January is time to Start Seeds
I had to wear my rubber boots to check the trap in the garden. It was buried.
December is Time to Think About Next Years Seeds
One of the first things you learn about gardening is the importance of crop rotation, and you will try to follow it, and be destined to failure. I never have enough room to rotate effectively nor do I think it's required in small backyard gardens.
PGIF (Peas Go in First) Spring Planting
(Peas Go In First) Spring planting is hearlded by the planting of the peas.
I Cannot Believe That My Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
What it does have are jagged leaves from birds eating it. Either the birds are keeping the fly's that lay the eggs away, or they are eating the maggots that emerge.
The Only Problem With the Incredible Amount of Kale
I'm going to try putting Apple Cider Vinegar on it to kill the taste. It's the jagged leafed purple and green kind that used to taste more like spjnach.
Lettuce and Zucchini
The lettuce are getting dappled sunlight, not complete shade , so they can continue to photosynthesize. They also enjoy the extra humidity when I sprinkle water on the stalks.
Spring is Right Around the Corner
Broken stems, missing tips, chewed spots, bent, twisted and pathetic. This was not a good year to try and get an early start.
I Got A Row Of Peas Planted
The puppy's name is Anny, and my garden may never be the same. She thoroughly enjoyed running up and down the bird netted trellis, barking and biting at it.
I Found a Wilted Corn Patch Today
90° temperatures and full sun all day so I shouldn't be surprised. Watering is becoming an every day necessity now, and I'm glad the plants can tell us when they need it.
I got to Fish Emulsion my Crucifers Today
Plant asparagus once, and harvest it for 20 years. If everything in the garden was as easy, we'd have nothing left to do except weeding.
Gardeners Gather The Ingredients To A Healthy Soil
We are always on the lookout for soil amendments because you can never have enough. I've been known to slow down when driving past bales of hay or straw, wondering if they have gotten wet and will soon be available for a buck each.
My Garden Often Feels Like A Dissertation
An extremely complex body of work composed one word at a time. I find myself absorbing it one word at a time and letting sentences unfold.
I Don't Have the Heart to Cover
The birds are voraciously fighting over them as if they are in a life or death situation.
It's Time To Get Your Winter Squash
Acorn, spaghetti, and butternut squash will start to mold if they sit on the damp ground for too long. Cut them from the vines leaving an inch of stem, wipe them down with a 1% bleach solution, and put them in a cool place that doesn't freeze.
The Most Colorful Thing In the Garden
They seem to be taking over the fence line from the grapes. They don't lose their leaves in the winter so I'm getting more and more seclusion.
Remember What Peace There May Be In Silence
The fog has replaced the shadows, and gray is in the air. Dormancy abounds and the gardens life is muted.
Perpetual Spinach
It was 10' tall so I trimmed it way back to 5' because I don't want more shade. It couldn't be in a better spot though because it's close to the eastern fence in an area of ornamental plantings.
I Keep Hauling My Garden Trimmings
It's much easier to trudge through the mud with the cart than try to burn wet sticks in the rain.
I'm Delighted To Have A Coyote Patrolling The Garden
Every garden invader is at risk now. Mice, gophers, rats, possums, raccoons, rabbits and squirrels are all prey, so I should be having fewer invasions.
Leggy Veggie Starts
Sometimes I intentionally "test" one theory against another, and sometimes nature forces that test on me.
Planting Onions and Garlic
The planting diagram on the package showed you should make the holes 5"deep and 4" wide. The planting instructions said to plant them "only deep enough so that the tops of sets are covered with soil".
Three Of My 10 Tadpoles Came Out Of Hiding Today
My Artichoke Plants Look Terrible
Yellow wilted leaves and green droopy ones. The soil is moist around them but they have not the will to live.
The Carrots are Up
I've been holding off until warmer weather to plant summer crops, but it rained today and I had my choice of kneeling down in the rain weeding, or sitting on the rug in front of the fake fireplace planting seeds. I realized that I want the perpetual spinach to be mature by the fall so I can cut it back to overwinter, so I needed to get it started now.
A Flock of Sparrows Dive Bombed
They were everywhere, covering all the plants, and scarifying the ground.
You Can Mulch With Shavings
I've seen little yellow birds in the spring doing that and named them Chard Birds, but I've never caught sparrows at it before. I cut off all the large outer leaves and covered the plants with the pop up mini greenhouses I got for Christmas.
I Never Did Get My Horseradish Harvested
The freezing nights came and killed the leaves, they fell to the ground, the earthworms came up at night and ate them, and now there's just stalks radiating from the base. I guess I could go ahead and dig some of the roots up, wash them and peel them with a potato peeler.
Had a Prankster Visit the Garden Last Night
I found the zip lock bag that I keep my bar soap in shredded. Half the bar is missing and what's left is full of teeth marks.
Gardening
Gardening is a perfect hobby for automation. You can automate your watering, heating, fans, and temperature sensors.
Well the Frost Was On the Pumpkin
It seems early, but with 70°days in the extended forecast, maybe I'll get my Indian Summer after all. I don't actually have any pumpkin again this year.
I Made a Funny Discovery Today
With a week of rainy weather forecasted I would be wise to postpone my traditional April 15th planting of corn. I planted it on March 20th last year in my over abundant optimism at being re zoned at 8b, and had 10 frost nights all the way up to May 20th in which they required covering.
Yesterday I Discovered Baby Carrots Growing In the Shade
I had planted them in early spring and thought the slugs had gotten them. I forgot about them and some germinated, grew a bit, and then went dormant due to the lack of sunlight.
While Removing the Bermuda Grass Runners
They followed the 'sweet spot' in the black, decomposing straw on top of the ground.
I Trapped Another Rat In The Same Place
It was the same size too, and I'm wondering if I got two adults or two adolescents. I guess I'll find out by resetting the trap and waiting.
Gardening Resolutions
Im'a gonna get more exercise. I think we Grampa gardeners could all get on that bandwagon.
We Can Go Ahead And Plant Beets, Carrots, Green Onions, And Lettuce
I'll probably plant it April 15th like I used to do before our zone change. I'm going to slide everything back because climate change is causing unpredictable weather.
It Got Down To 20°F Last Night
I've got a clean raised bed in the greenhouse that's just begging to grow something. I even dragged two furrows 10" apart in it because it looks better that way than flat.
I Still Haven't Gotten My Onion Sets Planted
All of our local suppliers don't have any. They think there was a crop failure, and I immediately think global warming.
There Are Two Foot Tall Snapdragons Growing
They are too big to transplant so I will either have to make a new trellis or plant my peas on the fence line. If I had a north side of my garden fence, that wasn't covered in grape vines, this would be fine because the majority of the peas would develop on the south side of the vines, and the deer couldn't eat them.
All of the Garlic Are Up Now
I've had to weed the patch already to, not because of weeds , but because of a plethora of poppies plants. When poppies finish going to seed their stems are tan colored like straw mulch, so when they fall to the ground I leave them, hence I'll never run out of poppies.
