Plant shelves

OK, I’m feeling like more creative juices want to flow through me.  Even though I’m not into painting, I’m sensing the need even more to creating.  I am being reminded that I enjoy the newness of things, and not just in the finished product, but in the actual creative process itself.   So, I’m looking at our backyard as a canvas, and what areas we can give some new life to.  The vegetable garden has been started, and some of the lawn has had new sod laid, or been re-seeded (more re-seeding still to come). 

The side of the shed, facing south, appears open and wanting attention.  This is where the tomato pots used to be.  Cathleen mentioned putting flower pots on the shelf.  Great idea.  And what about the space above the shelf – seems like it wants some attention too.  Paint is peeling, and there is empty space.  So, we’ll put on some fresh paint, and add some hanging plant baskets as well.  The area near the top of the shed wall, where the plant brackets will attach, seems unfinished.  So, let’s make it finished.  Adding a board, cut to match the angle of the shed roof, will hide the funny looking spaces, and give the plant brackets a better surface to be attached to.  

Next, we’ll add a riser to the back half of the 23” wide shelf, providing another dimension to the display of flower pots.  Cathleen had another good idea – covering the area underneath the shelf with a piece of lattice, giving it a nice finished appearance.    The lattice will be removable, so that the area can be used for storage.  Both of us like the white lattice look; we’ve used it in a number of places around the backyard: the south fence, the shed, as a patio cover, and as the sides to Elvis’ runway.  (Note to self: do a blog post on the pet enclosures, etc that have been created over the years).

Next, Cathleen will do the presentation with the pots and flowers.  Can't wait to see the finished display.

Gardening 2

OK, last weekend we picked up the vegetable sprouts, and planted them in the beds.  The first bed is all pumpkins; we planted seeds from pumpkins that we carved last Halloween.  The second bed has cucumbers and crook-neck squash.  The third bed has yellow zucchini, red and yellow peppers.  Seems like we may have the peppers too close together.  Think I'll build another small bed and move some of the peppers.  The tomato plants are in their pots, which have now been moved to the vegetable garden (although I was reminded by someone today that tomato is actually a fruit; not a vegetable).

Most of the drip-water lines are in place - will finish laying the rest of them tonight after work. Seems like there is room for some more plants along the fence - thinking about corn.  We do have crows, so maybe we would need to give Stanley (our scarecrow) a full-time job.  Or we could also set-up another shelf - similar to the one with the tomato plants - and put more pots, with say, some herbs?

So, now, the actual gardening will be taking place.  Hopefully raising the plants to be healthy and producing an abundance of crop.  This is where I  develop my skills - this year will be a good learning experience.  Which brings me to a current concern.  Our avacado tree was seemingly healthy, coming back from near death a couple of years ago.  Then, we had the heavy rain a couple of weekends ago, and the leaves are now wilting.  We don't have good drainage with our soil, and I fear we may have root rot (which is what may have almost killed the tree last time). 

Did some searching, and read a few suggestions where adding gypsum to the soil may save the tree.  So I did - let's see what happens.

Not having much luck getting the younger generation to eat the mandarin oranges, and I don't want the crop to be wasted.  So, last weekend I picked a bunch and made some homemade Orange Julius, with a recipe found online.  It was a hit, so I'll probably make some more soon.

Gardening 1

OK, I’m sensing a need to make more contact with mother earth, so I’m going to get more serious about the vegetable garden this year.  Thinking about getting a pair of overalls, and calling myself a farmer.  LOL

For a number of years now, we have grown 2-3 tomato plants, in pots, on the south side of the shed.  These plants always seem to struggle, as we are not good about consistently watering.  A number of years ago, I built three planter boxes.  We usually plant pumpkins.  One year we tried some other vegetables, but we were not very serious about it.  As time passed, we weren’t using all three planter boxes, so I disassembled one of them, and used the wood to make the potting bench. 

This year, we will have a garden.  I’ve built another planter box, so, we have three again. I took the dirt from the two boxes, spread it into three, added dirt from the side of the house, which has had the rocks sifted out, and added 6 bags of planting mulch.  I will be moving the tomato pots into the garden, where I can run the drip watering lines to them, hopefully producing more fertile plants.  I’ve killed all of the grass and weeds in this area, and laid down cardboard in the areas around and between the planter boxes.  The rain last weekend softened up the cardboard very nicely.  In the meantime, I learned that the city deposits woodchips (with pine needles) into a bin, located next to the library.  Residents are welcome to load up the woodchips and take them home.  I put some shovels into the truck, went to the library, and loaded up the bed with the woodchip mixture, and placed a layer of this mixture over the cardboard in the garden.

This year, we are going to try:  pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini, and a variety of bell peppers; orange, yellow, red, and maybe purple.  I see from the Old Farmers Almanac that optimum planting dates for these vegetables occurs over the next week or two.  Good timing.

We have a variety of fruit trees along the east fence.  I now call this the orchard.  Lemon, mandarin orange, apricot, nectarine, avocado, and of course, the apple, which we have enjoyed the fruits of for many years now.

I will get that pair of overalls.  Going to be a farmer for Halloween this year.