Gardening

Ok, so I said I'd be taking a break but I have some free time and wanted to check in. The last few days have been kind of busy- it will be more busy by Friday but for now it seems it's just my husbands phone that has continued to ring. But today between the rings and calls we have been able to get quite a lot done. We both have really wanted to get a garden going this year, and even though we were not able to do what we really wanted to do- we have found a compromise for this year that allows us to grow quite a few things.

First, what we wanted to do. We used to have an in ground swimming pool, but we got rid of it. So we have a 24 foot round "hole" it's not real deep maybe a foot at most in some areas of it. Our plan was to borrow some machine that would help square up the garden area ( I know there is a name - can't remember - blaming chemo brain). Anyway then get a truckload of dirt hauled in for it. Well that was the plan before cancer raised her ugly head. And so we have had to compromise.

Today my husband built a garden box and we filled it up - well 3/4 of the way - once it rains probably only 1/2 of the way - but that is fine. We will add more dirt later. Anyway he planted corn in that area. We have a patch of walking or Egyptian onions that we need to enlarge the area for them. Because they really do multiply - so if you always make sure you have some you will always have some.



Click Here if you want to find out more - also w here I borrowed this photo from.

What you see here grows at the top of the onion- and then once it gets heavy it will lean to the side and when it hits the ground then you have more onions grow from this. That is how it walks. They are really great to have. My Dad sent me my originals a couple of years ago - and it took a bit for me to figure these guys out- but I am so happy to have them.

Anyway so the plan is to enlarge their garden box- so we can grow a lot of them. They are easily transplanted and I plan to do that so I can get a bigger patch of them - I would like to share some with my mom and my sister as well.

We also got some of our other garden boxed cleaned out and ready to go- we planted 3 beefsteak tomato plants, 2 cherry tomato plants, 4 strawberry plants, Okra seeds, the corn, and a parsley plant.

Last year I started an herb garden- in it I planted sweet basil, rosemary, sage, and oregano. All but the Sweet basil made it through the winter- I was thrilled. So I pulled the sweet basil and planted a parsley plant there for now.

The reason I planted a parsley plant is because my Mom had told me about this "cocktail" that she drinks that is suppose to clean out your kidneys - and be really good for you. Maybe does even more for you - but basically you use pineapple juice, spinach leaves, parsley, water and ice cubes if you would like - and blend it up really good and drink it. Anyway since I am trying to be as health as I can be I am starting to do that ever so often - so it would be very smart to have a parsley plant. I still need to learn more about using fresh herbs, but it is great to have them and be able to grow them.

We have several bell pepper plants to plant. And we are wanting to plant some yellow squash plants and some zucchini seeds. We have bought the plants in the past but end up with squash bug really quickly and I am thinking that they come with the plants. And maybe if we plant from seeds we will not get over run with the bugs quite so fast. So those things will hopefully be planted soon.

And today we also bought 2 black berry plants. We are going to plant them along a fence we have. And hope that we can add to our black berry patch later. We are hoping to be able to eventually grow enough black berries to make up at least one batch of black berry preserves each year. And hoping our strawberry plants- 4 of them do well - and eventually we will probably get a bigger patch of them as well- for the same purpose.

Oh I almost forgot - believe me - my husband would not have let us forget- he also got some cantaloupe and watermelon seeds- so he will be planting those as well.

I am hoping to be able to plant some leaf lettuce as well. I have a garden box ready to plant them. That way I can add more nutrition to my salad.
I have a decent amount of garden books - I am thinking I will be doing more studying of them in order to learn more about gardening. And while I am reading have my highlighters handy so mark the important things to remember. And looking to see what other things I would like to add to what we grow. Green beans for sure when we get a bigger area.

We want to better use our land to provide the things we need. I want to be healthier - eat more produce and get more outside time. What better way then have a garden. I can not wait till next year when we can have our garden area ready!