Update on Garden

Last day of March, and the sun has finally come out to warm us back up! It was in the 30s last night, but my plants have been covered for over a week! Should be near 90 this weekend.


My radishes. Can't believe how much is growing in the garden!!! I need to thin these out a bit.

Carrots. They're so cute. Like little bunny ears.

Here's my lettuce

Spinach

Mustard

Onions. I hope they perk back up now that they're uncovered from the cold.

Peas

Beans and corn. These beans are my biggest seedlings so far. So proud of them!
I read that you can plant corn with beans, and the beans will climb the corn. If this doesn't work, a simple trellis will be in place soon.

1 of my 4 Strawberry plants

Tomatoes. They are a little unhappy with the cold too. Hopefully they'll bounce back.

Cabbage

Herbs

I have 4 new plants back here. Two on both corners of the picture that will get quite tall and bloom yellow next spring. And 2 double knockout roses. Along the back fence there, I planted cardinal vines, that will bloom with red flowers all summer and into the fall! My oak is also blooming, and should give us a LOT of privacy this summer from the neighbors.

 

The husband thought I killed this snowflake, but I learned it needs lots of water and fertilizer. It has now almost completely bounced back from my blunder after about a week of TLC.

This is our small, complete shade back garden. I am still looking for a climbing vine for the wall. I have the perfect trellis in mind, something I will reuse/re-purpose. Just need to decide what to put there. It's all shade, and I want flowers, so we'll see. In a couple months you will not recognize this area. The canna's get HUGE here. I can't wait.

Tomato caging

This is my first time gardening in TX, and I've done a lot of reading, and asking around to my fellow gardeners. One thing I learned that I really love, because I love improvising, is to use your tomato cage upside down! Who knew! It seems so strange at first, then if you think about it, maybe that's how they were intended to be used in the first place? Maybe a little lost in translation?

So, I went to Walmart and bought the cheapest cages possible. This being our first year, everything is a bit more pricey than we would like, so I'm going cheap. Next year, if this experiment just isn't enough, I'll improve. But for now, this will suffice.

Here is my cage. Nice and cheap, around $1 at Walmart. See how the base is wider when it's upside down! The base should be wider, because you need strong support at the base as your plants grow bigger and heavier, or they will topple. You can be certain these cheap cages will topple if used the "right" way!

Now, for those pesky eye gougers up top, the sticks that are supposed to go in the ground. Cut them off, or bend them off as I did. 3 times in opposite directions and they snapped right off.

Now, fold the broken stems in half like staples.

You got it! Now you're ready to use the broken stems as staples, and secure the base of your tomato cage into the ground. Secure on all 3 sides of the base.

Here's my baby's, all covered up thanks to a cool snap.

Next on my agenda will be to sew together some garden cloths for a nice cover to my garden. Call it a miniature greenhouse.

Backyard Vegetable Garden 2

So, this morning was incredibly windy, but warm enough to sport a sleeveless shirt and get to planting! I got everything in the ground I had planned. Later in the season, in the empty spots I will plant cucumber, watermelon, tomatoes, and corn.

Here is my diagram.

Backyard Vegetable Garden

Here is my adventure into gardening. We had to do a raised bed because our soil mud, is water-logged black clay. It's nasty. If you stick your shovel in it, you'll be lucky to get the scooper part of the shovel back without breaking the handle!
I had seen a post on The Pioneer Woman's blog, and after cracking up, decided it was indeed my year. I've been dreaming of one of these for at least 10 years, and especially the last 6 1/2 that we've lived in our home.
So, I put my husband to work! I had him build me an 8ft X 8ft box, and fill it with fertile soil. Yes, it stinks. I sure hope the plants reduce the smell. Good thing is, my daughter can smell it and won't get in the "poo dirt". We will likely have to put up either a little picket fence, or rabbit wire to keep both the bunnies and the kids out.

So, here's my box, with half the soil in it. 

Watering the soil down on a cold day. Very glad I didn't plant as the next morning dropped to freezing, and we had a frost.

 
Today, I had the husband nail twine across the bed every foot. We are gardening by the foot, and I already have my plants, seeds, and diagram.
Tomorrow...we plant! I hope the groundhog was right! It's supposed to be 80 tomorrow and I really hope we've seen the last of the frost.

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