Green Toe Gardening

Spring Garden

2011-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is the largest of the garden spots. It has corn, potatoes, peas, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and all of the extra tomato and pepper plants.

This is the watermelon patch at the back part of the yard. I had just finished weeding this part of it so everything looks nice and neat.

Here are my new raised beds. This first one has gourds, pumpkins, and Indian corn.

The second raised bed has lettuce shown here.

It also contains the herbs. The catnip is covered with a cage to keep the cats from completely destroying it. I move it around so they have access but never leave it uncovered for very long.

The last raised bed has tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers.

I also grow tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers in five-gallon buckets. This is my preferred way of growing them so I can keep them watered and fertilized well.

This is the last garden spot. It has onions, okra, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and cantaloupes.

We should be eating fresh cucumbers by the weekend!

Spring Flowers

2010-06-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Moss Rose

Lime Zinnia

Sweet Potato Vine

I am not exactly sure what this is. The leaves of the plant remind me of lamb's ear, but the flowers are not the same.

My first Cosmos flower of the season.

Fruit Trees in the Garden

2010-06-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

A little update on how the fruit is growing. The peaches are holding on. A few seemed to have escaped the bugs and are unblemished.

The fig tree has put on quite a few figs. They are delicious fresh. I prefer to eat them off the tree. They make yummy jam as well.

The pears are slowly growing. I am hoping to have enough for some pear preserves or pear honey. I would really like to put up some pear halves as well.

Staking Tomatoes for Less

2010-06-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

My container tomato plants are staked with tomato cages. When we were gifted a bunch of tomato plants for the garden, I knew I would not want to buy that many tomato cages. My budget simply would not allow it. The tomatoes still needed to be staked. We used old tobacco sticks, heavy duty twine and twist ties.

First dh buried the tobacco sticks and strung the twine making two to three rows up the sticks.

Next we gently pulled up the plants and used twist ties to loosely secure the stalks to the twine. The stalks will continue to grow so no matter what you use to secure them keep it loose.

Main Garden

2010-06-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Many of my plants are in containers, but I do have a main garden in the backyard. Here are some pictures of what I grow there and how everything is doing.

The first row is a mixture of watermelon and cantaloupe plants. The watermelons are just vines, but we do have several small cantaloupes.

The second and third rows are mostly tomato plants with a few zucchini plants. We have several small tomatoes.

The third row is yellow squash. I prefer the straight neck as opposed to the crookneck squash. We have been eating some squash already.

Row number five is cucumbers. I do not need any dill pickles this year. These are for eating fresh and perhaps some yummy sweet pickle relish.

The last row is okra which is in need of a bit of thinning out. The best way I know to eat okra is fried. I can handle it is soup but not stewed. I am thinking some pickled okra might be a good thing to try this year.

Up-to-Date Garden Pictures

2010-06-03T07:00:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures of the garden that I took over the weekend. I have more but am saving them to go with other posts.

Eggplant

Tomato

Butterfly Garden

Middle of May Garden Progress

2010-06-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

As promised here are the pictures from the middle of May to show you the progress the garden has made.

The Butterfly Garden

Sago Palm

Eggplant

Tomato Plant

How Fast Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-06-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have garden pictures spanning the past month. I thought it would be nice to take them one section at a time. First up are pictures from the beginning of May.

Here are the peaches on our peach/plum tree

The butterfly garden

Sago Palm

Cleaned Out Flower Bed

Computer Problems Over

2010-05-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am happy to be back online with no problems now. I ended up having to reformat the hard drive, but everything is working smoothly again. I know everyone complains about their slow computer. When my neighbors complained, I let them use my computer and was always told "mine is not so bad after all". It was aggravating, and I did lose a few programs. I had tried everything else. I could have taken it somewhere to be checked out. The cost of that would have been more than the cost of the two programs. I am not certain that the outcome would have been any different.

I am pleased to say that I have posts lined up for the next week. I apologize for my absence and hope the computer will cooperate from here on out.

Growing Tomatoes

2010-05-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

I do not claim to be a gardening expert. I lean toward the method that if it does not the first time just try something different the second time. That is how I discovered that Celebrity tomatoes grow best in my area. I do grow other types including an heirloom variety. Over the years I came up with a few other tips.

First when planting the tomato plants, remove the bottom leaves. If you notice all along the stalk are "hairs". I plant the stalk as deep as I can. Roots will form all along the stalk giving you a healthier plant.

Tomatoes need at least 6 hours of sun and a good amount of water. During the summer here I often have to water my plants twice a day.

One common tomato problem is blossom end rot. The bottom part of your tomato will rot while it is still on the plant. One solution that has worked for me is milk. If I have some milk that has spoiled, I pour it around the tomato plant. The calcium helps prevent this type of rot.

Tomatoes are an excellent container plant. I do cage mine to give the plant some extra support. I used a mix of compost, manure, and a little potting soil.

Last year we picked our last tomato for eating just a few days before New Years. I realize not everyone has such a long growing season. With a little care and attention, you can have beautiful tomato plants and delicious home grown tomatoes.

Growing A Pineapple Plant

2010-05-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

I recently saw a medium sized pineapple plant in a store for $15. I suppose this is not a bad deal. If you enjoy eating fresh pineapple, you can get a plant for free. A few simple steps all are that is needed to grow your own plant. I did some research and then adjusted it a bit.

When you cut the top off your fresh pineapple, remove as much of the fruit from the top as you can. Next pull off an inch or two of leaves from the bottom. The third step is the important one. Set the top aside for two or three days to allow it to dry a bit. This will go a long way to prevent the top from rotting. I let mine dry a bit too much, but it was still fine. Next set the pineapple top in water. I used a pint mason jar to hold mine. Wait for roots to appear. I had good, long roots in a few weeks' time. Finally plant your pineapple plant.

I will admit that mine is not as pretty (yet!) as the purchased plant. However for the same price I can buy 5 pineapples. That will give me five plants to grow and five delicious pineapples to eat.

Fruit Trees

2010-05-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

We are trying to increase the amount of fruit we grow. We already had a decent sized pear tree on our land, but it never did much since it was overshadowed by a pecan tree. Since the pecan tree was not a good producer and was where my new greenhouse will be, DH cut it down. Now the pear tree can get more sun, and hopefully we can get more pears.

Earlier this year I shared a picture of our peach/plum tree. It was loaded with plums that as usual blew off with the first spring storm. We do have peaches still. They are a bit buggy as I am still searching for an organic way to keep the bugs off. For this year we will eat around the spots.

Lastly is our smallest pair of trees. Pictured below are two kumquat trees. I started them from seeds. We have a long time to wait before we are rewarded with kumquats.

Gardening Progress

2010-05-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of pictures today. I took a bunch, but the computer will not upload them. Hopefully I will get the kinks worked out by tomorrow. This past week in spite of suffering from a cold I got the garden planted with help from my dad and my DH. We planted cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini, watermelon, and cantaloupe plants. My cousin gifted two dozen tomato plants from the nursery where he worked. They were leggy and needed planting. Those went into the garden as well. I hope to have pictures of this and the rest of the yard/garden later this week.

Blooms

2010-04-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

With the warmer temperatures and spring rains, the flowers and plants around the deck are really growing as is most everything in the yard. I thought today I would share a few blooms.

The first is a nasturtium. Each year I have grown these from a package of mixed seed. It is always exciting to me when one blooms since the color is a surprise. Here is the latest one.

I love how these petunias have little stripes of white on each bloom. In the background is Lucy overlooking her domain.

I cannot remember the name of these. I chose them mainly because they grow tall and will attract butterflies. The small purple blossoms are lovely.

The last blooms are the ones I am most excited about.....raspberry blooms. My new raspberry bushes are blooming. I expect I will only have a small handful of raspberries this year, but it will be a good start.

Vegetable Update

2010-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

In addition to the tomatoes that I planted about two weeks ago, I planted two bell pepper plants last week. The tomatoes are already growing. I am sure the healthy amount of chicken litter I added to the soil has been an encouragement.

I like to start the zucchini, yellow squash, cucumber, watermelon, and cantaloupe seeds in small cups which can be transplanted into the garden. The cucumber seeds are not sprouting well. All of the squash came up. Most of the remaining seeds sprouted. You can already see some plants that are larger than the others. Those would be the zucchini, of course. I can already tell that I am going to be searching for recipes to use those in.

The last picture is not a vegetable, but it is a definite sign of spring. In the south the legend is that once the pecan trees begin to bud winter is officially over. For the most part this has been true. While I am happy to see the cold weather end, I am not looking forward to the pollen that will quickly follow these first leaves. I suppose this is a small price to pay for the wonderful shade that will be provided.

Garlic

2010-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

This year is the first time I am attempting to grow garlic. I was not certain where the best place to plant it would be so I chose two different spots in the yard. I put some by the herb garden and the rest in a sunnier location near the deck. As I mentioned earlier one area was growing very well while the other appeared to be stalled. Perhaps garlic bulbs enjoy a bit of friendly competition. The less productive set now appears to be outgrowing the first. I am sure the differing amounts of sun have something to do with that.

**********

By the herb garden (shadier)

By the deck (sunnier)

The Perfect Getaway

2010-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

In the evenings the cats and I love to sit in the backyard. I take a book, magazine, or perhaps a letter and settle into one of the Adirondack chairs. The cats either gather around on the deck or in the grass. I think all of the plants help make the deck a nice little getaway at home.

I added a few new plants this year. DH picked out this collection of coral bells. The names of the varieties are delightfully delicious: Creme Brulee, Key Lime, and Mint Mocha.

While I have no idea where he picked up the two plastic stands and cannot even remember what the original purpose of each was. They make perfect plant stands. I am hoping that over the next few months the ferns grow full and bushy and hide them just a bit. The pot in the front has trailing verbena. The three plants in the back should grow one to two feet tall with blue and purple flowers.

Pictured below is JJ who was following me around the yard until he found something in the grass to stalk.

Can You Guess What This Is?

2010-04-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

While I was wondering around the yard, I spotted this on the side of a building. Can you guess what it is?

I stepped a bit closer for this picture.

Have a guess yet?

?
?
?
?

Finally I zoomed in and took this picture.

It is a large mass of tiny baby spiders. Fortunately I do not have arachnophobia. Instead I am imagining all of the bugs that will be eaten by this large family.

Spring Blooms

2010-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's post contained a picture of a hanging basket of a chenille plant. I thought perhaps everyone might not know what it looked like. Here is the large plant that I took the babies off of a few weeks ago. This one needs to be repotted, but I have to purchase a prettier pot first.

Also here is the first Amaryllis bloom of the season. I have a bunch more buds, but this one opened up first. I think the coloring on the blossom is amazing. It is a true vision of beauty.

Hanging Baskets

2010-04-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last year while at a large yard sale, I saw some unusual hanging baskets. It was literally a large round mass of a plant. A few weeks later I received a Better Homes & Gardens magazine with a similar idea. This is a bit of an adjustment from the two.

I took two round-ish coconut lined wire baskets. Out of one I cut a round hole in the center, and I cut three slits in the sides of each. I filled each with dirt and placed them together. They were secured with four zip ties. I then stuck a small plant sprig in each slit. The hole in the center of the top basket makes it easier to water.

If all goes well, in a couple of months, the plants will have grown and spread covering the baskets. I have four different ones. Two have different colors of sweet potato vine. One has petunias, and the one shown here has chenille.

A Much Needed Break

2010-04-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I spent most afternoons this week planting the rest of the flowers and moving most everything out of the greenhouse. I was honestly too tired to drag out my camera and take pictures. I have updates planned for next week though. I was happy with the rain we received this afternoon. It gave me a break from watering as well.

At church Wednesday there were many grunts and groans from everyone. Spring seems to bring that out in people. Muscles that go unused during the winter months get quite a workout as soon as the temperatures start to rise. I guess I am not the only one who tries to do too much too soon.

Front Porch

2010-04-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

The front porch is still a work in progress. The plant I am happiest to share is the Japanese painted fern. These were really hurt by the very cold winter we had here in the south. Less than two weeks ago they started sprouting back out. This is what it looks like now. I am so excited to see it thriving and cannot wait to see how it looks in a month or two.

Butterfly Garden

2010-04-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

My husband mentioned that he wanted to have a butterfly garden to attract more butterflies to the yard. That translates into "he wanted me to plant and grow a butterfly garden". I chose a spot beside the deck which unfortunately was covered with grass. I went to work on the lasagna method of gardening. I spread out several layers of newspaper, topped that with peat moss, added ashes from the fireplace went in next, spread out straw from my parents' pigeon nests, and topped it all off with some potting soil. The grass wants to be stubborn in a few spots, but for the most part it is working well.

I had several plants already that attract butterflies including the dianthus and petunias you saw yesterday. I was also happy that many of the plants I was starting in the greenhouse were also butterfly friendly. I was able to add in parsley, dill, zinnias, cosmos, and nasturtiums.

I planted this Firecracker butterfly bush that we purchased last month.

Finally I added in a couple of lantana plants purchased from the local nursery.

I actually added in some black-eyed-Susan-like plants that were growing in a pot. It looks sad now. I think in a month of so it will be well established and hopefully attracting butterflies.

The Deck

2010-04-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today we move on over to the deck. First is the main step up onto the deck. It has the cat stepping stone I purchased last year and the two planters I won in my family's Dirty Santa game at Christmas. I do not remember the name of the plants in them. Dh picked them out on our trip to a local nursery.

This is another purchase from the same nursery. It is a henna coleus. I have given it a bit of a trimming as I have three stems in water so I can root some additional plants.

These petunias as well as a few more in the yard were left from last year. They were on the south side of the deck and were shelted during the winter. It is nice to seem them already blooming.

This dianthus is one of a few around the deck that is also blooming already. The recent warm weather has done wonders for them.

The ferns are just starting to sprout out at the corners of the deck. Hopefully within a week I will have good pictures of those to share.

The Raised Beds

2010-04-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

For the time being not much is happening in the raised beds. I do have a good variety of herbs that are left from last season. They even survived the snow with no problems. I added in a few tiny plants. Currently I have marjoram, lavender, curled parsley, garlic chives, onion chives, basil, tarragon, sage, rosemary, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, catnip, and mint. I am not sure that the catnip will make it. Paris ate three of the seedlings as soon as I set them out. I fear I will need to buy a few big plants to set out while I grow some new seedlings.

In the second section are some lettuce plants. I started these in the greenhouse and have just set them out. I have two stages of growth planted now and will start some more seeds tomorrow. I am looking forward to having fresh, organic lettuce that I can just pick rather than buying which is rather expensive. We love salad especially once the weather heats up.

I neglected to take a picture of the garlic bulbs that are sprouting. I planted some in the yard and some in the raised bed. The ones in the raised bed are doing much better.

Finally Some Progress

2010-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sadly I have been so busy working in the yard/garden that I have not had time to blog about it. I took a bunch of pictures so for at least the next week I will have regular updates. I thought I would take everyone on a short walk around the yard. First up as we head out the back door is this tree.

It has white and pink blossoms on it as it is a plum tree grafted to a peach tree. We wanted a plum tree so we kept cutting out the peach limbs. For the last three years we have not gotten a single plum. This year we decided to let them both grow in hopes of getting something.

Next is the first vegetable I have growing - tomatoes.

I grow the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in five-gallon buckets. This is not a plant I started from seed. Those are still much too small. This was a purchased plant (3 for $1). I removed the very bottom leaves and then planted the tomato up to the remaining leaves. This helps give it a stronger stalk and a better root system. I added the tomato cage now only because I tend to put it off until I have to fight to get the limbs in. I will not have to worry about that this year.

Come back Monday as we head over to the raised beds.

More Sprouts

2010-02-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

More of the herb and flower seeds have started to sprout. So far not a single tomato or pepper seed has sprouted. Many of them are seeds I saved from last year but some were purchased this year. Since none of the purchased seeds are sprouting yet either, I am not going to be concerned. I will give them another 7-10 days before I try a second round of planting.

Here is a list of what has sprouted as of Monday, Feb. 15:

Basil
Chives
Garlic Chives
Cilantro
Sage
Dill
Nasturtium
Lime Zinnia
Lobelia
Petunia
Bells of Ireland
Sweet William
Hollyhock
Jewel Nasturtium
Poppy
Sweet Pea
Gloriosa Daisy
Moss Rose
Forget-Me-Not
Cosmos
Lupine
Centaurea

Gardens & Snow

2010-02-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Snow is not something I normally have to think about when planning for the garden. Every now and then Mother Nature throws you a curve ball. Some of the flowers in the yard had already started to sprout and bloom.

We also have medium-sized heads of cabbage that collected snow among the leaves.

As best as I can tell the snow did no damage to either of these. I was also relieved to find that the greenhouse stayed nice and warm. All of the plants and sprouting seeds were protected from the snow. The one inch of white stuff ended up just being a blip on the gardening calendar.

Sprouting Seeds

2010-02-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Between Feb 5 and Feb 7 some of the seeds started to sprout. The basil, lime zinnias, sweet William, poppy, and cosmos seeds were the first to sprout. Hopefully as the weather warms more of the seeds will start to pop-up. Here are a couple of pictures. (I apologize for the poor quality.)

Flowers

2010-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that I love growing flowers and consider them an important part of my garden. I have several flower beds scattered around the yard and could never afford to purchase as many plants as I would need. Seeds are much more affordable, and I love being surprised by the colors of flowers from mixed packs of seeds. Here is my flower list for this year:

Nasturtium
Bee Balm
Lime Zinnia
Baby's Breath
Lobelia
Petunia
Bells of Ireland
Blue Fescue Grass (not technically a flower but will border a flower bed)
Sweet William
Hollyhock
Poppy
Sweet Peas
Gloriosa Daisy
Shasta Daisy
Moss Rose
Forget-Me-Not
Cosmos
Lupine
Centaurea

I may need to pick up a pack or two of seeds for hanging basket flowers. I will wait to see how well these sprout.

That is everything I have planted so far. Now comes the hard part - waiting for everything to sprout. All of the seeds were planted by January 29 so I hope to see a few sprouts by the first of next week. Even without sprouting seeds I have a few garden related items to share next week so stop back by!

Herbs

2010-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I love having fresh herbs on hand. I have some that survived the very cold weather from the beginning of January. Those are oregano, rosemary, marjoram, and lavender. Here is a list of what I have started to add back to the garden this spring:

Catnip
Curly Parsley
Flat Lear Parsley
Basil
Chives
Garlic Chives
Cilantro
Tarragon
Sage
Lemon Basil
Oregano
Dill
Ammi Visnaga

The catnip is for my two little nipheads, Lucy and Paris. I am not sure if JJ likes it yet or not. The girls love it so I am growing extra this year. The oregano is a test. The seeds are about 9 years old. I am just curious if they will sprout. The ammi visnaga is related to the parsley family. I am growing it more as a floral though. It attracts good bugs that feed on the bad ones according to the seed catalog. I am all for natural ways to handle pests in the garden.

Vegetables

2010-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of my round one of vegetable seed planting. I have several more that I will plant in March. These are slower growing plants that need the extra time in the greenhouse.

Roma tomatoes
Jelly Bean tomatoes
Yellow Pear Cherry tomatoes
Celebrity tomatoes
Heirloom tomatoes

Purple eggplant

Banana pepper
Bell pepper
Orange Wonder pepper
Pimiento pepper
Jalapeno pepper
Cayenne pepper
Relleno pepper
Sonora pepper
Random hot pepper for a mix of seeds

Odd & end seeds: Kumquats and Acorns

I had planned to start some Japanese eggplant, but I cannot find the seeds I saved from last year. We like that better than the purple eggplant for eating. The purple ones are for my homemade spaghetti sauce. Tomorrow's list is herbs.

My Little Greenhouse

2010-02-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

First up I will share a picture of my greenhouse. It is nothing fancy. My husband, Warren, built it with materials we already had on hand so it was free. The plastic is not actual greenhouse plastic. A local nursery suggested this particular plastic to us. It is almost the same thickness, but most importantly it is cheaper. We can recover the greenhouse multiple times with this for the same price of once with the official greenhouse plastic.

Inside is a shelving unit that he picked up somewhere. I try not to complain about the treasures he drags home as they seem to come in handy at some point. I ended up with 72 trays of seeds started.

To keep everything straight, I numbered each tray and then wrote in my gardening notebook what was in each one. It is hard to see the numbers in this picture, but they show up well in person. I do love the trays and am so happy that I purchased them. They seem a bit thicker than the ones I used to get from buying flowers. I hope to get two or three years use out of them.

The opposite side from the shelves has the flowers I was saving from the cold. They look pitiful right now, but I hope at least a few will sprout out as the temperatures rise.

Money Matters

2010-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

I have yet to find a completely free garden. I am sure there are plenty of resourceful people out there who garden for pennies, but I am not one of them. I never kept a complete total of how much I spend each year until now. The totals below are for vegetable and flower gardening. I like flowers. Even though I cannot eat them (except for a few), they make me smile and brighten the entire yard.

Here are the spending totals so far this year:

Seeds/bulbs/plants: $52.17
Peat moss: $17.36
Plastic trays: $16.29

Freebies: Fertilizer (AKA: horse manure), Newspaper, Ashes (from fireplace) and Potting Soil (from local tree farm)

The peat moss, horse manure, ashes, and newspaper went into improving an existing planting bed and starting a new one. The plastic trays were purchased to start all of my seeds. These are the six hole type you get when you buy plants. I have not bought anything like that in a few years. The ones I had been reusing have disintegrated. I ordered more than I needed for this year to get the best price. I will reuse these until they too disintegrate.

Total spending thus far: $85.82

Over the next few days I will share some pictures from my greenhouse and a list of what I have already planted.

Welcome to My Garden

2010-01-29T08:52:00.000-08:00

The one thing I look forward to most after Christmas is the arrival of the gardening catalogs in my mailbox. The pictures of ripe tomatoes and colorful flowers give me hope that spring is not far away. While I do save many seed to use the following year, I am always expanding my garden by adding new items. My order increases after my DH looks through the catalogs. He is not a gardener but is happy to pick things for me to grow.

This year I wanted to keep a better track of how my garden did, what worked, what did not work, how much I spent, and what I harvest. I normally do a basic version of this in a notebook, but I thought an online version would be fun this year.

Next week I will be updating the blog with what I have spent so far and what I have started in my greenhouse. First I should explain the name. I know the normal saying is a "green thumb". Everyone tells me that I got the talent for growing things from my maternal grandfather and my paternal grandmother. Since I love to be different, I decided I must have a green toe. I welcome each of you to my garden and hope you will join me this year on my adventures.