(this was in my draft folder..actually it is from 2012---maybe June)

Last year I had the most wonderful strawberries and posted a photo on my main page.  This year I think I have only gotten ONE strawberry.  A few weeks ago the plants were covered with blooms. This year I know I have at least 2 rabbits and a squirrel. 

I try to grow organically as much as possible. I love bunnies, but I have a whole yard full of white clover they should be eating!  I can't afford a fence, but that would probably be my best option. I also have lots of birds giving me fits. I have some bird netting and floating row covers. I went to Family Dollar and spent a dollar on a container of scented "shower to shower" type body powder and I went all around my garden area and also around the strawberries. My aunt told me it repels rabbits.   It is true that I haven't seen the rabbits in the garden since then, but it might be because there are no more strawberries. These are supposed to be Tristar everbearing berries, but i wonder if they were mislabeled.  I don't get berries throughout the year. I am pretty sure they need some fertilizer.

My asparagus didn't do as well as I expected this year. I think it might need fertilizer, too.  I drive by some people who keep horses....they would probably be glad for me to come scoop up a few buckets full of manure for my compost pile.

I planted more rainbow chard, but I think the birds got the seedlings.  My flat leaf parsley that I bought last year came back with vigor. I think I'll take the chives and thyme out of the earthbox they are in and put something in there I actually use. The chives just bloomed. I will pot them up in regular pots, I think.

I have one ripe early girl tomato. I wrapped it up in a floating row cover because last year my first tomatoes...which I wanted to leave on the vine till they were perfectly ripe....got bitten into by something before I could get them.

My regular tomatoes look a little spindly. The roma tomatoes that were smaller and planted later are HUGE. I planted 4 rather than the 2 suggested in the earthbox, but I put fresh "Mel's Mix" in about 1/2 the container and put some fertilizer and bonemeal and bloodmeal in it. My ex-husband's tomatoes are huge, too.  I guess it is the fertilizer. 

I need to get some more cucumber seeds in....I need to replant often so I have a continuous supply..seems like the plants play out or get vine borers within a couple of weeks of when they start bearing.

I have some "slow bolt" cilantro I started from seed that is doing well.  I prefer parsley, but I have a harder time with it.

I made my first batch of pesto last week with my basil...4 plants in a window box. 

I planted one Heritage and 2 Logan Raspberries. Looks like I have BLACKBERRIES growing there...Had a couple ripen, but birds got them...I need to get the net out. I have some Triple Crown blackberry plants that are still a ways from ripening.  I am rather puzzled about these new blackberries. Could they be "volunteer" plants? Oh, I just looked up "Logan" and they are BLACK raspberries. They still look like blackberries, though. They came in a container with a red raspberry on the picture. They look more like blackberries than raspberries, anyway,

(this is from summer of 2013 and was in my draft folder)

I am pretty excited about having my first success with a softwood rose cutting!  I  used a potting mix for containers I made mine from compost,vermiculite, and peat moss in equal parts--but I am sure a bagged potting mix with a lot of peat moss and perlite would work. I cut 4" long pieces from a stem I cut after it had bloomed. I wold say the piece that rooted was probably half the diameter of a pencil, pretty thin. I cut the ends at an angle and I took note of which side was "up" so I didn't plant any cuttings upside down. I put them in a recycled 4 pack or 6 pack container that I had bought some other transplants in. I don't think I treated the cuttings with anything. If I did, I used honey. I stuck them in the dirt about 1/2 way and I left a leaf or two on the cuttings, but I had them turned so that no leaf touched the leaf of another cutting. Then I put them inside a plastic bag...either a gray one from Lowe's or a white one from Kroger. I did not seal the bag up tight. I put some sticks, like chopsticks or bamboo skewers in the corners of the container to hold the plastic off the cuttings and I tied it losely shut with the handles. This was a couple of months ago. I put them outside in a shady area and ignored them for a couple of weeks. Then I checked on them, took out any that were dead (just because the leaf dies doesn't mean it is dead. If all the green of the stem goes away, it is dead.) and I gave them some more water and I left them another week or two, then I took them out of the bag.and put them in a place where they got a little sun and I watered them daily. I think I had 2 that looked alive at that point. When I started seeing new growth at the joint where the leaf was, I potted it in a bigger pot. I ended up with one, but I think next time I might have better luck. I think having it outside was a good idea. I think the heat probably helped the rooting process. I think next time I will try making a little "greenhouse" out of a 2-liter bottle. Or little water bottles. I think I will try to root some more today. 


I am looking into buying another rose variety. I just learned that 25% of rose varieties are native to Turkey. I really wish I knew what kind of rose it is that my daughter's Turkish grandmother uses for Jam. I think it is a centiflora variety. 

I need to keep a pen and some labels/markers in my pocket anytime I am messing around with plants. I planted some spinach seedlings between the rows of sugar snap peas and I planted cauliflower and cabbage seedlings (which I don't expect to amount to anything)  in an earth box and planted some spinach seedlings between them. I have at least one "mystery" 4-pack. There really isn't any good excuse for not taking a moment to label things.

I dug up 2 raspberry plants and put them in pots. I cut a few raspberry plants to the ground. Oh, it is SO hard to cull. I need to get over my hesitancy. I will have several raspberry plants to give away. They spread like crazy. I planted 3 plants about 3 years ago and they have spread like crazy. I am trying to do better with them this year.

I am not seeing much sign of carrot seeds. I had them spaced out on a cheap paper towel and pre-sprouted them before I planted them out. Still no sign of corn. There are hundreds of little seedlings coming up in my earthboxes. I think they must have been in the compost. Not too hard to pull them up, but I want to be sure I'm not pulling up beets or radishes. I already forgot where I planted beet seeds.

Next week I will be planting things at the community garden. I need to keep a pen and some labels in my car, along with some gloves.  I was looking into growing ginger. I just found some ginger root in my refrigerator that I bought in October to put in juice. At  $1.49 a pound, it is almost to cheap to grow my own. I think these roots are not fresh enough to grow. Tumeric is something else I was looking into growing. It is similar to ginger. I would love to make some crystallized ginger. http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/ginger-permaculture.html

I have seen people using stones as plant markers, painting the names of the plants on the rock. I guess that is a good idea. The ginger that was in my refrigerator was on a styrofoam tray. I hear they make good markers, and they can be written on with ball point ink, which also leaves an  impression.  I think cutting tags from aluminum pie plates and writing on them with ball point pen, making an impression, is also a good idea. How to attach?

I wish I had more money and could invest in plants and materials and tools to make my house and yard and garden more into what I want them to be. The cattle panels I want are 4 gauge wire. the welded wire is 14 gauge. The cattle panels don't have to be stretched.

I think I have found a place to buy pallets for $1 a piece. They have some guy who comes and picks them up, but I think I could get them to save 4

Well, I remember now what I planted in the earthbox the other day. Beets in one end (presprouted seeds which had long roots..we'll see how they do), onion seeds (mostly sprouted, and dinosaur kale and broccoli rabe seedlings at the other end.  Nothing looks like it is growing much. I think we may be seeing some radishes and carrots starting to come up.  I replanted some more sprouted sugar snap peas. I am seriously considering replanting the sprouted Painted Hill corn.  It was supposed to be cold tolerant.

I know I have really rushed spring.  Oh, well, I'll still learn from the experience.  Hopefully, next year I will have a cold frame set up and a nice "grow room" type area to start seedlings. I would also like to grow greens through the winter. Dilara loves baby spinach.  I like that things that are growing are not rotting. I want to have a constant supply of fresh parsley and cilantro and mint. I should be able to grow lettuce and spinach indoors. I hope I am being organized enough to have succession planting going on all the time. 

I saw that Whole Foods has kiwi plants for sale. Male and Female from Freedom Farms. I would buy a couple of kiwi plants before I would buy a cherry tree. It takes 3 years, I think, to get kiwis. I really hope my fig trees aren't dead. If they are, I'm going to have to figure out how to root cuttings. I really like this variety. 

I am really interested in this free online permaculture course. I also really like this website http://www.rosalindcreasy.com/ about edible landscaping. I am going to plan on working 2 4 x 12 raised beds at the community garden and adding 4x4 bed here.  I should be able to get 64 ears of corn.

I hope 2 weeks from now I have the dogs fenced in.  I need to provide them some shade, as well. The area where Perdy has been gets tons of sun. When I first bought the house, almost 11 years ago, my next door neighbor had a tulip poplar tree at the fence.

I have a love/hate relationship with the wild grapevines. I hate them strangling out my blackberries. There is some other vine, too, that is not edible. And on my west side of the yard, there is some honeysuckle vine.  I need to identify the trees that are growing under the maple tree in the front yard. I cut back one of them a lot and cut back a lot of the honeysuckle bushes to make room  for Dilara's disc swing and rope ladder.  The crotch of the maple tree is low, so I guess it would be easy for her to climb. She's quite a climber. She's like a little monkey!

The other day I finally planted some fragrant daylilies and speedwell and wormwood. They had been in pots for a couple of years, I guess. I used my trust bread knife to cut the rootballs in two and trimmed some of the roots off before I replanted them. The soil seems to have a lot of clay in it  and I added some compost when I backfilled. A year or two ago I dumped out an earthbox that had some Stella D'oro lilies, some purple siberian iris, and some orange daylily that came from Howard More Lane in Culleoka. I finally got around to hilling up dirt around the edges.  That was a lot of abuse for those plants, but they are tough.  I made a brick border around my Therese Bugnet  "body bag rose" I got, a year or two ago---I have the exact date written somewhere.  It is doing wonderfully.  I really like the red stems.

I just got the wormwood because it was "biblical" and kind of a novelty. I am  not sure it I will regret it.  I have read that it can poison some plants. I planted it near the peonies and wildflowers (Shasta daisy, Black-eyed Susan, and a butterfly weed.) I have so man Autumn Joy Sedum plants and I really need to find them a home. This is the year! I have some in a window box that have been there since we moved from Bellevue.

I am afraid my Stargazer Lily and 3 of the Commander-in-chief  lilies are dead. There are 2 of the red lilies that are showing stems.

Oh, one of my potato bags has a bit of potato plant showing. They are in burlap sacks with dirt and with coffee chaff on top. I WAY overplanted them, I think. We will see how they do. 

I want a peach tree, fig, pomegranate, cherry, more blueberries, more roses.

Oh, I really think one of the 2 "body bag" roses I got from Big Lots is dead. I think they were mislabled. The one that seems to be still alive is the "thornless" one.  I wish I had not pruned my Mr. Lincoln back so much. It is showing new growth, so I guess it isn't dead.  I suspect it is ‘Reine des Violettes’ because from what I have read, it is "thornless."  The one that was thornless was labeled as "Marchessa Boccella" (aka "Jacques Cartier") but I have not seen anywhere that it is supposed to be thornless. That is why I think they were mislabeled.  I hope the one that looks dead shows some sign of life.  I know I would like a 'Paul Neyron" rose, which not only should make great rose petal jam, but it is also supposed to be thornless.

I definitely need to dig up raspberries and prune them back. I need to share them. My waterlilies also need to be divided. I guess I will take my trusty bread knife and cut the raspberries that have been in the earthbox all these years into chunks. They may do better replanted, although I have tried to refresh the soil. The ones growing in my yard are really taking over.  I may should throw away the tired ones in the earthbox. I really need to be ruthless so as not to let my raspberries take over. They are really annoying when they are growing where I don't want them.

Somewhere around here I have Euell Gibbon's "Stalking the Wild Asparagus."  I have had quite an interest in gardening and wild plants ever since I can remember. Now that things are starting to grow, I think Dilara and I will start looking for things we can eat. Last year she ate violet and dandelion leaves. I may cook up some poke sallet, but I do have some reservations. I would not eat it a lot, but it has been eaten in this part of the country every spring by many people who have lived to tell about it.  I think the secret is changing the water 3 times as it cooks. I am learning more about permaculture and I think the more edible plants I can find and use in my yard, the better.
http://www.tennesseeturfgrassweeds.org/PAGES/weed.aspx?WID=46&Name=Common%20Purslane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw5_YhjtFV0&list=UULRDaR2ywG1APiwUzeTwrJw --backyard salad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aSdokl-6n4 ---backyard forage


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbhL8fzKZLM --wild onions

Found this last night.
http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPPreplanned

Will definitely use it for my 4 x 12 foot beds at the community garden.  I am not sure these spacings work out the same as Mel's square foot spacings. For one thing..I don't think he EVER has 2 plants to a square.  Anyway, it is a good tool, and free!

Today is fairly warm and sunny. A pretty glorious First Day of Spring!  I am going to spend most of it inside, though.  I figured out the seeds that I was sprouting that were unmarked that I thought were onions were actually lavender. They didn't sprout, but I might have planted them outside.  I started a new batch on the paper towels today. They have a long germnination time.  I think my okra seeds aren't going to make it.  they aren't doing very well in the little coir pellets. I will start more and plant them in pots with potting mix. I'm going to have to buy all the ingredients next month. Vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. 

Brush and leaves got picked up yesterday...I was not finished with my pile.  The neighbor across the street just set out bags of leaves today, but it's too late.  I may take a few bags of leaves at a time and dump them at the community garden and lay burlap over them to keep them down.  They don't have a decent compost pile.  They have a great bin, but it's full of dried stalks of old plants...nothing that will decompose quickly.  There is a small pile of leaves behind that bin that has decomposed beneath the first few inches. There are 2 pallets, I think.  I may ask if I can wire them up and dump leaves in there, and layer with topsoil. Maybe it will make a good bit of compost by next year.  The neighbor has many bags of leaves.

I am DELIGHTED with the results I have gotten from pre-sprouting seeds on wet paper towels in ziplock bags. The okra seeds were sprouted in about 2 days. Dilara and bagged up a lot last Wednesday after church and I can hardly keep up with them. In fact, my "colorful beet mix" seeds may be no good for beet roots--the colorful roots were VERY long.  They didn't sprout right away, though. Definitely, you need to check them daily.

My "warm spot" is the oven with the door open and the light on.  I have a heat mat somewhere, but my oven light switch is broken and I pretty much keep it on all the time till it burns out. Makes a nice spot to dry vegetables, keep opened bags of chips crisp, make yogurt, etc.  I am afraid it will be too warm if I close the oven door.  It is a wall oven, so nobody is going to trip over it. I don't know how much I would need to keep it propped open to keep it from getting too hot.

I wonder if the seeds get used to the heat and don't do well if you put them straight into the cold ground. I guess "hardening them off" may be good, but of course, you want to plant them somewhere as soon as possible because the roots can get tangled in the paper towel. I try to space them out so I can cut around them and plant them along with their little piece of paper towel.

I planted the Calliope Mix carrots in the back of a discarded toilet tank I found on the side of the road. I planted rather thickly. I will probably grow carrots every 2-3 weeks and put them in buckets. I have a steady supply of squarish kittly litter buckets.

My potatoes are planted in burlap sacks, rolled down. I planted what I had last year. I will try to be very diligent about topping them up with leaves/soil/compost. I didn't do so well with that last year.

Note to self---don't try to grow cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, or brussels sprouts from seed. I have got nothing but "seed leaves" from the cabbage and cauliflower I started last month in coir. The plants I got from Wal-Mart are very nice. I just got spinach, cabbage, and brussels sprouts.

My San Marzano tomato seedlings are doing great. I have several. I sprouted them on cotton balls and planted them in small pots, then potted them up in bigger pots, burying the stem well. Yesterday I potted up Principe Borghese (9!), 2 beefsteak, one yellow pear and one pear tomato.  Those were all from seeds I have sprouted on paper towels in the past week.  I really don't think I'll to paper towels again...cotton balls are easier and I guess they are better for tomato plants. I think the paper napkins are better for the things you plant a lot of.  Like carrots and radishes and onions. And the big seeds like okra and beans.

It is important to bury seedings up to the true leaves. I have planted lettuce in the pots the lilies are in. I sure hope they didn't get hurt by cold weather.  They are really too big for me to take in, but I dragged them to the side of the house behind a bush and I covered them with a comforter when it got really cold...except for the other day when it hit 32 degrees. 2 are above ground. 

I did not keep good records yesterday. I put a lot of things into an earthbox and i have already forgotten what. I planted the sprouted beets. Oh, maybe the other section was onions. and I planted the dinosaur kale and broccoli rabe.  I was not happy with how they were growing...very leggy. I planted them deeply in hope that they will do better outside. 

I worry about the birds getting my seedlings. I covered the corn and what I planted yesterday with row covers, but they blew off. I will cover again and anchor the "protection" down better. 

I guess I should be planting radish seeds weekly. Dilara likes them.

I was going to dump out my topsy turvy strawberry planter, but I just cut off dead leaves and took out what looked like dead plants.  I need to top it off with a lot of good compost and I think I will be using fish emulsion.

I bought my first bottle of fish emulsion fertilizer this spring. Have heard such good things about it.

I also mixed some oatmeal, blackstrap molasses, and mycorrhizal innoculant with some worm castings, put them in a plastic bag--open, and put it in a small cardboard box and put it in my "warm place" (oven). So, 3 days it is supposed to have made a fungal web. Then, I guess I mix it with compost or something...it is supposed to be good to use in compost tea.   www.compostjunkie.com

I need to clean out my refrigerator today. I know I'll have plenty of "worm food."  I still have my worm compost from my blue trash can dumped out in the front yard, on a dog food bag "tarp" and covered with a piece of carpeting. I wanted to do something fancy with the trash can, but I guess I'll go ahead and get it started again today. the worm compost left isn't as "finished" as I would like, and I need to harvest some worms to share with Kathy.

Mammoth sunflower plants are doing well (sprouted really fast in paper towels!) as are the okra.  I thought my basil seeds had lost viability because some didn't sprout, but some from another packet sure did!!  I guess I can put the basil in the community garden when it warms up.  I really need to insulate this dog kennel so I can put my heat loving plants (peppers, tomatoes, okra, basil) out there.  I am running out of room in the house.  I wonder where I put all that bubble wrap?  I should be able to make some makeshift cloches out of it. I wonder how to keep it from blowing away, though.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-bubble-wrap-garden-22104.html

I have not labeled things like I should and I think I have lost track of some things. Already.

I will want to buy more lath and screws to make the sfg grid. I want to build a vertical trellis, too. I LOVE the cattle panel arches. Cost about $25 after tax at TSC. 16' by 4'2"
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2879/

Well, I can't find my "edit" button, so I am going to start a n  ew post to continue my thoughts.  Okay. So, I want to make more compost.  I also want to make my own fertilizer and stuff. The mycorrhizal inoculant I bought was pretty expensive.  I found this online http://www.sunseed.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/A-SIMPLE-METHOD-FOR-MAKING-YOUR-OWN-MYCORRHIZAL-INOCULUM.pdf and these videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbI7wAS-JM --the video says you can use worm castings (glad I have some left) and oatmeal  and  " have a fugal soil web in 3 days"---looks like he may be growing marijuana.... I think he got his info from compostjunkie.com, where I found this: ""moisten a couple cups of compost (just damp, not dripping wet), and then put it in a light-resistant container. Then grind up some simple proteins (fungal foods), such as oatmeal, and mix them in with the moist compost. Cover partially with a lid, and then place in a warm, dark area. We typically put ours under our sink, or above our fridge in a cupboard. After about 3 days, you'll remove the lid, and find a bunch of fungal mycelia throughout the compost. You can now use this compost to brew your fungal tea. "  I guess if you are using a dark container, it doesn't matter if you put it in a dark place. My oven with the light on makes good yogurt, so I guess it would make good fungus.

another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDkOC71jlVY and I guess I'll be searching more for anything to help my garden grow better. My tomatoes have never suited me. I want to grow red and yellow pear tomatoes for Dilara and some Beefsteak and also some San Marzano and Principe Borghese for sun dried. I hope to make some paste from the San Marzano.

http://www.compostjunkie.com seems like it has a wealth of information. I definitely want to try to brew compost tea this year.

Okay, here I go to start another round of seeds...I guess I'll do 3 types of tomatoes, r



 

I hope I haven't already bitten off more than I can chew...I missed out on a lot of gardening last year because of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome flaring up like it hadn't done for 10 years.  Now, I guess I am working on making up for lost time.

I am very excited about my experience pre-sprouting seeds. Dilara and I spent a lot of time the other night with paper towels, a spray bottle of purified water and zip-lock  sandwich bags. It has only been 2 days and the okra and radishes and Mammoth sunflower seeds have already sprouted! I am starting some more tomato seeds and also some eggplant and lavender  tonight .  I started some things several days ago 9 days, to be exact, but they aren't doing much.  I haven't been coddling my seeds and seedlings as well as I should, I am afraid.

I started swiss chard and Kale under lights, but I think the swiss chard might have gotten too cold.

I did buy some brussels spouts, cabbage, spinach and onion plants and got them into earthboxes.

I did not do the community garden beds last year, but they just put a sign up saying plots are available. Last year they started letting people plant on April 1.  I am going to need to get a plot or two.

I just gathered up some wonderful compost the other day, both from my regular compost pile, and also from my worm composter (trashcan with no lid and holes in the bottom for drainage.)  I need a lot more compost, though. I need to be getting more coffee grounds and also I should be getting kitchen waste from my restaurant and grocery store owner friends. My neighbor is a landscaper and I know he does leaf removal.  I need to ask him where he dumps his leaves. I have 2 interesting videos I have watched lately. I wish I knew where I could get some good sawdust and if I can "grow" my own mycorrhizal inoculant. I also should have some inoculant for my peas and beans. I did ask for some at one store and they didn't have any, but I did get the mycorrhizal inoculant.  It seems to me that if you have sawdust rather than wood chips, it should break down faster. It should still be free, too, but probably not in the massive quantities that are available in wood chips. Nashville has "free mulch' somewhere and I need to get some. I don't know if I can take my own bags or if you