garden, planted over the last 2 years), Citronella and Cilantro. I am sprouting Chamomile and hope to also have some Calendula...perhaps some Lemon Verbena if I can find it.

Sweet Basil:

Citronella:

Lemon Balm:

Echinacea transplated from the front perennial bed:

We saved a bunny's life...our good deed for the week!

2007-05-13T16:59:00.000-05:00

While filling the beds on the 7th, the boys ran into the house yelling for me to come quickly...

I hurried out to join them. We have a tube that runs to our septic tank near our garden beds. It used to have a cap on it...but I noticed recently that the cap was missing. Didn't think much of it, but there was a bunny stuck about 4' down the pipe!

I called Animal Control but they wouldn't come to help. Morgan suggested we use the shop vac, so he and Charlie ran to the garage to get it and the extention cord.

It took 3 tries but we finally got the wee bunny out of the pipe. It was a small bunny, probably quite young. It sat there, dazed, nibbling on some lirope and English Ivy, for about 5 minutes before hopping away.

I guess we'll be getting a cover for our pipe now :) The boys were thrilled that we saved a bunny...and chose the Chinese Buffet as their reward that evening.

The boys and Dad built my raised bed boxes!

2007-05-13T16:34:00.000-05:00

Given my broken foot (Easter), my husband and sons built my raised beds for me. I had planned initially to use recycled products to make the beds (pallets) but with my foot, that was just entirely too cumbersome.

We used two 12x2's we had in the garage and bought a couple more. Charles assembled them into 4'x8' boxes and helped the boys settle them in the part of the yard we chose for my garden. Right over the septic area, on the side where it is hard to mow and rarely used (near a gate for easy access and in mostly full sun.)

The boys spent the following couple days helping me fill the boxes. I decided to use raised beds and to fill them lasagna style. Using leaf mold and grass clippings from our own yard, we added topsoil from a local building site (formerly a cow pasture so VERY yummy dirt!) and some aged horse manure.

The evening we built the beds the boys found a Northern Water snake in our grass clippings! It was pretty grumpy...the weather was chilly that day (about 50 degrees, cold for early May in GA) and he was buried in the old grass clips, mostly dormant.

Charles flipped him back into the brush after we all got a good look.

My seeds...planted to sprout.

2007-05-13T16:29:00.000-05:00

In mid-April I sowed many different types of seeds to sprout for my garden. We got a little bit of a late start but it looks like most things have sprouted successfully! I'm still waiting for my peppers to sprout but I've almost decided they won't.

I planted a second set of seeds to sprout just a few days ago...including the rest of my carnival peppers and jalapenos. So far the bachelor buttons and all varieties of zinna have sprouted! No veggies from that second planting yet...but hoping beyond hope for some japapenos.

Initially I used found containers from around my house...Solo plates, strawberry containers and an egg carton. For my second round of seeds I reused some of those and added two Jiffy peat flats (not the peat pellets but the peat pots you add the soil to yourself.) Since the peppers in the plates didn't sprout (planted April 19), I'm hoping they will sprout in the Jiffy peats.

Welcome to my garden!

2007-05-13T16:27:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my garden!

I live in Cumming, Georgia...and this is the first year I've had a veggie garden. I'm thrilled! I hope you enjoy watching my garden grow as much as I know I will...maybe you'll learn something together with me :)