Frog

I was watering the garden and I heard a loud croaking noise and it was echoing. I looked around and figured there had to be a frog inside the PVC pipe that I use to put water in the earthboxes. So I ran inside and grabbed my camera and this is what I saw when I peaked inside.

Ultimate Worm Poop

Here is one of three bags of worm castings Vikki brought back from california on her recent trip.

Maggie and I used this when planting our updates to the soil garden. We add a handful in each dug hole for the plant to sit in after planting.

Making Pickles and Pickled Okra

Vikki and I make homemade pickles and pickled okra last night.

Tomato Update - May 20 !

OKRA !!!

It's only May 20 and we have okra ready to pick!

Beans and Melons

Growing nicely!

Green up your garden!

Want an inexpensive and easy way to green up your garden?  Pick up some epsom salt.  I bought this 1/2 gallon carton at walgreens for about $2.

Sprinkle a bit around your plants and water well.  You can also mix about 1/4 cup of salts in a gallon of water and apply during the watering cycle.

Don't believe me?  Check out this link.  http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/garden_usage_tips.htm

Ready for okra

Started okra from seed on March 15th.  2 months later, about to enjoy some fresh okra.  These are small plants too.

Heirloom Tomato

This is one of the prettiest tomato plants we have grown yet.  Pickle bucket SWC.

Tomato Update - Pickle Buckets!

5 gallon pickle bucket SWC doing their job nicely!

Red Bellpepper

Here are some seedlings given to us by our friend Mio.  These are red bells.  We got all 9 of them in the garden.  Growing nicely.

Patio Tomatoes

Maggie bought patio tomato plants, along with Mr. Stripey (heirloom) and cherry tomato plants at Lewis strawberry farms yesterday.  If you search for patio tomatoes in the blog section, you will pull up a lot of post from last years garden about the patio.  They produced the most fruit of any tomato.  The plants are determinate and do not get larger than about 24 inches high.  They are perfect for container pots and we have already planted ours in a pickle bucket self watering container.  Much more as this plant gets bigger.  I highly recommend this variety for gardeners that do not have a large are for gardening.

Okra onboard

Our small okra plants have started producing small fruit, already!  Looking forward to a bountiful harvest.

Tomatoes in Pickle Buckets

Here is the latest!  An heirloom purchased as a small seedling and a big boy. Both in pickle buckets or self watering containers. 

Garden up!

Spent a few days clearing the garden area and digging up the soil to loosen things up.  Here's what we've got in the ground now.  8x16 foot area.

• tomatoes
• cosmos
• yellow and red potatoes
• cilantro
• basil
• cukes
• melons
• beans
• yellow and red peppers
• jalepenos
• corn

Snake With Legs!

We found this hiding in an empty Earthbox.

Parsley Hydroponic!

This is a waterfarm hydroponics system.  Here is a link to see the details online for yourself.  This was a small parsley plants weeks ago.  This has grown into a small tree. I can't eat parsley fast enough to keep up with the growth!
http://www.generalhydroponics.com/genhydro_US/waterfarm.html

Waterfarms are great for small plants such as herbs. We grew a tomato in this unit last season and it grew too big for the container to support.  This product does work!  It runs off an an air pump which is included in the system.

Thyme Garden

Big Boy Tomato

About 20 of these guys growing now.  Started the seed on March 15, which was the new moon.  Most are in starter soil, some are in grow sponges.  Will transplant to an earthbox after we move to our new house next week.

Healthy Soil!

Earhtworms are a sure sign of soil health. We found this one in our yard today. Unfortunately we are moving next week. Goodbye healthy soil.

Rapid Growth

A sunflower seedling planted on March 15th inside under the growlight. We had to move it to a larger container today. Healthy white roots.

Great source for gardening ideas

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/How-to-Grow-More-Vegetables-and-Fruits-and-Fruits-Nuts-Berries-Grains-and-Other-Crops-Than-You-id-1580087965.aspx

This is our source for building the wooden seed flat mentioned in a previous post.

Growlight Setup

Here is our grow light setup invented and constructed by Chris. He built this with uneven legs so it could use the hearth as a shelf to keep the seed trays close to the grow light as well as support for the whole setup. We are still using the Sunsystems HPS150 light which we got last year and are still using the original bulb. We have a modified desk fan blowing on the light because it puts off a lot of heat and we also are using a seedling heat mat under the seed trays which mantains a constant temp. of about 80º. We are re-using standard black plastic seed trays with plastic domes on top to keep in moisture and maintain temp. which we got last year at Progressive Gardens . We are growing in grow sponges also from Progressive Gardens and some soil.

Seedlings!

Herbs and Okra. The herbs have been outside in a homemade wooden flat using window screen on the bottom and the okra has been in a seed tray which has been inside under the grow light, both since March 15th.

Japanese Maple

The Japanese Maple in our yard beginning to bloom.

Friendly Visitor

Welcome!

Late summer squash

Started a few squash plants indoors over the last couple of weeks. Transplanted to a self watering container today. This time I drilled 4 holes in the lid so after the seedling was planted, a wire cage could be inserted. Now, as the plant grows, I do not have to find created ways to stake the plant as it gets taller. I do not know why I did not think of this with the tomatoes. We had a couple of massive wind storms early in the season and nearly lost 2 plants. I should have pre-staked them!

Basil a plenty

Thanks, Kait, for this ever producing basil plant. This is in a self watering container (aka, recycled kitty litter container) and gets regular feedings with Dutch Master gold grow nutrient. This plant came as a seedling and is now 1.5 feet tall and we can't eat it fast enough.

I suppose this dispels the old southern myth that you should never thank the giver of a plant for it will lead to its demise.

Peppers on the Vine

Here are a couple of peppers growing in a topsy turvy made especially for peppers. You can search our posts and find photos of this hanging on the front porch earlier in the season. It has openings for 8 plants. When these wrap up in a couple of weeks, I am going to plant a late summer crop of fish peppers and nosegay peppers (ornamental marble size) to carry us into the fall. These seedlings are growing now under a sunsystem HPS 150. They are nearly ready for transplant outdoors. I will start hardening them off tomorrow.

Waterfarm - General Hydroponics

Here is a batch of delicious variety tomatoes growing in a waterfarm from General Hydroponics.

It drinks about a gallon every 72 hours at this growth rate. Adding nutrient at each refill. These are ready to pick.

Time to Say Goodbye

It was time to say goodbye to a batch of hydroponic tomato plants. This set up had 3 pickle buckets tethered by a 1/2 inch black hose at the bottom of each bucket to allow the nutrient to free flow back and forth. A pump in one bucket pumped the nutrient up into another 1/2 in black hose forming a circle and then drip lines were run to each plant. The plants had pretty much run their course and I decided it was time to break them down. This is the root ball of one of the plants. I believe this was a delicious/jetsonic tomato.

Gardening Video Part 1

Here is a gardening video Dad shot while in town about a month ago. Follow the youtube link. There are 3 parts, lasting about 4 minutes each. This video will show you our front porch garden and several of the plants and systems we are using.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0sWhYmCNz4

Jalapenos Hydroponicos

Azalea Bonsai

Blooming!

Color Explosion!

Medusa ornamental pepper.

Turkish Eggplant

Orange you glad these aren't bananas?

Heirloom Tomatoes

Green Zebra and some Cherokee Purples.