Morning Visitor

I noticed a spider web in the garden this morning. Kinsey tried to see it, but with the angle and sun coming up behind the web - it was hard to see. 

so I grabbed a water bottle and lightly misted the strings and then her eyes poped at the sight. 

I'm sure the spider was NOT amused by this mornings nature lesson! :P

wildflowers

Madison's Wildflowers are seeding! How cool is that?!

Where to start...

  It's been a very busy week. The last post we has some time to pitch the tent and see how big it actually was, and to spray it down with a protective cover of scotch guard. This past Friday night we had our daughters and did a campout. 

  We grilled burgers, made s'mores and even had some jiffy pop popcorn ... but we were so full, we skipped the popcorn. next time! :) We used these great LED candles found on Amazon.com, they are called mooncandles. They change colors and even better - have a 4 hour, and 8 hour timer and are controlled by a remote. We strapped 4 of them to the inside tent poles and had automatic lights.

The back yard looks great. Our sunflowers and tomatoes along the fence seem to be doing very well. The Salsa garden is complete, just waiting for the plants to settle in and take root after transplanting. All but on cilantro seems to be doing well. Same goes for the bell peppers and eggplants along the wall. 

We planted 4 eggplants, 2 multi-colored bell peppers and from seeds off of the orange bell pepper we planted 6. although one seems to just got a little to shocked when transplanting. No worries. We have 12 more starters from the orange bell peppers. 

Strawberries have bloomed! *maybe* we'll get some berries soon? Hope so! Next to the salsa garden we transplanted the bok choy plants. Covered them with a fencing and weed guard. kind of like an airplane hanger. Depending on the day, we move the cover to allow more/less sunlight. 

Diane's sunflower is HUGE! and it looks to be getting ready to flower. Madison's wildflowers are sending streamers everywhere. We attached string to the garden shed and then moved a few runners up the string. Not sure how long these runners will go, maybe they'll get to the chain fence and we can run them along the top to attract more bees.

Diane cleared out the weeds under the tomato plant. it looks a lot better. Se picked a ton of cherry tomatoes which we had all week in our salads. The orange bell pepper has started to fruit again, and I believe we have 4 eggplants growing. 

The habanero peppers are getting bigger and bigger. We had one that went full orange, so it was picked and made into a Jamaican jerk marinade. usually the pepper is cut and i place just a few seeds in it. But I did an emeril on it and BAM! the whole pepper went in. It was nice and flavorful and spicy as we grilled it up last night. 

When transplanting the plants for the salsa garden,  Diane bought a few pots from Wallmart and we separated each one. We first dipped the plants in a bucket of water (well coffee can) and then got off all the soil. then we tired to unstring the roots gently. we did end up with 'extra' roots - which could send the plants into shock. but most of them did well w/o the shock. 

Camping

Diane and I are going to take the girls camping this summer. Costco had a great deal on a 4 person tent.

we hooked it up today to see how it gets put together and then sprayed it down with scotch guard. 

the top part of the tent is getting sprayed down in the front yard.  it'll be all set for a test run next weekend! 

Sprays to Spray this Weekend

 We know the lemon tree has aphids that come and go., now it seems the lemon grass and the apple tree have them as well. We've been using a mixture of natural soap, water and a little vegetable oil in a spray bottle to combat the aphids.

 Now to fight back the mildew. Found this on apartment therapy web site: 

Baking Soda Spray

This spray is great for treating plants with fungal diseases. There is nothing quite as frustrating as discovering your plant has an unsightly case of mildew, a type of fungal disease. Suddenly your beautiful green cucumber and squash leaves are replaced by patches of grayish-white blotches.

1 tablespoon of baking soda
1/2 tablespoon of oil
2 quarts of warm water

Add baking soda and oil to a cup of warm water until it dissolves. Mix in the rest of the water. Before attempting to spray and treat your plant, remove the most severely damaged leaves first. Then spray your solution, repeating every few days until it disappears. This mixture is best made and used immediately.

Additional Notes: It's best to spray your plants in the morning, before the sun is too hot or you run the risk of burning the leaves of your plant. And while these spray are non-toxic and less harmful than commercial pesticides, they will kill beneficial bugs along with the harmful ones. I recommend using these sprays sparingly, only treating the infected plants.

 Here's hoping that this will take that off our leaves from the sunflowers to the cucumbers.

Here is something to try as well to kill ants, also from apartment therapy:

ants cannot differentiate between baking soda and powdered sugar because they are similar in size. The sugar attracts the ants, and the baking soda is what kills them: It reacts with the acid in their digestive system and they explode.

Not much time

We were out in the garden doing SO MANY THINGS!! How awesome is that? but here is whats even more awesome-r..

We picked 3 radishes. Gave the 1st one to Diane's parents and ate the other two. they had a nice mild flavor. We had a few seedlings that had sprouted, so the ones that were picked - we replaced back in the earth box. 

Diane made a nasturtium pesto and added our radishes to our salads. I can't wait till our garden can sustain 75% of what we have on our plates.

Work in Progress

Isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest? lol, not for us! It all started with just a little weeding and then turned into terracing and then stairs.

 We'll be adding plants soon to the raised beds, as you can see - one has been sectioned off to do a square foot gardening bed. We are hoping to maximize our space with this technique. 

and the wildflowers that Maddie picked out and vine - we will add to the black drain pipe. It should look cool and hide the pipe as well. 

Now to finish off the day by planting the blueberry and raspberry plant where the lemon and apple tree are now. sort of in the middle of the stairs. 

Tabuleh Salad

 Off to a pool party today., Diane is making a Tabuleh Salad. She had me go out into the garden and pick/snip all sorts of goodies. Like mint, green onion, tomatoes, nasturtiums, basil, fennel, cucumbers, and beans. (I'm sure I left something out)   :)

She just told me she's going to make a lemongrass, fennel and ginger tea for the party as well.
oh my!

I think the peppers should turn orange in two weeks. They are getting nice and big, and look at that - I do believe a watermelon is starting to grow - as well as a kabocha. 

Hoping tomorrow is a good yard day - it's starting to get overcast. 

... Ha! I just got an email from Costco. looking it over - they are selling greenhouses. I ***had*** to take a look. Starts off at 5K greenbacks....   >.<

Lazy Afternoon

What to do on a 'lazy' afternoon? make tombstones - what else?

we'll be using these guys to do a little landscaping on one of those 'lazy' Saturday afternoons.  :)

the corn is coming along. Ferterlizer was put down sparingly all around the garden - since we have a lot of plants starting to flower and fruit.

Tomorrow we will be dropping off a few plants to Stephanie. She's going to add our starters to an aquaponics over at the school. pics to follow!

Radishes

I'm so sad that the radishes - which are growing - are not ready yet. guess we will just keep waiting and see...

radishes were a little blown over by the heavy rain we received yesterday. I'll bet they'll pop back up soon. 

Tombstones for the landscaping project we're working on. trying to do one a day!

Planting seeds in eggshells and just seeded cucumber and squash.

Project # 1,365 - the French Drain

Well we've completed the French Drain project. We've got a down spout that just pumps out the water and floods near the house and makes a muddy mess of things. So we put on our thinking caps and came up with the french drain solution.

I think Diane moved more earth than I did! She was flinging that dirt! 

We then grabbed rocks (all around the house and yard) and filled it in over the drain. Hopefully this will move the water to the center of the yard, and to where the fruit trees need it as well as the raised planters that we have yet to install. (Project #2,072)

Update: Seems we had a very heavy rain yesterday afternoon. Neighbors were saying the water was overflowing their gutters. Well our drain didn't pop off and no standing water anywhere we looked. 

WooHoo!

While I put some tools away and started to try and clean myself up - Diane planted her lemon tree! 

** RAWR! **

Then we grilled up some burgers, added our fresh cucumbers to them and had a great dinner sitting out back. Thanks again to Hannah for the table! 

1st Saturday

Well last night was 1st Friday down in Honolulu, and so I thought I'd add 1st Saturday for our garden. Today it'll be updates from all different angles and the changes that have been made since January 1st.

Flowers - Diane's flowers are blooming beautifully. The hanging baskets she put together are bright and healthy. Plus her circle garden is holding the water well thru the rains. That sunflower just keeps getting bigger and bigger!  :)

More flowers on the side garden, Maddie's morning glories and a great bed of nasturtiums. 

 Our seedlings we start in the shed. It has a good few hours of sunlight in the morning, and we keep them well watered - more on the dry side - and out of the rains. Then once they've sprouted in 1-2 weeks and have a good strong base - we add them here to our seed racks. (Thanks again Hannah!)

 We removed the Chinese Lanterns from the egg carton we started them off in, and replanted them in individual pots. They - grow - so -slowly! omg. I hope they are worth the wait. >.<

I think we'll be looking around the garden today to find a spot for our baby nasturtiums, they are ready for a good home to really take off. They should have multi-colored flowers and bright red flowers. The radishes in the earth boxes are really growing fast. a few more weeks and we'll be adding those to our salads!

Here (above) Diane had planted a bunch of new plants. as you can see from the tag - it was just on 3.2.2014 and already we are getting a few popping up. Just 6 days ago they started from seeds. Bok Choi and Portulaca

This is the brazilian cherry plant that Diane has in the back. I took a few seeds - weeks ago - and they are finally doing something. 3 seeds, and one has a few leaves, another is just about to get his leaves, and the third is just coming out of the soil. 

I think they have taken so long - as I used a regular soil - no miracle grow or added plant food from the bag. So these have taken longer to sprout. It'd probably be a good idea to add that one with the two leaves to new soil - one with plant food mixed in. 

Beans! We were picking the beans early on and adding them to salads or just eating them in the garden as we walked around. But we've left a few on the plant to really get big - they are just dropping the plant down by it's weight. We have 3 plants in the soil and 5 in an earth box. the ones in the earth box are pale, and took longer to flower and produce it's beans.

Our fruit trees., Lemon, Apple, and Lime. All of them have new shoots coming out, and are doing well. We just found that Sam's Club downtown had fruit trees for $10 each. We picked up a Raspberry and Blueberry plant.  Research will be needed on how to plant those trees!

Carrots up top. only 4 sprouted out of the 8 that we planted. They were planted directly into the containers. Next time - we'll plant them in smaller pots and then transplant them to the larger containers. Never grown carrots before. excited to see how they turn out!

Then we have the Thyme and Oregano that are just loving life. 

The red container is an Envy Apple - planted from seed (Thanks Yvonne!), then we have Eggplant, a Radish that wouldn't fit in the earth box, and sweet marjoram. 

Tomatoes and sunflowers grown together in the back years by the fence., we just had a ton of baby cherry tomato plants growing all over the place. so when we weeded the other day, we pulled them up and replanted them here. If they grow - sweet! if not - we'll replace with something else. So far - they are doing just fine! Then we have the corn flowering. again - not as high as I would have liked the stalks - so we hope the corn comes out full size. 

Different views on the yard and gardens. It will be interesting to see how the views change over the coming months and into summer. We'll be trimming back the grapefruit tree - like we did with the lemon tree., and those are the blueberry and raspberry plants we bought last night. 

alright, the rains have stopped, the sun is shining and the yard is calling us! 

Ciao!

D&M

A watched pot never boils

 Or so they say. It felt that way last night when I was stirring and stirring and stirring and stirring the chocolate for the pie we made last night. Well sometimes it's the same thing for the garden, no matter how much you look at and watch your babies grow - you take your eye off of them and then BAM! something new happens!

The corn is starting to flower and soon we'll be picking the corn off the stalks. They've turned an amazing brown, and to my surprise - not as tall as I'd thought they'd be. In fact, they seem to be at only 1/2 the height. Let's hope the corn isn't 1/2 the size   : /

Picking more beans off the plants, strawberries just don't want to fruit, and the watermelon is still flowering but no small fruit have popped yet.

We bought a small $20 garden 'greenhouse' from Ross the other day, and I have to say, it's nice. I've placed our seedlings on them, and it's right under the papaya tree. hoping that it'll have some shade and protection from heavy drops of rain.

The other stand I've filled with more of our seedlings, more the ones in cardboard boxes. I wanted the cardboard to dry out a bit, as it seems to get soft and moldy. Maybe this will get more airflow around the container. They were brought home from work, once the hard drives were taken out and placed in the servers.

The Kabocha was picked as well. if we had to place a bet - we'd have thought that the fruit had a worm. Since it had some jelly and a brown spot underneath it. That's why we tried to clean it and placed the nylon over it. Seems it was totally fine and was still yellow - not orange in the middle. 

Well, let's hope we get more fruit, and we will know to leave it on the vine for a little while longer next time. We already see little babies on the way. 

The sun went down hours ago..

 But my girl is still working in the garden shed planting seeds and prepping for events a month or two away. I've been helping her, by filling flower pots with soil and moving things around so that she has the room to do her thing. These seeds should start sprouting in just over a week or so.

I'm glad we were able to add fluorescent lights to the shed and find a table top. Now to get that top connected to the wall and be just a little higher. We'll call that project # 314  hehehe.