It’s alive!!!!!
I have something growing in my garden!!!! I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it's something that I planted, and it's growing!!! I THINK it may be lettuce. It's where I planted lettuce and kidney beans, and the lettuce was supposed to germinate faster, so I'm assuming it's lettuce. We'll see in time though.
You'll have to excuse me...this is my first garden, so I'm pretty excited! 
Yesterday we planted some strawberry plants in our front bed. There HAD been some climbing rose bushes in there (with nothing to climb), so we dug them up and planted them next to our fence (to give the poor things something to climb!). The front bed is terraced somewhat, so it was just asking for strawberries! I bought six plants. This year I'll concentrate on having it send out runners rather than actually bearing fruit, but NEXT YEAR...mmmmmmmmmmmm!
My tomato plants and broccoli plants I have started aren't doing so good. I'm not sure what the problem is, but they seem to have just stopped growing and just don't look good. I bought some more dirt to add to the other half of the garden, so tomorrow we'll put that all down and I'll go ahead and transplant them. Technically they aren't big enough yet, but I figure anything is better than how they are doing now! My peppers aren't doing well at ALL. I have one nearly microscopic plant that has come up. ONE. And it's not looking so great either. Wish I knew what the problem is!!!
(My lettuce - or whatever it is LOL - looks REALLY good!)
Kelli wrote,
Okay, so share with me how to start/plant a garden. I have no clue. I need a step-by-step manual for dummies!
Link | May 29th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
razorbackmama wrote,
I borrowed a book from the library called Lasagna Gardening. (I think in a previous blog entry I linked to the website.) I had been planning on tilling our garden plot and all that jazz, but someone recommended this method to me, and IT IS SO EASY!!!!! Basically you layer your garden (hence the “lasagna” name) - you start out with either wet newspaper or cardboard (both of which we have an abundance of!), and then you start layering: peat moss, compost, garden soil, leaves you’ve raked up, grass clippings, pretty much anything. You just layer and layer. I believe the author recommends having a layer of peat moss on every other layer and to have it be the top layer.
So that’s what I did and then planted my little seeds just right in there. Essentially I’ll be composting just right there on the garden spot, and eventually I’ll have a nice, rich layer of soil.
I do have a compost pile that I’ve started as well (it hasn’t actually started turning into compost yet - right now it’s still a pile of watermelon rinds, coffee grounds, egg shells, and the like LOL), and I’ll be excited once I can add that too.
Anyway, the Lasagna Gardening book explains that particular method and then goes into a general gardening “how-to” as well. You can check out other books from the library too, I’m sure.
Of course, you are probably asking the wrong person - I haven’t actually HARVESTED anything yet LOL!!!
Link | May 29th, 2005 at 11:24 pm
vgarr wrote,
Ummm you sure it’s not a weed??? (Just kidding!!)
Good job! We have some plants coming up too.
Our strawberries (all transplanted) are doing great. We actually have some very green strawberries on them. Our raspberries (or is is rasberries??? I never can remember) are not looking as good but not too bad.
4 little very green tomatoes. Peas coming up, and cucumbers coming up too.
Link | May 30th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
razorbackmama wrote,
Har har, VA!
Well, what I thought was lettuce is all zucchini, and they look GREAT!!!!!! But as of today I ALSO have lettuc coming up. It is so neat to watch!
I also have some popcorn coming up (4-5 stalks) and some cantaloupe (they look great too). I moved my sad-looking tomatoes and broccoli. Even though it was WAY too early to transplant them (they were all only about an inch tall), I figured I could either leave them in their boxes and for sure kill them, or take my chances. I moved them yesterday, and already today the broccoli has some new growth on them! Yay! The tomatoes are still sort of iffy though. :-/
I planted the second half of my garden yesterday - put in some watermelon, pumpkin, some more lettuce, more popcorn, a different type of cantaloupe, and 2 different types of carrots.
Bobby is very impressed with how everything is growing too. I kid you not - my zucchini grew VISIBLY from yesterday morning till yesterday evening. I’m using Miracle Gro Garden Soil, and so far I’m VERY impressed!!!!!
Link | May 31st, 2005 at 7:19 pm
Anonymous wrote,
I don’t know where you live but I’m in Pennsylvania and we’ve had an extremely chilly spring.
My garden is finally starting to wake up and I *finally*!!!!!!! have *roses*
Roses, I love them.
But my tomatoes are, for a lack of a better word, stunted! I think its the cold spring. Tomatoes love heat and humidity
I’m sure we’ll look forward to plenty of that in days to come.
Link | June 1st, 2005 at 5:15 am
razorbackmama wrote,
Our spring has been warm, but really I haven’t been able to put anything in the garden till the last few weeks, to make sure all danger of frost is gone. We aren’t from here (NE WA) originally, so this whole “waiting till Memorial Day to put in a garden” thing is so strange! We’re from Arkansas, which has about 100 more days in the growing season LOL!
My tomatoes are pretty sad too. It will be a miracle if I end up with any. But my zucchinis sure are looking good!
Link | June 1st, 2005 at 10:36 am
Holly wrote,
Happy Gardening! I’ll have to check that book out from the library!
Link | June 1st, 2005 at 5:16 pm
Carla wrote,
Keer,
If your zucchinis do as well as you think/hope, remind me to give you the recipe for peach-zucchini jam. It is easy (really!!) and good!
Link | June 2nd, 2005 at 6:54 pm
razorbackmama wrote,
Carla, I’d love it! Anything to get some veggies into these kids!
And I’ve figured out that what I thought was lettuce the second time is kidney beans. I have TONS of kidney bean sprouts coming up!
No lettuce that I can tell LOL!!!
Link | June 2nd, 2005 at 8:34 pm
vgarr wrote,
Keer, my dear, (or should that be deer??? lol)
Do you know what lettuce looks like??? Just kidding!! I have no clue about what is what in my garden except the strawberrie, raspberris and tomatoes. (those are rather obvious.)
Link | June 3rd, 2005 at 8:53 am
razorbackmama wrote,
LOL I know, it’s sad, huh? I do know what full-grown lettuce looks like, but when stuff is only about 2″ tall, it sort of all looks the same LOL!!! Especially since I’ve never had a garden before.
Link | June 3rd, 2005 at 2:59 pm