Went to the plot last night. Everything looks wonderful, no more plant eater problems (yet) and all my plants are getting so big. I have blooms on my tomatoes, cantaloupe, and peppers. I can't believe they're already producing this early but I'll take it. I'm thinking buying grown plants or starting everything is really the way to go.
I am so obsessed. I just took about an hour figuring out when I planted everything, what their maturity dates are and when I should have produce. Woooow. But here they are though they're all in theory and with the weird weather we had I believe some things are simply not going to work like they were supposed to.
Jun 10: Broccoli(old)
Jun 25: Carrots (old)
Jun 26: Musclun
Jun 30: Head lettuce(old)
Jul 10: Dill(new)
Jul 18: Summer Squash, Zucchini
Jul 20: Cucumber Pickle
Jul 23: Cucumber Champion
Jul 25: Onion Sets(old)
Jul 31: Basil(plot), Bush Wax Bean(new), Dill(new)
Aug 2: Pole Bean
Aug 5: Carrots (new), Sweet pea(new)
Aug 7: Tomato
Aug 8: Corn
Aug 10: Peppers(new/plot)
Aug 15: Roma Tomato
Aug 20: Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew
Aug 27: Pumpkin
The ( ) are to remind me which location they are at considering I have 3 different places with veggies.
Maturity Estimates:
April 16: (horizon)
Carrots: 70 Days
Onion Set: 100-120 Days
Broccoli: 55 Days
Head Lettuce: 75 Days
May 27: (raised bed)
Carrots: 70 Days
Peppers: 75 Days
Sweet Pea: 55-70 Days
Lettuce/Musclun: 30 Days
Bush Wax Beans: 65 Days
June 1: (raised bed)
Dill: 40-60 Days
May 29: (garden plot)
Corn: 71 days
Pole Beans: 65 days
Cucumber- Picklebush: 52 Days
Cucumber: Bush Champion: 55 Days
Peppers: 75 Days
Pumpkins: 90 Days
Summer Squash: 50 Days
Zucchini: 50 Days
Mtg Lifter Tomato: 70 Days
Rutgers Tomato: 70-80 Days
June 1: (garden plot)
Watermelon Sugar Baby: 80 Days
Cantaloupe: 82 Days
Honeydew: 80 Days
Basil: 60-90 Days
Roma Tomato: 75 Days
June 7: (garden plot)
Cucumber: Bush Champion: 55 Days
Watermelon Sugar Baby: 80 Days
June 11: (garden plot)
Peppers: 75 Days (garden plot)
Although this is useless information for everyone else, it is good for me to be able to look back throughout the summer and be able to compare what was supposed to happen to what really happened. I think it's fun anyways.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Now I'm Playing Hardball
With the Rabbits and Deer that is.
After damages to my plants the first time last week, all I needed was some more fencing and time. I visited the garden again Friday to find four more peppers without their tops (they had peppers on them already too) and my tomatoes were nibbled on. I was furious but as I had told Derek. Unless you fence it perfectly, you might as well not fence it at all. I hadn’t had time to dig the fence under so it sat there wide open for bunnies to peak their little heads through. Friday night I bought two more six packs of peppers for half off. Two more jalapenos, two habaneros, 2 big berthas and a mix of six different bells, some yellow and red/green. I also got moth balls, and deer and rabbit repellent. I am serious now, I won’t have more fatalities. Saturday I planted out the peppers and then set to digging under the fence as well as adding another 3 feet to the height. My plot wasn’t plowed completely when I started so I had a good two feet of crab grass with runners all over. After digging all of that up, I buried the fence, filled it back in and sorted through all the dirt for the runners so I don’t have a huge weed problem the rest of the year. I didn’t plan on being out there for 3 hours so I ended up with quite the burn.
I still have so many projects to do but I’ve been juggling moving, painting, organizing, planting and gardening. My next outdoor project, finally is the front plots. I need to get some sand out of there, then put some good dirt in then plant away. As posted earlier, I have so many plants to move over from the old house so I need to get started asap! While I was moving some things from the old house, I grabbed some of the blooms and made this cute little bouquet.
After damages to my plants the first time last week, all I needed was some more fencing and time. I visited the garden again Friday to find four more peppers without their tops (they had peppers on them already too) and my tomatoes were nibbled on. I was furious but as I had told Derek. Unless you fence it perfectly, you might as well not fence it at all. I hadn’t had time to dig the fence under so it sat there wide open for bunnies to peak their little heads through. Friday night I bought two more six packs of peppers for half off. Two more jalapenos, two habaneros, 2 big berthas and a mix of six different bells, some yellow and red/green. I also got moth balls, and deer and rabbit repellent. I am serious now, I won’t have more fatalities. Saturday I planted out the peppers and then set to digging under the fence as well as adding another 3 feet to the height. My plot wasn’t plowed completely when I started so I had a good two feet of crab grass with runners all over. After digging all of that up, I buried the fence, filled it back in and sorted through all the dirt for the runners so I don’t have a huge weed problem the rest of the year. I didn’t plan on being out there for 3 hours so I ended up with quite the burn.
I still have so many projects to do but I’ve been juggling moving, painting, organizing, planting and gardening. My next outdoor project, finally is the front plots. I need to get some sand out of there, then put some good dirt in then plant away. As posted earlier, I have so many plants to move over from the old house so I need to get started asap! While I was moving some things from the old house, I grabbed some of the blooms and made this cute little bouquet.
I cannot wait till these are growing in my own yard that I can pick every morning if I want. So exciting!
More pictures to come maybe later tonight. My work decided to ban us from use of personal email so I can't really post at lunch anymore. Oh well.
SUMMER STARTS NEXT WEEK!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Worried About Plants
I’m trying to think happy thoughts here. I’ve had a heck of a night and quit the crappy morning. Last night Derek and I ran out to the garden plot at about 9 pm to put in a fence. Unfortunately it looks like we were a day too late. One of my pumpkin plants is completely eaten, missing a few leaves on the other one, a few pepper plants are done for as well as one of my cucumbers. I knew it would happen, I’m on the corner closest to the woods and the only plot nearby without a full fence. I feel like I was given a warning because it could have been much worse.
We installed what we could last night while being chewed on by mosquitoes. I didn’t have enough fencing to finish but there’s only a 2 foot gap between my fence and the tall contraption/fence of my neighboring gardener. I went to Menard's right before they closed last night to get a few more posts and the last of what I needed for fencing with a plan to get up at 5 and go install the remainder while also heightening the existing fence I put in. I think I bought 3 foot chicken wire before so it’s not very tall and I’m still worried they will be able to get at whatever they please. It’s all or nothing. You can do all this work but if you don’t do it exactly right, they can walk right in and it’s all pointless and your plants are gone.
My alarm went off at 5 AM, I got up, ready to go. I loaded the car with a shovel, posts, fencing, wire ties and went to grab the wire cutters. Nowhere to be found. I made the mistake of handing them to Derek at one point and now they’re gone. He nor I have any clue where they went. My garden sits vulnerable and possibly more damaged and now I’m at work hoping and nervous about the state of my plants. I already have to replace some veggies and would hate to have to spend a bunch of money again because I couldn’t find those darned wire cutters.
I wish I could go home after work like normal people and take care of things like everyone else can but instead I have school until 8:30, home at 9. Not my best day, I’m sure to most normal people think it’s silly to get so stressed out about plants but give me a break. I’ve been babying peppers since March and spend lots of time and money and thoughts on these silly plants.
Wish me luck that the deer will stay away.
We installed what we could last night while being chewed on by mosquitoes. I didn’t have enough fencing to finish but there’s only a 2 foot gap between my fence and the tall contraption/fence of my neighboring gardener. I went to Menard's right before they closed last night to get a few more posts and the last of what I needed for fencing with a plan to get up at 5 and go install the remainder while also heightening the existing fence I put in. I think I bought 3 foot chicken wire before so it’s not very tall and I’m still worried they will be able to get at whatever they please. It’s all or nothing. You can do all this work but if you don’t do it exactly right, they can walk right in and it’s all pointless and your plants are gone.
My alarm went off at 5 AM, I got up, ready to go. I loaded the car with a shovel, posts, fencing, wire ties and went to grab the wire cutters. Nowhere to be found. I made the mistake of handing them to Derek at one point and now they’re gone. He nor I have any clue where they went. My garden sits vulnerable and possibly more damaged and now I’m at work hoping and nervous about the state of my plants. I already have to replace some veggies and would hate to have to spend a bunch of money again because I couldn’t find those darned wire cutters.
I wish I could go home after work like normal people and take care of things like everyone else can but instead I have school until 8:30, home at 9. Not my best day, I’m sure to most normal people think it’s silly to get so stressed out about plants but give me a break. I’ve been babying peppers since March and spend lots of time and money and thoughts on these silly plants.
Wish me luck that the deer will stay away.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
225 Plants?!
Wow I have a lot of work ahead of me. I'm trying to get organized and plan my front and back garden spots where the rock currently is. I used my memory and this blog to tally up just how many plants and what kinds I have at the old house that need to come to the new house. That's how I came up with 225 and I am absolutely positive that is a low number compared to what it really is. How the heck did I accumulate 225 plants and where on earth am I going to put them all?
I have drawn up a rough and embarrassing sketch of the front and back planting spots and plan to divide out the plants by height, color and necessity (shade/sun). Where on earth do I start?
I'm going to make a list on here for my own reference and so you can see what a ridiculous chore I have in front of me:
Hostas x 13
Foxglove x 6
Purple Coneflower x 5
Lupine x 7
Daylilies x 16
Phlox x 2
Aster x 2
Bee Balm x 3
Columbine x 5
Lillies x 12
Misc. flower started 10’ x 5
Tulips x 12
Dianthus x1
Mixed spring bulbs x 40
Iris x 18
Rose x 1
Hibiscus x 6
Ornamental Strawberry x 6
Baby’s Breath? X 3
Rose of Sharon x 1 (if not dead)
Salvia x 2
Squigly grass stuff x 1
Evening Primrose (if not dead) X 1
Flowering perennial bush x 2
Yellowing flowering perennial x 1
Hollyhock x 6
Delphinium seedlings x 7
Red, White, Blue Hydrangea x3
Shade:
Jack in the pulpit x 5
Trillium x 4
Spiderwort x 4
Lamium x 4
Other:
Strawberries x 6
Raspberries x 3
Rhubarb x 2
Ferns
Snow something
Some of these may end up in a plant sale when we have our garage sale or maybe I'll just give a bunch away whenever I get a chance. What I don't have included on there is all of the flowers I started this year, some of which have died since I forgot we don't have gutters in a certain spot of the house where my poppies were sitting. If those survive I have 4 or 5 different kinds of poppies, snap dragons, carnations, penstemon and coreopsis. Yes thank goodness some of those are annuals but that adds up fast as well being that I have 8 or so of each.
Once I get my little drawing all sketched in with plants maybe I'll post those, in the meantime I am studying this website to better design my perennial gardens.
::Edit::
Of course I forgot 3 or 4 peonies. How I'm not sure.
I have drawn up a rough and embarrassing sketch of the front and back planting spots and plan to divide out the plants by height, color and necessity (shade/sun). Where on earth do I start?
I'm going to make a list on here for my own reference and so you can see what a ridiculous chore I have in front of me:
Hostas x 13
Foxglove x 6
Purple Coneflower x 5
Lupine x 7
Daylilies x 16
Phlox x 2
Aster x 2
Bee Balm x 3
Columbine x 5
Lillies x 12
Misc. flower started 10’ x 5
Tulips x 12
Dianthus x1
Mixed spring bulbs x 40
Iris x 18
Rose x 1
Hibiscus x 6
Ornamental Strawberry x 6
Baby’s Breath? X 3
Rose of Sharon x 1 (if not dead)
Salvia x 2
Squigly grass stuff x 1
Evening Primrose (if not dead) X 1
Flowering perennial bush x 2
Yellowing flowering perennial x 1
Hollyhock x 6
Delphinium seedlings x 7
Red, White, Blue Hydrangea x3
Shade:
Jack in the pulpit x 5
Trillium x 4
Spiderwort x 4
Lamium x 4
Other:
Strawberries x 6
Raspberries x 3
Rhubarb x 2
Ferns
Snow something
Some of these may end up in a plant sale when we have our garage sale or maybe I'll just give a bunch away whenever I get a chance. What I don't have included on there is all of the flowers I started this year, some of which have died since I forgot we don't have gutters in a certain spot of the house where my poppies were sitting. If those survive I have 4 or 5 different kinds of poppies, snap dragons, carnations, penstemon and coreopsis. Yes thank goodness some of those are annuals but that adds up fast as well being that I have 8 or so of each.
Once I get my little drawing all sketched in with plants maybe I'll post those, in the meantime I am studying this website to better design my perennial gardens.
::Edit::
Of course I forgot 3 or 4 peonies. How I'm not sure.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Feeling a Little Guilty
I'm thinking I should have just taken some time off from school during planting season. Yesterday I was feeling a little under the weather and way too exhausted to go to school. I called in so that I could go home and sleep. But did I? Of course not, not with more gardening needing to be done. Silly me, of course I wasn’t going to sleep when there were things to be done. But I feel accomplished now and got some final things done.
Ran over to Bachman's last night and oh boy do they have some cool things. I guess I never knew they had so much! Hundreds of types of plants, many different seeds from different companies, everything you could ever need in the way of trellises, poles, netting for vines. You name it. I’ve been gardening for quite some time now, I’m kind of ashamed I haven’t shopped there before. I found a healthy looking watermelon plant and some honey dew seed that I’ve been trying to track down for days. I didn’t find popcorn seeds but I expected I could only get that online. Oh well, guess I’ll save that for next year.
After Bachman's I ran over to the community garden and planted the remainder of the garden. I added basil, 3 different kinds of watermelon, cantaloupe, a Roma tomato donated by my grandma and 2 honey dew plants. My garden is mostly full though I need to do some hand tilling on the edge where the grass has taken over a good 12 inches of my dirt. That will be a project for this weekend.
Once I got home I started on the new garden bed along the patio. I pulled out some of that dirt, filled it with good garden soil and evened it out. I replanted the carnations, added my white delphinium, and planted seeds for marigolds, and 2 different kinds of zinnia. I also planted something I don’t know the name of which is supposed to get tall and produce purple flowers. This was also a donation from my grandma and I think it starts with a v or something. I’m sure I’ll find out later. Next step is to finish that whole area, add more good soil and plant my hundred or so gladiolus. Yes this should have been done already but what can I say, I’ve been a little busy. I’ll just have a late crop to look forward to. This year I think I’ll follow the rules though and plant them in 1 or 2 week intervals so they are continuously blooming all season.
It’s amazing how much time I spend thinking about flowers and gardens and vegetables. Who knew I’d become such a devoted gardener. “I won’t rest until the garden is planted” haha TGIS (summer)
Ran over to Bachman's last night and oh boy do they have some cool things. I guess I never knew they had so much! Hundreds of types of plants, many different seeds from different companies, everything you could ever need in the way of trellises, poles, netting for vines. You name it. I’ve been gardening for quite some time now, I’m kind of ashamed I haven’t shopped there before. I found a healthy looking watermelon plant and some honey dew seed that I’ve been trying to track down for days. I didn’t find popcorn seeds but I expected I could only get that online. Oh well, guess I’ll save that for next year.
After Bachman's I ran over to the community garden and planted the remainder of the garden. I added basil, 3 different kinds of watermelon, cantaloupe, a Roma tomato donated by my grandma and 2 honey dew plants. My garden is mostly full though I need to do some hand tilling on the edge where the grass has taken over a good 12 inches of my dirt. That will be a project for this weekend.
Once I got home I started on the new garden bed along the patio. I pulled out some of that dirt, filled it with good garden soil and evened it out. I replanted the carnations, added my white delphinium, and planted seeds for marigolds, and 2 different kinds of zinnia. I also planted something I don’t know the name of which is supposed to get tall and produce purple flowers. This was also a donation from my grandma and I think it starts with a v or something. I’m sure I’ll find out later. Next step is to finish that whole area, add more good soil and plant my hundred or so gladiolus. Yes this should have been done already but what can I say, I’ve been a little busy. I’ll just have a late crop to look forward to. This year I think I’ll follow the rules though and plant them in 1 or 2 week intervals so they are continuously blooming all season.
It’s amazing how much time I spend thinking about flowers and gardens and vegetables. Who knew I’d become such a devoted gardener. “I won’t rest until the garden is planted” haha TGIS (summer)
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