Inventory

Currently, we have the following vegetables growing in our garden:

• Green Beans
• Corn
• Sugar Snap Peas
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Romaine Lettuce
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Spinach
• Radishes
• Carrots
• White and Purple Onion
• Beets
• Bok Choy

Also, I have the following flowers growing in pots by our garden:

• Marigolds
• Sunflowers
• Poppies
• Morning Glories
• Daisies
• Lavender
• Forget Me Nots
• Zinnias
• Cosmos

Weeding, fertilizing, and trellising... AND more rain

I took off work today and decided it was a perfect day to spend quality time in the garden. Damian and I focused on weeding and fertilizing our plants.

Thousands of tiny weeds have emerged and our goal is to keep them under control as much as possible. We picked weeds out by hand and mixed some back into soil. We don't know the best weeding practices yet, but are trying to learn the most we can from our garden this year.

While Damian added some bloodmeal around our plants to supplement the low nitrogen in our soil,  I shortened my sugar snap pea trellises and added some new trellises for our green beans. Then, the rains came again. Only this time the rains were short and followed by beautiful sunshine. We drove home and spotted a beautiful rainbow. I think that means our garden has good luck! :)

Teeny weeds that are not allowed to live in our garden



New Trellis for the sugar snap peas



Kayla showing off our garden before it started raining 

Rainbow

Repels insects.. AND water too. Boo hoo!

We ordered row cover from the Gardeners Supply Company to protect our organic garden from insects. It was advertised as "summer weight fabric" that would allow in sunlight and wind, but would keep out the bugs. It was 6' by 50' and we decided to customize it to be 12' by 25'.

 I cut and sewed the huge billowing amount of fabric. At the garden, we placed it over our chicken wire framework and secured it with wooden blocks.

THEN, we tested it by pouring water on it. That is when we realized the fabric was completely water repellent. Puddles emerged and did not go away. We both agreed that if we left the fabric on the plants they would probably be smothered and stems would be snapped under the weight of the copius amounts of St. Louis rains we are getting lately. Sadly, we took off the cover and went back to square one with our plan of attack for insects.


Sewed 25' of row cover





Placed the row cover over our chicken wire frame



Water is beading up & forming puddles



Damian taking off the row cover



Our green bean plants are sprouting baby beans in our living room

Well, our green bean  transplants are growing like mad in our living room. Green beans should really be planted mid-May, so we were trying to let them grow into healthy transplants indoors before then. However, they mature a lot faster than we thought. Our baby green bean plants are now GROWING BABY BEANS. WHOA! Early or not, I think it might be time to transplant!

Baby green beans

Our window sill garden.  Half a soy milk container and some dixie cups!

And the rain keeps coming, coming, & coming!

We are stuck in a wet weather pattern, but most of our plants seem to be thriving still. Our poor romaine lettuces got a little beaten up by the heavy winds and hail, but they all seemed to have maintained a strong core. We plan to give them some extra nitrogen nutrients soon by spraying them with organic fish emulsion!

Onions and romaine

One of our hardiest romain plants!

Red Cabbage

Our waterlogged garden

Needs more nitrogen!

We did another soil test and found out that our garden is nitrogen deficient - as evidenced by the lack of color in the purple topped tube. In order to add nitrogen, we could add fish emulsion, chicken poop, or cow manure. Or, we could till in clover.

Hail to the garden

Beautiful strong plants

The battered plants

The weather has not been so nice to our garden. Hail, high winds, and heavy rain have left some of our leafy greens looking battered while others have shown their beautiful resilience.

Romaine and iceberg, I don't know if you are going to bounce back. Broccoli, you are going to be awesome. Onions and radishes you look better than ever. Carrots, where are you?

Bugs and bunnies

I found a beautiful fat worm in the garden. Worms are the good kind of bugs because they help aerate the garden soil without eating the roots of our plants!

We also found a baby bunny nest. I was convinced by a 6 yr. old that we should check on the bunnies by picking them up. The bunny was so young that it didn't even have its eyes open yet. It did have fur and tiny bunny ears. I hope the little bunnies make it but STAY OUT of our garden.

Mr. Worm

Bunny in my dirty gardening hand

Sunday afternoon in the garden

Today, we transplanted more lettuces and leafy greens. So, far our transplants are doing great! Thankfully, we haven't noticed too many weeds, but we are preparing ourselves to pull quite a few over this summer. I have my extra thick knee pads ready!  Also, we haven't had too many problems with bugs. We have a shade cloth coming that will help protect our plants from extreme sun and keep bugs off of our plants as well. I have designated myself as the bug lady, so I am reading up how to fight the bugs using organic practices.

Damian planting some more leafy greens!



Damian planting some more romaine

Me and the garden!

Busting through the earth

This year is full of all kinds of experiments. We planted seeds along with our transplants. The seeds are already busting through the soil!

beets

Soaking in the sunshine

At 7 am, our small plants are soaking in the beautiful sun from our living room window.

And, the outdoor garden begins

Kayla and the neighbor kid planting sugar snap peas

Damian helping Kayla plant some broccoli

Damian planting carrot seeds

We gridded our garden in 1' squares to keep it organized!

Prepping the soil bed



Damian & I just finished prepping the soil today. It has been tilled, composted, & fertilized. We got a whole truck bed of soil & compost from St. Peter's EarthCentre for $15.

Next, we plan to plant the root veggies and leafy greens!

Damian is loading up our garden with beautiful compost






Tilling





Soil test

I purchased a $3 soil test & we found out we have high alkaline & high NPK. I am still not sure if that is good or bad. I hope our plants like it!

Watching our plants grow

It is enjoyable to watch these beautiful plants grow - I would say it is a mixture of awe and hope. Damian paces back and forth watching our plants grow. I think he is adorable!

New books!

We just got an awesome delivery from Amazon! Both books came highly recommended.

New seedlings

Only three days old and beautiful little leaves start to emerge. We have baby zinnias, peppers, marigolds, and herbs.

Will peer pressure affect plants?

So Damian made the move to buy a few transplants from the store today because we were both concerned about the fate of some of our skinny stalked seedlings being transplanted outdoors this upcoming weekend. Part of me wanted to remain purist & only use our transplants we grew from seeds, but I realize it is good to have backup plants. Afterall, I do want a successful garden. Besides, maybe our skinny stalked seedlings will give into peer pressure and grow big overnight.... One could hope.

Our skinny stalked seedlings

Store bought HUGE seedlings

Green beans

Our green bean seedlings are so cool & have grown so much in just a few days.

New experiment in propagation

We waited a while to thin the peppers & I decided to see if planting the cut seedlings would create roots.