Monday, April 9, 2018

     A lot has happened, garden-wise, since my last post.  My life "returned to normal," so to speak, after Spring Break in my town, and then "we got through another one," as my dear departed Dad used to say after a busy holiday; this holiday being Easter. (Fyi, my parents had six kids, so you can imagine the excitement we used to have during the holidays.)  Admittedly, my family's Easter was tame in comparison, but still not boring at all! 
Organic eggs with red onion skins

Dyed and decorated eggs

These pine needles came in handy:)

   I managed to plant at least some of my seeds on Easter Eve, at which time I realized that I don't have enough seed-starting cells for all of my seeds, plus many of the plants will do better if I just plant them directly in the soil in about a month, after all danger of frost is passed.

Seedling tray - 3 days
 The Morning Glories already germinated!


The Basil, Parsley and Broccoli, Day 6

Here are the seedlings today, April 9th. 
The Butternut Squash aren't going to last long in here.
The Morning Glory vine is trying to 
wrap around the squash seedling.

   We did have a light snowstorm in the past week.  It was good to get the moisture, but I decided to cover my new volunteers with plastic bags, because the overnight temperature was only 24 degrees. 


My Pansies made it through the 
freeze, with a little help.

    In the past, I have tried planting before Mother's Day, because we have so many warm days in the spring, but I have always regretted it because we usually have one last May snowstorm. I've been browsing online for containers, thinking that I can use many that I already have, with maybe a BPA-free liner or something, but I think I'll be okay with the right container mix, because I've read that the plant will only uptake the nutrients it needs, and leave the rest, anyway.  I'll rinse the containers out well, though - at least the ones with edibles planted in them.

Since it has been a few years since I have attempted some semblence of a vegetable garden, this season is just going to be trial and error anyway, with plans to start acquiring the right equipment, anyway for use in future seasons (if the apocalypse doesn't hit - running joke), or, "Lord willing" (do the back-Easterners still say that)?

Basically, it's going to take me a few years to really build it into anything substantial or productive.  This is really just my hobby, so I'm going to try my best to use "organic" methods, but I'm not going to try to pretend that I'm 100 percent "natural."  I'm not looking to spend a lot of money, either.  I live in "farm country" as it is, with readilly-available local crops- organic and non - so I'll be lucky to break even on my bedding flowers, some lettuce and a few tomatoes. I kind of doubt it with the rest, due to the high cost of soil, containers and fertilizer.  Hopefully I'll start composting sometime, but I'm not sure when, and I'm not sure I'm that ambitious.  Of course I have a couple of family naysayers with more energy vs. time than I have, so I'm sure its a little frustrating for them, but I'm enjoying myself.

   I did finally settle on a really nice all-cedar raised bed container.  I qualified for free shipping, so I don't even have to go to the store to pick it up, although they did offer optional "free in-store pick-up."  I almost purchased a really nice, but smaller, composite, self-watering portable container that's available in about 8 colors, for only $30.00, but I decided to go with the all-wooden raised bed.  I might still get the portable container, though, because I think I could use it inside during the winter in my little "sunspace."  I'll wait and see what I'm going to need once I start transplanting, and planting, outdoors.

   The portable container implements a cover that they call a "mulch cover," to use to conserve moisture, so I that gave me the idea to design some sort of covering like that for the raised bed container, with one of my tarps.
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One of Walmart's many raised bed kits, below:

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