Before and After My Garden 2013
I planted a ton of seeds back in February and I can say my seedlings unlike last year are doing FANTASTIC! I currently have 22 cucumber plants and 20 tomato plants (yes a ton of seeds!) I have not allowed Booga anywhere near the seedlings this year. I also for some reason decided to plant in the backyard something I said I wouldn’t do after last year’s drought. I had a horrible return on my beans and peas last year even thought it started out great. The moles got to them and dug up a ton of my plants which means I have a grub problem I am currently working on ways to get rid of my grub and slug problem. Last year I admit I was completely defeated and said there was no way I was doing a big garden in 2013, I was going to stick to containers. I tried peas and beans in containers back in February and they didn’t work, I knew if I wanted peas I needed to plant in the backyard.
Saturday it was gorgeous 75 and sunny, Jeff had to work because of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade so the kids and I went in the backyard. It started very simply I had a piece of lattice that was 6’x8′ that I mounted to the shed and I realized if I cut it in half I could double my pea return. The princess held the lattice so I could cut it in half with the circular saw. Booga was in awe of mommy’s toy, I also told him if he touched it in any way shape or form he would go directly to bed (worked like a charm.) Side note it has a wonderful safety features so chances are he couldn’t have gotten it to work anyways but I didn’t want to take any chances. It started with one row and then it turned to two and up to four rows of peas (over 400 peas). Then I decided to plant my beans 4 rows over 150 seeds (I honestly am not expecting great things from those seeds they are 3 years old.) I’m not sure what possessed me to “over plant” maybe it is the fact I have had such poor returns that I figure plant a ton and see what happens. Do I think stuff will actually grow? Not really. Call me a pessimist but the soil, even after all the top soil and mulch I have put in is crap, it grows weeds and a couple peas. It attracts fire ants, slugs, grubs, moles and the neighborhood cats. I am hoping this year for better luck. I started a new gardening journal, mainly because my previous one went missing.
Booga playing in the dirt finding worms and grubs.
Planting seeds
So I hope to have grand posts on my garden soon but I am still very pessimistic on gardening. Next weekend I am hoping to get my stuff in pots or figure out where I am going to put my plants.
On Sunday it was equally beautiful and I decided to go back outside and work in the yard. I figured out how to fix my PVC piping (long story) for my backyard (we need to go to ACE or Home Depot in order for them to work). I then decided to pull out the weed-wacker and edge our driveway, front curb and sidewalk. I spent all day edging, cleaning the front porch and spraying the layer of yellow pollen off of everything. I must say the clouds always throw me so I didn’t even think to put sun screen on and am now sporting a fantastic farmer’s tan (burn). I do have a list of stuff I need to buy (mainly strawberries and some more seeds).
I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed that everything will leave my gardens alone (mainly a three year old boy who enjoys chasing the dog through the garden).
Who Are You Calling Crafty? 