A Wandering WeyrCat...

Hmm, vegetablegarden.info actually lists seeds by Zone (10b=us) instead of vague zone (Goldenrod) like the other plant guide (that I like but may not be specific enough). WHOLE different planting schedule. This one says everything I planted was put down too early for 10b. My Turnips seem to be doing fine, but might explain why everything else gave up. Does mean I should be able to sow the seeds I already have & try them again. (Pfft says Cauli shouldn't be seeded til Oct!! /fingers crossed.. I want to try to eat some Turnip leaves. They're fighting hard because they're all so bushy. Bet they'd do just fine one-leaf-less each. Since my original schedule says my turnips should be done next Wedesday I'll pull one up to see how big it is. I can always put it back, probably. I'm going to try to move the wee beets to their own square, overshadowed as they are by the turnip leaves, and seed a few more down. I don't like them much, but I can probably add t...

So, I've come to the conclusion that my seedlings are a loss. This means I will have no broccoli this time around, as the time to translate a healthy plant has passed now. Bear in mind that the sparseness you see Left is after TWO WEEKS. Pft, almost three. ~The Chives pot grew nothing, not even the little round leafed invader sprouts. ~The two broccoli pots have the invader weeds, and to brought my hopes up a little reddish-stalked sprout. ~The red cabbage pot had a strong looking seedling, but green.. ~The two purple cauliflower pots had seedlings, but they looked just like all the others! Until three days ago when something sprouted up SO FAST and grew SO TALL that it fell over! Every two hours I noticed it have MOVED again! I was sure it must have been some green version of mushroom to grow that fast. ~The opal basil pot was my only hope, having a green spout with two "true leaves" beneath it that are kind of jagged. I hadn't thought to look up what these s...

So, while for some reason I cannot get the Blogger or Picasa to play nice, and thus this post looks like garbage, the garden itself BLEW UP in the last four days! LOOK how BUSHY they got! The turnips are almost a shrub in comparison, and the cucumber got so tall it finally fell over and shot out tendrils! I reaaaally need to device a trellis of some sort, and soon. The Bamboo and netting idea got shot down when I learned I cannot attach anything to the siding of the house. The stucco is concrete or something. Look how it blew up! The squash, still yellowed, but taller! The Cukes have tendrils! Persian Shield in his new pot My Garden

So, it had been a while since I got to post pics of the little garden. A great many didn't grow: broccoli, chives, Basil. I'm going to try to start them inside, though it's supposedly too late for the Broccoli. The Winter Squash got tall, but there's some yellowing lower leaves. The Thinning of the Turnips and Beets (After Rook trampled a bit) took alright, until she trampled through it again. Now it looks like I may get 4-5 beets and a ton of turnips. I put up this spiky willow thing to try to keep her out, so far so good! Oooh Ahh! Winter Squash! Cucumber Turnips and Beets Cabbage?

We left to dinner at 1812. When we got back around 2012 THIS HUGE WEB with the HUGE ugly yellow and black spider had sprung up outside the patio door. Terrifying. Made Blue Cheese (for him) Feta (for me) and red pepper stuffed chicken breasts for dinner tomorrow, along with spinach and cream cheese stuffed white mushrooms. Crammed in a couple loads of laundry; ignoring the dishes best I can. Got super fat on the Asian Passport food at Sweet Tomatoes.  My poor garden... The vines are starting to turn yellow. I think I'm not watering enough, so I poured so much water on them today that I thought I might DROWN them: but the soil kept taking and taking it without pooling on top. I have to see how they are in the morning. I hope the yellow and slightly dry edging on one leaf (per plant) doesn't sabotage the whole plant. The turnips seem to be doing ok, though a couple of them seem to be coming in crooked, (the turnips too!) I'm now convinced the weird thing in the middle...

Water bill came in. My new miserliness dropped water usage from 6000 gallons to 3000 gallons, and from $19.47 to $13.45. *It's not about the money paid, it's the gallons saved :)    I want so badly to post every day the growth I see in the garden. Is it weird that it makes me so excited? Both of my Cucumber and Winter Squash seeds sprouted (I sowed two per hole), so I'll have to thin them. I'm only moving them a little though, I'd love to have WAY too many squash and cucumbers. My celery, chives, and cabbage haven't spouted, and I'm a little worried since everything else did. I'm thinking about seeding them inside this week and just transplanting whatever grows. I got my broccoli in the mail, and thus in the ground. I also got my carrots in the mail, but haven't made the tote up yet. I'm going to just turn the tote into a garden for them, since the Square Foot plot in the back wouldn't be deep enough. Supposedly I can do potatoes this way ...

I went out to potty the dog and water the plants and saw sprouts!! I ran back in the house yelling "I'VE GOT TURNIPS!!!" Turnips! Cucumber stalk! Beets! Almost missed them! Winter Squash stalk :) I still have to move the twine from over the Winter Squash, I didn't have my sharp the day I planted the seeds. Still no sign of the Celery, Cabbage, or Chives yet. Here's hoping they're not TOO shy! I watered them from the cup again, each lil row/plant get's 8oz near/around them. I don't want to drown them. I watered them the day they were planted, skipped yesterday, and watered today. I'm not sure yet if that's good or bad, but I'll figure it out. I had them covered the first night in case of hard rain (I didn't want the seeds displaced). Husband has convinced me to leave the Weed Blocker tarp off for this evening, as the sun is very little due to the coming rain. So... here's praying Mother let's me keep my seedling...

This place we moved into had an abandoned garden in the side-yard. Not big, overgrown with weeds, bordered by sad wooden barriers. It's an imperfect place: off to the side so you cannot see it even from the patio. There's also the Dryer vent hanging out the side, a twisted ugly piece of metal that Husband tells me cannot be cut down to be flush with the wall. I wouldn't impede it or anything, just, pretty it up. Grate it or something. When I started pulling the weeds out I found odd bits of garbage in it: some cigarette butts, fuses, bottlecaps, a sanding disk, couch foam, a toolbox full of screws with plastic washers or anchors. Garden being built: Funky space beside the house. I think it USED to be a garden. I pulled all the weeds! It almost looks like a garden.. Pulled out the rotted wood. Yay! New Wood! Now it's a Square Foot Garden! With more soil to give the plants something to root in thi...

EcoForms Store Home Page : "- Sent using Google Toolbar" I'm sharing this because I've been a week trying to find a pot for my Persian Shield, as the poor thing is getting finicky as it tries to outgrow the one it came in. I was shopping wood, as I dislike plastics and just wanted a natural feeling pot. Wrought iron is beautiful, but Persian Shield will need to be brought in for the winter and that can get heavy... I stumbled on these EcoForm pots tonight and love them! They say the pot starts to break down around five years and basically turns back into dirt. Fine with me. For less than the base price, without shipping, of the cheapest wood planter I'd found, I got the pot, and a saucer, and it shipped. :D Happy Kitty.

Beit Alpha Cucumbers 60 days. Sugar Dumpling Winter Squash 90 days Purple Top Globe Turnip 55 days Beets! 50 days Red Express Cabbage 62 days Giant Red Reselection Celery 100 days Chives 90 days Purple Dark Opal Basil 65 days Rosalind Broccoli 60 days WEEEEEE! Fantastic information on what to grow in my area, in August :) Wanted Blue potatos, but they're all sold out! The seed people say the Lemon herb I want should be grown in shade in warm climates (boo). Mmmm purple broccoli (evil). OK. Wish me luck :D

SO, left to right: Coleus (Fishnet Stockings) ; Chives ; Lemon Balm ; Flowering Kale (Red Pigeon) ; Sage (purple) ; Pansies (Maxim Marina) . In the Hanging planters I have purple Snapdragon and random green herbs. Oh, and the Green Lady ^_^ I had a trellis in there for the snapdragon to cover up the weird marks on the wall to the right, but it covered up the water hose and that could be problematic. I like that I can eat everything in the middle. Although I'd probably want to be sparing with the Kale so as not to demolish the poor plant. I'm sure there will be a lot more brown in between space when the garden comes in, but this was fun :) Tried to keep everything MOSTLY to scale. So when this all comes in, in three years when we have to move again, I'll take a picture and compare it! Note: According to Better Homes and Gardens, all of these plants are good for Florida's hardiness rating of 10. Only the chives are at the border (and another seed site listing them as ...

 This place we moved into had an abandoned garden in the side-yard. Not big, overgrown with weeds, bordered by sad wooden barriers. I want to plant in it, I don't even know what yet. Thinking about flowers, maybe vegetables.. The trick would be keeping the dog out of it; I guess I'd have to worry about keeping bugs out of it too if it were vegetables. It's an imperfect place: off to the side so you cannot see it even from the patio. There's also the Dryer vent hanging out the side, a twisted ugly piece of metal that Husband tells me cannot be cut down to be flush with the wall. I wouldn't impede it or anything, just, pretty it up. Grate it or something. I'm leery to put food type things in front of the dryer vent. Maybe I can do something like put a little fountain or birdbath in front of it, just to hide it. Either way I picked up a cheap little set of garden tools at the Big Lots and tore the weeds out today. The dirt underneath USED to be potting soil; it see...