Vegetable Garden Update & More
Some of you may have noticed that it’s been a little quieter than usual here lately.
Unfortunate, I injured my left thigh exercising (why does everything happen to my left leg?) which resulted in random sharp pains like someone was sticking a knife in my thigh. Not pleasant. Apparently I have some micro tears in my inner thigh and quadriceps muscle. I’m on a muscle relaxant which makes me sleepy and pain reliever. My Chiropractor has told me to rest and not to do anything at this point (I’m not supposed to even walk until I see him again on Monday) since I don’t seem to be getting better.
You can imagine how hard it is for me to do nothing!
Especially since I’m in the middle of so many different projects. Sigh….
Anyway, since I can’t do anything… I don’t have anything to blog about (I’m not supposed to be walking around taking pictures even).
So I’m taking a break. Hopefully it won’t be for long.
My poor vegetable garden isn’t doing well so far. We had a freak hail storm that shredded some things then we had periods of no rain followed by torrential rain. All of my squash died and I had to re-seed it.
I just haven’t been able to go out and fertilize and tend to it as I normally would.
But I can always count on the cherry tomatoes. They are always the first and most prolific tomato in my garden!.
Kale and kohlrabi planted last fall. I’m sure the kale will be done soon. Which is too bad since we love kale and have it in our breakfast smoothies every day!
Basil for pesto!
I haven’t even been able to post about the blueberries, raspberries, plums, peaches and apples yet!
Hopefully, I’ll be back soon
Loving Hydrangeas
I love hydrangeas and if they weren’t such water suckers I would surround my house with them.
I always thought “Hydrangea House” would be a lovely name for a home. As it is, I have to work to keep mine blooming during our hot summers (which seem to get drier and drier and hotter and hotter).
They are really easy to propigate like forsythia. I wrote about Blooms On a Budget a few years ago and included how I propagate hydrangeas. You can go here if you’d like to read it. It’s really easy!
I thought I’d share a few photos of my hydrangeas with you since most of them started to bloom a few days ago when we got some torrential rain.
I have one Pee Gee hydrangea that’s at the end of it’s bloom and turning this lovely pink color.
The rest are lovely shades of blue!
Have a wonderful weekend!
My Cute Garden Gate
I’ve been wanting to paint at least one of my garden gates ever since I did that post on Colorful Garden Gates! Here’s a look at one gate leading into my vegetable garden that I painted recently.
I have a white picket fence that goes around my vegetable garden (which has two entrances). This is the smaller gate.
I had a little bit of of white exterior latex left and mixed some other odds and ends with it to get this nice shade of green.
The gate is flanked by arbors and one side I have grapes growing up some lattice. The other side has a HUgE KnockOut Rose.
I just love it it! It’s so cheery!
Things are growing behind the picket the fence gate!
Have a wonderful weekend!
DIY Trellis – Make A Trellis Out of Wire
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my back fence line since all my trees and bushes were cut down by Colonial Pipeline during their vicennial right of way maintenance. Since I can’t replant trees I wasn’t sure how I would get some year round green back there. I didn’t want to have to look at wooden fence all the time!
So my idea is to grow vines against the fence! A living wall of green.
Jasmine stays green year round here plus in spring there are the wonderful flowers and fragrance they produce. (Plus, should CP want to come back and do more chopping – these vines are quick to re-grow).
But I didn’t want to have to buy trellises and vines need support especially since I eventually want it to look like this
source: flckr
A wall of green with flowers in the spring. We decided to make what will eventually be an invisible trellis (when the vines grow and cover it).
So here’s what you need to make this trellis: eye hooks, heavy gauge wire, ruler, drill or hammer and nail
DIY Invisible Wire Trellis
Measure out a grid of 12- 16 inch squares (we did 12 in. here but I think we’ll do 16 in. or so since we have a lot of fence to do) and make a mark.
Insert a eye hook at each mark. You may want to pre-drill the hole or use a hammer and nail to make a hole. It’s sometimes hard to get the eye hook screw going.
Feed the wire through the eye hooks. We did all the horizontal first and then the vertical. Twist ends back on themselves to finish off a row.
Plant a climbing plant at the base and train a few vines along the wire to get it started. As it grows it should grab hold by itself but you can help it along the way.
This is a relatively easy and inexpensive trellising system that you can use for all types of plants!
There’s about 100′ feet of fence back there – so I have “few” more eye hooks to screw in
What’s Blooming Now?
Mostly a new attitude Thanks everyone for your comments & advice on my last post. I have contacted the Georgia Public Service Commission and the other parties involved (as have numerous other people). So we’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted. I’m moving on…worse things could happen.
I took a walk in my backyard recently and so many lovely things are happening! So much is blooming or getting ready to bloom in this Georgia yard.
The most interesting thing is that daffodils that I planted in November are blooming now! All my other older daffodils bloomed a few months ago. I didn’t think these newer ones were going to bloom at all this year.
There were only green leaves for the longest time but temps have cooled a bit and now I have the lovely surprise of having another bloom of daffodils!
Hundreds of little Morning Glories are popping up along the picket fence that surrounds my vegetable garden.
Even the hydrangeas are starting to flower!
Some things have come and gone already like the little purple flowers that grow in between the mosaic stepping stones.
Even the roses are in full bloom.
Hope things are greening up and blooming in your neck of the woods!
My Pretty Red Barn
Yes, I finally, finally have a red barn of my own! I started Phase I of this project last year (to paint the barn) and now it’s done and onto Phase II!
Here’s how it looked July 2008. I used to have yellow jasmine and pink roses growing up one side and we used to have a pond.
Here’s the barn painted red.
I just have to hang my barn star back up. I was thinking of painting it but it’s so rusty I think I’ll just leave it alone.
Phase II is to add a shrub/perennial border around the outside. I cut down the jasmine that I had growing because it was just too wild. I also cut down the pink climbing rose but it seems to be coming back. So far I planted a rhododendron because I don’t have any and I bought a Limelight Hydrangea (been wanting one of those). Not sure what else I’ll plant or how big I’m going to make it.
Isn’t that a pretty rhododendron!
Phase III is to create a seating area under the arbor and Phase IV is to build a pond for us to look at whilst sitting under said arbor .
I showed you some photos of red barns back in January.
I”m so happy to have my very own red barn!
Linking to:
Transformation Thursday
Deborah Jean’s Dandelion House
What Will My Garden Grow?
Thought you all might like to see my tentative garden plan for this year.
My husband built me two new beds which are great! They’re 3 ft wide and 11 inches high which is perfect. I can sit on my little garden cart and comfortable bend forward to plant or weed/whatever. So I’ve asked him to change out all my other beds to that height (which he’ll probably do during the winter as it’s too late to switch them up now).
Here are some photos so you can get an idea of the vegetable garden layout so far:
New beds with arbor which will have decorative gourds on one side and Sweet 100′s (cherry tomato) on the other side. I tried growing my cherry tomatoes on this arch last year and it worked really well. My storage shed will go where my ladybug wheelbarrow is.
Compost bins and patio area.
There’s room for more beds.
The old raised beds.
The two original beds.
The veggie garden. I still have to finalize where everything is going to go.
My list of what I’m growing this year:
TOMATOES:
Thessaloniki, Sun Sugar, Zapotec, Hillbilly, Sweet 100′s, Black Cherry, Atkinson, Roma
SQUASH:
Potimarron squash, Cocozelle zucchinia, Zephyr squash, yellow squash, mini pumpkins
BEANS:
Nickel French Filet, Early Bush Beans
Other:
red bellpepper, yellow bellpepper, corn, artichokes, watermelon radish, lettuce, carrots, garlic, onions, cucumber, New Zealand Spinach, decorative gourds
HERBS: (in the garden)
Lemon Balm, Basil, Lavender, Bee Balm
I like to try something new every year and this year it’s decorative gourds.
I plant intensively so I squeeze a lot into a bed! I also try to companion plant but I’ve never really seen a difference so if it works out… it works out, but I’m not going to think too much about it this year. As always, I’ll have plenty of flowers planted alongside my veggies for pollinators and good insects.
What are you planning on growing this year? Maybe I’m missing something – so let me know what your garden is going to grow this year.
Linking to:
Tuesday Garden Party