Pixie Perspective: Garden Close ups

Imagine being three inches tall and wandering through a vegetable garden.  Well, today you can.  I took my camera into the garden this morning for a bunch of gardening close ups. 

I love to get down on my hands and knees in the morning and look through my plants to see what's growing and what's blooming.

 

There's a lot of hope in this garden, and that's the whole idea.

Green Thumb Out

They're cute, they're furry...

AND THEY ARE FOR SALE IF THEY DIG UP MY GARDEN AGAIN!!!
(Ok, maybe not really)

THE EVIDENCE:

While drinking my herbal tea this morning, I was gazing out the slider at my garden, as I so often do, and I noticed that something was amiss with my first garden bed.  I also noticed that I left the hose out, which pushes down the plastic fencing, allowing entrance to The Trampler, and the Fuzzy Digger. 

Just yesterday, I planted some squash seeds at the top of this bed.  Nearer to the bottom, were the cantaloupe seedlings.  Were is the important word there. 

Here are the culprits. 

#1:  The Trampler

Previous offenses:

Pepper Garden of 2013, The Trampler was captured within the fencing of the pepper garden, having let himself in and then being unable to turn around, thereby finding himself stuck and requiring assistance. 

 

Please notice the decapitated "Pink Pig" toy belonging not to him, but to the other canine suspect.

#2:  The Fuzzy Digger

Previous offenses:

The Fuzzy Digger has been observed on numerous occasions with her face and front paws in the tomato buckets, digging in or eating the chicken manure.  Ewwwww!!!

 

The Fuzzy Digger's prints were all over the 2014 pepper garden this morning.  What do these dogs have against the peppers? 

So which one was it?

This print says that it was probably The Trampler...

 

...and these feet pretty much prove it. 

But, in case you need a confession, I happen to have one right here:

 

This kind of sing-song happens whenever I go into the yard and start tinkering around.  The Trampler always barks in excitement.  This morning, though, The Fuzzy Digger decided to chime in.

 

In case you're wondering, The Trampler is not, and has never been aggressive toward her.  He pokes at her to get her to play with him.  He has never hurt her intentionally, although he did injure her one when they were running and she stopped and he stepped on her.  They are not snuggly-lovey to each other, but they are great friends.  So, please, don't think that she is afraid in this video.  This girl rules the roost for sure. 

 

Well, after the drama, I straightened the bed back up, and lookie lookie what popped back up!!! 

 

Those are my cantaloupe seedlings, alive and well. 

I have no idea where my squash seeds ended up, I guess I'll just keep watering and see.

 

The dogs are pretty cute, and they make me laugh, so I guess I'll keep them.

 

Green Thumb Out

(Stay tuned for my next post - - it's a bunch of garden close up photos.  I think they came out fantastic!)

 

 



 
 



 

 





 

L is for Ladybug!

 

My dear friend, Liz, is an avid gardener, and she brought me a present last night.  A bunch of ladybugs!!!  Her real job is working as a TK teacher, and she and the kids collect ladybugs from the school field, and place them in the kids' flower garden. My little garden pipsqueak is one of her students. Yesterday's collection made it's way to my house, and I'm so excited to show you some of the pictures I took.  I'm not sure how many ladybugs and ladybug larvae she brought me, but it was A LOT.  Probably about fifty.  I let them go last night just before sunset, and when I came out to check on them this morning, it was like playing hide-and-seek.  It was great finding the little spots of red intermingled with all of the other colors in the garden. 

 

This is my favorite picture.  I found several ladybugs nestled along the row of marigolds in the center of the bean bed. 

 

In case you're wondering why I'm so excited, ladybugs are beneficial garden insects.  They eat aphids, mites, gnats, anything that they can find that's gnawing away at your garden.  I'm hoping they stick around a while, and that the friendly praying mantises that come around leave them alone and find their own meals, instead of making them a meal!!!

 

Here are a few more of the good shots I took. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you like the pictures!

Green Thumb Out.  :)

 

April 18- Step in to my Garden

Hey!  How are you?  Lovely to see you!   What's that?  You'd like a garden tour?  Well, sure! 

Here we are just before Easter. Today is April 18th, and the garden is growing up nicely.  I love having so much more room than last year!!! 

From this angle, you can see all of the raised beds we put in this year.  That's the Fuzzy Digger, in the foreground.  Even though that fence is only about 2 feet tall, she doesn't seem to have any interest in going in there.  This garden runs the width of my yard.  On one side is concrete, on the other side is fence, but it only takes up about 1/5 of the grass area, so there's still plenty of room for the kids to run, for the pool, and for the doggles to bound and play.  I think it's not too bad for a city yard. 

Here's a closer look at some of the stuff growing in there:


Oooh, isn't this exciting?  It's an empty bed!!!!  Ha ha...  if you look closely, you can see that there are some little baby sproutlings in there.  They are cantaloupe seedlings.  I'm pretty excited about trying to grow cantaloupe.  The research I've done said they need lots of sun and heat.  Well, if there's anything that I can guarantee they'll get, it's sun and heat.  The Inland Empire is great for that. 


This bed has several different onion varieties, and lots of beans.  I have the bean rows planted in 3's, but once I see which ones are strongest, I'll have to break down and thin them out.  I might be able to squeeze two in each row, but definitely not three.  They'll just be too crowded, and competing for space and water. 

I had a lot of luck with beans, last year.  (See my post on Fridge Dilly Beans here)  I had about eight plants last year and once we got to July and August, I was pulling about a half pound of beans a week.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to double or triple that this year.  I'm going to make lots of dilly beans, and also stock up the chest freezer.  What chest freezer, you ask?  The one I'm hoping to buy very, very soon.  I'll have to lean on The Guy a little for that.... 

Here is the tomato bed.  It's a little crowded, I know.  I'm going to put in a support system for these few tomatoes in here, so that they don't crowd and take each other over.  I've had them in this tight before, and they did ok, as long as they had good support.  They are still small at this point, but very, very soon, I'm going to have to get on the ball there.




Here are some close up views that I thought were totally nifty.  (Yep, I said nifty!)

 

Lookie, lookie!!!  That's my first "Lady of Shalott" David Austin Rose of the year.  It's this lovely salmon color on the front of the petal, and the back is yellow.  And the smell.... oh man, it's so fragrant it could just knock you over.  Love, love, love!!!  I think I might go pick out another one for Mother's Day this year.

 

 I was so frustrated with my blackberry bushes last year.  They. Did. Nothing.  I got thousands of flowers, and no fruit.  Hopefully they will perk up and produce much more this year.  The strawberries have been producing lots of fruit this year, so hopefully these guys will follow suit. 

 

 I told myself I wasn't going to grow squash this year, because nobody eats it except me, but then the seeds came in my Seeds of The Month Membership package (https://averagepersongardening.com/seedsclub/step_2.php)*, and I planted them anyway.  Squash blossoms are so gorgeous, and they really are (supposedly) so easy to grow, although mine succumbed to blossom rot last year (boo).  What the heck, right?  It's just one pot!!!  So there they are.  There are lots of buds, but no blossoms just yet. 

 Cucumbers.  Didn't I say I wasn't going to grow cucumbers again?  Yeah, I did.  I lost them to powdery mildew last year and I was so frustrated.  But I am a determined gardener.  I'm not going to give up.  I'm also going to try to stay ahead of it, because I know it's coming!!! 

 

 This is a new plant for me.  I've never grown it, but I love to eat it!!! OKRA!!  Roll it in cornmeal and pan fry it... yum!  Add it to soups and stews and it's oh so yummy.  I planted about 20 seeds in this pot, after soaking them all night, as directed, an only this one little sprout came up.  It's okay though, it only takes one!!!  I'm going to be keeping my eye on this one.  I'm very excited.

 

These little babies are in the garden bed next to the tomatoes.  More cucumbers.  I know, I know... but LOOK!  There are already little babies on there.  All the frustration from last year just fades away when I see that.  They are so cute... tiny little babies that are just waiting to grow so I can make them into PICKLES!  Yep, that's the plan. 

Canning is definitely on my agenda this year.  Real canning. 
Wish me luck.  I'm hoping to find someone at church who can help me learn.  Yes, I can learn from a book, but I'd much rather have a teacher. 

Well, that's the update and garden tour for today.  Stay tuned. 

Green Thumb Out.
* If you're interested in purchasing a membership to the Seeds of the Month Club (https://averagepersongardening.com/seedsclub/step_2.php), please use this referral code. CAU4IB0AZ3  If you do, I get a free subscription equal to whatever length of membership you purchase, which will help me keep this blog going next year, at a reduced cost. Then once you become a member, you'll be able to pass these savings along to your gardening friends! Thank you so much!

It's GO TIME!!!

I have been away for a while.  I went on a Facebook hiatus, and so I have been spending a lot less time on the computer.  On the upside, I've been spending a lot more time doing other stuff!  Reading, gardening, housework (say it isn't so!), and spending some really great time with my kids. 

 

As the mother of a soldier, I value any time I get with my son.  He's 19 years old, and completely grown, but I still feel his absence daily.  Being 2,000+ miles away from my children is not my favorite thing.

 

Here he is coming down the stairs at the airport for his Christmas visit.  Made his Momma happy for sure.

But last week, I was getting baptized, and guess who showed up, and surprised me at the Pipsqueak's school the day before my baptism? 

Yep, the one and only!  You know those videos where the Moms scream and cry and run to their son, and throw their arms around them?  They are SO NOT FAKING IT!

It was so awesome to have him home for a while.

Anyway, all that to say that I have been busy, and that's why I haven't been blogging.  That, and the fact that I didn't want to blog about nothing...I was waiting until the "new" garden was ready for public viewing. 

 

So last year, if you haven't been following, I had the garden set up on the side of the house, and everything was in pots.  This had it's benefits, and it's drawbacks. 

 

 

It looked like this.  This is in the beginning stages, but later in the season it was so overgrown that you couldn't see from end to end.  Crazy.  The benefits were that it was compact, and out of sight, although I'm not sure that out of sight is really a benefit.  I, personally, think that a garden is a beautiful thing.  The biggest drawback that I found was the pots themselves.  The plants in pots dried out much faster than plants in the ground would.  Another drawback was the air flow.  I think that air flow was reduced in such a small area. 

 

So, the Guy and I knew that we needed a better plan if we wanted a bigger garden.  We decided that taking out about 1/4 of the grass in the back yard was a good idea.  Wow, that was a lot of work.  Thankfully, The Guy purchased a rototilling attachment for his weed-whacker and it made quick work of the grass.  Then we just had to flatten everything out and get the ground ready to place the raised beds atop it.  So here it is....  the official unveiling!

 

 

The Guy has promised me two more beds, and I'm still planning to line the fence with Lavender and Faux Heather to attract the bees I so desperately crave.  See the little bird bath looking thingy?  It's a bee bath!  They love water, so I put in a little water feature for them.  Off to the side, I have the container garden.  If we add the two additional beds, then I'll have to find another home for them.  The fuzzy digger puts her face in the pots and eats the dirt, since it smells like chicken manure, so I have to make sure that the pots are protected.  Yes, both of my dogs can get over that fence with absolutely no problem, but they don't.  They do not like fences.  The fencing is only about two feet high, and The Trampler could step over without even touching it, but he won't.  Every time I step in, he plants himself next to the fencing and waits for me to come out.  Good dog.  :)

 

In the four beds, from right to left we have:

Beans and Garlic

Onions and Bush Beans

Hot Peppers

Tomatoes and Tomatillos

 

I want to start some peas too, but if I don't get them in within a week or two, it will be too hot for them. 

 

While writing the first draft of this post,  I called this the Pot Garden, and then decided to rephrase that. (I fixed it)  This is the CONTAINER garden.  Yeah.  Didn't want anyone questioning THAT.  This is California, not Colorado.  (chuckle)

 

 

Remember the pathetic little herb garden I had going on in this big pot last year?  The rosemary, chives and oregano from last year are still going.  There are two different kinds of oregano growing here.  Greek and Mexican, I believe.  One bushes and one creeps.  All I know is I LOVE IT ALL!!!

 

These are four of the Indeterminate tomatoes I have going this year.  I'm going to have to space the pots out before too long, but for now, everyone is friendly and hanging out close together.  Pictured here are: Early Girl, Sun Gold and TWO (count em, TWO) Mortgage Lifter Tomato plants.  I also have one in the back bed.  Oh yeah.  Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes are my absolute fave.  I'm going to break last year's record of 14 1/2 oz last year, I just know it. 

 

So that's where we stand as we move into spring.  Happy Gardening!  As my favorite gardening blogger, Mavis, from onehundreddollarsamonth.com says:  Growing your own food is cool!!!

If you haven't started gardening yet this year, get started!!!

 

Green Thumb Out.

 

An Orange Apron Does Not an Expert Make

Photo from ecohoneybees.com
 

The Guy and I went to the local hardware store the other day, and as I do, I broke off and headed to the garden section, while he stayed inside looking at something manly.  I was on a fact-finding mission..  Last year, I had a serious lack of bees.  I think that might be what plagued my berries...  Beautiful flowers grew, but they never turned into fruit.  Lack of pollination, methinks. 

Bees.  I need bees.  I need those little pollenators to come and visit my berries, the squash, and the cukes.  I need them to work their magic so I have a beautiful garden, brimming with flowers and fruit, so much that I have to give it away or donate it to the local food pantry.  Without the bees, it's onsy-twosies, and that's not going to work again this year. 

So off I go.  I wander through the garden section, looking at flowers, thinking that if I add some flowers to my garden, I'll get the bees.  Now, in the new location that the garden sits in, there are fences on two sides.  On one side are these huge hedge-like plants that are drought tolerant and bust out with TONS of yellow flowers.  Yellow is good right?  Bees like yellow.  But on the other side, it's just fence. 

I have it mind to plant more flowers interspersed with my veggies this year, for beauty, as well as pest control, and of course BEES.  Nasturtiums and Marigolds will work nicely, but I want some REAL BEE ATTRACTORS...  so I thought, "Hey, let's go talk to the experts."  (rolls eyes)

The first orange apron I stopped looked annoyed to be stopped.  Fortunately for me, I'm the customer, and I don't really care what she thinks.  So I say, "Hi, can I just ask you a question?  I want to attract bees to my garden this year, and I was hoping for some plant recommendations."

(blank stare)

And then she says:  "You WANT bees?"

Oh man.  I really should have walked away at that point.  Just turned on my heel and walked away. She leads me over to iceplant.  Iceplant.  She tells me that iceplant attracts bees.  She's right about that.  Who hasn't walked past a hill covered in iceplant, and noticed all the little bees busily working on the flowers?  But iceplant is ground cover, and as effective as it might be, ground cover will not work in the garden.  I must have looked less than impressed by her recommendation, because she extends that pointer finger and points at a guy in a green shirt.  (She clearly has never worked in guest service at a company that actually values the way people are related to, like Disney or Marriott, because seriously, the pointer finger????) 

"See that guy?"  she says.  "The one in the green shirt?  He's the vendor.  You should go talk to him."

BINGO!!!!  I was not going to let him get away.  And I didn't.

He knew exactly why I wanted bees, and he was soooo helpful.  He said that when the spring plants come out, I should look for faux heather, but in the meantime, he pointed out a lovely flowering Jasmine and also suggested lavender...  both of which I picked up.  I decided to line the divider fence with the lavender and faux heather, and add a Jasmine or two against the fence to the neighbors.  Hopefully these things will help with the bees. 

My advice:  Don't go with the garden center at all...  head to your local nursery, like I should have and talk to someone who walks the walk and talks the talk of a local gardener.  My favorite is Louie's Nursery in Riverside. http://louiesnursery.com/  But I can't always get there, and when I do, I tend to get myself in trouble financially....  lol 

In this case, I was very lucky that the vendor happened to be working at the time.  He was very knowledgeable and helpful... 

BUT THE STORY ISN'T OVER....

The Guy and I were standing in the checkout, and I was telling him about the experience I'd just had in the garden section.

"I told her I wanted to attract bees, and she looked at me like I'd grown another head...  it's a garden center...  don't you know about the birds and the bees?  Seriously?"

The Guy just laughs, as I rant...  we've been over this.  He's certainly not going to ask me why I need bees...  he remembers me out there with a paintbrush trying to hand pollenate those darn berries. 

So I take a deep breath, and I'm done with the rant.  We're done checking out, and we start to pull the cart (with the lavender and the jasmine) away.  The girl from the checkout catches my eye and says,

"Seriously, though.  Why do you need bees?"

SMACK. MY. HEAD.

Green Thumb Out

Grave Digging in the Burbs

Grave digging... snort... 

 

Thanks to my Mom and Dad doing a backyard re-do, I came into some bricks.  These are not your normal little brick red bricks, either. They are serious bricks, retaining wall bricks.  They are big and heavy and exhausting to move.  I have about 45 of them.  This is obviously not all of them, but there, now you have the idea. 

 

I thought and thought about how I wanted to use them, and I decided that I wanted to dig up some of the grass in the yard and make vegetable beds from them. 

 

So on Monday, The Guy and I got to work.  We dug, and we hauled, and we dug some more.  Pulling up grass, moving dirt, laying weed blocker, moving stone.  By the end of the day, we were tired.  Unfortunately, it didn't look much like a garden bed at all.  It looked like a grave, out there in the corner of my yard.  Oh man. 

 

The Guy left me to go work on another project, and I got to work laying the stone in, to keep the grass out of my new bed.  The retaining wall bricks are angled, so I alternated laying them face up, then face down, so there wouldn't be holes in which the grass could come through.  I thought that, for sure, once I got the stone in, it would look better. 

 

It still kind of looks like a grave though, doesn't it?  Now, I still have 3 cubic feet of compost and 3 cubic feet of chicken manure that need to go down (not all of it in that grave... er, hole).  I have to fashion some fencing first, before I do that, because once the chicken manure goes in, the Trampler and the Fuzzy Digger will think it's snack time.  Ugh, gross...but true.

 

 

On Wednesday morning, I had some time before the Pipsqueak had to be at school, and we had no plans, so I decided to see what I could do to make it look less like a grave and more like a stylish, custom garden bed.  This is what I came up with: 

 

 

 

 It still needs some cleaning up, and yes, it still needs some compost and manure to plant in, and mulch to finish off...  and of course, it needs plants.  It's still a wee bit early for my seedlings, provided they leaf out and are ready in time.  Othewise, I have a date with Louie's Nursery...

 

At the top corners, I have two determinate tomatoes that I picked up over the weekend, and in the middle there's a Jasmine, which should attract bees to the area.  It is sooooo fragrant!  When it was in the house it was overwhelming!!!  At the bottom corners, I planted some lavender for the same purpose...  bees!!! 

 

Yes, I built that trellis for the Jasmine, and I know it's pathetic.  Don't judge. 

 

So that's that.  Now the Pipsqueak is banging on me for breakfast...

 

Green Thumb Out.