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Featured articles

  • Ladybug Fun for Aphid Control on Apple Trees
  • Getting Busy in the Keyhole Garden
  • Red Admiral Butterflies Dancing in the Yard
  • A Bunny in the Garden
  • Companion Planting and Ruth Stout’s Gardening Method
  • Solar Frog Puddle and Planting Cucumbers
  • My Kids Love Moles… I Mean Poison Shrews
  • Some Color for the Shade Garden!
  • Apple’s About To Bloom, Kale Chips and Cold Season Early Spring Planting
  • Replacement Paw Paws and Re-growing Celery
  • St. Patrick’s Day Sowing and Recycled Pallet Garden Planter
  • Moved Seed Starting Indoors
  • Newspaper Pots, More Hugulkultur and What’s Growing Now
  • Ask And You Shall Receive, Apparently.
  • Hugulkultur Next to the Driveway

Did you know that if you cut the bottom off a bunch of store bought celery, put it in a shallow dish of water for a day and then plant it outside it will RE-GROW?! Neither did I, but I read about it online and gave it a try and it’s totally working. I’m amazed.

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Miller Nursery sent me replacement Paw Paw trees after the 2 that I got last year didn’t like their new homes and up and died on me. I planted these in the BACK yard instead and hope, hope, hope they make it. The fruit sounds delightful from the descriptions of them and I’m going to be watching these trees like a hawk, waiting for them to start producing (and, of course, not DIE). I needed two trees to pollinate and I put them in the far corner of the yard, next to the 2/1 Asian pear tree, which is self fertile.

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I got 4 new packs of seeds from The Seeds of the Month club today!! Cress, cucumber, borage and cauliflower. I’m excited about the cress because I’ve never grown that before. I don’t intend to use them as sprouts, but may nibble a few plants early to be able to taste the difference between young and mature plants. If I like them, I’m going to have to figure out how to harvest seed from them because there only seems to be a small amount in the packet. I’m not complaining though, I am loving my monthly seed deliveries!

The lapin cherry tree is blooming and I hear it’s supposed to get VERY cold tonight. Don’t freeze, don’t freeze… the gala apple has big buds too and I don’t want the blossoms to get damaged.

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I still haven’t gotten a mulch delivery, though I have been emailing tree services from craig’s list and asking around.

My tomato seedlings are pathetic out there in the greenhouse. I started another egg carton of beefsteak tomato seeds because I’ve only got 4 seedlings out of the 20 something I planted a couple of weeks ago. Bah. The eggplants aren’t starting any better. I’ll need to start more of those this week too.

The potatoes are starting to peek through the soil at the bottom of the trash can!

IMG_0066Oh, and I pre-sprouted some mammoth sunflower seeds and planted them around the flag pole to replace the lambs ears I dug out and gave away on the free-stuff craig’s list board. Talk about completely opposite plants! haha! I can’t wait to see the sunflowers. I’ve always wanted to grow those, even before I really wanted to garden. I used to work at a flower shop and those blooms were so stocky and hardy. They lasted a long time too. They were like a lovely peasant kind of flower. Hard working but beautiful and so big and substantial compared to other flowers.  

I had considered planting pole beans around the sunflowers and letting them climb up the stems, but I did some searching online and found that other gardeners haven’t had much success with this process. The stems don’t seem to be bean-stalk friendly and neither plant ends up doing well. So beans will get a trellis and the sunflowers can grow on their own.

IMG_0064**update 3/31** I just took a look around out there and TWO sprouted sunflower seeds had been pulled up out of the ground and left there. Damn birds. I need some screen to protect the rest.

**update 3/31** This is the first spring this rhubarb has gotten to bust up through the garden and say hello.

I took pictures for this post a few days ago, but some of the plants have bloomed and already look completely different now, so I’ll need to go out in the morning and take pictures to post. I heard the weather is supposed to be gross tomorrow (cold and rainy) but I’ll go out there and take the pictures anyway. It hasn’t really rained here all week so I’m actually hoping we do get at least a short shower.

Wish me luck on winning the HUGE lottery so I can promote and fund organic, non-GMO farming initiatives (and be filthy rich too). Smile

IMG_0021Have you heard the gardening tradition of planting peas on St. Patrick’s day? I kept that one alive today and planted 2 rows of Oregon giant sugar snow peas. These are the kind where you can eat the pods too and I think the kids will just love them. I also planted some spinach, Georgia Southern Giant collards and oakleaf lettuce in the same bed.

I’ve decided to let the chard that overwintered stay where it is and with any luck, I’ll collect seeds from those plants this season. I also put together the slim metal arbor in the picture on the right. It’s actually way sturdier than it looks, but still probably isn’t substantial enough to support the kiwi vines I planted next to it. I am not confident about being able to dig in 4×4 posts myself and husband is sure he didn’t want me to plant it against the fence. Maybe when this arbor gives out, I’ll get some help with a better replacement support Winking smile


strawberry garden palletToday, a new FB friend of mine posted an adorable picture of a planter she made from a shipping pallet and filled with strawberry plants. She got the technique from this video on youtube and since I was only able to grab one free pallet from craigslist before we got rid of the truck, I had all the materials on hand. I decided not to put landscaping fabric on the back of the planter. Instead, I filled in the gaps with some extra boards I had in the yard. I also added a board to the bottom, but left the top open so I can plant in the top too.


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I had picked up the railing pieces from the side of the road last year and thought I would use them to build a trellis, but I love them on the pallet instead.

 

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We used some blue paint left over from painting my son’s room and I let the kids help me paint it.

 

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They had a great time and it was such a beautiful day to play outside. It’s drying now. Tomorrow, I’ll move it and lean it against the front of the house, fill it with straw and soil, the way she did above and plant some of the new Ozark beauty strawberry plants that came from last year’s runners.

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Isn’t it cool?!?

IMG_0002I had my trays out in the back yard for a few days, but I’m worried it’s too cold in the greenhouse to have them germinate so I’ve moved them inside until they sprout.

I’ve also decided the try to pre-sprout the few Lincoln pea’s I have left from last year’s packet before I plant them out. that packet did miserably last year and I think it’s because they rotted in the ground before they sprouted. I put them in a damp paper towel and sealed them into a baggie for a day or so. I’ll check them tomorrow and once they sprout I’ll put them in the ground.

I’m pricing out mulch delivery. I can’t wait to hear the tree services outside hoping to get a free load. I am already seeing weeds coming up out there and I am really looking forward to mulching everything again. The best price I’ve gotten so far is $120 for a truck load from a tree service. He says it’s about 10 yards. That’s delivered. I think that’s a good price so I’ll probably go for it.

IMG_0001I have to give a plug to averagepersongardening.com – I did it. I joined the seeds of the month club. I got a great deal when it was on sale and just received 12 packs of seeds yesterday! Of the ones he sent me, I’m starting some celeriac indoors. I’ve never had that or grown it, so that’s fun. He sent a nice variety of herbs/veggies and even a packet of banana melons that I’ll definitely direct seed when the weather gets warm. Thanks Mike, The Gardener!

My Stark Bro’s nursery order came yesterday! The weather is too wet right now to dig in my trees, I think I’ll have to wait until at least tomorrow. I hope it dries up a bit. I have a honeycrisp tree and a two in one asian pear in that box! I’ll also dig in the loquat tree, move a couple of nanking cherry bushes to make way for current and future mulch deliveries and plant my kiwi’s.

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