Vegetable Garden Gone Wild

I've neglected the vegetable garden this year, and it's gone wild. I've decided I like it because of the interesting and helpful butterflies, bees, and other insects it has brought. My garden insect pest level is way down, probably because of the flowering carrots and onions, and mix of wild flowers. They seem to be attracting "good" insects which is providing a nice balance. I've got some random broccoli(or maybe collard greens) that came back from last year, which brings in the cabbage butterflies which in turn attracts the parasitic wasps who feed on the larvae. I figure this is an excellent sacrificial lamb for the rest of the plants, so I let the pests ravage the broccoli. The radishes are faring better.

I think this(below) is cucumber. My daughter pulled a Curious George and mixed all the seeds together in the starter pots and planting beds. I have no idea what's growing anywhere! Our mint has spread everywhere and smells lovely when I step through it to weed. It's all mixed up, but very pretty to look at.

Here's a nice chart for companion planting(and antagonists) for your garden. My meandering  mint seems to be a good deterrent for many pests. But, it looks like my cucumber should not be near my potatoes. They are both doing well, so maybe there is enough distance. Maybe I'll separate the two with a row of marigolds, a companion plant for both.

Spring Garden Progress

Every year I try different vegetables in my small side garden, but predictably the same ones thrive: cucumbers, green peppers, carrots, onions, and mints. Still, I enjoy experimenting. I tried beans again, but they usually shrivel away by summer. They are doing it again, shriveling in a different part of the garden. I'm trying potatoes again in a mulchy unused part of the garden next to a fence. I throw a lot of garden refuse there, so they may thrive in the decomposing bits. We'll see how these do.

Alternative Lawn: Old Fashioned Clover Lawn

Two old fashioned alternatives to turf grass lawns:
 White Clover Seed and  Red Clover Seed
 I am trying this in our backyard where we have bald patches due to moderate tree cover. I'm also going to overseed the front lawn with the pretty red clover. Clover lawns are self fertilizing in that they add nitrogen back into the soil.Clover is notoriously hard to kill. It will be very drought resistant and tough under foot. The wildlife will love it for its sweet taste and flowers.

Source: earthturf.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Make a Garden Herb Spiral

My husband has been asking me what I plan to do with the pile of concrete pieces which we collected from my neighbor's driveway demolition. I think I just found my next garden project!

Source: flickr.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Garden Gate Bling

Source: decorhacks.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Great idea for filling holes in the garden fence. Those are marbles!

Frugal Gardening: Leaf Mulching

Our neighbor has been providing bags of leaves for us to mulch and use in the garden as a top dressing. It works wonders at keeping down weeds and providing nutrients to the soil. Best of all, it's free, not counting gas for the mulching mower(which is minimal).

My daughter's little garden with some fine mulched leaves and a little compost soil.

Free Form Artistic Nature Journals

These are some of my favorite types of journals. They are born from the imagination, and you can draw from so many free resources, such as drawing instructions or free clip art online; or maybe cut-outs from seed and plant catalogs received in the mail. Natural items like pressed flowers can be glued over printed images and sealed with clear packing tape(dollar store). Information can be hunted down online or at the library, and copied neatly into the journal with colored pens. It's a very low cost way to study outdoor nature topics, or document your gardening progress; and produces a beautiful keepsake as well. Dollar stores often have bound journals which can be covered with images of your topic and sealed with contact paper. This one looks like it has a sewn fabric cover.

Source: flickr.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Indoor Garden Grow Light System

I am still mulling over the idea of an indoor vegetable garden. This adjustable height grow light looks promising, and I may get this with Christmas money. I would love to grow green peppers, carrots, and cucumber indoors during the winter. Last winter, I experimented with indoor cucumber gardening and got one small cucumber(self pollinating organic) with no grow light, but full sunlight through a southwest facing window. I bet with grow lights I'd get much more. This one below is about $50.00.

Source: amazon.com via Alexandra on Pinterest

Hydrofarm Jump Start Grow Light System

Mulch Autumn Leaves, Skip the Bags

Source: marylenalynx.blogspot.com via Kirsi *itKuPiLLI* on Pinterest

With all this nice weather we've been having, the past two days have been spent on leaf clean-up. Instead of bagging them, we rake and blow them into big piles and mow over. We've got a mulching mower which makes short work of the leaves, chopping them into little pieces. Much of this remains on the grass to sift down to the soil as natural fertilizer. The excess is raked into piles, and shoveled off into the beds for mulch. We end up doing this several times in the fall in order to catch all the leaves, and make sure the leaves are chopped small enough.

Reason for leaf mulching:

• Saves money on bags
  
• Add nutrients back to the soil(free fertilizer)
• Helps the soil retain moisture
• Insulates plants from the winter cold
• Environmentally friendly
  

Tips:

• Make sure your mower blade is sharp
• Lower blade to about 2.5 inches high
• Mow twice or thrice to thoroughly chop up leaves.

Here's a good link on how to compost your leaves over the winter.

Harvesting Squash

I am beginning to get more squash now. What really surprised me was finding spaghetti squash in my garden! I don't remember planting this, but it will be a much appreciated extra veggie to use with an Italian recipe. A lot of edibles have failed in my little garden plot over the years, but squash has been a winner this season. Next year I'll be planting more squash, cucumber, green pepper, and tomatoes. All of these vegetables do well for me with very little fuss. I did manage to get a few small carrots and radish early in the season; these I'll plant again too.

Although the bugs and slugs where not a problem this year, the weather was harsh for the garden with heavy rains followed by hot dry spells. My soaker hose sprung a leak, so I've been watering from above. It doesn't work as well, so garden yields have been a little sparse.

How to Plant a Victory Garden

Free download here. Better quality video at this location as well.

Sunflower Seed Harvest

Cut today from my garden. Edible and pretty(when in bloom).

A Few Veggies From the Garden Today

Our little garden has not done well this year with the very hot weather, and my soaker hose sprung a leak. The plants are twisted around it, so there is no removing it this season. Something new this year - green peppers, and they have done well. I'll be planting this again next year.

Some years are more prolific than others, but the garden always offers up something.

Contact with Soil Can be Beneficial

HT to Tea at Trianon.

"...A strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means, is beneficial. How did this discovery come about? "

Read more here.

No wonder gardening makes me happy!

Six Steps to Reducing Water Usage in the Garden

See here.

I like her homemade rain barrel; however, we'd need a closed top system in our area due to mosquitoes. A window screen over the top might work.

Easy DIY Cement Planter Tutorial

This looks like a really fun summer project! I think I'll add sea glass to my planters, or shells. See here for detailed tutorial with pictures.

Ten Free Trees for $10.00

Ten free trees with a $10.00 membership and affordably priced trees and bushes at the Arbor Day Foundation(.org). We've purchased many of our shrubs and trees from this foundation for a great bargain. For birthdays and Christmas, I plan to use the Gift-a-Tree program. There is also an option to donate your ten free trees to our National Parks. For the past few years, I've gotten cute pre-printed freebie address labels from them which I use on my Christmas cards. They offer other freebies from time to time as well.

He who plants a tree plants a hope. ~ Lucy Larcom

Photo a picture of pin oak trees in our backyard.

Recycled Plastic Bottle Planters Using the Sub-irrigation Planter(SIPS) Method

Tutorial and many images for plastic bottle inspirations here.

Image source here.

This is super for young science students learning capillary action.

"How Sub-irrigation and Automatic Indoor Self Watering Containers Work

Water is added to a reservoir; the plant pulls moisture upward through the entire root ball through capillary action, like a sponge. The amount and evenness of the water movement from the sub-irrigation reservoir to the growing medium depends on the growing medium mix and its degree of compaction and/or breakdown."

A simple way to do this with house plants is to put a potted plant with drainage holes within a larger pot with no holes; raise it a bit off the bottom with some random stones or an upside down bowl(anything that lifts it up), and add water to the outer pot only. The water should be higher than the potted plant within, about 1/4 of the way up. You can add more water, but I've found that the water stays fresher if you fill it more often, and not let it sit for long periods as it would with a higher level of water. I've done this successfully with an African Violet.

More on garden SIPS here.

The Spring Garden

May flowers - tall white iris(ebay) in our backyard


Carrots(over-wintered)







Radish(Dollar General seed)






Tomato (Dollar General seed) and sage(over-wintered)


DIY silver plated spoon garden markers.




DIY spring wreath - lily of the valley.

DIY Leaf Mulch

Our new neighbor raked up twenty-six bags of leaves from his tree-filled backyard. Although we left him scratching his head, he handed us all twenty-six bags over the fence. We've spent several days on this project, emptying and mowing over these leaves with a mulching mower to make finely chopped leaf mulch. I was able to cover the beds in the backyard with this mulch. The bags also had a lot of tiny brittle sticks mixed in with the leaves. It was a heavy leaf mulch, and will make an excellent cover for weeds. It will hold in moisture during our hot summers, and provide plant fertilizer as it decays. Worms love eating through old leaves, so I'm hopeful for lots of worm castings among the plants.

We used to get free wood chips delivered by local tree cutting businesses, but for some reason they no longer do this. Leaf mulch is a frugal option.

Pictured: our tall white iris just about to bloom.