It's not you it's me?

Okay, so had a sulky moment tonight as I stared out of my kitchen window at my "all boys club" squash bed! I went ahead and fertilized that bed with an organic fertilizer tonight as I watered, but when I talked to my FNL tonight he recommended some lime! It just so happens I had already ordered and received organic lime months ago, so I actually have some on hand. Although I guess I need to wait a few days before I add that to the bed as well?

As the hubs and I were skyping with his parents I made the comment since they weren't producing I was going to end up ripping them out of there and composting them. My sometimes "witty" MNL says, hey that's what we do with daughternlaws that don't reproduce when we want them to reproduce! Um, HARSH! LOL

Anyway, I planted about 50 more onion sets. I noticed that the last 30 sets that I just planted a week ago are now coming up. I'm trying this "succession planting" thing that I forget to do each time I plant something all at once! LOL 

The "Lazarus" cucumbers that raised from the dead on their own are really coming in nice and strong and there are bright yellow blooms everywhere. Both the pickling and the regular slicing cucumbers.

I went ahead and planted about 8 more squash seedlings I started as a back up in hopes I see yellow squash this season! It is killing me. I can always grow that stuff! I will not accept defeat I tell you! I will see yellow squash!

Maybe it's not the squash that's the problem? Maybe it's me! Maybe I haven't fertilized enough?

I'll be working on two more beds in the next two weeks in preps for Fall plantings of blue leaf curly kale, swiss chard, broccoli, turnips, lettuce, carrots, collard greens, etc  I guess really I need 4-6 more beds, but I can probably get 4 more beds up by end of July!


Don't forget if you didn't get a chance to grow during Spring or Summer 2011 there is still Fall & Winter 2011 yet to grow!

,ijustwannagrow

Mad at my squash!

Oh pickles as my 2yr old says! My squash PLANTS are growing, but SLOWLY and still only male blossoms opening up. But that's okay because the "Plan B" squash seeds I planted last week have popped up and I still have time to get some squash in before the end of the season. I'm so mad at the first bed of disappointing squash plants I could just dig them up and toss them in the compost pile! Still borderline ready to "go there" with those squash plants for sure!

But I do have 7 HUGE healthy so far zucchini plants that are up to my mid thigh and has big beautiful male blossoms flowering out as of tonight! There were none opened up as of this AM, but on the way back from choir practice I ran by one more time and we're blossoming in the zucchini patch :D  The patty pan squashes are still growing rather well, so we'll see where they take us!  But I really would like to harvest some zucchini and squash darn it! I know how to grow them and have never been this long into a season without fruit to start harvesting. But I have faith the zucchini will NOT disappoint me! I'm pretty positive the squash that just popped up will give me squash, but that first bed that seems to be going no where I've decided an emergency soil test is in order and then I'm going to fertilize. If no progress after that I'm pulling them out and replenishing the soil and planting lettuce and swiss chard in that bed next!

I hate to be like that because I'm a leave no seedling or plant behind kinda gardener, but my veggie kindness is beginning to wear thin thank you very much!

Hope you are having more luck with your squash than I this year!


,ijustwannagrow

It's raining free water!

Well thank the Lord we finally got a good rain last night through this early morning! Got heavy wind as well, but last time I ran out in between the storms I didn't sustain any damage to my vegetables! But I'm totally excited that we finally got some "FREE" water on the garden! I have definitely seen an increase in my water bill since the summer started. Hand watering is tiring expensive & tiring.

When I walked out in between the storms it looked like my zucchini grew 6 inches within two hours. Clint later went out and came in and said WOW what a good steady rain will do, did you see your zucchini? I said, yeah man it looks like it just grew in a few hours! So it wasn't just me wanting to believe my zucchini plants are now almost waist high! They're huge! Just waiting on those blooms to start opening up soon :D  I'm ready to start eating zucchini!

Squash update: still have no squash yet! Plenty of male blooms opening. Female blooms are still locked up tight! Maybe this really good rain will open them up?  :(

I also noticed that my patty pan squash is growing really well now. I was wondering there for a week or so because they weren't growing as fast as the zucchini. The next round of onions have started popping up. I'm planting the rest of those onions this weekend. By the end of summer I'm gonna have lots of red & white onions!
My last round of squash seedlings are going outside tomorrow evening. I'll cover them with landscape fabric so that they don't get shocked when transplanting. Next year all squash & zucchini family plants will be started in the ground from seed. I think they grow faster, harder, and healthier quicker than transplants. Cucumbers & squash did not like the transplanting and you could tell each of those original plantings took some transplanting shock!

Hope your gardening ventures are going well :D

,ijustwannagrow

Diggin in the dirt

Even though I've come in and out all morning I have gotten a lot done outside in the garden today! I appreciate my husband's help as a 2hr nap time for Savannah is not a lot of time in "free gardening time"!
I got my 1st cucumber trellis built mostly by myself exactly what I wanted! My husband did cut two of my 10ft furring strips in 1/2 that I still had on hand in the garage. And he helped start the first screw at the top of the trellising since I am truly THIS SHORT! LOL   I went ahead and tied jute twine around each of the four cucumber plants and tied to the trellis to start training them back to the trellis! I hope to see them reach the trellis in the next two weeks! My cucumbers are SO behind, but we're going to keep moving and holding onto that mustard seed strongly in hopes of a few cucumbers this season!

Also, Clint gave me some 2x4x8's for me to recycle to continue to buildup a 2.5x4x8 bed I had that I had been working on collecting enough materials to build it up, so that some of these squash plants can be put in there real soon in the next week or so. I also have a $0 gardening budget right now, so I happen to have the bottom of long box that Savannah's swing set came in that I was going to use in my compost bins; however, I'm now recycling it and it is now the start of another raised bed. How country is that? Raised bed gardening out of a cardboard box? I will not be stopped by $0 in the gardening budget! LOL   It will hold long enough until I can get other materials to make a more permanent side around the box!  Yes, I'll take pictures! And yes I will post!  :D

In the "in between times" I've been moving my squash seedlings into peat pots for future transplanting when they're older all morning! Out of desperation you already know that I through 15 squash seeds out yesterday in the all available open gardening space and the day prior I had started about 20 seeds in the kitchen window. Well the kitchen window seeds are now germinated and about 5 inches tall within 3 days of planting. Why so fast? Well they were germinated in a mix of bunny manure, vermiculite, coco coir, and worm castings! Pretty much every nutrient the seedlings could ever want to germinate  :D   A little overkill probably, but hey I was determined to get squash this year!  

Cow peas have blooms on them as my husband pointed out this morning! I really could have just cried out of joy when I ran over to see for myself! It 'tis true I have little white blooms on my cow peas despite almost being completely chewed up from the beetles! I'm glad I didn't pull them out a couple of weeks ago and went ahead and hung in there longer! I sure wanted to be able to send grandmother & grandaddy Barrow a small bag of dried cow peas from Savannah. I think that will really just tickle them to death that Savannah grew their favorite purple hull peas in Savannah's 1st garden!

Pole beans are already loving the trellis extension we installed last night! And there are more blooms today from those vines! Exciting! I really think I'll pee a little for sure if a green bean or actual cow pea pops out! I will be installing some bunny control fencing out of plastic poultry fencing today to help save the "possible bean & pea crop" from the bunnies!

If any new developments then I'll add to this post, but this is all for now folks. Inside eating an ice cold popsickle and then going back outside to shovel more compost!

Get out there and get dirty!

,ijustwannagrow

Pole Beans have BLOOMS!

WOW am I excited and was so proud to add the next piece of net trellising for them to continue to climb on! Tomorrow I'll add the net trellising to the other side of the swing set tomorrow, in case they wanna keep on climbing down the other side?


I added the trellis netting to the cantaloupe bed and started to train the cantaloupe plants up the trellis! Will build my cucumber trellis tomorrow so that I can start training those vines up in hopes of eventually getting cucumbers?


I'm still cleaning out my very first bed in preparing for mid july's planting of my turnips, collards, and kale! I'm looking for additional items around the garage and house to recycle into another 2 4x4 raised beds for my lettuce, radish, and swiss chard beds. I've got a stack of extra bricks, but don't know if I have quite enough to finish out one bed or not?


Gardening tomorrow in between sets of laundry!


Okay I wasn't going to say anything, but don't expect corn this year! It's like 99% chance not going to happen! It is tasseling out and it's only rib high! And my rib height isn't tall! But that's okay I'll have corn for sure next year now that I've went through this experiment and have learned a lot more about corn!


Keep those text photos and facebook tags sharing your gardening experiences, 'cause I'm loving them! My mom has 5 watermelons the size of her hand and she's pretty excited! I would be too, but the birds got mine right off the bat!


,ijustwannagrow

Well Pickles. As my daughter says!

I couldn't stand it I had to go outside and see if any of my girl squashes had awakened? And nope, still ALL boys. So, as I made Savannah's lunch and stared out my kitchen window at my squashless garden land I wondered what am I going to do? Well I went and grabbed my packet of crook necks and went straight out to the garden and dropped 15 more seeds through the remaining gardening spaces! There's got to be a female squash out there looking for a place to call home for this season! I'm determined to see squash this year!

Corn is looking alot better since I side dressed with chicken manure! I may get corn yet?

Got my crazy overgrown romaine lettuce pulled and tossed into my compost bin. Will finish cleaning out that 1/2 of that 4x10x8 bed in preps for brussel sprouts. Never grown them. I hope to harvest some! 

Figured out what I'm going to do for my mid summer greens bed, i.e. collards, kale, mustard greens, and more swiss chard. Had no idea I'd enjoy the swiss chard so much! And Savi and the hubs loved it too! So it's a keeper!

Oh and this just in: I have 3 cantaloupe blooms on my 1st cantaloupe vine that I thought was all but lost when the birds demolished my water melon & melon starts several weeks ago! Yay! I love melon! Hope to get atleast one this growing season :D

Do be afraid, throw some seeds out and see what happens! The worst that can happen is they won't grow.

I hope to get some time outside in the garden rain or NOT this weekend!


,ijustwannagrow

Scored a salad for lunch this morning. Yay!

Embarassingly enough I can't remember what type of lettuce I planted in that bed, but it is lettuce. Harvested a couple of pieces of swiss chard. Two more heirloom cherokee purple tomatoes, and 3 sweet 100's. A good day :D

I'm already looking forward to planting enough lettuce for the end of summer/fall season that I can share with many! I'm also designing and preparing to build a 4x20x8 cold frame to attempt to grow & harvest lettuce, spinach, kale, and some other greens throughout the winter months. I've been reading and researching and am excited to attempt this experiment! I bought a book called 4 Season Harvest and the guy who wrote it lives really close to Canada so if he can grow all 4 seasons then we should be able to here in NC!

PS: still NO female squash blooms  :*(

You can grow fresh salad in any pot, barrel, raised bed, garden, etc. It is so unexpectedly easy to grow!

,ijustwannagrow

Garden Parooz

She said, "I eat it momma". I said, yes Savannah you can eat it because it's safe!

Growing a chemical free & non GMO vegetable for my daughter is like hitting the lottery. When she reached over and grabbed that tomato I felt like I had made my best effort to give her a healthy vegetable. It was a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but I plan on working harder as the days move forward to learn as much as I can about organic, chemical free, and non GMO growing. By doing so not only can I feed my family healthy food but possibly help feed others and teach others to do the same.

You know I didn't give nature (God's creation) enough credit that my pole beans would have made it, but although sparce, my pole beans have surpassed the first trellis. This morning the tallest of them is now hanging over trying to find somewhere to climb. Will HAVE to add trellising tonight no matter what! I'd love to just harvest one bean this year! It would really make it all worth it! I've never grown beans myself, so just one would be a victory! I'll hold my faith that there will be some sort of harvest whether big or small!

I built my 3 bin composting system myself. I've got to add the finishing touches as this is just the rough skeleton, but atleast now I have somewhere to start throwing my compost! I plant on attaching trellising around the outside as to dress it up a bit to keep it pleasing to the eye for the neighbor's. For me it would be fine as it is, but would like to continue the good relationship and support of my neighbors because chickens and possibly a few ducks are in the Taylor's near future! And no Cory & Caleb you can't harvest my ducks! LOL

I got 26 jalepenos today on 6-22. Yes I planted atleast 9 jalepeno plants! LOL  I've already got people lined up to take them which thrills me.

Still ALL male squash blooms. Now I've even got my husband calling me from work telling me he ran out and checked on his way to work and he's as disappointed as I am that still only male blooms. They're beautiful golden yellow blooms with no ladies to hook up with yet. This is so sad! I would have had a bucket load of squash already if I would have had atleast 1 female per male to this point! I'll hold my faith that someday the lady's will wake up and smell those sexy available male squash blooms hanging out waiting on them! I told a friend I'm going to start pulling out Barry White and letting it play out in the squash bed until someone gets happy and produces some fruit! Get busy squashes! It's okay it's biblical!

Again, another first time growing cataloupe. These vines are growing out of the bed now. I've got the 6 foot trellising structure put up, but still have to attach the netting. Will do this tomorrow evening and go ahead and start training up the trellising. Again, just happy to get this far!

                      

When I left for KY these cucumbers were fried to a crisp and laying lifeless. So interesting story they were dead on the surface the entire time I was gone and when I got back; however, I made a worm casting compost tea just to see if they'd come back. I kid you not they even have bloom on them now! Can you believe that? The power of the worm is amazing!

Okay, I hate giving up so I decided to try bush beans 1 more time this season! And we're off to a good start! Last crop the beetles destroyed the entire bed, so I'm going to row cover these this weekend to avoid that problem again! We'll see?

If something fails, don't give up until you get it just right. May take a couple of tries, but you'll get it!

,ijustwannagrow

Brazen Rabbit!

So I come home from Vacation Bible School tonight and the hubs points and says, look over there in your pole beans you've been struggling to save. What is over there now? A very brazen rabbit sitting there minding my bean vines and his own business chomping away with little or no worry that I've caught him! I'll fix his little tale tomorrow! No matter how late it is I'm putting another bunny fence up for sure! I'm gonna post a sign that says if you don't leave me fresh fertilizer in exchange for the bean buffet then hop a long PETER! Won't hurt him, but will definitely close him out of the buffet!

I think I'll grow a bed just for the bunnies next time, so they'll be so busy there I can push forward in other areas with fewer bunny interruptions!

I want bunnies, but not this way! Make sure you have your rabbit fencing up, 'cause their out and hopping down the veggie trail looking for your vegetables!

ijustwannagrow

My first heirloom tomato EVER!

If you've wondered why I labeled my blog, "ijustwannagrow" well here is the answer! I felt like an unsuspecting passerby that stumbled upon winning a small lottery of some sort! Stopped me dead in my tracks when I saw all that ripening rockin out in my tomato and pepper bed! Only regret? I didn't have enough faith to have planted 20 tomato plants rather than just 8. Serves me right, huh? It just makes you wanna jump up and kick your heels to the side! And it is awesome to reaffirm for myself that is absolutely possibly and easier than expected to grow healthy fruits and vegetables WITHOUT the use of chemicals. Sadly,it was sorta like trying to learn a foreign language embarrassingly enough! We've become so programmed by man to spray, dust, and ingest so many chemicals we forgot how much healthier the world was before we started to get money hungry as a society and threw caution to the wind to make a quick buck! The victory here is all the Lord's as he blessed me with the opportunity and the desire to learn to grow chemical free! Don't feel like you can't do it, because there are books, free online resources like youtube or monkeysee where you can actually visually see step by steps, online discussion forums, and of course organic friends that have gone before you! Don't be afraid!

Go ahead and dispose of those chemicals (the correct way please) and then get out there and grow something amazingly healthy!

,ijustwannagrow

Garden Update June 16-11

Ran outside quickly while the hubs was getting ready for work so that I could water my garden. I was too tired to last night, so had to do it first thing this morning before the morning shade cleared and the temps raised. My okra is doing well! The ONLY plant to survive the middle tank bed thus far this season! I did throw in some plain top soil and mix the top 1/3 and maybe that cooled that ph level a bit? Squash is getting huge and blooming again with huge blooms. I hope to start seeing squash here in the next week! Zucchini that I through in the ground as seed three weeks ago is HUGE probably a few weeks away on zucchini as I don't see any flowering yet. My 4 cucumber plants have made it now 5 entire days! I think these plants may make it this time! I hate I wasted so much time before I figured out I had bad seed on the other two rounds! My 4 cantaloupe look like they've tripled in size since I first put them in that raised bed 3 nights ago! Pole Beans & Purple Hulls are still growing and STILL getting eatin on! I'm going to by some organic NEET and spray on them because I"d like to get at least 1 green bean this year on my first attempt, but I can tell you I've figured out that next year I'll be growing my beans & cow peas under row covers for the first 30 days and I won't have this problem. Vacationing when they were young tender plants were a mistake as that is a very crucial time in the plants life! I knew better! But I hope to plant more pole beans this week and see if planting them later doesn't help them avoid the beetles any better?

I'm enjoying the text photos of friends 1st time gardens, keep growing girls ;)

Oh and my purple cherokees are finally starting to ripen on the vine! And I'm seeing other larger tomatoes start to surface now! I'm excited to get that mr. stripey ripened. One of my favorites!
,ijustwannagrow

Bush Beans

Okay, I finished my "Mel's perfect soil mix" last night in one of my new 4x4 beds. This is the 1st time I'll have the soil perfectly mixed, so I'm excited to see how well that bed produces! I planted 4 cantaloupe and 4 cucumber plants last night. I've yet to have cucumber plants that don't die on me this year. I bought an entirely different pack of seeds and from someone other than Ferry Morris. Not that all their seeds are bad, but the two packages I had just didn't do anything. So I had 3/4's of the bed still opened, so I soaked another handful of bush bean seeds and I just planted about 32 of those in that bed. And I didn't forget to inoculate them this time! YAY! I've got about 20 seeds left, so if I can find space for the last 20 seeds then I'm planting those too! I refuse to let the beetles get the best of me! So I'm planting more and I'm planning on keeping those under row covers until they're more mature and can sustain a little more chewing! Will keep you posted!

I'm getting pictured text messages from friends with their growing luck and it makes me smile! Keep growin folks!

,ijustwannagrow

Mad at my squash

Oh pickles as my 2yr old says! My squash PLANTS are growing, but SLOWLY and still only male blossoms opening up. But that's okay because the "Plan B" squash seeds I planted last week have popped up and I still have time to get some squash in before the end of the season. I'm so mad at the first bed of disappointing squash plants I could just dig them up and toss them in the compost pile! Still borderline ready to "go there" with those squash plants for sure!

But I do have 7 HUGE healthy so far zucchini plants that are up to my mid thigh and has big long beautiful male blossoms flowering out as of tonight! There were none opened up as of this AM, but on the way back from choir practice I ran by one more time and we're blossoming in the zucchini patch :D  The patty pan squashes are still growing rather well, so we'll see where they take us!  But I really would like to harvest some zucchini and squash darn it!

Garden update 06/09/11

My sweet 100's are now at 6ft tall and weighed down with little green & red tomatoes! And I know why they call this variety sweet 100. They are sweet & there are tomatoes everywhere! I have two of this variety and they are topping out at 6ft tall at this moment and still growing! Gotta love indeterminates :D  It's a surprise every time! My determinate heirloom varieties are as big as my fist and my mouth waters every time I go out looking for ANY little sign of ripening! It's like waiting for a new baby to come!

My pole beans are still looking like swiss cheese and I actually caught two different kinds of beetles on one of the plants last night! When I plant the next round of pole beans & bush beans I'll definitely be covering them with row covers or netting of some sort! Although I went over and took a look at my mom's garden and she doesn't have ONE chew mark on hers and it is tearing me up why every beetle in Davidson county is in my beans?

Anyway, the beans have reached up and begun to climb, so they're still hanging in there! My purple cow peas are chewed up as well, but still growing and still a really healthy green color! My zucchini and patty pan that I planted two weeks ago from seed are growing quickly! The hubs told me he saw a bloom on one of the zucchini plants already? I'll have to go check tomorrow, because he may be seeing the two squash plants I transplanted in that bed two days ago. My squash tank bed that has 8 squash plants is making great progress! I have 3 plants that will take over that bed and I'll pull the other 5 out to give the 3 strongest the space to take over that bed! I didn't expect all 8 to make it, so my try to carefully dig out the 5 squash and transplant somewhere else? Squash doesn't like to be bothered, so worth a shot since they're headed to the compost pile anyway?

The first two rounds of cucumbers have died! I think those seeds are the problem! I'm going to try and find some cucumber starters to plant so that I can get some cucumbers this season! I hate I wasted time thinking it was me and it was the seed the whole time!

Hope the nice muggy hot weather has inspired you to get out and grow some tomatoes and squash!

,ijustwannagrow :D

Pole Beans & Cow Peas update

Well, I see new growth on the beans & peas. I guess that's good news? I went ahead and re-dusted those & all the other vegetables with diatamaceous earth to keep ahead of the buggies. I've positioned the trellising over the pole beans now and they are tall enough to reach the second row of netting. So we're still growing at this point. I'll take small victories from day to day!
I've got 2 4x4 beds that I hope I can get filled up with compost/soil amendments by the end of the week before the rain hits this weekend. Not really sure what I'm going to plant in them other than more squash. I may save one of the beds for the beginning of mid July plantings.

Anyway, don't give up on your veggies!

,ijustwannagrow

Home from Vacation- Garden Update

We're baaaa aaaaack! I dreamed of my garden the entire time I was gone! I'm glad to be back home to be able to tend to what I have left and We'll start with the positive and say that I'm tickled my sweet 100's are really sweet and turning red everywhere. My large tomato plants are doing great! I have several tomatoes now as large as my hand. Still green, but hope they ripen in about two weeks. My corn is knee high in a week! How'd that happen? Still lookin good. Again have never grown and have no idea if I'll even get one ear of corn or not this year?

I visited several family member gardens while I was away and enjoyed viewing their vegetable selections and also how they layed their gardens out.

Squash plants are growing 



Moral of the story: I will not be vacationing in May from this point forward! LOL  Closer to beginning of August after the Fall crops have been planted! You live and learn! What can you do, but move forward?

I would have lost everything had someone not have watered my garden while I was gone. Thanks Mom!

Choose your vacation times wisely!

ijustwannagrow

Mexican Bean Beetle

So I'm determined to save my green beans if possible, and after researching various websites & photos I'm really sure that this is the beetle that is devouring my pole bean leaves!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2100139_get-rid-mexican-bean-beetles.html

I read the above article and other than the chemical pesticide recommendations that I won't be trying I think there is some pretty good advice to try. Unfortunately, too late for the floating row cover since the eggs have obviously already have been laid since I've got the beetle infestation! I'll be moving my Finch feeders over toward my greenbeans & cowpeas since they love those type of beetles! I can totally make some toad houses since they like this beetle as well. I know I have toads, because I've seen them around my garden because Savannah chases them yelling FROG...WIBBIT. Unfortunately, I've not seen them around my beans so I guess build the housing and they will come? LOL  Will continue to look for additional methods of combating them organically without the use of chemicals! I am currently researching one of my favorite online stores: planetnatural.com for natural/organic methods of extermination!

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/kb/mexican-bean-beetle.html

I refuse to revert to chemicals!

,ijustwannagrow

1st tomato harvested

My mom tells me my 1st sweet 100 tomato was ripe enough to pick & eat today! So she picked and ate and told me all about it! I hear I have a jalapeno & bell pepper ready to pick when I get home Saturday. I'm informed that my pole beans are basically swiss cheese. Someone told me about beetle bags today. I don't know if it will work, but I'm going to Lowes tomorrow to find some and try it if it isn't too late! I don't wanna leave, but I can't wait to see my garden and how much a difference a week of hot temperatures with heavy rain has made in my veggies! Enjoyed visiting everyone's garden, garden spots, backyard sanctuaries, & raised bed gardens no matter how big or small they were! Thanks for sharing!

Hope you're all gardening & growing something, if not it's not too late to either throw something out or start planning for your fall crops!

,ijustwannagrow