sb158’s Valley Garden

So hard

sb158 | August 26, 2009

not to get discouraged. I see all the pretty pics of other people’s beautiful gardens with all they produce, then look out the window. Dry, brown, dead vegetation, tons of bugs, and no produce. Sigh…

Thank goodness for those pics, though, and for garden magazines. They help motivate when thinking about planting seeds and nurturing the babies seems like an exercise in futility. Sooner or later (most likely MUCH later), it will stop being well over 100 degrees every d&*m day, and we will get some rain. Then when other people are shoveling snow, I’ll be picking tomatoes and eating garden suppers.

Gardeners have to be either eternal optimists or masochists. Haven’t decided which yet.

Category: Garden Stuff | 6 Comments »
Tags: garden, weather

Hallelujah and Thank You

sb158 | June 23, 2009

We’re finally getting some rain and (slightly) cooler temperatures! Not nearly as much as we need, but, at this point, I’m thankful for whatever we get. I expect my plants will grow a foot overnight!

Here are some pics I took about a week ago that show how much the garden had grown while I was in Colorado. Compare them to these pics.

Pics within (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 78°F;
Humidity: 90%;
Heat Index: 80°F;
Wind Chill: 78°F;
Pressure: 29.86 in.;

Category: Experimental, Garden Stuff, Planning, Seeds/Seed-starting, Square Foot Gardening, Veggies, bread-making, containers, herbs | 2 Comments »
Tags: containers, Experimental, Square Foot Gardening, Veggies, weather

Home and Finally Posting

sb158 | June 16, 2009

Been home about 10 days. Spent a couple days getting readjusted to the (much) lower altitude and (MUCH) higher temps and humidity. Then I had a bunch of catch up to do in the garden. Surprisingly, I only lost a few plants, and they were the ones I half expected to expire, anyway. Then there were the ones the dog ate, but that happens…

Thoroughly enjoyed my trip. Colorado Springs is an amazingly beautiful place, and there is so much to see in the area. We went up Pike’s Peak, visited the Garden of the Gods, saw the Air Force Academy, and went to Seven Falls. Saw lots of other stuff, too. Spent a lot of time with my wonderful, adorable grandsons, which was the best part of the whole deal, apart from watching Jen graduate.

I took more than 200 pictures, which I will be posting in a gallery eventually. I took one of them and made the wallpaper below:

Click the thumbnail to see full-size and download.

Jen and her boys: very proud of all of you! Luv U very much.

Now, back to the garden. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 78°F;
Humidity: 90%;
Heat Index: 80°F;
Wind Chill: 78°F;
Pressure: 29.86 in.;

Category: Garden Stuff, Personal Stuff | 2 Comments »
Tags: art, Colorado, garden, Jen's graduation, personal

Monster Mud, Rosemary, and Jasmine

sb158 | May 4, 2009

Much better day today, since the guy fixed the AC first thing this morning. Good thing, too, cuz hubby bought this gadget that collects weather information. The gadget said the high today was 101. Felt that hot, for sure.

So I finished my two Monster Pots, as I mentioned. Here’s a pic of the jasmine pot: (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 77°F;
Humidity: 87%;
Heat Index: 78°F;
Wind Chill: 77°F;
Pressure: 29.85 in.;

Category: Garden Stuff, Personal Stuff, Planning, Recipes and Cooking, Square Foot Gardening, containers, design/build, flowers, herbs | 12 Comments »
Tags: basil, containers, herbs, shrubs, Square Foot Gardening, Veggies

Rats! Too Windy

sb158 | April 9, 2009

The wind was (is) blowing like crazy today, so I can’t finish the last 5 sq ft or so of my garden. Bummer. And I still need lime. It ain’t easy trying to find garden lime in a place where the water and soil are so alkaline that most people want stuff to acidify the soil, not sweeten it. I better find some soon.

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 87°F;
Humidity: 49%;
Heat Index: 89°F;
Wind Chill: 87°F;
Pressure: 29.65 in.;

Category: Garden Stuff, design/build | 2 Comments »
Tags:

Finally…

sb158 | March 26, 2009

Been really involved in getting this blog ready for public consumption. I used Wordpress, about which I knew nothing, and I wanted to make it “gardeny.” Learned alot, mostly by trial and alot of error, but here ya go. Finally got it looking, and working, mostly like I want it. A few minor fixes, but good to go. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 86°F;
Humidity: 58%;
Heat Index: 90°F;
Wind Chill: 86°F;
Pressure: 29.56 in.;

Category: Experimental, Garden Stuff, Personal Stuff | 2 Comments »
Tags: Experimental, garden, personal

So now the plan

sb158 | March 4, 2009

Once I decided to use Square Foot Gardening, I had to plan and design the garden. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --

Temperature: 67°F;
Humidity: 78%;
Heat Index: 66°F;
Wind Chill: 66°F;
Pressure: 30.07 in.;

Category: Garden Stuff, Planning | 4 Comments »
Tags: garden, Planning

In The Beginning

sb158 | March 4, 2009

I grew up following my Grandma and my Dad around their gardens. Grandma and Grandpa had 11 acres of sandy soil in central Monmouth County, NJ. Grandpa did the veggies; Grandma did the flowers. (more…)

-- Weather When Posted --