Being a Good Spring

Well after about 6 days of no rain, 1 of which I had to water, we finally got some rain last night and today. Actually while reading Tami's blog, a big strike hit near the house which resulted in a WOF making an immediate jump onto the couch with me (see below.) So with the exception of one day of watering Mother Nature has done me right this year. So far. I know summer is coming and along with that, HEAT and NO RAIN. But for the mean time, the plants are loving it.

I went out Saturday and got myself 4 bales of straw to cover all of the potatoes. I did spray some Sevin on them a few days ago (and all of the other plants just to be on the safe side) and got rid of most of the beetles that were munching on the leaves. Buried them pretty good so should be good until harvest time. Well, I might have to cover them up a little more later.

Also while I was there I backfilled against all of the onions to cover up the bulbs.

Got a couple more tomatoes set so the bees have definitely been around. These are off of The Youngest Boy's plants he did earlier this year.  

So for next few hours I clipped on all of the tomato plants, weeded (never ending), cleaned up, and watered down all of the straw and green beans. The last two rows I planted have started coming up. Have to get the trellis system built for them. The peas are looking like another week or so for picking. Those we are going to freeze.

As I said at the beginning, it stormed here this evening and I got a visitor. She hates storms. Even the Chewman jumped. 

Here's the sound I was describing last post. A chirp and two whistles. Please help!

Another thing from last post was my starting an exercise program. I have changed my diet quite a bit which is what you have to do with this program. I did start another blog about it. Check it out if you want some good laughs. Working on Working Out

i aM a CouNtin

This weekend's weather sucks. Cold. Not too bad when the sun comes out but still cold. Next weekend though is looking very, very nice. 

It is going to be a busy week, I can definitely see that coming. Wait, let me go check the lottery ticket. Nope, not a winner. So after expelling all of my energy this week I hope I have some more for the weekend's events we sorta have planned. I am going to lay out probably three 4'-0" wide x 25'-0" long ground rows for the potatoes, onion, garlic, etc. As I said in an earlier post I'll have to get some dirt delivered as our really sandy soil doesn't contain much nutrients except for the bermuda wiregrass (darn stuff.)  Renting a tiller is also on the list but I did get a couple of gift cards for Lowes for my birthday so that could be a late present. I also will be turning everything over in the raised beds and adding a little compost to them. Going to extend the 8'-0" long beds together so that there will be three 4'-0" wide x 19'-0" long beds. Still have to do the pergola over them but that will hopefully be done on our April off time. And we'll also head up to the nurseries Saturday morning to look for a few plants, especially strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. So, this weekend's planting list is..

• Potatoes, red and yellow
• Red, yellow, and white onions
• Garlic
• Asparagus
• Carrots, Danvers half long
• Cabbage, Copenhagen
• Lettuce, Mix loose leaf
• Strawberries
• Blackberries
• Blueberries

Amy has her flowers she has to figure out what to do with. The front beds needs a reworking after last year. 

Picked this up at Walmart this morning. Project for this year. Last year it was the $1.00 tomato. This year it is The Boy's tomatoes and cucumbers and this Impatiens kit. Starting it today and we'll wait and see. I was surprised with the $1.00 tomato last year so fingers crossed. 

Well, sitting here in the office typing this I can see that some watering needs to be done. This is my view. 

So let me get off of here and get that done and a few other small projects, maybe some work work. Check in later. 

Plants In, Watering and More To Go.

Ok. i will not complain too much about the cold and warm spells as long as it stays below 40 mph wind speed. This past Saturday was like being in a wind tunnel! 20 mph with gusts upwards of 35-40 mph. Needless to say, not much got done except some minor planting and great buys (more in this below.)

Sunday was my official planting day as the weather was cooperative, 70 degrees, winds light and variable (always wanted to say that with the voice of the Weather Channel guy.)
Saturday- Went to ReStore and got (10) 2x8s x 8'-0" long for $25.00 and they had a section of micro drip irrigation pieces on sale! This is my deal.....

A Rain Drip timer. Believe me it's worth the $15.00 we paid for it when you forget to turn off the hose! Also got some parts and pieces I needed like elbows and plugs for the tubes for a buck a box. We also went to the Mortex Outlet and a few other places we probably didn't need to go. After we got back I went ahead and planted my green beans, thinned the carrots out, and planted peas (probably too late) and radishes. 

Sunday- After my compulsory Call of Duty Black Ops session, I went ahead and did some sharing of my transplants as I always grow too many, and got the Roma, Big Boy, Better Boy, Cherry (almost forgot btw),  squash and eggplant planted in the beds. I do hope we do good again this year. The tomato plants were about 6'-6" last year. I also plugged and rerun the irrigation system which took some time in itself. If you do not have one of these, you need one.

Front porch with my overgrowing obsession with plants, This is just a minor shot of what i have going on. I planted some Alyssum (Carpet of Snow and Royal Carpet) together on the side of the house. Those pics next time.

Bed 1- Onions doing real good. lettuce and cabbage so so. 

Bed 2- Tomatoes and that's all. 

Beds 1 and 2. Bed 4 is going on the far side of #2, at the top of the picture. The only room I have left.

Bed 3- Eggplant, carrots, beans, peas, and in the buckets are MM76 and Bush Cukes. I may move these to the new bed once I get it done this weekend. You can also see the Nasturtium on the lower right. I planted some more of these seeds throughout the beds. 

The watering lines look a mess I know but I have found that you have to let them be long just to make some tight turns you may have to do. You can't put too much pressure and bending on the connections or they'll leak. Plus it's easier to move a head around to somewhere else if you need to. I have it set up to water at 6 am everyday for 5 minutes until it starts getting hot outside. Then it will be 10 minutes. Always in the morning though. 

WOF of the week....

Sadly the dog gets more photos of herself than the rest of us combined. As you can see there's nothing going on inside.