Sorry I Lag

I've been so busy with sewing bags, homeschooling, and fun crafts that I haven't been a very faithful blogger. But in my defense... there really isn't much going on in the garden :( Here is a list of what's happening...

I got a little strawberry transplant that seems to be doing well. We'll see in the summer - yum! Several zucchini plants are sprouting up. My fennel is out of control... doing so well. Don't really know what do with fennel, so if you do... send me a recipe or I'll give you some. I have a sweet pea thief in my yard. My sweet peas were so rad and then one day they were off the trellis and all the sweet peas were gone :( I was bummed because that plants has such sweet memories with it. When I was first starting my garden Sydney used to stand and eat all my sweet peas while I worked in the garden. It was like a babysitter. My tomato plants are still the

same size they've been for the past 2 months. Not sure why they won't grow or what to do to help them, but I would love insight. My cucumbers were doing great and then took a turn for the worst and I dug them up. I did get a few jumbo cucumbers from the vine though. Last on the list are my peppers. I have already had some yummy sweet bell peppers and my plant is on round two. I have another pepper plant that I thought were hot peppers, but after picking them and smelling them... and Damin tasting them... they are sweet as well.

Like I said, I've been on a major craft kick lately. I might throw up a few pictures of things I've been making lately... a princess skirt, a Pippy Longstocking style smock/ dress, a fabric "Merry Christmas" sign, a few ornaments... there is so much I want to do right now, with no where near enough time.

Until next time...

(which will probably be another month, at least)

Ants SUCK!!!!!!

I couldn't even think of a better title than that... that just sums it up!! I went out to water today and left the hose on longer than normal and next thing I know I was flooding the ant colony that lives in my garden. I didn't know they were so numerous... there is no way of accurately describing how many ants are in my garden! I have all the ants in Santa Ana in my backyard!!!! That is an understatement! It's ridiculous!!!! So now, I am on a serious hunt for natural ways of getting rid of these ants. Aaaaagggggghhhhh! These pictures are just when they started coming out... this isn't the worst of it!

Snack Sacks

Hey all...

I've been sewing reusable snack sacks and am starting to sell them. If you are interested or know anyone interested, please let me know or let them know about me :) If I can get my butt in gear, I'll be in a store in the next few months.

Finally...

Some new pictures of what's going down in the garden.

We had some delicious watermelon and I made pesto with all the basil that is growing. If you like basil, let me know and I'll get some to you. I did a fancy trick with my lettuce. After I cut off the bottom of the Romaine lettuce, I planted the bottom in the garden and a new head of lettuce is growing from the middle of it. Pretty cool trick if you don't want to wait for seeds. We have also had some really cute storybook pumpkins come up... just using those for decoration though. And finally... my tomatoes and beets are growing. So excited! I have a bunch of new things coming in for fall... zucchini, cucumber, carrots, cilantro, kale, lettuce, spinach. But, for some reason, I can never get corn to do well... any suggestions?

Keep On, Keeping On

Even though my garden is still looking rather shabby, I do have some good stuff going down... I have a TON of grapes coming in. My watermelon vines are looking good however there is only one watermelon :) Corn is coming up, along with peas, onion, chili peppers and pumpkins. We just planted some carrots, beets, spinach and tomato. Along with that, my garden beautification process is starting to pick up steam... hopefully soon it will be like the garden in my mind... 

Slow Rollin'

I am off to a seriously slow start this season. I think I've been more focused on giving my garden a facelift instead of focusing on the plants. Still hoping to get to the facelift, but I think the crazy weeds still randomly looming throughout the garden lessen my motivation. I do have quite a few watermelon vines coming up; along with corn, basil, sweet peas, tomato, and kale. I need to devote some time next week... for sure. 

As far as my worms go... they're just eating the junk I gave them.... doing what worms do. Still not sure if I am doing 100% correct, but kind of cool none the less... and Sydney likes having worms under the sink :)

Also, a big "thank you" to Matt Jensen for my beautiful heading he created for me!

I Got Worms...

I'm going to attempt vermicomposting under my sink. Vermicomposting is throwing your old veggie & fruit peels and scraps in a box with worms and letting them go to town. After they are done there is super wonderful plant food left behind. I'm a little nervous getting started because I don't know if it will smell or attract unwanted pests, but from what I'm reading, if I do this correctly I won't have those problems. I'm getting it all set up today, so I'll report back and let you know how it's going.

Wilted

Being the genius that I am, I planted my baby sprouting plants right before our mini heat wave last weekend. It doesn't really look like anything made it through, except for the watermelon. Speaking of watermelon, I have watermelon coming up all over the place in the box it was growing in last year. I'm assuming that since I didn't clear out the old watermelon vines until recently, that the old vine dropped seeds in the box and planted for me this season. So thoughtful! 

Well, hopefully something is salvageable out there, or I may need to replant all me seeds. I do see a little hint of cilantro that might make it and one baby corn that may pull through. Our trees are looking pretty good... apricots, figs, and apples are starting to show up. So stoked for apricots!!

P.S. My mixture of sugar and borax to get rid of ants worked really well!!! 

I Love Hoes!

I spent a little time this weekend getting down and dirty with my ho. The garden is on it's way to looking better than last year. It's some serious work though getting the big think weeds out of the hard ground. I'm trying to get these out so I can plant clover between my stepping stones and hopefully keeps new weeds at bay. I was able to get my watermelon and corn in their box this weekend, but was brought to a stand still when I found that one of the other boxes has an ant problem. So bummed on that, trying a combination of sugar and borax sprinkled around to get them outta here. If you have a tried and true method, please let me know. Other than that I have a ton of ladybugs... on a ladybug side note... last season I kept throwing out some gross little red and black bugs only to find out the other day they are ladybug larvae! Like I stated in the beginning, this is a learning process for me :)

Ladybug Larvae

Here is what the garden is looking like currently. It still looks ghetto and crazy, but you should have seen it Friday... weeds shoulder high- no joke! I'm hoping to add a few more boxes soon.

Start Your Engines!!!!

Sydney helped me start some vegetable seeds a few days ago. We started them in toilet paper rolls and then will plant them when they start sprouting. That is what we did last year and it worked pretty well. You can plant the toilet paper roll with it, it just composts in the soil. Hopefully I can beautify the rest of my garden soon and we'll be rolling. Here's what seeds we started... cilantro, lettuce, beets, corn, peppers, watermelon, broccoli, and carrots. I need to start the rest of my herbs, but since I use cilantro so much, I got that started right away.

Spring has sprung!!! Viva la garden!!!

Here I come...

So I actually got out there for a short period of time last week. I pulled some weeds out and left over remnants of past vegetable plants... random onions, shriveled tomatoes, half-eaten carrots. The boxes are ready, but there were a few bugs hanging out waiting for the new crop. I need to figure out how to clear them out. The rest of the garden area is a total jungle though. I'm dreading clearing it out, but am hoping I can enlist Damin's help as part of my birthday present :)

I've also been saving toilet paper rolls so I can start my seeds soon. Sydney loved this last year... helping me fill the rolls with soil, seeds, and water. 

I'm getting back into it... I'll keep you posted.