tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-374918652024-03-07T13:11:06.223-05:00Thou and Thou OnlyRiches we heed not, nor man's empty praise.<br><br>
This blog belongs to the family of JunkMale, a Christian and Georgia Tech alumnus. Target demographics might include conservative Christian, healthy-eating, homeschooling, interracial families, and others who do not call this world "home." Where homemade is usually better than store-bought. For more info, click the "About" link below.Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-28208237670401442342011-06-09T11:32:00.003-04:002011-06-09T11:59:41.587-04:00Holier-Than-Thou Badges<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616236198008102594" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 151px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 300px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BivWnwP0isc/TfDhEOT2nsI/AAAAAAAADyk/E1KnClYhiqs/s400/472253_champ.jpg" border="0" />Perhaps you have a few. Such badges are common where one's interest-at-hand is different from the general population. Here are some examples of Holier-Than-Thou badges, plus an entirely-too-sarcastic-and-exaggerated-and-thus-purely-hypothetical blurb from a hypothetical holder of such a badge. The <b>bolded</b> indicates the Holier-Than-Thou badge.<br /><br /><ul><li>Point-and-shoot cameras vs. <b>SLRs</b> (single lens reflex)<br />"<em>Ha, good luck taking any sort of professional grade pictures with that little thing. Do you even know how to change your aperture settings? I would choke if I had to use a point-and-shoot</em>" And further within the photography realm...</li><br /><br /><ul><li><b>Manual focusing</b> vs. auto focusing lenses<br />"<em>Have fun with your precious auto focus in low light conditions, while my $500,000 focusing screen and vintage f/0.4 lens gets it perfect every time. I could never go back to auto focus.</em>"</li></ul><br /><br /><li><b>Making your own computers</b> vs. buying pre-assembled computers from Dell, HP, etc.<br />"<em>My computer is so much more powerful per dollar because I didn't have to pay myself $90/hr for labor. I would choke if I had to buy an assembled computer</em>."</li><br /><br /><li>Linux vs. Windows<br />"<em>Bow before me, mortals, I am <b>so</b> cool because I use Linux, death to everything Windows. BTW I am non-conformist for the sake of non-conformity.</em></li>"<br /><br /><li>Traditional board games vs. <b>Euro/German style board games</b><br />"<em>I'd much rather push wooden cubes around in a non-confrontational manner than bleed you dry in Monopoly."</em></li><br /><br /><li>Store-bought vs. <b>home-grown</b> vegetables<br />"<em>The vegetables from <b>our</b> yard are so much higher in vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant content than <b>your</b> store-bought vegetables. Have fun dying of cancer</em>."</li></ul><br /><br />The next few get a bit more relateable to any readers we still have left, mostly because I have/had personal experience with computers, cameras, and gardening and can't think of any others. And BTW, there is a point to this post besides being a vent or a rant; I shall put it after the list which follows.<br /><ul><li><b>Homeschooling</b> vs. institutional schooling<br />"<em>My homeschooler read Cicero's Greatest Hits in its original Greek, translated Swaziland's constitution into Latin for fun during his free time, and built a particle accelerator in his closet and has collected 153g of antimatter so far. What does your public schooler do with his time?"</em></li><br /><br /><li><b>Cloth diapers</b> vs. disposable<br />"<em>Cloth diapers are better for you, better for baby, better for life, and a prerequisite to enter Heaven</em>."</li><br /><br /><li><b>Avoiding trans-fats</b> vs. Not<br />"<em>Avoiding trans-fats is better for you, better for the world, and a prerequisite to enter Heaven</em>."</li><br /><br /><li><b>Having many children</b> vs. Not<br />"<em>I guess those people just don't view children as God's blessings</em>."</li><br /><br /><li><b>Grinding your own grain</b> vs. white flour or store-bought whole wheat flour<br />"<em>You don't grind your own wheat? No wonder you're fat and diabetic.</em>"</li><br /><br /><li><b>Backyard eggs</b> vs. store bought<br />"<em>I guess those people just don't view fresh eggs as God's blessings</em>. <em>Oh, and backyard eggs are a prerequisite for entering Heaven</em>."</li><br /><br /><li><b>Natural childbirth</b> vs. Not<br />"<em>BLARGH epidural anesthesia now, methamphetamine I.V. later</em>."</li></ul><br /><br />In recent years, I have become much more sensitive to exhuding a Holier-Than-Thou attitude in my writing, speech, and actions. In discussing the topic with Harmony, both of us agree that our miscarriages and fertility woes were a big catalyst in changing the way we presented ourselves. For the duration of this blog post, I will refer to the period before miscarriages and fertility as BM&I, for "Before Miscarriages and Infertility."<br /><br />BM&I, it was always my (our?) intention to have more children at this point in our marriage. After all, having lots of children is an indicator of God's blessing on a married couple living in holy matrimony, and we were pretty good people, right? Well. Then June 19, 2007 happened and our lives were never the same again. October 15, 2007 happened and set in stone that our thinking would never go back to BM&I mentality.<br /><br />Miscarriages and infertility dampened our self-righteous tendencies quite a bit. Pregnancies and children were no longer Holier-Than-Thou badges to be smuggly flaunted, they were more like "oh-my-goodness-what-you-have-is-SUCH-a-blessing,if-you-had-any-idea-what-it's-like-to-not-be-able-to-have-that-you-would-spend-the-rest-of-your-life-cherishing-it/her/him." Viable pregnancies were something to be maddeningly but cautiously nervously grateful for, not casually addressed as "oh another blessing here and on the way, sweet, let's see how many tons of tomatoes we got today."<br /><br />We discovered that, hey, you know, it doesn't quite feel great to hear people on blogs or blog comments boasting of God's blessings and their family size and implying that smaller families were that way because they actively rejected the blessings, in light of what had just happened. And I'm sure these people (I honestly do not remember any specific instances anymore) did not intend to come off that way, but that's the way I read things during that time. Losing hope for our "Has Many Children" badge humbled us in that area, as well as all the others. If it was that unpleasant to hear self-righteousness in one area, then it must be unpleasant in others as well. After all, who wants to feel like they are being condescended and condemned because of their choice of gardening philosophy or where they get their eggs?<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616236989776295250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 243px" alt="This image meant to convey family size; my proofreader did not understand though, thus the explanation" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9a1yd5qB72s/TfDhyT4GdVI/AAAAAAAADys/GYczh8cRc6w/s400/1339722_bunny_figurine.jpg" border="0" />I wish we had not had to endure the post-BM&I period, but good came of it. This is how life is, though - God gives us trials to help refine our character. I cringe to think what my thoughts might be if we'd had a honeymoon baby and easy children born at 1 year intervals after that. "<em>Well anyone who rejects God's blessings shouldn't cry about it when they have difficult children. Well those people</em> [who might have untold fertility issues or whatever, none of your business] <em>obviously are rejecting God's blessings...I mean their first daughter is 2 and the mom isn't pregnant yet..??"</em> You get the idea. Post BM&I, there's a greatly reduced (but still non-zero, as we are sinners) probability that such presumptuous thoughts will cross our minds.<br /><br />In the end, all of these Holier-Than-Thou badges might come to us. I would, of course, welcome having many children, which is the Holier-Than-Thou badge which has proven most elusive to us. But perhaps God thought that it would be better for us to take the long route there, so that we could be fully grateful for what God has given us, with much less self-righteousness than if He'd given the blessings to us right away. But even if He chooses not to give us any more children, at least we'll be much less likely to be self-righteous, Holier-Than-Thou bags of hot air.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-32712908169602336002011-03-17T08:54:00.000-04:002011-03-17T08:54:00.612-04:00Weeds in my backyardI like to think that I have a rule about weed in my backyard. The rule is that if the weed is pretty, it gets to stay. If it's ugly, it must go. The rule is firmly enforced every year until about May, when days get hotter, mosquitoes start swarming, and vegetable gardening starts taking off.<br /><br />But now, in March, it's fine to have nice ideals like that.<br /><br />I don't understand why some plants are considered weeds. Take violets, for example. Do you see that lovely plant in the picture below? Pretty purple flowers, deep green leaves. It's a lovely plant. Why would someone want to tear it up? I certainly don't want to... which is, of course, why four years after moving into this house, there are large areas of our backyard which are carpeted with violets. They get big and weedy later on in the season, of course, but by that time they've already re-seeded the yard and a weedwacker won't do them any harm.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.duke.edu/%7Ejspippen/plants/oxalis-stricta060421-0773facez.jpg"><br /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.strangesgardencenter.com/activek_apps/sgc/assets/hardgoods/disease%20control/weed-wild%20violet.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://www.strangesgardencenter.com/activek_apps/sgc/assets/hardgoods/disease%20control/weed-wild%20violet.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Another lovely "weed" is wood sorrel. The leaves look like tiny little clover leaves, and the flowers are a very cheery yellow. It's a low-growing plant, and it would fit in quite well in a flower bed. So why bother uprooting it? Just let it grow and enjoy it.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.duke.edu/%7Ejspippen/plants/oxalis-stricta060421-0773facez.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 420px;" src="http://www.duke.edu/%7Ejspippen/plants/oxalis-stricta060421-0773facez.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Of course, not every weed is as pretty as wood sorrel or violet. There are plenty of ugly weeds out there, and I do my fair share of weeding. But even among the eyesores of the plant world, every now and then I am surprised.<br /><br />I am not very fond of henbit. It grows too tall and spindly, its flowers are too small, and fuchsia really isn't my favorite color anyway. But today, Pearl made a bouquet of flowering henbit that she had picked, and it was actually very pretty.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.anps.org/images/henbit.jpg"><br /></a><a href="http://www.duke.edu/%7Ejspippen/plants/lamium-amplexicaule090322-8093durhamz.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 482px;" src="http://www.duke.edu/%7Ejspippen/plants/lamium-amplexicaule090322-8093durhamz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />So even some of the lesser eyesores in the yard can be pretty in the right light. But despite the fact that the weeds in my back yard are <span style="font-style: italic;">pretty</span>, I get the idea that most people prefer their yards to be neatly covered in grass.<br /><br />Why grass?? If we are talking about invasive, impossible-to-kill plants, grass would be right at the top of the list. It's unattractive, it makes you sneeze, it's itchy, and it can sprout from nothing.<br /><br />I have to conclude that our society chose grass as a cover plant for one simple reason: if you can't beat it, join it. Grass is the ultimate survivor. I was watching the Planet Earth episode on grasses, and they're indestructible. You can burn them, drown them, have a plague of locusts descend on them, or a hoard of wildebeests, and they will grow. They survive the arctic, deserts, and even pesticides. We cannot win. But, aha! If we pretend like growing grass is an art form, <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> we have won.<br /><br />Or so I assume the thought process must have gone. Because I can see no other logical reason for having a lawn full of grass.<br /><br />But honestly, if you had your choice, wouldn't you rather have a pretty carpet of wild flowers? Or am I the weird one?Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-58805715966437236112009-07-06T07:34:00.000-04:002009-07-06T07:34:39.520-04:00More about the GardenIn the July 2009 garden update, Alice asked "How do you organically control bugs from eating your tomatoes and crops?" I wish I could say I have some magic silver bullet, but I do not. I will list a bunch of my thoughts on the matter, since I do not have the attention span to organize them all into a coherent, flowing narrative. Just because I list it doesn't mean that I strongly believe it is the cause of our lush garden.<br /><br /><b><u>We're Just Lucky?</u></b><br />We haven't really done much to prevent pests. Have they just not found us yet? Are we in an ideal ecological environment? Who knows?<br /><br /><b><u>No Pesticides, Organic or Not + Beneficial Insects</u></b><br />Whether out of laziness or being too cheap, we have not used any form of pesticides this year. The driving factor behind this policy was because we wanted lots of beneficial creatures in our garden this year. Perhaps the beneficials are doing their job? I have seen hoverflies, ladybugs, soldier beetles, praying mantises, anoles, skinks, braconid wasps, ouchy stinging wasps, leafcutter bees, and honey bees in our yard this year. I do not believe the last two on the list actually do anything to control pests. Anyways, who knows how many more beneficial creatures there are that I have not seen..<br /><br /><b><u>Not Hard to Keep Bugs Off Tomatoes</u></b><br />We have had limited success in growing heirloom tomatoes from seed ourselves. But once a tomato plant is established in our garden, it usually lives out a relatively long and healthy life. We have not yet encountered a bug that will completely decimate an entire tomato plant in a very short time span. In fact, we have observed (in our short gardening career) that tomatoes just aren't very threatened by bugs. <br /><br />I can recall three pests attacking our tomatoes: <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/10/garden-creepy-crawlies.html">tomato hornworms</a>, leaf-footed bugs, and aphids. I don't know if there's much you can do to <i>prevent</i> hornworms, but they are easy enough to hand-eliminate. Leaf-footed bugs, I don't know. They only appeared at the end of the season last year, when the tomato plants were already on their way out. Aphids were not as numerous as they are on bean-type plants and did not cause any noticeable damage. If a plant is hardy and established, a few aphids will not hurt it too much, I think.<br /><br />What I am afraid of though, is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_vine_borer">squash vine borers</a>. We had a pumpkin plant that was growing nicely last year. Then we noticed some holes in stems, and then within a couple of days, it was dead. I don't necessarily mind <i>that</i> much if bugs eat some of my vegetables. But taking a whole plant? That's not cool. <br /><br /><b><u>Healthy Plants to Start With</u></b><br />We have applied fish emulsion sprays several times, as well as mixing in organic soil amendments before planting seedlings out. I had also intended to spray plants with compost tea, but we sort of had a baby and then while my dad was here, he dumped out the tea brewing bucket. (a small price to pay; all he did while he was here was work work work and now our house is probably worth $200 more) It seems likely that healthier plants will stand up better to slight incidences of bugs and disease.<br /><br /><b><u>Pest Threat Overinflated?</u></b><br />In our very short gardening career, we have noticed we are either really lucky, or the pest threat is overinflated by biotech companies. Aside from the one squash vine borer incident, we have not had any decimating failures due to bugs. Aphids get quite numerous on legumes, but they are always still edible. <br /><br /><b><u>Not to say that we never have problems...</u></b><br />Of course, this is not to say that we never have problems; it's just that bugs themselves have not caused us much heartache yet. We still do have thrips, aphids, squash bugs, etc. I would say that our problems come more from "failure to thrive." Many times, we have planted seedlings, and many end up staying really small and not doing anything, or they end up dying. Perhaps it's soil- or seed-borne disease, perhaps we do not water enough, perhaps we water too much. Perhaps we just don't have enough experience to even know what the problem is.<br /><br />We are also growing more new things this year, such as corn, potatoes, and strawberries. Perhaps these will be more troubled by bugs. I believe that corn and potatoes are susceptible to everything and will probably die if we look at them wrong.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-50729908634056738322009-07-01T18:35:00.004-04:002009-07-01T19:03:42.605-04:00Garden Update - July 2009In spite of negligence, in spite of hot dry weather, our garden has taken off.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmBdsM_KI/AAAAAAAABWw/8YZy6ZTc-WA/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmBdsM_KI/AAAAAAAABWw/8YZy6ZTc-WA/s400/july2009_gardenupdate1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353625494884252834" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmB2SoPGI/AAAAAAAABW4/k2QzlMjtGiU/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmB2SoPGI/AAAAAAAABW4/k2QzlMjtGiU/s400/july2009_gardenupdate2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353625501487873122" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmCK6qltI/AAAAAAAABXA/rXK25ILp9e8/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmCK6qltI/AAAAAAAABXA/rXK25ILp9e8/s400/july2009_gardenupdate3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353625507024508626" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmCehDXUI/AAAAAAAABXI/WEr39MDHk1A/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmCehDXUI/AAAAAAAABXI/WEr39MDHk1A/s400/july2009_gardenupdate4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353625512285789506" /></a><br /><br />Those are tomatoes growing in the trellis. The tallest ones are as tall as I am. Sadly, they are not one that we started from seed, but they are at least an heirloom variety (German Johnson). No ripening yet though.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmC4RLLwI/AAAAAAAABXQ/P7Z6dJpsGM0/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvmC4RLLwI/AAAAAAAABXQ/P7Z6dJpsGM0/s400/july2009_gardenupdate5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353625519198514946" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvorC29oHI/AAAAAAAABXY/4jjCdVgaWBw/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SkvorC29oHI/AAAAAAAABXY/4jjCdVgaWBw/s400/july2009_gardenupdate6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353628408259387506" /></a><br />Corn, among other things. Southern Gentlemen cultivar.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWcpeHE9-xLgGZulcPMQVAllfVPUis7BalpMtuSU71j7FIoslRKGtNJKPDxmzydwM67L2_11FiQVf8cB8M7GFDXYbMfxIkdTt_QlliHaCpT5ZS9HbxYsDvPNXaSOlUmDC289gLg/s1600-h/july2009_gardenupdate7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWcpeHE9-xLgGZulcPMQVAllfVPUis7BalpMtuSU71j7FIoslRKGtNJKPDxmzydwM67L2_11FiQVf8cB8M7GFDXYbMfxIkdTt_QlliHaCpT5ZS9HbxYsDvPNXaSOlUmDC289gLg/s400/july2009_gardenupdate7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353628415669644466" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-73676181562480960572009-05-03T17:14:00.000-04:002009-05-03T17:15:02.023-04:00Garden Update - May 2009As our garden expands, there are getting to be more pictures per garden update. This leads to garden updates becoming a bit tedious for me if I have to describe every single picture. So I will only describe the ones that have something notable, and if you have questions or comments on anything, please leave a comment.<br /><br />I think we have at least 2 Eastern fence lizards and at least one variety of skink that like to hang around our yard. This is what's known as A Very Good Thing (tm). I couldn't spot any of them for pictures, but felt compelled to report it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf393RFHDOI/AAAAAAAABKA/SpFxbZEWYcs/s1600-h/may2009_garden01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf393RFHDOI/AAAAAAAABKA/SpFxbZEWYcs/s400/may2009_garden01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331696659796004066" border="0" /></a><br />Left to right: bee balm, sage, lavender, yarrow, thyme, stevia (which survived the winter, and a total cut back and two uprootings, only one of which was purposeful), peppermint, oregano, thyme, blueberry. And a grapevine that I am trying to convince to grow along the fence.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf393tn9zuI/AAAAAAAABKI/GTzq9HVQZrw/s1600-h/may2009_garden02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf393tn9zuI/AAAAAAAABKI/GTzq9HVQZrw/s400/may2009_garden02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331696667458391778" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJ7JVgGAHorfbPdDTNJqzRth4UnhN2d3PlJMblD9jO8ewzHNtbZkQzMZqGdWIlrl8qBEpavGt9JptdrVS7UHlqDboJCd0HUCwUDpoM2Tq80-NOJ2nD98tluRaj1ub5zgY3z4_LA/s1600-h/may2009_garden03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCJ7JVgGAHorfbPdDTNJqzRth4UnhN2d3PlJMblD9jO8ewzHNtbZkQzMZqGdWIlrl8qBEpavGt9JptdrVS7UHlqDboJCd0HUCwUDpoM2Tq80-NOJ2nD98tluRaj1ub5zgY3z4_LA/s400/may2009_garden03.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331696680613792162" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf394UarHVI/AAAAAAAABKY/ptnr2PQ-jlY/s1600-h/may2009_garden04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf394UarHVI/AAAAAAAABKY/ptnr2PQ-jlY/s400/may2009_garden04.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331696677871623506" border="0" /></a><br />Jericho lettuce (hopefully tolerant of Southern climate, considering it was developed in Israel) and American Flag leeks being shaded by our newer non-dwarf fig tree.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf394vodWYI/AAAAAAAABKg/fbpoCZ72cC0/s1600-h/may2009_garden05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf394vodWYI/AAAAAAAABKg/fbpoCZ72cC0/s400/may2009_garden05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331696685177198978" border="0" /></a><br />Peas, which seem to be greatly enjoying square foot gardening. In turn, the aphids are greatly enjoying the peas. Hopefully more ladybugs will come along and enjoy the aphids. I am using row covers to provide shade for the Winter Density lettuce.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3-_a6KRII/AAAAAAAABLI/rdhHxho-MWo/s1600-h/may2009_garden06.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3-_a6KRII/AAAAAAAABLI/rdhHxho-MWo/s400/may2009_garden06.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331697899385013378" border="0" /></a><br />We started these lettuce from seed ourselves. Can you believe they look so great? We had our first harvest yesterday and it was very good. Great texture and it was nice to eat something so freshly killed.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3--pOd-DI/AAAAAAAABKo/uaXWEribsNI/s1600-h/may2009_garden10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3--pOd-DI/AAAAAAAABKo/uaXWEribsNI/s400/may2009_garden10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331697886048417842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3-_KLQybI/AAAAAAAABLA/tye4KfzTDPA/s1600-h/may2009_garden07.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3-_KLQybI/AAAAAAAABLA/tye4KfzTDPA/s400/may2009_garden07.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331697894893341106" border="0" /></a><br />Potatoes in the garbage. I am a bit concerned about the drainage, as it doesn't seem like the garbage cans are draining well enough.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbIEZKpkKIswya7PFQLpwyzwl2SiqI_yd6zj6eJ_k3r1_gxo7fjFwBUoKJgLE5RMn_W7nLRfq6rCvLLpQyeY3AuR82Cc_rahfXoK7t_R_c-QJgW-Jjx-tjpVahLYID9TZPfF2DA/s1600-h/may2009_garden08.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbIEZKpkKIswya7PFQLpwyzwl2SiqI_yd6zj6eJ_k3r1_gxo7fjFwBUoKJgLE5RMn_W7nLRfq6rCvLLpQyeY3AuR82Cc_rahfXoK7t_R_c-QJgW-Jjx-tjpVahLYID9TZPfF2DA/s400/may2009_garden08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331697890657810514" border="0" /></a><br />Boring picture of our fifth bed, which is beyond the backyard fence in no-man's-land. Four winter squashes, which Harmony's terrible swift sword will reduce to two. Also along the top row are 4 Korean melon seedlings, which will also be reduced to two. In the two middle horizontal rows, we have corn, 4 per square. So far I have counted 24 germinations out of 32 sowed corn thingies. We will soon be sowing corn in the bottom two horizontal rows as well.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3--zKuUSI/AAAAAAAABKw/SzoqWijjdxE/s1600-h/may2009_garden09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3--zKuUSI/AAAAAAAABKw/SzoqWijjdxE/s400/may2009_garden09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331697888717066530" border="0" /></a><br />Our green onions have flowered. (Should we not have let this happen?) I included this picture because in the front and center is one of our blackberry vines. We ordered blackberries a while ago, then sort of forgot about them and left them in the packaging for waaaay longer than we should have. Finally we decided that we should at least give them a chance, even though nothing might happen. As it turns out, two of three are looking like they will make it. This is probably a horrible place for them, but we really didn't have any suitable place to put them. Maybe I can train them to grow along the fence or make another trellis for them.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3_VOYkNpI/AAAAAAAABLQ/DZzSexKUcQM/s1600-h/may2009_garden11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3_VOYkNpI/AAAAAAAABLQ/DZzSexKUcQM/s400/may2009_garden11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331698273980003986" border="0" /></a><br />Does anyone want some tomato seedlings? We don't guarantee that they will do well, since they have been in the pots for longer than we'd like. We have no place to put them and don't want to throw them in the compost. They are totally free, you just have to come get them, or you can invite us over for dinner, or we can bring them to church (for all one of you readers who attends with us). However, the bottom two are not up for grabs. Those are doing so well and we always intended to keep those ;)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3_VTMkNNI/AAAAAAAABLY/VPOaXWsilZA/s1600-h/may2009_garden12.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sf3_VTMkNNI/AAAAAAAABLY/VPOaXWsilZA/s400/may2009_garden12.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331698275271849170" border="0" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-16107319518097393592009-04-19T19:22:00.003-04:002009-04-19T19:28:09.014-04:00Trellises Almost Complete<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeuydEOZwQI/AAAAAAAABJA/vL2iQZ33dd4/s1600-h/apr2009_garden8_trellis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeuydEOZwQI/AAAAAAAABJA/vL2iQZ33dd4/s400/apr2009_garden8_trellis.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326547196715843842" /></a><br /><br />All except for the one behind the fence have trellis netting. It feels quite strong and hopefully we will have some watermelons with which to test the strength. The diagonally tied nylon lines and the nylon lines connected to the fence are to prevent the trellises from leaning too far forward or backward under lots of weight. I discovered that they would do that yesterday while stress testing the trellises. I'm an engineer, after all. Still need a couple more anchor lines on a couple more of the beds.<br /><br />Hopefully this summer we'll have walls of produce growing on them.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-57180251899773126512009-04-18T16:10:00.000-04:002009-04-18T16:10:19.549-04:00Garden Update - April 2009We are upgrading our garden again. As you can see, we are adding trellises to each raised bed, of which we now have 5 (one behind the fence). There was a bit of a start up cost, with all the rebar, PVC pipes, lumber, and soil mix, but hopefully we will see a great increase in produce output. We have already seen a great difference with garlic, which is the only thing we have grown so far under both conventional methods and also square foot gardening methods. Two beds currently have nothing in them because we do not have vermiculite for them yet.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJYXmVEQE44byDIrEz-8A9iqRxrx1z4v7C2i9vOF62XAyGR47ISoQHjBUlvNf6aMHSjan3EinSamcXZwAbCmZEgSGpGPj_WQ_rgK1ir2bSkIfYAyASKpjm48rBDVr9One397x2A/s1600-h/apr2009_garden1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEJYXmVEQE44byDIrEz-8A9iqRxrx1z4v7C2i9vOF62XAyGR47ISoQHjBUlvNf6aMHSjan3EinSamcXZwAbCmZEgSGpGPj_WQ_rgK1ir2bSkIfYAyASKpjm48rBDVr9One397x2A/s400/apr2009_garden1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326086956033939490" /></a><br /><br />Herb / perennial bed is doing great. Surviving from last year are bee balm, sage, yarrow, thyme, lavender, peppermint, oregano (which is creeping more than the creeping thyme), creeping thyme (finally starting to creep), and on the very right is one of our fledgling blueberry bushes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP3kuFU9I/AAAAAAAABIQ/knSaFdRG16U/s1600-h/apr2009_garden2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP3kuFU9I/AAAAAAAABIQ/knSaFdRG16U/s400/apr2009_garden2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326086956743218130" /></a><br /><br />Overwintered bed. Garlic, onions, carrots. Now has two yellow Brandywine tomato plants and three sweet peppers (one California Wonder and two unknown heirlooms that we got as a complimentary gift from a seed company).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP3ygX_dI/AAAAAAAABIY/f_ULKy8cYWM/s1600-h/apr2009_garden3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP3ygX_dI/AAAAAAAABIY/f_ULKy8cYWM/s400/apr2009_garden3.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326086960443817426" /></a><br /><br />We bought another fig tree (brown Turkey) to complement the dwarf one (Italian honey) that we got last year. Peas and Winter Density lettuce (under the row covers) are doing great. Aphids have already found the peas, but hopefully the ladybugs that seem to pop up in the rose bush will find the buffet. The trash cans and tubs you see contain our potatoes. (the ones in the trash cans seem a bit waterlogged - we poked a bunch of drainage holes a long time ago)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP4C4-FMI/AAAAAAAABIg/7kKH4so_4xg/s1600-h/apr2009_garden4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP4C4-FMI/AAAAAAAABIg/7kKH4so_4xg/s400/apr2009_garden4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326086964841944258" /></a><br /><br />Our first bed, the only one with a completed trellis. This one will have pole beans crawling on it, hopefully. Planted two paste tomato plants (Heinz) and one hot pepper in this bed.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP4ddY2JI/AAAAAAAABIo/L_ytjLahofE/s1600-h/apr2009_garden5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoP4ddY2JI/AAAAAAAABIo/L_ytjLahofE/s400/apr2009_garden5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326086971974015122" /></a><br /><br />Our little strawberry patch. Hopefully we will get a macroscopic amount of strawberries from here. Aforementioned rose bush shades them a bit.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoQlloCnlI/AAAAAAAABIw/8RfL1Yp4mP0/s1600-h/apr2009_garden6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoQlloCnlI/AAAAAAAABIw/8RfL1Yp4mP0/s400/apr2009_garden6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326087747260292690" /></a><br /><br />This is what's behind our fence, in no-man's-land. It is still technically our property, so we are making use of it. Our small compost pile is on the left, and it is wonderfully and disgustingly full of big fat earthworms :D<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoQl8mYtVI/AAAAAAAABI4/A9I3YqGE4og/s1600-h/apr2009_garden7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SeoQl8mYtVI/AAAAAAAABI4/A9I3YqGE4og/s400/apr2009_garden7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326087753427367250" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-68847851872296476362009-04-16T06:28:00.004-04:002009-04-16T06:38:07.799-04:00Sign of the TimesLately, we have heard commercials for non-hybrid seeds on the radio. It's somewhat of an alarmist advertisement, and the website has more than a survivalist feel to it. I won't give the address here, because I do not believe it's a product worthy of your money.<br /><br />Okay, so it's a seed company, fair enough. Well actually, you can't just go and buy one type of seed. You have to pay $118.95 and get one big set of seeds. I'm not the family seed purchaser, but I do believe you could get all these seeds for much less than $118.95.<br /><br />If you're that concerned about food security, you ought to do your research now, because there are lots of lessons to be learned in gardening...ones that you probably can't all learn in one year. And ones that you can't learn about in books. I'm sure we (in our 2.5 years of gardening) haven't learned all of them yet. You can't expect to get bountiful harvests in your first year of gardening if you just put seeds in the ground. There is a lot to learn.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-32388633744764384272009-03-15T17:09:00.003-04:002009-03-15T17:24:57.501-04:00Our Overwintered Spinach<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sb1sZ0r-2LI/AAAAAAAABHI/C4_-F8rPrCk/s1600-h/overwintered_spinach.jpg" title="Thou and Thou Only - Overwintered Spinach" target="n1"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sb1sZ0r-2LI/AAAAAAAABHI/C4_-F8rPrCk/s400/overwintered_spinach.jpg" alt="Thou and Thou Only - Overwintered Spinach" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313522326262700210" border="0" /></a><br />That is much more than I thought we had! We'd have had to pay a fortune for organic spinach from the store. Perhaps we <i>have</i> paid a fortune if we are measuring by time taken to grow. We planted in September or October.<br /><br />It was eaten by bugs, but not too much. Maybe we have found a good way for us to grow spinach in our climate and ecosystem. Bugs (specifically thrips, I think) have destroyed all previous attempts, but overwintering probably handles that problem.<br /><br />We had this in baked ziti. It probably would've been better nutritionally to base a salad around it, but oh well. Having been overwintered, though, the spinach is nice and old and tough and tastes much better cooked. I would guess that minerals (such as the ever-important iron) hold up well to cooking, whereas vitamins are more likely to break down under cooking. Maybe 20 minutes at 375 won't be too bad for all the <a href="http://whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=43" title="World's Healthiest Foods - Spinach" target="n2">wonderful nutritional goodness in spinach</a>.<br /><br />EDIT: Wow, notice that those nutritional figures are for *<i>boiled</i>* spinach. This will be a most nutritious meal for Harmony and baby. Harmony thinks spinach salads are a relative newcomer, and that before the food industry got into marketing baby spinach, most people had it boiled.<br /><br />EDIT again: PLUS, our spinach is fresh; picked about 15 minutes before being cooked. So nutrition numbers for our spinach are quite possibly higher than those quoted at World's Healthiest Foods.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-4978734926915513072009-03-12T07:12:00.001-04:002009-03-12T07:14:22.162-04:00Garden Update - March 2009Here are 10 pictures for our long overdue garden update.<br /><br />Harmony demonstrates that gardening is a very good activity for optimal fetal positioning.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgycuGN4OI/AAAAAAAABGg/UxpxMkzQo_A/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_01.jpg" target="n2" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Optimal Fetal Positioning"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgycuGN4OI/AAAAAAAABGg/UxpxMkzQo_A/s400/garden_update_march2009_01.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Optimal Fetal Positioning" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312051229475332322" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Peas. For support, Harmony tied nylon twine across the chicken wire that we use to keep certain dogs out of the bed. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydFJriOI/AAAAAAAABGo/rUO7UtchlNo/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_02.jpg" target="n3" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Peas"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydFJriOI/AAAAAAAABGo/rUO7UtchlNo/s400/garden_update_march2009_02.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Peas" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312051235663874274" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Some leftover garlic from last season popped out a few months ago, to our pleasant surprise. These will have to be transplanted when I build our fourth bed.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydigUChI/AAAAAAAABGw/gNEvqq-fbH8/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_03.jpg" target="n1" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Leftover Garlic"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydigUChI/AAAAAAAABGw/gNEvqq-fbH8/s400/garden_update_march2009_03.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Leftover Garlic" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312051243543431698" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Peppers, tomatoes, and flowers.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydzH_OUI/AAAAAAAABG4/KnXLEsAI7x0/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_04.jpg" target="n4" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Seedlings"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbgydzH_OUI/AAAAAAAABG4/KnXLEsAI7x0/s400/garden_update_march2009_04.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Seedlings" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312051248004806978" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Garlic, onions (both regular and multiplier), carrots, and one patch of spinach - all of them overwintered and are looking great now. This is the first time we have ever had a successful planting of spinach. Absent is the broccoli which died a horrible death over Christmas break. We ate all the cabbage, and the brussel sprouts have been harvested and are sitting in the fridge.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sbgyd7jcSDI/AAAAAAAABHA/tnf8Lbqnrz4/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_05.jpg" target="n5" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - 2nd Bed"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/Sbgyd7jcSDI/AAAAAAAABHA/tnf8Lbqnrz4/s400/garden_update_march2009_05.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, 2nd Bed" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312051250267441202" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The right side of our herb section. It's easier to reference things from the dead center of the picture, where we have our thriving oregano (ants have made their home under it :P). Above that is some creeping thyme, which has not crept much yet. In the sunken container is peppermint. The light colored plant down and left of the oregano is lavender, which hopefully will take off this year. And at the top right of the picture, if you count over three fence boards from the right and look down a bit, you might see one of our three new blueberry bushes. Oh and I almost forgot, lots of weeds.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5TxBQ1ZH5T5UiH42MWT8U2ARHxTpwzUDMuZzt6rijAl6_1L4K63_iGEdtr7M0fDRgohtsW63Wy70zRz15PccmOq6Eth9fNGCBlS8sZToGBBA0HJaBEQeB8I-OElgPpXiCDiQIQ/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_07.jpg" target="n6" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Herbs"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5TxBQ1ZH5T5UiH42MWT8U2ARHxTpwzUDMuZzt6rijAl6_1L4K63_iGEdtr7M0fDRgohtsW63Wy70zRz15PccmOq6Eth9fNGCBlS8sZToGBBA0HJaBEQeB8I-OElgPpXiCDiQIQ/s400/garden_update_march2009_07.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Herbs" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312046694310654898" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The left section of herbs. The yarrow is the bright green plant in the lower right quadrant of the picture and it is making a roaring comeback. Above that are two varieties of thyme, but you can't see them that well. In the approximately corresponding location of the yarrow on the left side of the picture is sage, which looks like it has survived the winter. To the left of the defunct bird bath is bee balm, which also has survived the winter.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguUZeslfI/AAAAAAAABF4/POchuDdOD8o/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_06.jpg" target="n7" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - More Herbs"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguUZeslfI/AAAAAAAABF4/POchuDdOD8o/s400/garden_update_march2009_06.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, More Herbs" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312046688455398898" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The first raised bed that we made. I think this bed is in a shadier part of the yard, so things didn't grow as well here.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguU7SyRyI/AAAAAAAABGI/naYbiNRejHc/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_08.jpg" target="n8" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - 1st Bed"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguU7SyRyI/AAAAAAAABGI/naYbiNRejHc/s400/garden_update_march2009_08.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, 1st Bed" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312046697532245794" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Blueberry bushling. The tomato cage is there so I won't step on it again.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguU-a8iNI/AAAAAAAABGQ/Ucadk-F2PE4/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_09.jpg" target="n9" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Blueberry Bushling"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguU-a8iNI/AAAAAAAABGQ/Ucadk-F2PE4/s400/garden_update_march2009_09.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Blueberry Bush" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312046698371778770" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What will hopefully become our strawberry patch. Fenced off to prevent certain dogs from pooping in the berry patch and from digging up strawberry plants. (I don't know why a tomato cage is in there.)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguVRVecuI/AAAAAAAABGY/zQgcazwlJhg/s1600-h/garden_update_march2009_10.jpg" target="nn" title="Thou and Thou Only - March 2009 Garden Update - Strawberry Patch"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SbguVRVecuI/AAAAAAAABGY/zQgcazwlJhg/s400/garden_update_march2009_10.jpg" alt="Garden Update, March 2009, Strawberry Patch" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312046703449109218" border="0" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-2940336005595954182009-01-12T07:58:00.002-05:002009-01-12T07:58:01.323-05:00Recycled Newspaper for Seed PotsI discovered recently that we do not have enough plastic flats for the number of seeds we want to start indoors this year. So what is a frugal girl to do? I didn't want to buy more, but I also did not want to reduce the number of plants we would be growing. And then, it hit me as I was perusing Burpee's website. I saw <a href="http://www.burpee.com/product/holiday+gift+center/garden+gear/potmaker-+1+potmaker.do?search=basic&keyword=seed+pot&sortby=newArrivals&page=1">this item</a>, which sells for $18 and will help you make seed pots out of newspaper. Well, I figured that there was no need to spend money to make seed pots out of free newspaper, so I started looking around on the internet for a tutorial on how to do it. And guess what - it's easy, it supposedly reduces transplant shock, and it is free (or nearly free, if you pay for your newspaper). I could just direct you to the site where I found the tutorial, but that would be no fun, right? So I'm going to make a tutorial of my own for everyone who might want to do this themselves.<br /><br />First, a note of caution. Most black newspaper ink is made from soy and is not harmful for your plants. But be careful of colored ink. Some is still petroleum based and toxic. So if your newspaper (like ours) uses mostly colored ink, you might not want to use it for edible plants without first checking with the printers to make sure the ink is safe. Fortunately for us, most of the seeds I was sowing this time* were flowers for my new flower bed (yay!), so I didn't bother checking with my paper first. Okay, now time to get started.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Materials:</span><br /><br />*One half pint canning jar, without the lid (this turned out to be a good size for our pots; you could use any size jar you want)<br />*Newspaper sheets, with the individual pages separated (example: if A1 and A2 are connected to A15 and A16, you want to tear them down the middle so that you have a long rectangle, not a square)<br />*A box of some sort to give the pots some support<br />*Soil<br />*Seeds<br />*Water<br />*A place for the seeds to germinate<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Directions:</span><br /><br />1. Fold a newspaper sheet into thirds so that you have a long, thin strip.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJz_4R9AhOHrLq_QLFpmEyqSWQv_ebWaYjbgUxLm16D6TaAKX5AIMbEsZoylWJIV_QDl-py4UqPsMXCATtB0Wtrc9nsFonlwe4RCq7agtWNiREGAgLqeRaMRbzX9myie8iwYTfXA/s1600-h/IMG_3792.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJz_4R9AhOHrLq_QLFpmEyqSWQv_ebWaYjbgUxLm16D6TaAKX5AIMbEsZoylWJIV_QDl-py4UqPsMXCATtB0Wtrc9nsFonlwe4RCq7agtWNiREGAgLqeRaMRbzX9myie8iwYTfXA/s320/IMG_3792.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290141502382070258" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />2. Wrap the strip around the open end of your canning jar, making sure that about half of the paper sticks out over the top of the jar.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewEJo3-ZfAxh5h1nAnXgB3chIv_d9FaCPYexvP5WwOUWCMncr9ih6IikfcXOIyehJiMxapU1StDHzR6MOSUjd6OXqc0w4740x90KOdp9srYKvILQBmGRQYFTcWt32aoUVq1BGZw/s1600-h/IMG_3793.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjewEJo3-ZfAxh5h1nAnXgB3chIv_d9FaCPYexvP5WwOUWCMncr9ih6IikfcXOIyehJiMxapU1StDHzR6MOSUjd6OXqc0w4740x90KOdp9srYKvILQBmGRQYFTcWt32aoUVq1BGZw/s320/IMG_3793.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290141508667262290" border="0" /></a><br />3. Fold the overlapping paper into the jar.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAp3HYLIZNROzv_P30ot3rVTuwW0uWzsEo96jJlsSvx7DtrlcvbWeFR-Tpm9b5O1Oq5Sj8vVM6RJJD853bMRiUY_M55Za-fFQovpPmGD8-rLKzq5IUzT91qrUOHqDoovPsPJ63dQ/s1600-h/IMG_3795.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAp3HYLIZNROzv_P30ot3rVTuwW0uWzsEo96jJlsSvx7DtrlcvbWeFR-Tpm9b5O1Oq5Sj8vVM6RJJD853bMRiUY_M55Za-fFQovpPmGD8-rLKzq5IUzT91qrUOHqDoovPsPJ63dQ/s320/IMG_3795.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290141515944289506" border="0" /></a><br /><br />4. Remove the paper from the jar, invert the jar, and press the bottom of the jar into your pot such that you create the pot's bottom.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6aq8BG3Se_pvJxxFr2B1Xz6yPn3guYWZjsnxW8aEpHZs1QO7SwLlLWOC2JLXaTbadKyFB-62yHQeX4WrPsY94X8S5Rrkj38K7RTMEhcEI3lcfGoRwqjnZ4Sq8mZjDDuEjdFcfwQ/s1600-h/IMG_3796.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6aq8BG3Se_pvJxxFr2B1Xz6yPn3guYWZjsnxW8aEpHZs1QO7SwLlLWOC2JLXaTbadKyFB-62yHQeX4WrPsY94X8S5Rrkj38K7RTMEhcEI3lcfGoRwqjnZ4Sq8mZjDDuEjdFcfwQ/s320/IMG_3796.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290146708261038706" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0m1CXBIZD3reYhZW2fL729nDRhlQFWilowGiny-bVy_pMD2CwmCGlueAJPYO56VYBo1qaeArd80B0sG9FGpFGDzSaYRcluwxy9AuazuTmUzvGUlr2kPXTX-thejg4DWR2_-Pm8w/s1600-h/IMG_3797.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0m1CXBIZD3reYhZW2fL729nDRhlQFWilowGiny-bVy_pMD2CwmCGlueAJPYO56VYBo1qaeArd80B0sG9FGpFGDzSaYRcluwxy9AuazuTmUzvGUlr2kPXTX-thejg4DWR2_-Pm8w/s320/IMG_3797.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290146715609352162" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />5. Fill with soil and place into the box, making sure the pot is supported on all sides (I found that the pots do not hold their shape for very long without support and something in them).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigr3dimMpAPSNVio2ZJ3Y9vhl5NIIqBbG6jT9Fr7P3QUdj4FFzUJvtm5rea3l9yS5cE2Cy22Nybkw-oYJz3KOpwatPFShAgsfvUOID2t4qlE1kK5QARDf0lfGGTwzD4nYLuX6toQ/s1600-h/IMG_3799.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigr3dimMpAPSNVio2ZJ3Y9vhl5NIIqBbG6jT9Fr7P3QUdj4FFzUJvtm5rea3l9yS5cE2Cy22Nybkw-oYJz3KOpwatPFShAgsfvUOID2t4qlE1kK5QARDf0lfGGTwzD4nYLuX6toQ/s320/IMG_3799.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290146720886956946" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />6. Sow your seeds, water them in, and place the box in a sunny window or under a grow lamp or in a greenhouse to germinate.<br /><br />When it comes time to plant them outside, you could do one of two things (and I'm not sure yet which I will do). First, you could plant the entire pot into the ground, as the newspaper will eventually decompose and allow the roots to grow out of the pot. But in my experience, this does not happen in our soil quickly enough for me to love that idea. Second option is to unravel the newspaper from the soil, and treat it sort of like you would <a href="http://www.rootrainers.co.uk/supplies/rootrainers/benefits">roottrainers</a>.<br /><br />*Okay, I know I said in a previous post that we wouldn't be starting seeds until February 4th. Well, I apparently have very little willpower. I decided to start some lettuce and wildflower seeds right now. The flowers I'm starting indoors because the bed I'm planting them in will probably have lots of weed seeds germinate along with the wildflowers I'm sowing. So I divided the flowers up by type and sowed a sampling of each kind of flower. Then I plan to take pictures of each seedling as it becomes distinct and keep that on file for when I do a mass sowing. That way I'll know which seedlings are flowers and which are weeds. At least, that's the idea....<br /><br />The lettuce is supposedly winter hardy lettuce, so I think we'll be safe there. Also, we have use of a sunny South-facing window this year, which we didn't last year (it was blocked by something else). So I anticipate that most of the plants will fare much better than they did last year. But I <span style="font-style: italic;">will </span>wait until February for the peppers and tomatoes. They just didn't do well at all last year, and I certainly have the discipline to wait for better results there!Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-41420780779753099252009-01-07T16:15:00.001-05:002009-01-07T16:15:00.210-05:00Long Overdue Garden UpdateThis post serves as our November, December, and January garden updates. Our winter garden is mostly thriving, especially considering the neglect it has seen recently. While we were gone, some sort of foul weather must have visited our house. As you can see, our turnips, broccoli, and radishes have died. This poor bed has almost nothing left alive in it.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XZ8quozhz7DM198WE0kr8RoovNBMpy4noCUT79swoH9umEqUrPak04jsLjOJPmXz3n8ByQ8RlcjiwCG6FdqNeCFooYeslESRpfE9cnONEn1-NMhfWyiWc_ExYoCENtwmm0jRyw/s1600-h/IMG_3783.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2XZ8quozhz7DM198WE0kr8RoovNBMpy4noCUT79swoH9umEqUrPak04jsLjOJPmXz3n8ByQ8RlcjiwCG6FdqNeCFooYeslESRpfE9cnONEn1-NMhfWyiWc_ExYoCENtwmm0jRyw/s400/IMG_3783.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288622844765861202" border="0" /></a><br />This bed still looks alive and well! The Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, spinach, garlic, and onions all appear to have weathered the, well, weather. The Brussels sprouts have lots of little, tiny sprouts growing underneath all those leaves. Some day, if I understand this correctly, the stem will shoot up and the sprouts will fill out and be ready for my consumption (JunkMale has decided that I can be the lucky one to eat all those yummy Brussels sprouts). Some of the cabbage has already been harvested for use in <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/02/soup.html">colcannon soup</a>. The spinach may still be alive, but it is nowhere near the quality we had hoped it would be. Three or four attempts at growing spinach has taught us that it does not thrive well in our backyard. Or perhaps we're just doing something wrong?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N_6eWx0jkzPCOCymgjKZFzuRc4I2xS6r_miXOP_uzoWSBcbvj-ZUuZxmqlNvqpMRJBrUbfstLSzgeJz7azxevpwxhfwaKyNGZ8aJiDrV-bbRU14nFkANN_9YwzHQgi-gCsLuDA/s1600-h/IMG_3782.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6N_6eWx0jkzPCOCymgjKZFzuRc4I2xS6r_miXOP_uzoWSBcbvj-ZUuZxmqlNvqpMRJBrUbfstLSzgeJz7azxevpwxhfwaKyNGZ8aJiDrV-bbRU14nFkANN_9YwzHQgi-gCsLuDA/s400/IMG_3782.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288622833230149634" border="0" /></a><br />So far we are very pleased with the performance of our raised beds. You can see below the difference between the carrots we planted in our shallow, rocky soil and the ones we planted in our beds. Obviously, the beautiful one was harvested from a bed and the short ugly ones were harvested from our soil!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4P4XUHopaaLL15raxThSfB7jQOdSDXj7WKpTme1moEG6fvDlfQyY0LVFfNlycqw6fKREUEAPKoNxZlLNbWbZiHrHTzkSPZXSgpNd3Go3zdsxRnSXx3uMydZJGE2gAzJCH-yInLw/s1600-h/IMG_3781.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4P4XUHopaaLL15raxThSfB7jQOdSDXj7WKpTme1moEG6fvDlfQyY0LVFfNlycqw6fKREUEAPKoNxZlLNbWbZiHrHTzkSPZXSgpNd3Go3zdsxRnSXx3uMydZJGE2gAzJCH-yInLw/s400/IMG_3781.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288622830370658642" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The biggest point of excitement (for me, at least!) is that Sunday was exactly 1 month until we start our first seeds indoors! Our peppers will be started indoors on February 4th. If you remember from <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-garden-plan.html">last year</a>, we started our seeds <span style="font-style: italic;">much</span> earlier, and this turned out to be a mistake. Not starting the seeds early. It is possible to start seeds early indoors and get a head start on the growing season. But the problem is that our house is cold in January, and doesn't get much sunlight. So we tried to compensate by shining grow lights on the plants. This worked for a few weeks, but the grow lights just didn't allow most of our seedlings to thrive for the months between sowing and planting out in the garden. So this year we pushed back the seed starting dates by about a month, which will hopefully yield better results.<br /><br />So, any advice on maintaining a garden with a baby on the way? Mom, I know you did some of that because I've seen pictures of you in the garden with a hoe in your hand when you were Very Pregnant with me - and I was born just at the start of the growing season (late April).Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-12192688697888915282008-12-06T10:30:00.001-05:002008-12-06T10:30:00.327-05:00A Look Ahead - Spring Garden 2009If you've been following our blog for more than a month, you'll probably have learned that we have a backyard garden. In fact, we're pretty obsessed with edible gardening. We have grand plans for our 2009 garden, so I thought I'd give you a head's up for what's going to be new (to us) this year:<br /><br />* 2 (<span style="font-style:italic;">maybe</span> 3) additional raised beds<br />* blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries (although we'll probably only get a harvest of strawberries this year)<br />* lemons, figs, grapes, and cherries (all new to our garden, except for the grapes)<br />* 2 varieties of potatoes, to be grown in trash cans<br />* winter and summer squash (we tried to grow these last year with very pitiful results)<br />* and <span style="font-style:italic;">if</span> we get the third bed made, SWEET CORN!!! Sixty-four whole stalks! :-D<br /><br />Everything else should be much the same as it was this year, with a few new varieties added and a few old varieties abandoned. With the new raised beds, we're hoping for less weeding, easier harvesting, and a greater yield. Has anyone else started planning their garden yet?Harmonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15105846442509828835noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-84535038818136384492008-10-31T10:41:00.003-04:002008-10-31T10:47:41.153-04:00Garden Update - October 2008Hopefully the next few months will be better blogging months than this one. I even almost forgot to do a garden update.<br /><br />The weatherman on the radio said that cold temperatures this past week would bring the end of the growing season. One of my co-workers (who knows that we garden) also remarked that it was the end of the growing season. Not so. For us, the growing season is year-round.<br /><br />We woke up this morning to find this little ice spike. The temperature has been fairly cold (for Georgia) this week. Perhaps other days had the potential for ice formation, but this is the only day that I noticed.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTyW7YRcI/AAAAAAAABAk/3bHcIqifVjw/s1600-h/2008oct_garden1.jpg" target="n1" title="Thou and Thou Only - Garden Update Oct 2008 - Ice Spike"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTyW7YRcI/AAAAAAAABAk/3bHcIqifVjw/s400/2008oct_garden1.jpg" alt="Garden Update Oct 2008 - Ice Spike" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263322345381578178" border="0" /></a><br /><br />What you see here is mostly cabbage. Broccoli occupies the top right, more Chinese radish in the top left, brussel sprouts on the bottom row, and spinach and carrots occupy the bottom right quadrant. Those who enlarge the picture will see that we have some garlic coming up! And if your eyes are well-trained, you might see some onion sprouts too (mostly potato onions). I am very excited about growing onions, as we use onions <i>quite</i> frequently. We also have green onions growing in a window box, to the left of the raised bed.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTymPiE6I/AAAAAAAABAs/QsZZUNYOXNU/s1600-h/2008oct_garden2.jpg" target="n2" title="Thou and Thou Only - Garden Update Oct 2008 - 2nd raised bed"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTymPiE6I/AAAAAAAABAs/QsZZUNYOXNU/s400/2008oct_garden2.jpg" alt="Garden Update Oct 2008 - 2nd Raised Bed" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263322349492638626" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The first raised bed that we made. Note to selves for next year: radish and turnips SHADE things like crazy. A number of our carrot and spinach plots in this box totally failed because the foliage blocked sunlight. We planted two plots of napa cabbage (used for kimchi), but it doesn't look like we'll be having any homegrown kimchi this year. We also planted onions and garlic in this box, in the failed squares.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTys7-faI/AAAAAAAABA0/2z2jiydc1Bo/s1600-h/2008oct_garden3.jpg" target="n3" title="Thou and Thou Only - Garden Update Oct 2008 - 1st raised bed"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTys7-faI/AAAAAAAABA0/2z2jiydc1Bo/s400/2008oct_garden3.jpg" alt="Garden Update 2008 - 1st raised bed" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263322351289662882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is what happens when the pup runs gleefully around the yard while it's still dew-y. If she were smart enough, she'd figure out that dirt socks lead to baths.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTy7AjuZI/AAAAAAAABA8/9CUQBvB0UaE/s1600-h/luna_dirt_socks.jpg" target="n4" title = "Thou and Thou Only - Luna's Dirt Socks"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 382px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SQsTy7AjuZI/AAAAAAAABA8/9CUQBvB0UaE/s400/luna_dirt_socks.jpg" alt="Luna's Dirt Socks" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263322355066976658" border="0" /></a><br />I know that all people think <i>their</i> own dog is the cutest, but for us, this is actually true.. ;)JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-55013711170614624052008-10-04T08:02:00.001-04:002008-10-04T08:02:00.651-04:00Luna's New GT Sweater, and Chinese RadishSince the weather is cooling, and since Georgia Tech football is underway, Luna's mommy made her a sweater with the Georgia Tech logo on it. She will be a shining beacon in a state woefully full of unfortunate people known as UGA fans.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rnDgO6uSz0MJTN6mQ5Hc_AsAv686I4Y9DFLmlJ15jHLHb7G8jl6RYA9PEacXPT3of4JrqOcQdBmFZj9pzePcEVXSskXb-6WBx4wD9mdiuF6lm3IW85WZ1RHg8HyfPPO4WINwIw/s1600-h/Luna_GT_sweater.jpg" target="n1" title="Thou and Thou Only - Luna's GT Sweater"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rnDgO6uSz0MJTN6mQ5Hc_AsAv686I4Y9DFLmlJ15jHLHb7G8jl6RYA9PEacXPT3of4JrqOcQdBmFZj9pzePcEVXSskXb-6WBx4wD9mdiuF6lm3IW85WZ1RHg8HyfPPO4WINwIw/s400/Luna_GT_sweater.jpg" border="0" alt="Luna's GT Sweater"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252928334887754530" /></a><br /><br />We pulled up our second Chinese radish today. The battery is for size reference. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SOYmfegFMJI/AAAAAAAAAwk/ms0KRJrgVAM/s1600-h/2nd_chinese_radish.jpg" target="n2" title="Thou and Thou Only - 2nd Chinese Radish"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SOYmfegFMJI/AAAAAAAAAwk/ms0KRJrgVAM/s400/2nd_chinese_radish.jpg" border="0" alt="2nd Chinese Radish"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252928337579683986" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-77097151193239288912008-09-26T12:27:00.003-04:002008-09-26T13:02:00.754-04:00More Stuff From Our BackyardWe made a second raised bed for winter vegetables. All of the plants you see in this raised bed are ones that we bought this morning. Yes, we cheated. But I think it is justified cheating. We decided not to renew our CSA for the winter months, because we'd be getting these sorts of vegetables anyways, which have been fairly easy for us to grow so far.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N5vtHmUI/AAAAAAAAAv8/kxiOeo_Wsg8/s1600-h/second_raised_bed.JPG" target="n1" title="Thou and Thou Only - Second Raised Bed"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N5vtHmUI/AAAAAAAAAv8/kxiOeo_Wsg8/s400/second_raised_bed.JPG" border="0" alt="Second raised bed"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250368026293279042" /></a><br /><br />This section will be for cucurbits, which means cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkin, squash, zucchini. In order to get it ready for the next warm season, we planted some rye and red clover beyond the backyard fence. The purpose of these is to 1) break up the soil (the rye) and 2) fix some nitrogen (clover). I think we'll be tilling it all in when the next warm season comes around. This picture is from a few days ago, and we are happy to report that we are seeing lots of little sprouts.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N50ZgSpI/AAAAAAAAAwE/I3Q6BrRBRkc/s1600-h/redclover_and_rye.JPG" target="n2" title="Thou and Thou Only - Red Clover and Rye"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N50ZgSpI/AAAAAAAAAwE/I3Q6BrRBRkc/s400/redclover_and_rye.JPG" border="0" alt="Red Clover and Rye"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250368027553188498" /></a><br /><br />Our stevia plant has taken off, and has bloomed many little flowers. The bumblebees LOVE stevia. Unfortunately, we never got around to picking the leaves off before the plant bloomed. So hopefully stevia can survive Georgia winters so we can do better next year.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N5xaJOoI/AAAAAAAAAwM/QJWto25IsyU/s1600-h/bumblee_stevia.JPG" target="n3" title="Thou and Thou Only - Bumblebee and Stevia"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SN0N5xaJOoI/AAAAAAAAAwM/QJWto25IsyU/s400/bumblee_stevia.JPG" border="0" alt="Bumblebee and Stevia"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250368026750564994" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-85814083003898170372008-09-19T17:21:00.000-04:002008-09-19T17:22:04.330-04:00Garden Update - September 2008We are continuing the transition to winter garden and winter plants. Actually, our butter beans and peppers are still producing. Most of the tomato plants seem to have run their course, aside from two that seem to be doing better than ever. All varieties of pole beans have been cast into the fire (literally) in order to make room for another raised bed.<br /><br />Maybe there is something to be said about this square foot gardening approach. Look at those greens! Going from left to right, we have cabbage (2), Chinese radishes, carrots (Long Orange Improved, a really old Dutch heritage variety that keeps well), below those, broccoli below <i>those</i> turnips, and one little napa cabbage sprout below all that mass of green. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRnpAEjcI/AAAAAAAAAvc/K-cbapUE9gA/s1600-h/square_foot_september1.jpg" target="n1" title="Thou and Thou Only - September 2008, pic 1"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRnpAEjcI/AAAAAAAAAvc/K-cbapUE9gA/s400/square_foot_september1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247838838512192962" /></a><br />(There is spinach in there too, but it's behind the MASSIVE bunch of greens. Too bad we're not huge fans of greens. But I'll eat them because I know they're really good for me.)<br /><br />The pole beans had to be sacrificed in order to make room for our second raised bed. The pup inspects my work to make sure it meets requirements.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRn-OfXWI/AAAAAAAAAvk/8y_fKUCBFis/s1600-h/square_foot_september2.JPG" target="n2" title="Thou and Thou Only - September 2008, pic 2"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRn-OfXWI/AAAAAAAAAvk/8y_fKUCBFis/s400/square_foot_september2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247838844209814882" /></a><br /><br />Yesterday, Harmony noticed this. It looks like a tomato seedling is growing out of the steel wool. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRoAUUuzI/AAAAAAAAAvs/358Jj10HLnA/s1600-h/tomato_in_steel_wool.JPG" target="n3" title="Thou and Thou Only - Steel wool tomato seedling"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SNQRoAUUuzI/AAAAAAAAAvs/358Jj10HLnA/s400/tomato_in_steel_wool.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247838844771154738" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-34253718453421870092008-08-22T15:58:00.003-04:002008-08-22T16:09:00.841-04:00Garden Update, August 2008I was totally unaware that I did not post a July 2008 garden update. I'm a bit late with the August one too. Well, no one's paying me for this anyways.<br /><br />Overview:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHKqwyHI/AAAAAAAAAuE/Tm2HQCVoni0/s1600-h/2008august_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHKqwyHI/AAAAAAAAAuE/Tm2HQCVoni0/s400/2008august_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237434701591922802" border="0" /></a><br />The perennial bed. Not quite as colorful as a couple of months ago, but a few of the herbs seem to have established themselves. Most notably the oregano (the bright green clump just to the right of the center) and the stevia (to the right of the oregano). You will also notice a watermelon plant on the bottom left!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHYqglgI/AAAAAAAAAuM/RlG53Vo5-5o/s1600-h/2008august_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHYqglgI/AAAAAAAAAuM/RlG53Vo5-5o/s400/2008august_2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237434705348957698" border="0" /></a><br />Harmony direct-sowed some watermelon seeds back in May, I think. We were ready to completely give up on having watermelons this year, but it's looking like we'll have at least one. These are the Sugar Baby variety. The bigger one is about 6 inches in diameter.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHjTmVPI/AAAAAAAAAuU/7Fmvex3te80/s1600-h/2008august_3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bHjTmVPI/AAAAAAAAAuU/7Fmvex3te80/s400/2008august_3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237434708205655282" border="0" /></a><br />Tomatoes, peppers, and basil.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bH5-leUI/AAAAAAAAAuc/p3-t2CbzxhA/s1600-h/2008august_4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bH5-leUI/AAAAAAAAAuc/p3-t2CbzxhA/s400/2008august_4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237434714291534146" border="0" /></a><br />We are going to move to more orthodox Square Foot Gardening techniques. Here we have started some cooler weather vegetables such as radishes, carrots, turnips, leeks, broccoli, and cabbage.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bIK09grI/AAAAAAAAAuk/u3W04M-gFTo/s1600-h/2008august_5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SK8bIK09grI/AAAAAAAAAuk/u3W04M-gFTo/s400/2008august_5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237434718814569138" border="0" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-68761626415389446932008-06-06T07:39:00.000-04:002008-12-09T17:09:44.336-05:00Hymenoptera in Our Garden...Specifically, of the suborder <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrita" title="Wikipedia - Apocrita">Apocrita</a>. I am very grateful that these visit our garden, since they are pollinators. It would be quite tedious to have to hand pollinate everything in our garden.<br /><br />At the time of its death, I didn't know what this was. All I knew is that it was cutting holes in our leaves. So I killed it and brought it inside for a better look. This is a leaf-cutting bee. At first, I thought they might be destructive pests, which is also part of the reason I killed one. But according to Wikipedia, they are extremely good pollinators. Let's hope the benefit outweighs the fact that they are going to destroy leaves. Yesterday, I was glad to see a good number of these visiting our butter bean blossoms and not cutting leaves.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEiFJ1WAKdI/AAAAAAAAAok/GkVw2w0n5fQ/s1600-h/leafcutter_bee.jpg" title="Dead leaf-cutting bee" target="new3"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEiFJ1WAKdI/AAAAAAAAAok/GkVw2w0n5fQ/s400/leafcutter_bee.jpg" border="0" alt="Dead leaf-cutting bee"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208559373038660050" /></a>(If you look carefully, you can see its stinger)<br /><br />Bumblebee pollinating tomato blossoms (Homestead variety tomato, I think?).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEiFK8Za1zI/AAAAAAAAAos/xG61x7SHrJA/s1600-h/2008june_garden11.JPG" title="Bumblebee pollinating tomato" target="new2"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEiFK8Za1zI/AAAAAAAAAos/xG61x7SHrJA/s400/2008june_garden11.JPG" border="0" alt="Bumblebee pollinating tomato"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208559392111908658" /></a><br /><br />I think this was some sort of yellow jacket (Go Jackets!). It had what looked like a red-banded <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafhopper" title="Wikipedia - Leafhopper" target="new">leafhopper</a> in its hind legs (not visible here), which would be a good thing, since those are pests. It was quite occupied while digging its hole, as it let me put the camera so close to take a picture.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEkYyvHLFVI/AAAAAAAAAo8/v-m3eZr7thA/s1600-h/2008june_garden15.JPG" target="new1" title="Yellow jacket(?) digging hole"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SEkYyvHLFVI/AAAAAAAAAo8/v-m3eZr7thA/s400/2008june_garden15.JPG" border="0" alt="Yellow jacket(?) digging hole"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5208721703949768018" /></a><br /><br />I also see a <b>big</b> maroon colored wasp flying around in the garden sometimes. It's pretty intimidating looking. Looks a bit like the wasp in the <a href="http://bugguide.net/node/view/176596/bgimage" title="BugGuide.net - Yellow jacket and wasp" target="new4">right half of this picture</a>, except maybe a bit brighter.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-75263136681128749632008-06-04T07:18:00.000-04:002008-12-09T17:09:45.903-05:00Garden Update, June 2008Maybe by this time next month, we'll have been able to harvest something! There's lots of pictures this time, so I won't waste any more time with this "talking."<br /><br />Overview:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Garden Overview" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLiZlSlJI/AAAAAAAAAms/dccKVSyzBvk/s1600-h/2008june_garden01.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207440492246242450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLiZlSlJI/AAAAAAAAAms/dccKVSyzBvk/s400/2008june_garden01.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Herb garden. Planted the peppermint in a sunken pot, transplanted the yarrow, and bought another lavender plant since the <a title="Thou and Thou Only - Perennial Herb Garden Project" href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/05/perennial-herb-garden-project.html" target="newblah">previous post about the perennial herb garden.</a> We hope to collect viable seeds or propagate cuttings from all these herbs so we won't have to keep buying from nurseries.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Herb Garden" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLi5lSlKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/mQWE7_nRhP8/s1600-h/2008june_garden02.JPG" target="new1"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207440500836177058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLi5lSlKI/AAAAAAAAAm0/mQWE7_nRhP8/s400/2008june_garden02.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Some of our pole beans have taken off. This one is doing the best and soon won't have anywhere to go.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Pole Bean Tendril" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLjZlSlLI/AAAAAAAAAm8/wwKZNcYzAZA/s1600-h/2008june_garden03.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207440509426111666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESLjZlSlLI/AAAAAAAAAm8/wwKZNcYzAZA/s400/2008june_garden03.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />Closer look at the bush beans (French green and butter).<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Bush Beans " href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxH8KYx9sgN1VkHtR04P6e5Rt3A3TVGOUfmjvfRe9o30U2hDKRDLDpA6EBEHyTfhLYFiU7QNW8wzsK08_3_UXVTlESCB_gUT2T2NTqACOETyUDVxym9iDgeX4qhQJW0cmr1pG9A/s1600-h/2008june_garden05.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207440513721078978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxH8KYx9sgN1VkHtR04P6e5Rt3A3TVGOUfmjvfRe9o30U2hDKRDLDpA6EBEHyTfhLYFiU7QNW8wzsK08_3_UXVTlESCB_gUT2T2NTqACOETyUDVxym9iDgeX4qhQJW0cmr1pG9A/s400/2008june_garden05.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />Cucumber, and serrano pepper to the right. There are also two basil shoots in the serrano's pot, but you can't see it well.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Cucumber and Serrano in Pots" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNs5lSlNI/AAAAAAAAAnM/MLvTV1DRdLU/s1600-h/2008june_garden06.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207442871658124498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNs5lSlNI/AAAAAAAAAnM/MLvTV1DRdLU/s400/2008june_garden06.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />Cuttings from rosemary, last year's spearmint, and this year's peppermint.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Garden Propagating" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNtJlSlOI/AAAAAAAAAnU/NO7A7ZhGEw4/s1600-h/2008june_garden07.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207442875953091810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNtJlSlOI/AAAAAAAAAnU/NO7A7ZhGEw4/s400/2008june_garden07.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />From left to right: planted some more nasturtiums, random beans from our cupboard, green onions, nasturtium.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, More Container Plants" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNtZlSlPI/AAAAAAAAAnc/Tvr03yJx37U/s1600-h/2008june_garden08.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207442880248059122" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNtZlSlPI/AAAAAAAAAnc/Tvr03yJx37U/s400/2008june_garden08.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />The (mostly) nightshade section. We have immature peppers, as well as tomatoes forming on the Homestead and Roma varieties.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, (mostly) Nightshade Section" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNt5lSlQI/AAAAAAAAAnk/3Ki-YHrKHa8/s1600-h/2008june_garden09.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207442888837993730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESNt5lSlQI/AAAAAAAAAnk/3Ki-YHrKHa8/s400/2008june_garden09.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />These overwintered carrots have been in the making for a looooong time. They've been in the ground since <a title="Thou and Thou Only - December 2007 Winter Garden Update" href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/12/winter-garden-update-december.html" target="newblah2">November or December 2007</a>, I think.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Overwintered Carrots" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESPyplSlUI/AAAAAAAAAoE/SRntQEDwDQ0/s1600-h/2008june_garden13.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207445169465627970" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESPyplSlUI/AAAAAAAAAoE/SRntQEDwDQ0/s400/2008june_garden13.JPG" border="0" /></a> <br />*sighs* Harmony and I swallowed our pride and bought two pepper plants (probably courtesy of Monsanto or some other agricultural bully) from the nursery. This was prompted by Harmony having to pay around $3 for a <em>green</em> pepper the other day. Of the 6(?) sweet pepper seedlings we grew and planted, only one has survived. We have since planted more of our own seeds, hoping for a late harvest.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="2008 June, Hybrid Pepper, we are jokers" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESPzJlSlVI/AAAAAAAAAoM/9IIPkrF1hhc/s1600-h/2008june_garden14.JPG" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5207445178055562578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: pointer; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SESPzJlSlVI/AAAAAAAAAoM/9IIPkrF1hhc/s400/2008june_garden14.JPG" border="0" /></a>To rub salt in our wounded pride, both of the new pepper plants are hybrids. BUT, we take comfort in the fact that if these plants produce even the equivalent of 3 grocery store bell peppers, they will have been worth the purchase price.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-26864876324660244802008-05-30T06:58:00.000-04:002008-12-09T17:09:46.517-05:00Perennial Herb Garden ProjectOur latest gardening project is making a perennial herb garden.<br /><br />In the midst of pouring my heart out to my dear wife about the horrible tenacity of grass *, I lamented about how it might be nice if we had something useful growing in the backyard instead of grass. This led to talk of what ground cover plants we could cultivate. Eventually, we somehow decided that we would tear out the inedible or otherwise useless plants from the back right corner of our yard and make a perennial herb garden section out of it. After all, our long term gardening goal is self-sufficiency. Considering that we use herbs quite often, it follows that we would need to grow them ourselves. Most of these herbs also have clinically proven medicinal effects (I wrote about our interest in medicinal herbs in a past post, <a title="Thou and Thou Only - The New Face of Survivalism" href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/04/new-face-of-survivalism.html">The New Face of Survivalism</a>.)<br /><br />In the top right section of this older picture from the end of March, you can see the mostly useless plants that we tore up:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="Herb Garden Plot, Before" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/R-7cB8fNGdI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Xj1fHd_ImjI/s1600-h/IMG_3386.JPG" target="newwindow1"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183322147125008850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="Herb Garden Plot, Before" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/R-7cB8fNGdI/AAAAAAAAAL0/Xj1fHd_ImjI/s400/IMG_3386.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br />And here it is now:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" title="Herb Garden Plot, After" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SD80bXcKLFI/AAAAAAAAAmk/1j49XkdacMI/s1600-h/perennial_herb_garden.jpg" target="new"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5205937339016817746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="Herb Garden Plot, After" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SD80bXcKLFI/AAAAAAAAAmk/1j49XkdacMI/s400/perennial_herb_garden.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />From left to right, we have the following: bee balm, two common sage plants, lavender (transplanted yet again), the non-ground cover thyme that we had been growing, more hard-to-see ground cover thyme (purportedly, you can even walk on it!), chamomile, oregano, and stevia. We have peppermint which we are thinking of planting within the inner section, near the butterfly bush. We would, of course, entrench some sort of divider to keep the peppermint from totally taking over everything. Who knows, perhaps we will rue the day we ever thought to plant the peppermint in the ground. But at least it has its uses.<br /><br />I must confess that we did not grow any of these from seed ourselves. You know, sometimes we just get these great ideas, but they come a bit late in the season...or we want to plant things for which the nurseries do not sell seeds. We do plan on saving lots of seeds from them though.<br /><br />The problem with this herb bed is that there's nothing to keep certain anonymous bad puppies from romping around and trying to eat our plants. She's already ripped up half of one of the thyme plants, and she seems to like nibbling on the chamomile. She likes to bask between the sage and the thyme.<br /><br />(I moved this entire paragraph down here, since it's somewhat extraneous)<br />* - <em><span style="font-size:85%;">The thing-to-do around our household these days is to complain about grass. To us, grass is a horrid weed, popping up in places where we were sure we'd pulled it all up. It spreads like wildfire, and in a way, it's worse than the equally invasive ivy. At least ivy invades with thick woody tendrils that make it somewhat easier to pull up; grass gives us no such luxury. It is thin and you cannot just pull...you have to dig up the ground all around it lest you leave a tiny piece of it in the ground. And if you do leave a piece of grass root in the ground, more grass will spring up in its place. It is quite fine at propagating itself, and I wish that tomatoes, peppers, lavender, and watermelons could be so resilient and persistent.</span></em>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-8097044626564530442008-05-12T07:17:00.002-04:002008-12-09T17:09:47.508-05:00God and Gardening: Lessons in Submission<span style="font-size: 180%; font-style: italic;">We are becoming more</span> and more serious about gardening as each day passes. A month or two ago, we decided that one of our eventual goals was for our garden to completely sustain our vegetable needs. If all goes well, perhaps trips to the grocery store will be for meats and other animal products only (we would still have to buy grains, oils, etc. in bulk though).<br /><br /><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SCXbBv5JRHI/AAAAAAAAAmM/VFqTS0WNcEo/s320/veggies_cuttingboard_small.jpg" border="0" alt="Stock image - Veggies on Cutting Board" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198802167951606898" />This would mean that we'd have to submit our eating habits and desires to the seasons. We live in <a href="http://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php?img=seusa" target="new" title="USDA - Southeast US Hardiness Zones">USDA hardiness zone 7B</a>, which means we will not be able to have typical summer produce year-round. That would be foodstuffs like tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, and cucumbers, which are some of the things that are growing in our garden right now. Just my luck that those are some of my favorite fruits and vegetables. I've never had a great liking for most of the typical winter veggies like cabbage, turnips, and broccoli. But if we want to be self-sufficient in our produce needs, I am going to have to learn to like these things. Likewise, we are going to have to learn to go without our favorite fresh summer produce in the colder months. <br /><br />We are going to voluntarily refrain from the urge to get tomatoes in the dead of Georgia winter. We have given much thought and consideration to long term produce storage, and have been buying seeds of varieties that keep well. We are also planning on buying a pressure canner, and we have a chest freezer and dehydrator as well. We are planning on setting up a root "cellar" in the garage or somewhere in the house. The fact is, though, that we are just going to have to accept that we won't be able to have fresh, straight-from-the-backyard tomato basil soup all year round.<br /><div align = 'center'><img src='http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee166/junkm4le/blog_images/stevia_cartoon_wide.jpg' alt='Filler image - stevia'/></div><br />Last week, Harmony and I recognized that God might be using our desire for a sustaining garden to teach us a lesson in submission. There are seasons in life where we want this... or we want that... or feel like we really need this. I <i>want</i> red juicy tomatoes and sweet red bell peppers all year round, but cannot have them. We hope that our garden will produce enough so that we will have plenty of vegetables to can and freeze. But we can't be certain. We hope the Lord will bless our harvest abundantly, but He might not. Perhaps God wants us to eat lots of cabbage, turnips, and winter squash this year. <br /><br />Before we got married, we had our own plans for what life would be like right now. In some variety of our plans, I wouldn't have time to be writing this blog post because I'd be chasing a toddler around, with possibly another baby on the way. In another variety, I might be catching up on sleep lost from midnight care of a few-month-old infant (<a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2007/06/sad-news.html" title="Thou and Thou Only - Sad News" target="new">read about what could have been</a>). This is not the way life has gone for us though; in fact, sometimes it seems like the children are being given to everyone except us. Countless times have we prayed for God to give us the blessing of children, but almost always accompanying those prayers are prayers for God to help us be willing to submit to His (possibly contrary) will.<br /><br /><div class="pullquote"><span class="curly">“</span>We will submit to His will, so cabbage, turnips, and winter squash will comprise a large part of our spiritual diet.<span class="curly">”</span></div>And so figuratively, our life harvest has not gone according to our desires. We wanted a proverbial bumper crop of juicy tomatoes, sugary sweet peppers, and light butter beans. The Lord gave us none, or perhaps what we received were vegetables that looked good initially, but spoiled very quickly (i.e. the joy of the positive pregnancy test, the crushing blow of miscarriage). We will submit to His will, so cabbage, turnips, and winter squash will comprise a large part of our spiritual diet. We will work to get the most enjoyment out of what are not our first choices when it comes to produce. We'll work to submit to His perfect will and find peace in those times when God just says "No," for His own perfect reasons.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-84924307705685247552008-05-07T12:24:00.000-04:002008-05-07T12:25:13.980-04:00Division of Labor in Our GardenThere is a somewhat distinct division of labor when it comes to gardening related stuffs. There are duties that Harmony prefers to do (or does because I don't do them); the same goes for me.<br /><br />You could sort of say that Harmony is the management, and I am the labor. She knows when all the planting / harvesting dates are. She is the one that researches all the seed varieties and chooses potentials for our garden. You can see an example of this in our <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/01/2008-garden-plan.html" title="Thou and Thou Only - 2008 Garden Plan" target="new">2008 Garden Plan post</a>. Generally, she knows more about how to tend the plants and what to or not to do to them. I don't really like taking seedlings out of their containers and transplanting them into the ground; I prefer to let Harmony handle those tasks.<br /><br />...that is, unless the seedlings need to be transplanted deep in the ground. That's where I come in. Whenever holes need to be dug or dirt needs to be flung around in some manner, I am the one doing the grunt work. This might be different if our soil were nice and our subdivision not built over a small stone mountain. As it is, the soil is hard enough for <i>me</i> to break up, but I can do it with more ease than Harmony could.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/junkm4le/SAFTNmTvnpI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/65uOxrcV0WY/IMG_3305.JPG?imgmax=800"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/junkm4le/SAFTNmTvnpI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/65uOxrcV0WY/IMG_3305.JPG?imgmax=800" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Composting is almost completely my own domain. The sight of rotting stuff in general makes Harmony want to gag and barf, so I handle everything related to that. I don't mind it one bit either. She puts the scraps into a bucket, and I handle everything else from there; taking it out to the pile, turning the pile, monitoring the pile, and whatever else you can do with compost piles. I also shred up paper and cardboard fodder for the compost, in an attempt to get the proper carbon/nitrogen ratio. This is one area where I am much more knowledgeable than Harmony; she's usually the one asking me the questions about compost.<br /><br />Our roles are also somewhat analogous to the legislative (Harmony) and executive (me) branches of our government. Harmony comes up with ideas for what to plant and what variety of cultivar to buy, as well as garden layouts. She will usually present these to me for my approval. There has never been an occasion for me to totally veto what she proposes. I trust her judgment and knowledge in these matters. Sometimes (many times?) she has trouble deciding between options, which is where I am once again needed.JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-64780852389839797072008-05-03T09:50:00.004-04:002008-12-09T17:09:49.375-05:00Garden Update, May 2008The last few garden updates:<br /><a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/04/garden-update-april-2008.html" title="April 2008 Garden Update">April's garden update</a><br /><a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/03/garden-update-march-2008.html" title="March 2008 Garden Update">March 2008 Garden Update</a><br /><a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/03/another-garden-update-etc.html" title="March 2008 Garden Update, Addendum">March 2008 Garden Update, Addendum</a><br /><br />Here is the overview of our garden, as of May 3, 2008.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuvBqSbsI/AAAAAAAAAfc/eDtszWUV2P4/s1600-h/2008may_garden1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuvBqSbsI/AAAAAAAAAfc/eDtszWUV2P4/s400/2008may_garden1.jpg" border="0" alt="Overview of our garden, May 2008" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196149824257420994" /></a><br /><div align="center"><hr width="70%"/></div><br />Peas, lettuce, beans. <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SAPnEmTvoPI/AAAAAAAAAas/BtsEaNNDi6Q/s1600-h/2008april_garden2.jpg" title="Same view, April 2008" target="new">Compare with last month</a>; you'll notice that a couple of the lettuces are missing.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuvxqSbtI/AAAAAAAAAfk/xE0_89ueD0A/s1600-h/2008may_garden2.jpg" title="Peas, lettuce, beans, May 2008"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuvxqSbtI/AAAAAAAAAfk/xE0_89ueD0A/s400/2008may_garden2.jpg" border="0" alt="Peas, lettuce, beans" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196149837142322898" /></a><br /><div align="center"><hr width="80%"/></div><br />The rest of the garden. The butter beans sort of sprouted up overnight a couple of weeks ago. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0E1DpOLy690QFsZIKujXRmbS0bGo07Yx8kON6QbW2oDrWO9WopwIv8oiIq64onIhyCDfgKPgAAmucX5y_nIQe1UgLjkmDzVD4Ohyjle879tJxfI1DDQe7BMeAn_eqj2b9lZX9iA/s1600-h/2008may_garden3.jpg" title="Beans, garlic, broccoli, May 2008"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0E1DpOLy690QFsZIKujXRmbS0bGo07Yx8kON6QbW2oDrWO9WopwIv8oiIq64onIhyCDfgKPgAAmucX5y_nIQe1UgLjkmDzVD4Ohyjle879tJxfI1DDQe7BMeAn_eqj2b9lZX9iA/s400/2008may_garden3.jpg" border="0" alt="Beans, garlic, broccoli" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196149841437290210" /></a><br /><div align="center"><hr width="80%"/></div><br />Our container plants. The containers along the top are mostly lettuce. The first box has violets transplanted from our yard. The empty looking box will hopefully have green onion seedlings soon. The third box has a couple of marigold seedlings...but I don't even remember putting any seeds in there. That's nice, because absolutely none of the marigold seeds I sowed a couple of weeks ago have sprouted. The plant in the green half-filled pot is stevia. More on that below.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuwhqSbvI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7qbNCjxsS7E/s1600-h/2008may_garden4.jpg" title="Our container plants"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuwhqSbvI/AAAAAAAAAf0/7qbNCjxsS7E/s400/2008may_garden4.jpg" border="0" alt="Our container plants" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196149850027224818" /></a><br /><div align="center"><hr width="80%"/></div><br />Our nightshades, which would be tomatoes and peppers. Harmony told me that peppers like hot weather, so I put our <a href="http://thou-and-thou-only.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-make-cheap-coldframe.html" title="Thou and Thou Only - Make a Cheap Cold Frame">poor man's cold frame</a> over one of them. It does seem to have helped a slight bit, as the pepper pod/tiny flower thingies are a bit bigger than the other pepper plant's, which was not covered. Also, the row of pebbles marks yesterday's sowing of carrots (Chantenay and Danver's half long).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuwxqSbwI/AAAAAAAAAf8/RrLCftNcLN4/s1600-h/2008may_garden5.jpg" title="Nightshades, etc."><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxuwxqSbwI/AAAAAAAAAf8/RrLCftNcLN4/s400/2008may_garden5.jpg" border="0" alt="Nightshades, etc." id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196149854322192130" /></a><br /><br />At this point, I have a confession to make: last weeks ago, we went to Walmart's garden center and bought some seedlings. I felt like wearing a paper bag over my head because it felt like cheating not to start plants ourselves from seed. At that point, our tomato seedlings didn't look too great, and neither did our peppers. So we went on a shopping spree and bought Homestead tomatoes, sweet peppers, Beauregard sweet potatoes, and a stevia plant (that last one a bit random, maybe we'll make extract from it later). At least we got non-hybrid varieties that we can save seeds from...??? So there it is; my confession.<br /><div align="center"><hr width="80%"/></div><br />Beyond the backyard fence, we have planted pumpkins, watermelon, and sweet potatoes. Thanks to the tree I cut down yesterday, you probably can't see them well. I was going to draw circles around them, but perhaps I will leave it up to bored-reader-with-lots-of-time to hunt them down.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxvlRqSbxI/AAAAAAAAAgE/qOkU00GcXOQ/s1600-h/2008may_garden6.jpg" title="Sweet potatoes, pumpkins, watermelon"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxvlRqSbxI/AAAAAAAAAgE/qOkU00GcXOQ/s400/2008may_garden6.jpg" border="0" alt="Sweet potatoes, pumpkins, watermelon" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196150756265324306" /></a><br /><div align="center"><hr width="80%"/></div><br />Here's another picture of a ladybug larva in action, thank goodness.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxvlxqSbzI/AAAAAAAAAgU/nex63HO7rEk/s1600-h/ladybug_larva_in_action.jpg" title="Ladybug larva eating aphid"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBxvlxqSbzI/AAAAAAAAAgU/nex63HO7rEk/s400/ladybug_larva_in_action.jpg" border="0" alt="Ladybug larva eating aphid" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5196150764855258930" /></a>JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37491865.post-60548326093529490842008-04-25T20:42:00.001-04:002008-12-09T17:09:51.635-05:00Predatory Insects In Our Garden...or title #2, "Now <i>that's</i> what I like to see!"<br /><br />Here is a ladybug larva eating an aphid. Last year we ordered some ladybugs. I've seen several larvae so far, but I'm not sure how many are here as a result of last year's order, if any. I like the larvae better because they can't fly away ;) The adults always go totally in the wrong direction. It's like they're trying <i>not</i> to find any aphids to eat. The larvae don't seem quite as idiotic.<br /><center><span class="center-caption"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5bxqSbgI/AAAAAAAAAc8/XEUuTTA9uc4/s1600-h/larva_eating_aphid.JPG" title="Ladybug larva eating an evil aphid" target="newwindow"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5bxqSbgI/AAAAAAAAAc8/XEUuTTA9uc4/s400/larva_eating_aphid.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193346838405737986" /></a><br /><p>NOM NOM NOM</p></center><br /></span><br /><!--<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1KRqSbdI/AAAAAAAAAck/tNoVDmNlm9w/s1600-h/larva_eating_aphid.JPG" title="Ladybug larva eating an evil aphid" target="newwindow"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1KRqSbdI/AAAAAAAAAck/tNoVDmNlm9w/s400/larva_eating_aphid.JPG" border="0" alt="Ladybug larva eating an evil aphid" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193342139711516114" /></a>--><br /><br />I was very grateful to see a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoverfly" title="Wikipedia - Hoverfly" target="newwindow3">hoverfly</a> in the garden today! I didn't get any pictures of it. I doubt it would've stayed still and posed for one anyways. I believe these are eggs, since I saw it eyeing some aphids, then deposited two of these onto the pea leaf. Well, they're either eggs or poop. Let's hope they're eggs.<br /><center><span class="center-caption"><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5cBqSbhI/AAAAAAAAAdE/Cc1bR9DTXEo/s1600-h/hoverfly_eggs.JPG" title="Hoverfly eggs" target="newwindow2"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5cBqSbhI/AAAAAAAAAdE/Cc1bR9DTXEo/s400/hoverfly_eggs.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193346842700705298" /></a><br /><p>Eggs or poop?</p></span></center><br /><br /><!--<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1LRqSbeI/AAAAAAAAAcs/YeSj4UTjXR4/s1600-h/hoverfly_eggs.JPG" title="Hoverfly eggs" target="newwindow2"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1LRqSbeI/AAAAAAAAAcs/YeSj4UTjXR4/s400/hoverfly_eggs.JPG" border="0" alt="Hoverfly eggs" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193342156891385314" /></a>--><br /><br />On the other hand, we are not so pleased to have seen a number of these in the garden. Can anyone identify what type of beetle this is? The coloring doesn't seen to match any of the pictures we've seen. We haven't seen any typical beetle damage, so we don't know what these things are eating. Maybe they're good beetles??<br /><center><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5cRqSbiI/AAAAAAAAAdM/ip_hu7qAGvc/s1600-h/mystery_beetle.png" title="Mystery Beetle" target="newwindwo4"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ5cRqSbiI/AAAAAAAAAdM/ip_hu7qAGvc/s400/mystery_beetle.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193346846995672610" /></a></center><br /><!--<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1LxqSbfI/AAAAAAAAAc0/vV7UK7j-Lls/s1600-h/mystery_beetle.png" title="Mystery Beetle" target="newwindwo4"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_avUUQxpy30o/SBJ1LxqSbfI/AAAAAAAAAc0/vV7UK7j-Lls/s400/mystery_beetle.png" border="0" alt="Mystery Beetle" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193342165481319922" /></a>-->JunkMalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02619673168896233941noreply@blogger.com7