Chuggin' along!

Today I wanted to build the raised bed for the cauliflower, collard greens, sage, thyme and rosemary! :) I went to home depot (yuck)and I was intending on buying cedar fencing to make the bed with then I found corner joints for raised garden beds. These joints allow me to stack multiple beds on top of each other and make whatever size bed I want. I got really excited because they looked easier than using 4x4s and 2x6s and nuts and bolts and screws and stakes and and and....

So I snatched up the corner joints and went to the lumber section ready to buy the $2 cedar fence planks. The cedar planks were only one inch in width so I could not use the cedar,bummer. So I bought three 2'x6'x96' boards and had the home depot associate cut one board in half so I would have two 4 ft boards.When I came back home Amanda was already outside enjoying the warm weather. She helped me unload the big 8 ft long boards from my itty bitty yaris hatchback. Then within 20 minutes we had a raised garden bed!! It was so easy! It's so easy we will be making a 6'x 8' for the corn, pumpkin, bean, cucumber, and sunflower bed! :) To top it all off, the bed only cost me $37 buckaroos!!! I am very proud of myself, especially considering the "raised bed kits" for a 4'x8' bed is $72 dollars plus tax! We will have two large raised beds for the price of one large raised bed kit. I mean, I'm so happy I could brag all day really.

Back to the subject, after we built the bed we broke up the ground of the two bed. I laid newspaper down on the brand new bed, to prevent weeds from sprouting up.

Then on a tarp I mixed VERY HEAVY manure, soil from the yard, and coffee grounds together. I felt like I was playing tug of war with the tarp of soil and the tarp of soil was winning. Phew! I probably shouldn't of mixed the soil alone, it was like 1 cubic yard.

Anyway, I got it mixed mostly and with a little magic (aka lots of muscle/little frustration)

I got the soil into the new bed.

And you thought vegetarians/vegans were weak... Well...

After I raked the bed evenly, I transplanted my 2 sage plants, thyme plant, and baby cactus. I'm so happy they're still alive. I've had these plants for 2 years now. I am

very proud of them!

I went to transplant the rosemary bush that Amanda adopted from a friend. Unfortunately, the rosemary bush was a goner. It's okay we can always get another rosemary bush if we want one! :)

I put the cactus in an unwanted tin can from work. These are what I used for my container garden last year. I really like them, I think they look cool. Actually this can was the same can that the thyme was in. Cool, huh?

Oh yeah! Britches found the skull behind the house, I've been wanting to use it for something and I thought that it is most appropriate with a cactus. The other plant in the picture is my hack berry bonsai. I found the tree last year growing in an old

plastic pot and decided to keep it. I hope it works... so far it seems like it's alive.

Check out my version of a French manicure! Dig it? ;)

I hate wearing gloves and shoes. I'm from Tennessee what did you expect?

I want Venus flytraps...

ugh, I think I'm getting a little carried away...

The plan is complete!

First off, things are starting to pick up! Today after work I decided to clean up the yard and put the garden back together. It wasn't as difficult as I expected! I got one bed raked up, put back together, and even shoveled some manure onto a tarp to mix with topsoil. Amanda and Nick came out and helped by cleaning up the other bed, put it back together, picked out some sprouts, and crumbled some old coffee grounds Nick brought from work on the bales. I feel happy and accomplished with everything we got done today! :)

Amanda has already made a great post about all of the plants that we are growing this year. On our recent cold, rainy Sunday I went to www.motherearthnews.com and with their garden planner I made a really awesome plan!

The planner program allows me to customize everything, I can manage the spacing between plants, rows, and plants in rows. I also can customize the sowing, planting, and

harvest times. There's also a feature that will alert me by e-mail about when to sow, plant, and harvest the plants! It's so cool. I was able to measure everything out to the exact inch. :) Of course, I'm Evelyn, so I don't worry too much about the exact measurements. I do not think that being exact is completely necessary, especially since all of the bales are a few inches off.

unfortunately, the plan is kinda tiny... :(

I made the plan following companion planting guidelines. For instance, Marigolds and nasturtiums together are great at deterring aphids, nematodes, bunnies and so many other pests. Another really cool thing is, Pumpkins, Corn, Cucumbers, Sunflowers, Beans all benefit from one another! Cucumbers will grow up the corn like a trellis, Beans also grow on the corn like a trellis as well as return nitrogen to the soil for the corn once the beans are done. Pumpkins act as a ground cover for the corn to help retain moisture and Sunflowers are good for attracting aphids and pollinators! Ahhh companion planting is sooo interesting I could go for days. Did you know catnip naturally deters FLEAS?! Amazing!!

for more info check out this site! There are tons of sites, this is the one I found that had the most information.

** http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html **

Let's just say I'm one happy gal. :)

oh and the sprouts Amanda and I started on Friday are already sprouted and photosynthesizing! (is that a word?)

The lavender even sprouted! I was really nervous that it would not grow.

I am nervous for the milkweed seems like it's having a hard time.... Oh well...

Nature Bites Back

In the past couple weeks of garden development, nothing much has gone on. Per Evelyn's previous post, we hit a road block when we discovered what we thought was DEAD ivy growing under all of our compost. That hulk ivy (as we now call it, cause its green, mean, and sort of takes over) was growing all over the yard we we all first moved in. Paul and Evelyn moved into their side of the duplex a month or so before Nick and I came along, and cleared a lot of it out. However, it still hangs around (anyone know any good methods to kick ivy in the butt?).

We had to start digging up and around the manure, leaf, and compost cocktail to pull it out of the beds. This really sucked. Especially since we had to back track some of all our hard work. The rain and chilly weather has returned, and the beds are in disorder in the backyard, and the ivy is still in them. Hopefully we can get this all ready to go before planting time. With my full time job, and with Evelyn, Paul, and Nick working AND going to school, none of us have really been able to complete the annoying task... and thanks to the rain and chilly weather, none of us really want to.

P O I S O N    I V Y
In other news, I discovered I am allergic to poison ivy/oak/sumac/whatever. When gathering bricks in our back brush, I came in contact with something fierce. Two days later, I had blisters running up my arm and wrist, with a huge 5 inch diameter circle of poison oak on my back shoulder.

While at work one day, I looked down and the rash was significantly worse than it was at the start of the morning.  Since it was itching and blistering like crazy, I took sick leave and left work early, driving myself directly to the nearest CVS Minute Clinic. The nurse practitioner could not believe her eyes as I removed my shirt to show her the giant swollen patch on my back, and promptly prescribed me a heavy dose of steroids (which, in turn, caused me to eat us out of house and home... apparently they make you hungry).

When I was a kid, I could play in the woods all day and if I came in contact with poison oak, i would get a small patch and it would be over in a couple days. My mom, however, is pretty allergic. I remember anytime she worked in the yard, even if she did not come in contact with any poison looking substance, she would have to take a shower and allergy medication right afterward. Now I know how she feels.


A N Y W A Y . . . 
 
Now, I say nothing much has gone on in the past couple of weeks, but our little sprouts are going crazy. Evelyn has been taking great care of them, and this last Friday she taught me how to start seeds indoors as we began the second grouping of plants.  Evelyn is a great sprout sitter, and when Paul and Evelyn make a trip to the beach next week, I get to babysit (I am pretty excited). It is pretty miraculous how a seed as big as, or even smaller, than one of these letters from this size font can grow into food for people. Nature can be mean, but it is darn amazing.

Evelyn also has mapped out our garden and planned all the plants... and I really hope she posts her design up here soon!

Sprouts, the good, the bad, and the horrific hulk ivy...

The last weekend of February, I went outside with Britches and decided to look at the garden and dream of everything that's going to be growing there! Then I looked down between the bales and under some bales..... Ivy....... So, we have this horrible Ivy in our yard that I absolutely despise. When we started the beds I thought that fresh and old clippings would be safe to put as the bottom layer. Also we did not put any compost down for two weeks so I thought the fresh clippings had time to die. Boy, was I wrong! It started growing and tried getting sunshine any way it wanted to! Amanda, while shoveling heavy manure and trying to pull out this wonderful vine from pounds and pounds of manure, lovingly named the ivy as, "hulk ivy!"

ugh, barf...

This morning I was outside with Britches, once again, and I looked at the garden tried troubleshooting on how to fix this ivy problem and apparently pumpkin or acorn squash or SPAGHETTI SQUASH (nom.. nom.. nom.. nom.. nom..) seeds last a long time and will sprout even though I put them in the compost bin months ago. It's okay, I think they're cute! Even though we may not have room for these guys, I invite them to enjoy the soil and grow as big as they can! :)

Also, the bales are sprouting! It's A-okay with me! I have read this is normal.

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And now, some of the actual plants we're going to grow are sooo happy in their little indoor nursery. The tomatoes are looking big and healthy!

Oh my gatos, I wish it was warm enough to put them outside! Sheesh, I'm hungry already....

I don't know what's the deal with these dudes.... Seriously, they're delicious and they better grow well or else...

P.S. I went into the "woods" and found this little gem! Hello Spring!