Side Project

Well I've actually had a number of side projects this spring, but I just started on the biggest one this past weekend. I found a deal on Craigslist several weeks ago and purchased a truck load of flagstone for $75.00. We wanted to expand our back patio as we love to entertain and spend time relaxing back there. The incredibly small patio that was already here was not bad for two lawn chairs, but to have four we had to sit knee to knee.

I've got a few pictures to show the started project, yesterday I pulled all the stones from the garage and placed them together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. I have them laid out temporarily in place until I can get some sand to lay them in. The sand should keep them level and hold them in place.



In this corner I've made for a small flower bed. I'm not yet sure what we'll plant here.



Cami is helping me sweep the garage where I had the stones stored.

Almost all planted

Well I have taken an awfully big bite this spring, I hope I can chew it. It's the middle of April and I'm still not done planting. So much for my early start. Anyway I'm lacking my peppers, but I'll list what I have in the ground already.

1. Lettuce
2. Onions
3. Potatoes
4. Asparagus
5. Chives
6. Garlic
7. Cucumbers
8. Corn
9. Green Beans
10. Zucchini Squash
11. Tomatoes
12. Pumpkins
13. Cantaloupe
14. Watermelon
15. Strawberries
16. Thyme
17. Oregano
18. Basil
19. Cilantro

I have still to plant:

1. Bell peppers
2. Jalapeno peppers

It seems this year I'm working much harder, and getting less done so far. However if I get 20% of what the packages say to expect I'll have plenty to make the effort worth it. I've decided that I do not have as good a soil as I would like. It holds moisture well, but it is a much heavier soil than I had accessed last year. I've noticed this year I am dealing with big clumps of dirt when I try to plant seeds. I did amend the soil when I tilled the garden with leaves and compost, but I did not have nearly enough compost to do it proper.

My schedule is so busy that I do most of my yard work and gardening in the short window of opportunity I get each day that my daughter takes a nap. However we planted our beans, corn, and squash together. She is the cutest little helper, but we usually take two steps back for every one forward.

This is Cami Bringing me the corn seeds while trampling the garlic and chives.
Below you can see her diligent efforts as she places each seed in the exact spot that my finger touched the ground as I told her to plant it.


The next picture is a reference of scale. I planted three rows of corn with the beans and squash mixed in. You can see the rows clearly in the first picture and here I've placed a hoe on the ground with a couple seed packets to show where the beans and squash seeds are. Between them corn is planted ever three inches and the pattern repeats itself.


If the veggies in my garden are not too over crowded and everything comes up I'm hoping there is not enough room for weeds. although I don't think it's likely to work out that way.

Early Risers in the Ground

Well, the moon sign is right, and a tip I picked up from http://www.growveg.com/ lead me to believe it was time to put a few things in the ground. I started by tilling the whole garden for a second time. A lot of the grass and weeds had taken root again from where I had tilled it two weeks ago. So today I planted: lettuce, onions (red and white,) garlic (should have been in the ground long ago,) chives, potatoes, and asparagus.

This first picture is a shot of the whole spot. In the foreground you can see my lazy bed, I had some t-post and 6' chainlink fence laying around so that's what I used. i'm going to have to cut down the chainlink it's way too tall I think I'll try to make it around 4' so I can easily reach over the top to add straw and soil as my potatoes begin to grow. I've plated only russet potatoes this year, but considering the fact that I got nothing out of my potatoes last year I think this plan is quite ambitious. We'll see.

To the right, the east of the potatoes I've planted asparagus. I've never grown it I don't know anything about it. I'm not sure if I will even be able to harvest from it this year which is why I stuck it in the corner, so it's out of the way for keeping all year.

This is an interesting design I am going to try out. The idea of companion planting appeals to me and sense I really haven't much to loose I decided to try it out with a few of my crops. Today I planted chives and garlic, but within this 6x8 spot I will also plant jalepinos and cilantro. It will be a crowded spot, but that's sort of the plan. The garden is laid out in blocks more than rows, like a traditional garden.

The vines you see in the chainlink are old honeysuckle vines, as I mentioned this is recycled fencing. I'm not sure why I have so many pictures, when they are all showing dirt.

Forgive this picture I must have moved or something. I planted onions today, but this is another 6x8 block of the garden that will later contain bell peppers as well. I plan to put 10-12 bell pepper plants in this spot with these onions, just to give you an idea of how closely I plan to put these plants together.

Finally I have four 6' rows of romaine lettuce. I planted them in front of a trellis I put up to grow my cucumbers on. later in the summer I plan to plant some tyme in between the rows of lettuce. I know nothing of herbs, but I've decided to add a few to the vegitable garden as an experiment. Perhaps if things go well I'll set aside a plot for a real herb garden next year.

In the back of a couple of these pictures you can see mounds of dirt just off the edge of the garden, this is my blueberries and blackberries, another first. I'm very excited to see how they do. I think if this garden goes well I will have gotten the absolute most out of a small space. The entire spot is 16'x45'. But I have big plans for this little spot.

A Month Earlier than last year.

Well I borrowed a tiller from my wife's grandfather again, but did it more than a month earlier than last year. The grass is starting to green up here now but has yet to really start growing. I thought if I turned over the garden spot earlier I might be able to till again later in the year before planting the bulk of my veggies. Hopefully this will save me from a lot of the hand weeding that I had to do last year. Besides the work that goes into a garden anyway, I'm a full time student, I have a full time job and my daughter will be turning two in May. If left alone the two year old would be more than I could handle, but my wife is my greatest support! She works days and I work evenings so we don't have to pay for day care. Rambling rambling, it's a lot of work is the point.

I didn't take pictures today, but I'll edit this post later to add them when I get 'em.

I had read on the Texas A&M horticulture website that if you are left in the spring with a pile of leaves that have not been properly composted they make a fine soil treatment simply raked out across the garden and plowed under. I am trying this idea this year and I was amazed to see all those leaves disappear. I had a pile that I would guess could have easily filled 20+ trash bags, and I spread them over my spot which is 16' X 45' and I can barely see them now.

well I have high hopes for the garden and I've added a number of new plants and ideas, but I will have even less time to make it happen so hopefully I'm able to work smarter not harder.

Bushes and Grapes

Got out in the wet sloppy mud today, I wish I had the Garden tilled under already, but no such luck with this unusually wet winter we're having in North Texas. I decided to try my hand at a few new things this year and they needed to be in the ground, so I planted 2 blueberry bushes and 6 black berry, along with 2 grapevines. I plan to build an arbor for the grapes but I have a bit of time to get it done.

I had heard that Blue Berries liked acidic soil, but for a lack of peat moss, I dug my holes about 4 times bigger than I needed and turned leaves into the soil that I raked up over the yard back in the fall. If the weather was nicer I would have taken pictures of the whole process, sadly I didn't. I did take one before picture however, but I don't have it up yet. I hope to keep up with the blog a bit better this year than last... we'll just have to see.

Survival = Success

Well After many trials this year I feel confident that the plants that have survived to this point will bear fruit of some kind. For my First attempt at gardening I feel that any success will be very very rewarding for me. Most everything has now been in the ground for nearly 3 months, except the tomatoes that had to be replaced after a late frost.


You can see in the foreground of this first picture my raised beds which I made from 2x6 for my strawberries. But have been primarily used for compost so far.

The garden did not suffer much from the flood. I plan to plant my onions from sets next year instead of seed, or start them much earlier inside. I'm not too sure what the best course of action will be, I'm very disappointed in them this year as only a small handful seem to have made it this far. I've been away on a trip to Missouri so you wouldn't be able to find them for the weeds in a picture so I didn't snap one.

Here are some little bean plants struggling through the weeds, you can see how dry it was while I was away.


I had nothing on my tomatoes when I left but when I came back I had a few tomatoes! Four days made all the difference.



My Carrots are hopefully growing as well bellow ground as they are above ground. Refer to first picture of the whole garden as I've misplaced the one I edited to go here.

My lettuce continues to impress me. We have eaten many salads off this crop now and have given some away to friends and family

FLOOD

It's the day after we had a flash flood run through Gainesville.

I had to leave my car at work and drive a truck home the water over the street was over the headlights, on more than one occasion the water pushed the truck sideways a little bit but I was able to keep it on the road. When I got home, I live on the higher side of town and there was not but about 8-9 inches in the streets in my neighborhood. Unfortunately there is no curb in the ally that runs behind my back yard and I had 8-9 inches over my garden as well.
You can see the raised beds that I put in for the strawberries in the middle of the yard.. they are aligned with the left end of the garden. Directly above them you can see the rows of carrot tops and lettuce, but that big area to the right of them is submerged beans, onions and jalapenos! I have not mowed in two weeks so what looks like dry ground is really just where the grass sticks up above the water. My whole yard was standing or running water last night.

It was pretty dark and my camera tried to focus on the rain drops instead of the yard, but I took a couple pictures from the back door. I hope everything dries out and comes back up. The forecast has rain in it four of the next five days. I suppose I will be saving money on my water bill, I hope it's as much as the plants I'll have to replace cost me 8)