Garden Update - April 15th

We found these bushes in the trash in our neighborhood. 

So, we brought them home, replanted them and then moved them again this year.

Being able to actually dig a hole is an all new experience.  The ground in Texas is clay or something horrible and impossible.

These are 'wild grapevines'.  They grow in the CRP behind our house.  Hubby has been pulling them over to try to get them to grow on our fence.

Ants - you probably can't see them.  I dropped Amdro on them.

This is a skeeter vac.  It is an amazing invention and it really works.  Which is great, because there are way too many mosquitos here in FL.

The black and white paper is sticky. This thing draws the mosquitos and the stick to the paper and die.  These little guys were hoping for a quick meal.  Those are dead lizards stuck to it.  You can't really see, but one dropped his tail trying to get unstuck.  Yuck, right?

I would have thought the dead first one would have frightened off any more.

Not so much.

These get changed like monthly.  We are trying to figure out a way to keep them from getting stuck to it. 

These are my morning glories.  Last year, I planted probably 100 packets (5/$1) of seeds.

They never came up.  One measly vine all summer.

Well, this year, I read the directions - and actually soaked them over night. 

It seems to be working!  I have lots of morning glories coming up.

I love morning glories!

These are my wild blackberry bushes.  A friend dug them up and brought them to me last year.  This year, it looks like they may grow some berries.  At least that's what I think the little balls mean.  Are they flowers?  Berries?  I will be reading the Handbook of Nature Study today.

Tomatoe plants.  See the one in the middle?

Is something amiss?

The dirt wasn't too dry, and the cilantro on top is doing well....

Closer examination reveals............

I believe a Jedi whacked it with a light saber.

Or, was trying to save the princess and swung on it. 

I am not sure.

According to my pupils, "not me" is to blame.

Who is that guy anyway?

seedlings are growing.

Except no Lavender or Coleus yet.

Green beans are doing well.

Cynder blocks have gardenia flowers planted in them.

They are supposed to smell bad and chase away the bugs "naturally".

My garden is growing!

My father is the king of mulch.

I am just hoping it prevents some of the "dollar weed".  Have to look that up too.  That stuff is everywhere.

Coming  from Texas to Florida really throws you off.

I have never even heard of most of this stuff.

Our herb boxes.

In row 2, I planted carrots last week because the green peppers didn't seem to be coming up.

I should have waited longer.

Gardening with Friends

She really thought I should let them water the garden.

And she thought he could pull weekds.

HA!

He's gonna get 'em.

Done, now back to the trampoline.

Garden Update - April 7th

Blackberries - on the other side of the fence in our "CRP".

Looking good!

Flower boxes - one for each of us.  We painted them cute.

They hold herbs mostly.

Radishes come up fastest.

mystery plant

mystery plant

mystery row

Beans in the big pots. Marigolds in the cynderblocks.

6 Year old son was bored after the first one.

I made him finish anyway :0)

This is cilantro on top of the tomatoes.

Tomatoes - looking good!

Noon, sunny and clear 75ish degrees.  We were out between 11am and 2pm.  I noticed that our boxed hebs weren't getting much sun.  So, that's why they don't look very good!  I wondered why they had that funny green moss looking stuff on the dirt.

So, I moved them over by the garden in full sun.

We also planted some seedlings today. (4/7)

Green Peppers

Snow Peas

Bachelor Buttons

Lavendar

Coleus

Cukes

Arugula

The garden is in!

Temp - 70

Partly Cloudy and pleasant.

These are my blackberry bushes.  They are on the back side of our fence in our CRP - (stands for you pay for it by you can't use it.

Our blueberry bushes are in these tomatoe cages for now, they are also on the back side of our fence.

These are dresser drawers, we used to have them hung on the wall as part of a shelving display with old drawers, sort of like this, only child friendly, they were screwed into our solid concrete and steel walls of our old house.  Now, they ae containers for our plants.  We painted them and each of the children got to plant their own.

Left to Right

1.  lettus

2. oregano

3.  dill & thyme

4.  basil & marjoram

5.  cilantro & radish

Here is our garden, only 5 rows.  My dad made them really tall, which will be good - last year I could have grown rice, but hadn't really planned for a hydroponic thing.  So, needless to say, all my plants drowned last year.  We managed to eat a couple radishes, but nothing else. 

So, we don't have far to go to accomplish improvement.

The two round containers will be pole beans.  The big dogs got into them last evening, so I needed to brace them with cynder blocks.

I want to plant some marigolds in the holes of the cynder blocks now.

See the orange Home Depot buckets?  This is our version of the Topsy Turvy, but affordable, and it will actually take heavy use.  3 tomatoe plants on bottom, and jalopeno, chives and cilantro on top.

Hubby isn't freaking out over the "looks" of it all yet, so I am planning to plant more.

This is outside the kitchen/breakfast area window.  These are bushes we rescued from a neighbors trash.
My mom planted some little flowers of some sort down there in the front.  They won't grow, or last if they do - my dogs can trample our yard about as well as any herd of cattle.

A bit farther to the left, our bedroom windows.  More bushes, just with mulch.  I want to place some containers with more veggies back here.  It gets full sun.  Hmmm.  Something not to unsightly or appealing to the dogs.