March 02, 2011

pretty busy 'round these parts...

an early spring?! oh, goodie!
This seemingly early Spring is really causing us to pick up the pace this year. If I recall correctly, last year Spring didn't come until the end of March sometime. I really don't mind. I'm lovin' the clear blue skies and warm coastal breeze. Not to mention being happily barefoot and having leave from my inside chores to spend as much time as needed in the garden - yep, that's real nice.

native flowers herald spring!
began blooming only a couple of days ago...
just look at that gorgeous deep blue sky!
aren't the blooms purdy? i was trying to get a photo of a bee
but the iPhone camera wouldn't focus right... i was so excited to see the bee, though!!! :D
oh, and yes, that's my finger. and shadow.
not an expert photographer... my clever way of focusing... {nod}

i'm mighty proud of this photo. absolutely NO editing, and it's so very vivid!
just screams spring. {of course, i can't really brag because it was a blind snapshot:
sun was so bright i could hardly see the screen...}

raised tiers
I haven't posted any photos yet of the raised tiers that my Daddy and Jasco made in the garden... they finished this about a week ago:

thanks Daddy & Jasco! :D


It's made out of cedar to help ward off some of the bugs. {Anyone know how this works?} It'll be devoted to our sweet peppers.. {are bell peppers considered sweet?} Daddy's hoping I'll fill the entire top tier with banana peppers. He's addicted to those things. ;)

I've been preparing the soil beneath the tiers {they made them removable - so smart!}. I began by laying down a couple layers of newspaper to kill the grass. I wet that down pretty good and added compost. After watering that, I added a layer of hay and then a layer of dried leaves. It's not very built up as of yet, but Daddy's planning on bringing a truckload of good soil to fill up the tiers. That bottom layer is for the purpose of attracting worms. We'll add some more compost and dried leaves in the layers closer to the surface for the plants' sake. {In any case, it looks a whole lot better now than it does in the photo above.}
he was so excited to bring that basket home to mom!

native chives
My little cousin, Luke Eli, and I had a good time the other day harvesting native chives together. He pulled at least half of the contents in this basket for his mom. He's actually really good at it. Four years old and can pull a chive without ripping the bulb off the stalk. {proud} 

I've been harvesting all I can before Daddy gets the hankerin' to mow. I dried some in our little toaster oven on low the other day and put them up to use as seasoning. {Daddy's not too fond of bites of onion, so I try to get the flavor without using the bulbs fresh in our stir-fried meals.} What I didn't dry, we're going to hit with the food processor and then put up in the freezer so we can have fresh chives all year round!



recommended book & website
During the scarce moments of down time, I've been working my way through this great book. It was actually the book that encouraged us to get a garden in the first place a few years back! The author makes gardening look waaay less intimidating, especially with her great organic methods that shave off a whole lotta time. Check out Lasagna Gardening.

a moment to read...

I've also been spending even MORE time reading through the Dervaes family blog: Little Homestead in the City ® . I've started at the very first post in 2001 and working my way to the present. It's been educational and inspiring, to say the least! Y'all should check it out! 

screenshot of the blog: Little Homestead in the City ® 

seed came in!
It seemed to take forever {I ordered over a month ago} but the seeds from Heirloom Acres finally came in. 

I purchased:
  • amish paste tomatos {read they were great for pastes and sauces!}
  • beefsteak tomato
  • delicious 51 cantaloupe
  • straight-8 slicing cucumber
  • muncher burpless cucumber
  • long purple eggplant
  • pink eyed purple hulled peas
  • red malabar spinach 
  • black zucchini
  • golden summer crookneck squash
  • kentucky wonder brown pole bean
  • yolo wonder bell pepper {green}
  • sweet banana pepper 
  • keystone resistant giant pepper {red}
  • orange sun pepper
  • anise 
  • sweet italian basil
  • summer savory
  • dwarf jewel nasturtium 
  • german chamomile  
  • fenugreek
  • purpurea echenacea 
  • vera lavender
  • orgegano
  • peppermint 
  • rosemeary
All organic, non-GMO, heirloom seeds. <3

I was pressed for time and quickly purchased all we needed one afternoon in early January. I really wanted to order from Urban Homestead ® Supply but I just ran flat out of time to try and juggle two carts. {Urban Homestead ® Supply doesn't have the largest selection, but they're growing!} 

I also wanted to try out Baker Creek. I've ordered from Heirloom Acres before and I've always had trouble with the loooong wait for shipping. I received a Baker Creek catalog in the mail in the Winter and I just loved what I saw! Only problem was, it's lost {or a friend/family member brought it home and conveniently forgot to tell me.... ;} and I forgot the name of the company when I was ordering. 

Ah, well. I didn't have great success with germination from my Heirloom Acres seeds this Autumn, but it could most DEFINITELY have been my own fault (planted when it was still way to warm and dry). However, everything I got from  Urban Homestead ® Supply germinated despite the heat. Hmm... 

new mini green house!!!
So, I've been talking about transforming Jasco's fish tank into a seeding box. 

Daddy overheard me, and a couple of days ago he and Jasco made a huge weather-proof seeding box. What's more? The lid is made out of some wavy plexi-glass stuff that makes the seeding box double as a mini green house! I'm really excited about it. Before planting, I loaded the box with seeding pots and set the mini green house in the sun. In only an hour, the soil's temperature went from 50° to an average of 75°.  Awesome for planting...

i love it!!! :D

past week's to-dos
So, I've been looking forward to showing off my completed to-do list to y'all today. :) So I've been working like crazy to get it all done. 

On the to-do list:

  • make 40 newspaper seeding pots
check!

  • make signs for seeding pots {or ask Jasco to... whatever works... ;}
ran out of popsicle-sticks, so jasco cut some narrow
pieces out of some junk wood we had laying around.
at first i considered just going to the store for more popsicle-sticks
but this was more frugal and resourceful... i know it's small -
but i'm glad i'm starting to think outside-of-the-box more
check!
  • fill up 40 seeding pots
  • plant tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, banana peppers and cayenne
i woke up this morning to find that the table i set it
on collapsed in the middle of the night. i think we salvaged most
of them.. had to replant some. that's why it's a mess anyways.
check, check!

  • move compost bin into the sun
we purchased this compost bin online
it works well, but it's a little small for the amount of compost
that we really need. talking to the family about making a
compost pile somewhere..also caught some family members
throwing away some compostable items in the kitchen. naughty, naughty
i hope i put a stop to that one with my passionate ten minute lecture ;)
check!
  • make edging for the future herb garden
I was VERY close to just announcing failure of completion on this one yesterday, when my conscience began scolding me for the planned procrastination. 

So, at 5 o'clock yesterday without any ado I just got right outside and started using that shovel. 

In two hours, this was born:




{satisfaction} oh, aand the grass pieces I dug up have been planted in the once-very-bare ground of the dog kennel. Daddy's hoping I'll get the hankerin' to edge somethin' else so he can have some more plugs for the future chicken coop. I told him I'd see what I could do. ;)

To-Do List Status: Complete. {woo!}

what's next?
And I've gots to share our to do list for the upcoming week. I have exactly 8 days to try and get the bulk of the Spring garden tasks out of the way so I can focus on our family's online store {coming soon?} So, here goes:
  • at least locate broken concrete/rocks to use in herb garden edging
  • lay down newspaper to kill grass in herb garden
  • trim evergreen hedges behind herb garden
  • trim {prune} fig tree...
  • learn how to prune a fig tree {heh - I think this one should come before the preceding... ;}
  • purchase lattice for malabar climbing "spinach"
  • prepare containers for malabar 
  • remove weeds around fig tree, pomegranate tree, privacy hedges and flowering shrubs
  • finish weeding/plowing veggie garden
  • harvest more native chives
  • research more about planting herbs 
So much to do. Why am I still writing this blog?!

Soli Deo Gloria,