sb158's Valley Garden » supplies

I Got Dirt!

sb158 — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:31:41 +0000

Hubby finally got a couple hours so we could go get my compost. You can tell he did not come from a gardening family! Rather than appreciate the merits of good compost, all he did was complain about the “aroma.” He didn’t even want to touch it to tie the tarp down. It was funny! I grew up hauling compost all over Grandma’s garden, but all he did was get creeped out about it. This is a man who can fix an x-ray machine in an operating room during an operation, and think it’s really “cool,” but gets creeped out by a little compost. Go figure?!?
After we finally got it home, I had to go get a neighbor kid and pay him to help me dump it in the garden bed, cuz hubby was not gonna do that, uh uh, no way, not gonna happen. Still gotta go get the rest of my ingredients, but by the end of the weekend, my babies should at last have a place to call home!
My poor muscles are really complaining about the unaccustomed work, too. Been a long time since this old gal shifted so much dirt around, and I can definitely feel it.
In other news, the Monster Mud pot is still drying, looking good so far, and the morning glories are starting to grow and twine around the upside down tomato cage.
And there were two Stargate movies on Sci-Fi TV tonight. Woo-Hoo! I miss that show so much.

Almost Ready

admin — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:58:37 +0000

Whew! Busy weekend. My bed is finally almost ready for the “dirt.” DH finished it yesterday, so I started putting down cardboard, prior to landscape fabric. Today I put down what landscape fabric I had, but ran out before I finished.

Off to Big Orange for some more. Bad, very bad! Walked in there and saw all those plants. I tried to resist, really, I did, but…

I didn’t. I bought a bunch of herb plants, the ones I had tried to start from seed, but haven’t yet. My seeds, as previously mentioned, are pretty old, and haven’t had much luck with anything but tomatoes. Ordered more, but, I guess due to increased demand, none of them have gotten here yet. Guess I’m impatient, but, given our looming long, hot summer, there just isn’t that much time to waste waiting for them.

I love lavender, and found a plant. That’s what started it all. Then I saw the rest of the herbs. Oh no! Temptation. Sigh…

I found a Blackie Sweet Potato vine, and had been wanting to try that. The color is gorgeous. Then I thought, well, if I put the lavender and the Blackie in a container, but, wait, it will need something else. So I bought a nice yellow lantana, picturing a nice contrast with the lavender foliage and purple flowers…

Then I needed a BIG container to put them in…you see what happens? LOL, you guys know what I mean.

Surprisingly, I actually did remember to get more landscape fabric. By the time I got my container potted and the herbs repotted, it was too dark (and I was providing a nice meal for too many mosquitoes) to do the landscape fabric. That’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

No pics tonight, as it was also too dark to take pictures. I’ll try to remember to do that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’m a happy camper cuz I actually have something growing in my yard now, even if it’s only in pots.

I guess I gotta buy stuff

sb158 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:18:21 +0000

Got the plan, now I need the stuff. These veggies better be good, cuz they’re costing me a fortune! The only thing I had left from prior gardens was a bunch of 10-year-old seeds. They’re not all that old, but some are. I bought a shelf, lights, “dirt”, and even had to buy a trowel. Not to mention the lumber to build the beds and the Mel’s Mix to fill them…

My Lights:

I had to wonder if my old seeds were even any good any more. Much to my amazement, most of them are sprouting. I’ve had the best luck with tomato seeds. The peppers are a bit slower, but the moonflower and morning glory seeds sprouted right away. I ordered some more seeds, for which I am still impatiently waiting, to see if I can get more than a few pepper plants.

Baby Tomatoes:

Too late down here for cool-weather crops, have to wait until fall for lettuce, broccoli, and such. That’s a bummer, for sure.

DH finally went to the store and got my lumber, and started building my bed today.

Finally:

I still have to put down cardboard and landscape fabric under the bed, and, yes, I know the trellis is falling. He fixed it later…