sb158′s Valley Garden

sb158 | April 15, 2010

We live on a tiny, long. skinny mobile home lot in extreme S. TX. The soil is alkaline concrete clay, unless it rains. Then the soil turns into soggy, sticky, stick-to-your-shoes gunk. I haven’t got the energy to mess with it, so most of my garden is containers. I have a small L-shaped raised bed for veggies, though I grow a bunch of them in containers, too. Not much of a garden, really, but it makes me happy to think I’m a gardener. I’m working on making it prettier as arthritis, time, money, and weather allow.

It’s really windy and cloudy; we’ve had rain showers all week so far. The plants didn’t want to stand still and smile, so the pics might be a bit fuzzy. Here’s what’s in bloom in my yard this month:

Mouseover the thumb to see the big picture. Click for the really big pic.
These first three containers are in my side-of-the-stairs container garden.

This container has blue sage, a Blackie sweet potato vine, and yellow lantana.

Tahoka Daisy, alyssum, and Blue Daze convolvulous.

Pink ‘N’ Blue Bachelor Buttons.

Here’s my other container garden, so far:

Pink Laura Bush petunias ( a wonderfully fragrant and forgiving plant), Red Nikki mix nicotiana, more Blue Daze, and some gazania.

White Gazania.

Yellow gazania and some mums about to bloom.

Like I said, nothing special, but it’s mine…

Category: containers, flowers, Garden Blog Bloom Day | 8 Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, Garden Bloom Day

sb158 | April 14, 2010

Started on Sunday night and hasn’t stopped yet; we’ve had a lovely little storm system move through, and we sorely needed the rain. Monday it rained almost all day; yesterday, there was some space between showers. Today, too. Yesterday was my future DIL’s birthday, so spent most of the day cooking and stuff, but been out between showers putzing a bit today.
Decided it was time to put up bird netting; was looking out the kitchen window and watched one of those brassy mockingbirds fly right down and take a chunk out of a cucumber leaf. Those buggers think that just because they are the state bird, they can get away with anything. I went out to chase it; bugger kept flying just far enough away, until I ran at it with my arms waving and shouting at it. Can’t (don’t want to, really) imagine what the neighbors must have thought.
I’m glad I had the sense to put up a small bird netting cover over the pot with the green beans, or they’d probably have eaten them all by now. But, what with all the rain, the beans are growing like crazy, so I have to put up a permanent one ASAP. Put up a piece of it along the back of the trellis, and have to go out when it stops raining again to measure the circumference of the pot and height, so I can make the rest of it. Problem is, I can’t figure out a way to keep the net off the plants far enough to allow them to grow without getting all tangled in it. Doesn’t do much good if the beans grow through the net and let the birds eat them anyway. The peas did that; was a pain to take down; the net will probably have pea tendrils in it forever! Anybody’s got any ideas, I’m all ears. Still have to do the second cucumber container, too.

What else? Oh, yeah, The little pieces of herbs I planted the other day are doing well, thanks, no doubt, to the rain. I even cut off a small stem of the lavender I bought and stuck it in there, just to see what would happen. So far, it looks good. hasn’t wilted at all. I planted some common thyme seeds in there today; I hope it grows.

Here’s a pic of the “BBQ container”:

Herbs planted in a BBQ cover
Also wanted to show you how much the volunteer tomatoes have grown since the first pic I posted. Rain does some amazing things. No matter how much you water…
If you remember when I divided the mums and gazania, you’ll notice that they are looking great so far. Guess I didn’t kill them (yet!).

My, how you’ve grown.

I planted a pot of Unwin’s dwarf dahlias a while ago; planted a few seeds in each spot, not knowing how well they would germinate. I think they all came up, so I had to move 5 baby dahlias to individual pots (for now) as the container’s only big enough for three. I may use them, may try to sell them on craigslist. We’ll see.

Went out after dinner and between rain showers and got the bird netting on the beans enough, I think, to keep the birds off. Still need to do some adjusting and fine-tuning, but, for tonight, at least, I think they are okay. Would’ve finished, but it started raining again, and got dark…

Category: containers, flowers, herbs, Veggies | 2 Comments »
Tags: containers, herbs, mockingbirds, Veggies, weather

sb158 | April 10, 2010

Uh oh. Knew I shouldn’t have done it. But I had to. Needed to buy a dog chain that the puppy couldn’t break if tormented by evil cats, and it was just there. Couldn’t help it. It’s an addiction…

I bet you know what comes next. The garden dept at Lowe’s. Yup. Almost as bad as a book store. I needed stuff to make Al’s container mix, and a little batch of gritty mix for the herbs. When all was said and done, I spent about $80.00, cuz I needed seed-starting mix, vermiculite, perlite, orchid bark mix and on and on. Then of course there was the new hose nozzle – old one died – and, oh yea, the creeping lemon thyme, Provence lavender, marjoram, and rosemary I just had to have. And the garden magazine. And the seeds. Only 3 packs, I swear…SIGH…

To make things even worse, I had to lug all that potting soil, etc, to the truck cuz the helper lady was helping a lady even older than me. So I’m trying to manhandle that cart thing in the vague direction of my truck, and I wandered off without the bag with the dog chain in it. The whole reason (so I told myself) I went in the first place. Naturally I didn’t remember until I was pulling in the driveway, so I had to turn right around and go back after it. Was still there, no problem, but…

Oh well. Once I got home, I made a small batch of gritty mix and planted the herbs. I put the marjoram, lemon thyme, and creeping thyme I already had in one of the ceramic pots Hubby got me on clearance last fall, but I also took a little piece off each to try another experiment. Hubby bought one of those cheap little charcoal grills for something or other, but I think he only used it once. The top (pretty red) was just taking up space in the laundry room, so I took off the handles and grill supports, lined it with a piece of coco fiber mat to keep the soil marginally cooler, and filled that with gritty mix, too. I put the little pieces from the other herbs in it, and will plant the common thyme seeds I bought today, maybe tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes.

Once I got done with all that, it was getting dark, and I was starving. Forgot to eat lunch today, and breakfast was a long time ago. Called it quits for today, and made a left-over roasted chicken sandwich.

I know it ‘s way late, but one little corner of my raised bed is close enough to the house that it gets some shade even in summer. I had a foot or so of space once I pulled out the borage, so I decided to take a chance and plant some lettuce and spinach. Between the house and the swiss chard next to it, the spot may get enough shade to let them grow, at least for a while. Some of it’s already sprouting – so far, so good. Also planted some carrots. May not do well, but all it cost to try was a few seeds.

Just a couple flowers:

Blue Larkspur

Blue Bachelor Button

Tired and gotta get up early to ride to McAllen and have breakfast with Hubby’s nephew and his wife. That’s all she wrote, for now…

Category: containers, flowers, herbs, Seeds/Seed-starting | 2 Comments »
Tags: containers, Experimental, flowers, herbs, seeds

sb158 | April 7, 2010

Dang, I hate those evil cats that hang around the dumpster by our place. Went out to water earlier, and one jumped right out of my side-of-the-stairs garden. It apparently parked itself in the big pot with a nicely-growing baby cosmos; needless to say, gotta replant now…
On top of that, it decided to torment the dog so much that she broke her brand-new tie-out line. We found her out on the highway dodging cars. Thankfully before she was road pizza!

I have a cookbook that used to belong to my mom’s mom; was printed in 1920-something. It’s got a lot of old-fashioned recipes, and sometimes I find just what I’m looking for. Wanted to use some navy beans and leftover ham tonight, so went recipe hunting. Finally looked in Grandma’s cookbook. Imagine my surprise when I found a baked bean recipe that had been quantity-adjusted in Grandma’s handwriting. Made me tear up a minute, then I smiled. And used the recipe…

Had to go hunting for a good cornbread recipe to go with the beans; none of the ones I have turned out especially good. Found one on About.com that sounded good. It has to be the best cornbread I have ever made. I used 2 Tablespoons of honey, and it was still very sweet. If you don’t like sweet cornbread, adjust the amount, or leave it out altogether. But it came out moist and light; not at all dry or heavy like cornbread can be.

The beans were good, too; least, I thought so…

Honey Buttermilk Cornbread

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

* 2 cups stone ground cornmeal
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cup buttermilk
* 3/4 cup milk
* 3 tablespoons honey
* 1/4 cup melted butter, cooled

Preparation:
Heat oven to 400?. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan or spray with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, milk, honey, and melted butter.

Stir the liquid mixture into the dry mixture until blended. Spread in the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

In garden news, yesterday the beans I planted with the repotted mums weren’t sprouting yet. Today they are starting to sprout. Got dill and cilantro sprouting, too. Probably already to hot to get much out of either, but the flowers will attract beneficials, so it’s all good. All the cukes and watermelons still looking good, so I really have to thin pretty soon.

Not much else new in the garden; just trying to keep up with the watering due to the hot wind…as usual…Supposed to get a cool front some time tonight with possible showers. Surely do hope so.

Category: containers, flowers, Recipes and Cooking, Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies | 1 Comment »
Tags: containers, cornbread, evil cats, flowers, seeds, Veggies

sb158 | April 6, 2010

A while ago, I read Annie’s Granny‘s post about her beautiful buns and decided to try the recipe one of these days. Today turned out to be that day. I used a cup each of whole wheat, bread, and all-purpose flour and threw it all in the bread machine on the dough cycle. Lookin’ good so far. Going to make 4 sandwich rolls and some rolls for dinner, to go with the chicken I’ll throw in the roaster shortly. I’ll let you know how they come out.

On the garden front, I’m happy to report that all the baby cukes and watermelon I planted out the other day are thriving. This is good, but it means I have to murder 6 helpless little baby plants in very short order…I hate doing that. Sigh… The mums and gazania I did that day are looking great, too. No beans sprouting yet, though.

All my annual seeds I’ve been sticking in my containers are sprouting and growing like gangbusters so far. Looking forward to purty flowers, barring any of Mother Nature’s nasty tricks.

In my side-of-the stairs container garden, still have lots of alyssum, while the convolvulus and salvia are blooming nicely, too. Sat on the stairs for a minute, and noticed what a pretty picture the blue & white made. What do you think?

Also forgot to post this pic of my baby tomato the other day. Grown since then, but you get the idea…

Golf-ball sized and growing

That’s about it for now. I’ll let you know how the rolls came out…

Category: bread-making, containers, flowers, Veggies | 1 Comment »
Tags: bread-making, containers, flowers, Veggies

sb158 | April 3, 2010

Since today was marginally cooler, breezy, and, most helpful, fairly overcast, I decided it might be a good day to plant out the baby cukes and watermelon that have sprouted so far. Keeps them out of the hot sun while they settle. Planted out Marketmore and Tender Green burpless cukes and Crimson Sweet watermelon. I put all the sprouted seedling of each in the containers; if they all survive the move, I’ll thin in a few days. Despite the clouds, I still covered them with the cube-things to keep the sun off and minimize wind damage.

Then I decided I’d divide the mums (yea, I know, should’ve been done ’round about February) while I was taking advantage of the clouds. I bought two cushion mums last fall (clearance is a wonderful thing); they bloomed themselves out and grew all winter. Pretty much took over the container. Hate do do this, but to divide, you gotta massacre all those pretty mums-to-be. It actually hurt… Here’s a couple “before” pics:

And then (Guh! Feel like Norman Bates here) I took the pruners to all those buds. Still wincing. Here’s an after:

Dug out the plants; divided the yellow mum into 2 plants, but the burgundy mum seems more vigorous. Divided that one into 4 little plants. Now they look like this:

Thought about this last night when I should have been sleeping. Decided the mums would look nice in a 24″ window box with the extra gazanias I transplanted a few days ago. So here they are in the new home:

I put the other two new mums in gallon pots, then moved pots and box to a shady spot and started praying I didn’t kill anything.

Meanwhile, I put one of each back in the original pot. See, plenty of room for more plants now:

So, more it is. I planted a couple Scarlet Runner, French Filet, and KY Wonder pole beans in the back. Put a couple Hestia half-runner beans in front to (hopefully) trail nicely down the pot, then stuck in a few Medinah bush beans behind the mums. No idea if mums make good companions for beans. We shall see what we shall see.

The red Nikki Mix nicotiana is blooming. While I’m talking about annuals, I’d recommend you try the pink Laura Bush petunia (pics here) I got from Wildseed Farms. The catalog description says “Very low maintenance and forgives neglect.” and “Flowers are delightfully fragrant.” Both are true. They grew all winter with no help from me, and they smell absolutely wonderful. If I’d known they were such great flowers, I’d have planted a bunch more. You better believe I will come fall.

I think I’ve rambled on long enough for one day. TTYL…

Category: containers, flowers, Seeds/Seed-starting, Veggies | No Comments »
Tags: containers, Dividing Mums, flowers, Green Beans, Veggies

sb158 | April 2, 2010

Been a frustrating couple of days, not as much accomplished in the garden as I’d hoped. Yesterday I managed a few little odds & ends, but it really had to be a housework (YUK) day. So I got a good start, and was just getting into the zone, when Hubby decided to come home and mess up the kitchen I’d just cleaned to make lunch. Never understand why lunch always requires grease spatters, chopped veggies all over the counter, and lots of dishes. What’s wrong with a simple, non-messy sandwich?

So I cleaned up his mess, then went to sit down a minute. When I woke up, it was pretty much time to start dinner. Didn’t sleep well the night before, I guess…*sigh*.

Today I actually did get some stuff done. When I pulled out all the going-to-seed lettuce, broccoli, etc., I just threw it all in my amazing-laundry-hamper-composter. I knew I needed to dump it out, chop it some, and remake the pile properly. Since it was cooler today, I decided to do that first.

I needed to get some SWC’s ready, so mixed the dirt for and filled 4 of them. Noticed that the cosmos seed I planted a few days ago is sprouting, as are the mini-morning glories I put in the top tipsy pot. Lots of teensy-tiny baby chamomile, too! Oh, and the dwarf Unwin’s Dahlia are sprouting.

But last night was the first new Bones show in a couple months, as well as some of my other shows coming back after re-runs…hence the wasted night…

On the up-side, one of the bachelor buttons bloomed today, a pretty pink one. I was hoping for blue (I like blue), but you take what you get in the mixes. It’s still pretty.

Oh yeah, planted some zinnia seeds in one container, and globeflower in another. So, some progress, but not as much as I’d hoped…

Later, guys…

Category: containers, flowers, Veggies | No Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, seeds, SWC, Veggies

admin | March 31, 2010

Just a quick note on what I did today. Couldn’t do as much as planned cuz the water in the park was off until after 1 PM today – major PITA, and it happens with great frequency around here. Hard to garden without water…

Anyway, yesterday I posted a pic of the pot of Gazania. Decided it was overcrowding the pot. I bought a 6 pk at the nursery last year for $1.00, cuz it was darn near dead. They survived the horrible summer, and the freezes this winter. Seemed to like it, actually. There’s also a verbena in that pot, but the gazania were crowding it out. So today, after the water came on, I took out three of the gazania, moved two of them to balance the pot, and trimmed back the verbena. Hated to do it, cuz the gazania was already blooming, and the verbena had buds. Have to give the roots time to establish before they bloom, though.

Here’s a pic of the repotted and separated babies…

Hubby decided that we are definitely moving out of this park and into a house. Told me to start looking. He got thoroughly fed up with the high electric bills – a mobile home is like living in a solar-powered oven, especially down here in S. TX, and the AC bills get outrageous. Besides that, the town we’re in charges the park the commercial rate for water, which is very high. On top of that, they charge the park sewage rates for every lot in the park, occupied of not. The occupiers (i.e., us) get assessed a share of that every month, too. So, yea, the rent sounds great, until you add in all the rest of it. DH finally figured out we could be in a much nicer house for the total of what we’re paying here.

Upshot of all that is, I’m going to be house-hunting, packing (YUK), and moving, which means not much gardening’s gonna get done. I’m glad he decided now, instead of a month from now, before I put too much into the garden. Containers are much more portable!

No telling when I’ll be updating again. Try to make it sooner rather than later; can’t promise, though.

Category: containers, flowers, Personal Stuff | 1 Comment »
Tags: containers, flowers, personal

admin | March 30, 2010

It sure has been a while. I’m not dead yet, but you probably thought so! Lots of reasons, but the worst was the arthritis. Really got bad this winter; hurt to move at all most of the time. Finally got that under control, with the help of Joint Juice, Schiff MoveFree, and finding an arthritis prescription that actually works.

So…when last I posted, the Winter Garden was looking promising. Didn’t last long, for sure. Something started eating the leaves on all my cukes and melons, then the changing sun angle made the bed too shady. Ended up just pulling it all in disgust.

Still had tomatoes in containers and basil for a while, till we got an almost-unheard-of early frost. Even though I covered them, poor things just got too cold and expired. I did manage to save most of my flowers in containers, though I lost a few. Nothing special, though, just annuals. The lettuce, peas, spinach, and swiss chard did quite well, though, despite my neglect. We had substantial rain, for a change, and enough cold to discourage most of the buggies.

We’re also sort-of-looking for a bigger place, so was undecided about starting seeds for spring. In the end, I decided to use mostly containers, in case we actually do move. Still starting too late, but, now that I can actually move without pain, I’m gonna give it a try.

Some things are blooming, new stuff is growing, and the volunteer tomato plants in the compost are already flowering and fruiting. Found them in there a while ago, in the foot or so of compost left in the bin. Moved them into the sun, and have been adding a couple inches of potting soil at a time, as they grow. Kind of like potatoes, I guess, and the tomatoes seem to be thriving so far!

So here are a few pics of my poor neglected garden thus far. Working on it, though; it should get better soon!

Hanging Laura Bush petunia

California Poppies looked much nicer before I had to move them away from the little bed they were draped all over.

Gazania and more LB petunias

So that’s a peek into my garden thus far. Got seeds starting and plans to be implemented, so I hope I can manage to keep updating with some frequency…

Category: containers, flowers, Veggies | 4 Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, Veggies

sb158 | September 25, 2009

I updated. I keep meaning to update, but keep getting sidetracked by my kids on FB, playing The Beatles Rockband, or just life.

Totally OT, but The Beatles Rockband is a blast!

Anyway, things are looking up in the garden. We’ve finally gotten some substantial rain and somewhat cooler temps, and the plants are very appreciative (as is the gardener). The fall tomatoes, cukes, and melons are doing quite well so far, except for eaten leaves. I’m thinking snails or slugs, since I can’t find any other bugs. I mixed up a snail and slug bait I found on the Net, consisting of 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of yeast mixed into a quart of water. Put some out today in individual applesauce cups, so we’ll see what happens.

Got lots of flowers growing in all those lovely containers Hubby bought me a while ago, and more babies sprouting in the house under lights. Time to start the wildflowers pretty soon, too, but I need to make some free-draining soil mix for most of them. Plan to go get the ingredients this weekend, but if the stuff I have here doesn’t dry out, it may have to wait till it does. There’s no doubt it’ll stop raining soon; always does here! Found alot of cool containers on clearance at Dollar General, too. Shopping for that sort of stuff is MUCH cheaper this time of year than in the spring.

So here are a couple pics I took of the garden babies:

More later; I’ll try to be better about this…

Category: containers, Square Foot Gardening, Veggies | No Comments »
Tags: containers, flowers, Square Foot Gardening, Veggies