Good Times in Novice Gardening #7

It was CHRISTMAS in the GARDEN today! I obviously had delayed giving it some attention, and around every leaf I found hidden jewels.

Dang - not I gotta DO something with all this stuff!

It looks pretty sad and picked over now, even though there are numerous tomatoes and other things yet to ripen. I picked a weird zucchini - I thought it was a yellow squash, but found out too late that it was a HUGE yellow zucchini I think.... never got green, or maybe it still will? You experienced gardeners can weigh in on that one.


We really messed up with the trellis situation. Gotta fix that for next year. It has been a good year to learn!! I wish I had more flat land so I could have more boxes. Gotta ponder on that.

Good Times in Novice Gardening #6

Here is the latest garden news - well, it about doubled in size while we were away. The trellises are not strong enough - blew that. The squash and tomato plants are taking over all the squares. The lettuce peaked then, too, and a few friends enjoyed it for us! So glad it didn't just rot. So now I am trying to figure out how to get the trellises to stay up to hold the strong and heavy plants. We should have secured them better - now we know. Several things I planted by seed never came up. Maybe I didn't water them enough? Ideas?



Some of the produce! I ate squash and zucchini for dinner tonight. Yum.

Good Times in Novice Gardening #5

Here is the latest... My veggies are growing! I have blossoms for squashes and tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. My lettuces are really doing well - the photo at the bottom shows the first "pickens". We had a deelish fresh salad for Sunday dinner last week for the first time consisting of various lettuces, some parsley and my FAVORITE - cilantro! Tasty!


Some of my seeds have not come up however - no carrot tops, etc. Not sure what I did wrong there... I will have to investigate. And, I have ANTS galore. I need to get rid of them - ideas? I am trying to be "organic" so I don't want to spray them. I haven't noticed any other pesky critters or pests as of yet.

Come on over and I'll fix ya a salad!

Good Times in Novice Gardening #4

We finally had dry enough weather to finish putting "Mel's Mix" into the boxes. Les was a GREAT helper. Here they are - all ready for planting!

We shopped for seeds and seedlings to plant, but I didn't get to them until today finally. I have the official grids used in "Square Foot Gardening" for one box, but since those are officially supposed to be 4' by 4', I had to adapt. This first box is 8' x 3", so I have to have some grids made for it - maybe HUBBY will help me on Saturday? Still, I planted anyway and hope the grids fit when I have them some day. This box that is against the wall will need to have a net and frame so that the tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and other stuff have a place to climb. Hopefully Hubby will help me with that, too???

I also planted broccoli, onions, carrots, several types of herbs and lettuces, cherry tomatoes, and I even am trying strawberries. We have lots of critters in our neighborhood, so we will see if it all lasts - and then June bugs will be along soon as well.

One of the interesting things about following Square Foot Gardening guidelines is that you can add flowers amongst the veggies. So, I did!

I have SOO much to learn. So they say gardening is supposed to save you money, right? Well, let's see....with the wood, soil mix, and plants and seeds, I could have paid for another trip to Utah or two (read my other posts if you are wondering why that would matter....). However, this year was my big investment and I need to LEARN this stuff - provident living, right? Right?

Now, I just have to WAIT a little while for some stuff to harvest!

Good Times in Novice Gardening #3

Since I am flying to Utah in a few hours, I figured I would use my time wisely right now and blog (bloggers are sick people, aren't we?). After the rain that lasted oh, from Monday until last night,

I thought I'd update my interested gardeners on my progress:

Behold the boxes Malcolm built. Behold the mess Deon built on the tarp - the beginning of my official soil mix. Behold it drying it out since the tarp

MOSTLY shielded it from the rain.

Here is the lovely mud - great for mudpies (one of my favorite childhood activities). NOT great for starting a garden...

Good times. OH, but I did "Repurpose" (no, offense, but I really hate that word, which I think is overly used nowadays, but that is another blog post - don't hate me) the abandoned basketball hoop.

It is now.......wait for it.....look closely......

Yes, a little robin is using it as a perch! What a great idea!
Hmm...I wonder if she has a good shot?

(oh, and you googlereaders, don't forget to look at my sidebar
where I have added my official thesaurus.)

Good Times in Novice Gardening #2

Ok, so this is the second post because this was number one. After I whined about my issue with wanting raised garden boxes to a few friends, Malcolm, the husband of my kind friend Aileen, offered to help me. Really!! Bless his handy heart (and hands). When Richard had a few moments before leaving town on Saturday, he helped me shop for all the things I needed according to Better Homes and Gardens, and the Square Foot Gardening website, thanks to Jodee.


I have such knowledgeable and good friends.

We then did what we could to clear the areas of overgrown "decorative" grasses, and regular icky grass.

The quest for flat ground on our little property then began. Where to put them?? Where do we actually get sun on those flat pieces of God's earth?

We decided on the side of the house...

...and right in front of our driveway.

Yes, a garden box will now replace the abandoned basketball hoop. I wanted to paint them- you know, so they look GOOD... but it rained and rained and I couldn't. Malcolm was scheduled to come on Saturday, but it rained and rained and so he couldn't.

So, tonight, he came. Armed with many tools on a chilly Maryland April evening, he quickly made the boxes.... and then helped me with the uneven ground which took a while. He pretty much knows how to do everything I think. While he was working on that, I began my mix of peat moss, compost, and vermiculite. And.... well, then it rained. And stopped. And rained. I covered it with a tarp in an attempt to no longer tempt the rain gods for the evening to ensure that Malcolm could finish.

It got darker and darker, but Malcolm finished. Bless his heart.

THANK YOU, LANES!!!

Oh yea, and I checked the weather for the next three days. It will..... rain and rain. It will stop on the day I leave town to visit my daughter. (Yes, I should probably own a house in Utah since I am there every other day it seems). So, I will now have very puddly empty unpainted garden boxes crying out for the special mix they need to grow things for me. Hmmm... maybe it will NOT rain next week so I can finish?

Guess I'll have to wait a little while....

Plant Ponderings

I do not have a garden. I do not can. My food storage is not complete. Do not judge me (I have a friend who says that a lot on her blog, and it cracks me up - thanks, Val). My father was a master gardener. Even in the heat of the Arizona summer sun, we had a great garden - covered in smelly, awful "horse Panooch". According to him, that was THE best fertilizer ever. What else would a crusty, home-building cowboy say? I did not inherit his skills in this department.

I want a garden this year - ok, I said it out loud. I have a small, slopey, cruddy backyard taken up by a really big ugly bathtub (above-ground pool to you non-Marylanders), with many 4-legged critters who would probably eat anything planted, and no fence. So, where the heck would I put a garden? I don't know. I really don't. But I want a couple of these:


So I got all excited when I found really easy directions in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I thought, "WOW! Richard and I could probably actually do this! Let's do it!". Then he got assigned to work 7-day, 12 hour night shifts due to "world issues" so he can't help me. I don't do power tools.

Any husbands for hire?? Any girlfriends who use power tools?

I really can wait another year. Seriously.