Animals
- 100% Chance Of Vegetables!
We're in the midst of a weather pattern that only a gardener could love! Daily storms have provided enough moisture to make watering unnecessary. The garden has literally exploded with green biomass. Every single seedling has thrived, and...
- When All Else Fails....
Yesterday was a marathon gardening day.The garden is (re)planted.The end. Ok, well, not really the end, because of course I have to tell you what is planted! And...I have come to the conclusion that Mother Nature is schizophrenic.Sorry Mother... but...
- An Agrarian Lifestyle....with Gratitude
It's late afternoon, Thursday.I am sitting here typing with a terra-cotta pot's worth of soil trapped beneath my nails.My clothes, jeans and a long sleeved tee shirt, act as a steel trap for countless tiny pieces of hay...which seem to find their...
- Garden Views
I am so happy I could just dance! "Why?" you ask. Because gardening in my raised boxes is such a joy.... and the boxes are growing like gangbusters!This box is loaded with sugar peas and a couple of cabbages in the front. The sugar peas are just...
- Minerva, Master-weeder
Amazingly, since Minerva has taken up residence in the garden, it is virtually weed free (we won't mention that I spent the entire past week on my hands and knees). Regardless, the garden is the best it has ever looked at this point of the season....
Animals
Eureka!
Breathtakingly beautiful, blue-skied days are upon us now.
Summer has arrived on the farm
and each day is spent in a gardening marathon.
All of a sudden, there is so much to plant!
So far, I have planted sugar peas, onions, radishes, carrots, beets, leeks,
spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash,
cauliflower (Christmas tree and purple varieties),
kale, chard, lettuce, arugula, ground cherries, 40 hot pepper plants,
18 sweet peppers, a bazillion flowers,
and broccoli.
The broccoli is getting full and lush.
Examining the plants today, I realized that it won't be long until they are under attack
by cut-worms.
I thought it might be prudent to dust the plants with some diatomaceous earth
in order to thwart any predatory attacks.
This is the first year that I am using DE for insect pest control.
I have read that it is good to dust your plants when they are wet so that the DE sticks to the leaves.
I watered the leaves and thought about how I might go about dusting them.
You know how sometimes you get a sudden lightening bolt of inspiration?
EUREKA!
I thought of a great idea for dusting with the DE without having to get myself messy.
A flour sifter!
Since DE is about the consistency of flour, I thought this might be a way to dust the plants
and have more control over how much DE gets used.
I must say...
this sudden stroke of inspiration proved to be one of the most genius ideas that I have come up with to date...and so simple!
I might just have to patent this new DE applicator!
Feel free to steal my idea!
While I was weeding the aisles between the raised beds,
this little fellow hopped by.
I asked him to bring his friends to the garden...
as they can significantly decrease the insect population.
In addition to work on the vegetable garden,
I have been planting lots of containers and flower beds.
The wagon that I planted last week is filling in nicely.
I planted another vertical planter and hung it on the barn.
In keeping with the galvanized theme,
old buckets have become hanging planters.
I drill holes in the bottom of each and line the bottom with a piece of screen
to allow water to drain, but soil to be retained.
A flat-back bucket hangs on the post with the farm bell.
Last week's plantings are getting prettier each day...
Gardening is just a little sweeter this year with these three right next door...
Such adorable sweetness...
such a good addition to the farm!
The twins are filling out nicely...
even getting a little chubby!
- 100% Chance Of Vegetables!
We're in the midst of a weather pattern that only a gardener could love! Daily storms have provided enough moisture to make watering unnecessary. The garden has literally exploded with green biomass. Every single seedling has thrived, and...
- When All Else Fails....
Yesterday was a marathon gardening day.The garden is (re)planted.The end. Ok, well, not really the end, because of course I have to tell you what is planted! And...I have come to the conclusion that Mother Nature is schizophrenic.Sorry Mother... but...
- An Agrarian Lifestyle....with Gratitude
It's late afternoon, Thursday.I am sitting here typing with a terra-cotta pot's worth of soil trapped beneath my nails.My clothes, jeans and a long sleeved tee shirt, act as a steel trap for countless tiny pieces of hay...which seem to find their...
- Garden Views
I am so happy I could just dance! "Why?" you ask. Because gardening in my raised boxes is such a joy.... and the boxes are growing like gangbusters!This box is loaded with sugar peas and a couple of cabbages in the front. The sugar peas are just...
- Minerva, Master-weeder
Amazingly, since Minerva has taken up residence in the garden, it is virtually weed free (we won't mention that I spent the entire past week on my hands and knees). Regardless, the garden is the best it has ever looked at this point of the season....