Memorial Day Garden

[silkifyre]

Guess what we did for Memorial Day?

Nope, didn't go to a parade.

Nope, didn't go to a picnic. (Well, I did go visit my mom late in the day, and had supper with her, and she did have some boneless chicken done on the grill, and we did eat outside in her backyard, so that MIGHT count.)

Nope, didn't set off any firecrackers or other explosive devices.

(Yeah, yeah, I hear y'all... BOY, What a BORING Memorial Day!!!)

Well, it wasn't boring for ME! So there! tttthhhhhhbbbbbbbbttttt!

Bob and I finished planting our garden!!! AND... we have BABY CORN!!! I'm soooo psyched! I didn't think I could get all that excited about a garden, but this is cool! A bit of work, yeah, but watching your own garden grow is something else. The corn was up about an inch yesterday morning when Bob left for work, and I wasn't quite sure if it was corn I saw, or weeds. I had watered it all good the night before when we transplanted the maters. I got the binocs out and it sure looked like corn! Later in the afternoon, I actually went outside and took a personal close-up view, and sho'nuff... it was real, live, baby corn! I was just too happy. I don't know what it is about baby corn... it's almost like having your own baby chicks hatch. I'm just weird I guess.

Anyway, after Bob got home yesterday, we finished planting everything else. There was a slight change - we couldn't plant the peas cuz it's too warm. Apparently peas like pretty cool weather for planting. Maybe we should've started them and then transplanted. I don't know. But now we have...

5 rows of sweet yellow corn
3 rows of maters (Early Success, Siberian, and White)
1 row of cukes (half Early Bird, and half Sweet Success)
a trellis of pole beans
1 row of appaloosa beans
1 row of bush beans
2 rows of beets (bull's blood and chioggia)
1.5 rows of carrots (yellow, red, and purple)
1.5 rows of radishes (the half rows are actually 1 row - half of purple carrots and half of radishes)
1 row of head lettuce
a clump of onions (from Arlene that Bob got a while back)
and last, but not least 4 (or 5) pumpkin seeds, of which I hope to grow at least 1 400lb pumpkin!

Sadly, the watermelons that we had started indoors this spring didn't make it to transplanting. They kept getting dried out and it took so long to get things into the ground. But I'm hoping I can order another package of those seeds and hopefully we'll still get some watermelon in the ground.

I was outside this morning watering the whole thing. It was neat being out there a half hr after sunrise. The rays hadn't hit our yard yet, so it wasn't too unbearable out there, even though the temp was like 70 even then. It's gonna be another scorcher today. I sure hope that "cold" front they're calling for today actually gets here this afternoon. It should bring the temps back to a more normal level. We also need rain badly. We're like 3 or 4" below normal. Plus I won't have to stand out there with the hose... my hands were starting to get cramped after a while!

Anyway, I'll keep ya posted on how the garden grows.

P.S. Like my new look for summer?

;D

[Arlene]

wow! I forgot about those onions.. I wonder if I have any laying around here. I don't have my garden planted yet but the area is almost ready.. I have to do it with a shovel too.. sigh.. me and bob are mighty tillers haha.. only I can only do a little at a time before I am wiped out. can't breath .. still have this stupid chest congestion..

I got out there .. still no mower.. stupid piece of crap... so I said i am going to just weedeat the yard.. well just the yard .. looks like my yard is going to be little this year haha.. and the stupid weedeater won;t crank. I am furious.. I have never EVER had any trouble with that weedeater.. no matter what I do to it it will crank with only a few pulls.. awsome.. so I took off the filter.. it was a muck of mess.. even had a chicken feather in it.. how did that get in there?? and then I found the little bulb that supposed to pump the gas to get it started is not working....

sooooo you know me..... I go and take the lines off.. blow on them.. nope nothing.. it is stopped up tight.. so I suck.. yes laugh if you want to. I was spitting gas for the rest of the day.. yuck..

so I take the carb off.. again me and my "have to take everything apart" thing.. wonder what I did as a child? gosh I fear to think!!

and so I get it un stopped up.. but then when I tried to put it back to gether... well it is leaking now .. and I turned one of the dang thingy screws.. you know... the ones that make it go faster or slower or whatever they do... and now it won;t crank.. PLUs it is leaking sniff. I am so mad!!

but I got fresh gas today... got the mixture stuff.. and screwdriver in hand ;D I am going in! or out.. hahah I will be back soon.. I am sure..

I wish I had a garden in town.. here I plant half for the wild life and half for the chickens .. we got nothing last time.. haha.. I go out and see if the watermellon is ready and it has been eaten ... right in the middle. dang deer.. one of these days...............

[silkifyre]

Here is an update on our garden...

5 rows of sweet yellow corn
Our corn is doing really great. (I think) Many of the stalks are now taller than I am! The tassels have appeared on most and are opening. We haven't seen any baby ears yet.

3 rows of maters (Early Success, Siberian, and White)
The maters all look great. There are several baby green maters on all the plants. I can hardly wait to see them ripen!

1 row of cukes (half Early Bird, and half Sweet Success)
We planted only 4 Cukes (2 Early Bird and 2 Sweet Success). I think that it's the EB's that are still tiny plants. But the SS's are looking really good and are climbing up the trellis. They also have started baby cukes!

a trellis of pole beans
The climbing beans are looking good, but I haven't seen any baby beans on them yet.

1 row of appaloosa beans
The appies have flowered and if I remember correctly have baby bean started. All I can remember for sure is that the other bean plants have some beans ready to pick!!!

1 row of bush beans
BEANS! They look great! Bob said we could probably pick some now! Too cool!

2 rows of beets (bull's blood and chioggia)
The plants looks great, but probably need to be thinned a bit. Haven't pulled any yet.

1.5 rows of carrots (yellow, red, and purple)
Boy, these guys were slow to grow! It seemed like it took forever to see any greens. Now, though, we have greens, but haven't done any harvesting yet. I don't think they are ready just yet.

1.5 rows of radishes (the half rows are actually 1 row - half of purple carrots and half of radishes)
The radishes have, so far, been the only thing we harvested yet. They grew fast and really need thinning! They taste great... but some are really HOT! Last night for dinner, I almost died! My tongue was on fire! ;D

1 row of head lettuce
The lettuce is looking really leafy... and I wonder if it's really head lettuce, like the package said. It looks very close to what my Mom used to plant, just leaf lettuce. She'd pick a bunch of leaves whenever she wanted to make salad. I don't see little heads out there, so maybe we have the other kind. Not sure... will wait a bit.

a clump of onions (from Arlene that Bob got a while back)
I'm not sure how the onions are doing. I thought we saw a new clump started from the main plant, but I'll have to go take another look. They don't look real green.

and last, but not least 4 (or 5) pumpkin seeds, of which I hope to grow at least 1 400lb pumpkin! [img src="http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g136/weloveourchickens/i55.photobucket.com/albums/g136/weloveourchickens/lol.gif"].gif[/IMG]
I'm sad to say that I don't think any of the pumpkins sprouted. I kept looking and hoping, but nothing came up. Bummer. No 400 pounder this year, I'm afraid.

I never did get around to ordering more watermelon, so unfortunately, we won't have that this year, either. 'Nother bummer. (sigh) I had a problem with the website where I ordered seeds, and it took a while for them to get back to me (my order was not going thru for some reason), and by the time I got a reply, it seemed kind of late to be starting seeds in the ground. It might have worked, but we'll just wait until next year.

All in all, I'm happy with the garden so far. Still psyched about it... although weeding it isn't really that much fun. [/font]

[Arlene]

wow! that sounds like a real garden! I never got mine planted.. E. has the tiller.. said I should have put something over it to keep the rain out.. I did! but Mitchell kept taking it off.. sigh!

oh well maybe next year..

[silkifyre]

Our garden update... Wow, I am amazed. I never had a garden like this before. I mean, yeah, my mom would have a small garden with a few tomato plants, a couple cukes or eggplant, some lettuce, and herbs like parsley. Not a big garden at all. It was maybe like 4 ft wide by about 5 or 6 ft long. Ours is huge by comparison. I admit, I haven't kept it weeded. Bob was the one who kept mostly on top of that. But there is nothin' better'n home-raised food! We had some sweet corn for the first time last week. It was so delicious! Bob said it could probably have been picked a week earlier, but still it was sooo good! The lettuce is really good, too, although it never formed real heads. It's more like leaf lettuce, and some of the leaves are curly like they were trying to form heads. But they still taste good. So far, everything that we got from the garden has tasted real good.

[Arlene]

I have never been able to grow lettuce that formed heads mine always looked funny but it was still ok.

I got corn.. I think it is either popcorn or feed corn haha it is where I fed the chickens and it just grew.

I miss my garden.. I sent my tiller off to be fixed and they just kept the dang thing..

I will have one next year.. sigh..

[Arlene]

oh and how are those onions doing?? If well will ya"ll send me some to plant next year ?? the stupid chickens killed mine as well as the garlic I planted. they were so pretty too.. I am selling those stupid birds.. I get so mad at them!