Gardening and Composting

We have grown vegetables in our small backyard for many years now but each year we learn something more about what to do and what not to do.Each year the same problem occurs and that is getting enough water to the plants so this year we consolidated our plants into frames and added drip irrigation to the pots.When we garden in pots we seem to have a better harvest because in our yard there are too many tree roots that compete with our vegetables and the need for water.We purchased irrigation tubing from our building and supply called Lowes. We can buy all the parts we need to put a irrigation spout anywhere we need it to be such as in our pots.This tubing can be cut with scissors and we put ......

We have been doing a lot of work outdoors since it is getting warmer now. A thought came to me yesterday to take lunch outdoors as we did often when I was younger.Years ago we spent more time outdoors than we do now. In the summer it was hot inside and people often went out and sat in the shade to catch a breeze. Often the house was hot and many people had outdoor picnic tables. I used my beaded lace covers to keep the bugs away.And we had a simple meal of roast beef sandwiches, cheese, pickles and potato chips. We had sparkling water over a bit of raspberry cordial.The onions are now up and growing well in the right of the picture. I have other pots filled with onions as well. Eac ......

I cannot believe so much is going on outside since it is only early March. We are at the end of winter now and just a little less than two weeks until spring.I thought I would give you a daily dose of Awwwwwww........My daughter took these pictures of some young squirrels that have been coming out of their nest and venturing out into the yard.Our backyard is narrow and long and it seems bigger than it is because of the odd shape and the way I put down paths all over the yard. The paths wind and twist and we have beds all throughout the yard. The trees are just starting to put out leaves and some of the vines and bushes remain green throughout all the seasons. Our walkway and patio ......

On August 3rd I posted this picture on our victory garden. I had just planted a fall garden and I planted some summer seeds too just to see what would happen.We have been eating green beans, peppers and cucumbers that were planted in the picture above this one.I would have planted a lot more summer veggies if I had thought they would actually make another summer crop. So next year I will know.The green beans have been making just enough to have some as a small side dish off and on.The cucumbers are not bitter and have done very well.We had two bell pepper plants from spring that started blooming again so now they are producing peppers.Here is another one....Some more beans on the oppos ......

We have tried many ways to grow food in our backyard. There have been successful years and many blunders. We have had bugs and animals eating our vegetables, drought and for sure more than our share of weeds.Our backyard changes like the wind. We have built cold boxes fencing for trailing vegetables and used shade cover to shelter the plants from the heat. All the while keeping some kind of vegetable growing.Over time many of our good intentions turn into not such a good idea project because we did not think ahead and wasted money due to wood quickly rotting and weeds taking over in hard to reach areas.I am doing this post to help you to save money if you are trying out bac ......

Since I started my website I post pictures of our garden and things we grow. But I pretty much leave out the hard parts of how we got it this way and just show the results. Last year was a very hard year for me. I had surgery in the spring and did not rebound all year. I would go out for only a few minutes then head back to the house for air conditioning. I was really down and I had to give up on gardening and the yard and just let it go. The entire yard turned into a disaster. One storm after the next, high winds downed limbs, hail.This was summer beans year before last.So here it is 2014 and the weather has been just wacko. We live ......

It is time to get our vegetables planted because spring is showing up everywhere! We added two peach trees to our yard last spring and we did not know if they would pull through due to drought. After a stroll in the yard this is what I see and I am very pleased! Pondering about where I am going to put the vegetables this year. Starting with cucumbers and I will need to separate these three that have sprouted and grown together. If I planted them together like they are now they will all do poorly because each plant will need it's own space to grow strong. This is what I do....... I submerged them in water and I gently swish it back and forth.&nb ......

SPRING / SUMMER 2010 Welcome to around our house 2010, browse around our photos and help yourself to take a look around our past entries posted in left hand side of this website page. Our vegetables are coming in slowly but just enough for us to eat something fresh daily. We are growing some vegetables vertical using arbors. Eggplant Cucumber on Arbor Eggplant blooms Our tomatoes are late this year we have a few cherry tomatoes Small squash patch, we have been getting just enough squash to eat some every couple of days. Guara plants also called swirrling butterflies Blueberries Every couple of days we can exp ......

It is Finally Fall and Biscotti Recipe We know it is fall when our Heirloom Chrysanthemums start to bud out. Somehow we have managed to keep these historic Chrysanthemums alive. Many years ago when I was young there was this very old wooden post office in the small town where we lived. Next door to the post office was a large wooden house and the Post Mistress lived in that house. We all knew her as Mrs. Houston. She had these Chrysanthemums growing around areas in her yard. Then before we knew it time passed, Mrs. Houston grew old and went to a nursing home. A new modern post office had been built and they moved the old post off ......

Gardening 2012 This year could be quite a gardening challenge since winter decided to not show up this year and where we live tornadoes and hail storms seem to be the new rage. I will post pictures with the most recent garden news here at the top. The beans are growing up the arbors now and the cucumbers are reaching up the wire. Mid april We have our first baby zucchini squash. Mid april The peppers are putting out a lot of blooms, the spinach is ready to harvest and starting to bolt. Mid April We have baby tomatoes now mid april Early March and we are harvesting fall planted cabbage from our backyard containers T ......

I just love coneflowers, we have them all over our yard. We have a small yard and just about all of the space has something growing. Along the back path I dug all of the grass out of our backyard and put in paths, flowers, vegetable beds and planted fruit trees. I think Daisies are so elegant. This is called a Twelve Apostles or a walking iris. A neighbor shared a few plants with me and those plants have made many other plants. The wrens are constantly building nests all over our yard. One year they built a nest just above the window airconditioner to my husbands small work shop and he could not use the airconditioner until the ba ......

We live inside a medium size city and have a limited amout of space to have a garden but we still try to grow vegetables and fruits and grow them as natural as possible When we grow our own food we know what has or has not been put on that plant while it has been growing and I prefer to know. Gardening is hard work and I am constantly learning. The picture above was taken close to my back porch. At first I thought they were spiders but I contacted our county extension and they forwarded my pictures to a university and I found that these are Assassin bugs and they are beneficial to our yard and garden. They eat other bugs. I don't put pesticides o ......

I don't always do things the correct way but sometimes you can still get to the same place anyway. These are my bobbins for bobbin lace. My new book and the wrong size crochet thread because I cannot find anything even close to size 70 Here I am pointing out the worker set, the green thread And since my thread was way too large I ended up with a canvas instead of a lace bookmark. But I enjoyed the practice and interesting design. I kind of like the canvas bookmark. Since bobbin lace takes up way too much time during the day I will have to save that hobby for those times when I cannot sleep. Clothes hung out before the temperatures ar ......

We live inside the city limits and have a small backyard. Our yard is odd as it has a triangle shape and we have a street in the back of our house and the front of our house. The point of the triangle is an intersection. We have a lot of trees, shade, poor soil and often drought conditions. But we have a determination to grow as many vegetables as we can in containers. We have planted as many fruit bearing trees that our limited space will allow. We have two pear trees, one fig, two and a half plum and despite the fact that we are not in the right zone we have one grapefruit, one struggling satsuma, one keylime and one very sparse meyer lemon tree.&n ......

Cold weather has arrived and we have two spot lights in the greenhouse. It is keeping it about 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperatures. We have a small camping heater to use when it gets very cold. The daytime temperatures on sunny days are not a problem because when the sun hits the plastic the temperature rises. This is the cold frame built around the keyhole garden that sits on our patio. I will post more pictures on this. This is our little potting shed, I took this just before dawn. The inside walls of the potting shed. The Grandchildren helped me to paint the inside and they had a blast. This is the very end of December ......

OUR RAIN BARRELS Collecting rainwater This has taken a bit of work. We did everything wrong before we could get it right and it takes a lot of tweaking as we go. Rain barrels require maintenance and you must keep screens on all parts to prevent mosquito's. The screens need to be cleaned often during rain/storms. The filter system was difficult because we live under trees so we had to do more with our first flush and add a second flush. The main thing is that it works and stores rainwater to use during our dry spells. A very important thing to remember, no matter how clear your water looks, do not drink Rain water, it must be purified ......

Composting We have been composting for several years now. Due to trees in our yard we have had the problem of tree roots getting into our compost pile. We recent moved one of the compost piles and I wanted to show you what we did to solve our problem with tree roots. These tree roots can really mess up a good compost pile The roots turn into a fine web of roots After getting the soil fairly level we placed newspaper over the soil just to cover the roots to encourage them to go elsewhere. Then we put down thick plastic We placed stepping stones down to use as a semi solid bottom. This is just a temporary holding spot until we make a better place ......

The story of our evolving Worm Bin Our failures and Success! I am fast becoming an expert on how NOT to do things. My gut has been tugging at me that our family should do better with conservation since our environment seems to be suffering from something that is causing changes to our weather and ability to grow food due to too much heat, too much water, not enough water etc. My husband and I first made a solar oven which is another story, then made a bin for worm composting to recycle food scraps and give back to the earth. I read constantly about both of these issues and thought that it would be simple but…… Day 1 The worm composting b ......