Check This!

I think gardeners must be some of the most creative people on the planet! I love this idea! It's so simple, beautiful and functional.  I think it would be great for a small kitchen to brighten it up with flowers or fresh herbs.  If I had enough money, I would totally get this!

Kickstarter Urbio

Right now, it seems to be in the starter stages of life; they need funding or something.  I've never heard of this kickstarter website but I really like this idea!

Cheers! I will post images of my seedlings soon!

Seed Starting Time Approaches

I was debating with myself on when to start my seeds this year since last season I kind of blew it with my peppers and tomatoes because they got started so late.  This year I am prepared though!  I already have the seeds that I bought from last year (seeds last up to 3 years if stored in a dark, cool space) and I just need to get carrot seeds.  Well the problem was solved on when to start through the Gardener's Supply website "How-To" pages:
http://www.gardeners.com/When-to-Start-Your-Seeds/5215,default,pg.html

They are very helpful people over there!

I also did some research at my college's library on companion planting and came up with this layout:

I did made this in Photoshop CS3 to make it look pretty!  :)   So it isn't to scale, but the general layout is correct.  The garlic and marigolds are key pest control players, the radish are pest control and filler plants (because they grow faster than some of the larger plants, you can use them to fill up empty space and pull them out when the bigger plant will take over).  I read in Carrots Love Tomatoes that you should plant 3 radish in with your squash and cuke hills and LEAVE them there; this way they act as a natural repellent.
I surrounded my tomatoes by garlic, basil, carrots and scallions because tomatoes grow well with all these plants.  Beans, cukes and peas also benefit from each other.  And bell peppers also love basil.
So that was the reasoning and thought process behind the layout.
You can make your own layout easily using the Gardener's Supply designer tool: 

http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Page-KGPJS#clearbed

I think that's it for now! I'm going to start planting in a few weeks! yay!

:)

Sick Days

I'm home sick (everyone in my department is sick now that the stress of school is over). So what do I do? Sleep, drink water, and buy a book ALL about CHILIES!
I'm super excited (how dorky)!  It gives the history, cultivation, processing, preservation and cooking with chilies-so literally everything. 
Here's a link:  
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ean=9781604691399

The book is by Dave DeWitt who is an expert on capsicums.  So far, I am really enjoying this book and suggest it if you really like cooking with chilies; I did a fair bit of research into finding a comprehensive guide on peppers.  I bought it because my boyfriend and I like to cook, and make most things from scratch.  We recently started making our own grilling rubs and wanted to know more about it.  You can download a preview of the book from Barnes and Noble to check it out and see if it's right for you too.  I bought the nook version and read it on my computer because I don't have the color nook.  Plus I use my computer to store all my recipes, so it's convenient for me.  But they also sell it in hardcover.  

Going to get better now!

Katie

A Wee Bit Chille'

I've got Jalapeno peppers!!!!!  YAY!!! Success.
After much hard work and trial and error, I have peppers.  I actually picked one jalapeno this weekend! and I can pick the others soon!  I think the pollinating I did actually worked because only those plants that I experimented on have peppers.  The pepper plants in the containers definitely failed.  They haven't grown for months.  I'm going to make salsa with them! 

I also got 3 more cucumbers! Hard to believe, I know.  Growing them vertically really was a success!

They are in the background above-all the water has spread a bacteria on them.  I still have to look it up, so I can prevent it next year, but the cukes are still coming! 

The pumpkins are fantastic!  I'm so excited! I thought there would be more, but 2 will do.  I'm going to have to see if I can use a pinch off method next year, because they've taken over.  I tried a little this year, but it didn't seem to stop the growing!  Hardy buggers! 

Lettuce in a container works awesome!  It didn't work in doors at all, but outdoors, it grows like crazy. 

My beans grew a LOT taller than I thought....  I've never grown pole beans, usually the bush variety.  So I thought they would be a few feet-didn't end up that way.  They are about 6 feet.  Maybe I should have read the bag.  But they have been a success; I got 1.5 lbs this weekend off the plants.  And they were huge! 

My tomatoes are doing excellent considering I started about a month and a half late.  I have tons of green tomatoes.  I don't know if any of them will turn red, but I have a good recipe for grilled green tomatoes if they don't.  So I'm just happy they were so successful. 

I grew a fall bunch of peas! And this is how they are doing:

I also planted 4 new blueberry plants for my parents.  I love blueberries! 

Mom has been working quite a bit lately and hasn't had time to go get her mums.  So I bought mums for my mom!  I tried to match the colors so it would look as cheerful as possible for her when she came home!

I still don't have a spot for my garlic-I just have to talk to dad about a good-out-of-the-way spot. They should be mailed out soon, so I should probably get that ready....

Cheers!  :)

Cuke Mania

Well, the pumpkin is slowly turning orange.  I rotated it yesterday to make sure the bottom doesn't rot. I have to find some cardboard to put under it. 
I got 8 more cucumbers last week off the vine! Craziness!  I also have 3 little peppers growing!  Last week I tried an experiment (since it's rained so much, it's hard for the plants to get pollinated) where I took my finger and tried to rub the pollen from the male flowers to the females.  It's hard to tell which is which, so I just took the powder from one and rubbed it with my finger tip on the ones without.
And now all of a sudden I have peppers!  I think they are both jalapenos! 
I also bought the Ball Blue Book-guide to preserving.  It is excellent!  It has loads of recipes for making jams/jellies/pies/pickle/salsas/jerky/rubs...and the list goes on!  I'm going to can apple sauce within a few weeks; I need to go to Adam's Orchard to pick first though and I don't know when I'll have the time.
Today ended beautifully with the sun shining; perfect for a walk with my friends! 

cheers!

Cucumbers Galore

So I picked FIVE more cucumbers today! I should download what the weather has been for the past 3 months!  It's been a great year for cukes!  I have a bunch of tomatoes on the vines too now.  Some of them are itty bitty, but at the least, I will have green tomatoes this fall!  And they don't have blight; I was just paranoid because of the disaster last year. 
My dad says that I haven't been getting any beans-even though they are awesome vines right now-because the deer will eat the flower buds off of them!  I know it's deer, and not rabbits, because it's too high off the ground where the bite marks are for rabbits.
I have a huge pumpkin growing too! And some smaller ones in there also!  Very exciting!
I think the horse manure has worked out well despite all the aggressive weeds! 

Cheers!

Raining Buckets!

I put out extra buckets to catch the rain water for reuse in the garden because it was raining so much!  And I've recently dug up and replanted some lilac shoots and they desperately need water!  So I'm glad for the rain this week.  My tomatoes were looking grim too, so now I'll have plenty and can feel good about wishing for sunny days! 
Some things I want to remember for next year are:
1) to plant some different varieties of tomatoes (some of the heirloom variety)
2) to plant earlier (around the end of march start the peas/beans/radishes).
3) to set out the rain buckets earlier
This winter I want to attempt growing English Cucumbers-apparently they don't need to be pollinated, so this would be a good indoor variety.  Me and Annemarie also have a friend who are giving us a banana tree to grow (yes, they grow it outside in VT)...so that should be loads of fun! 
And I got 3 more cucumbers this past Saturday!  So I'll have to go through the blog and count how many that is now!  It's over 10; hopefully I recorded them all!
I've also ordered garlic to grow this October to harvest next fall.  Very exciting!  Thanks to Rene who organized that for me!  :)

Cheers!

Tomato Woes

I think my tomatoes have blight. bummer.  This happened last year.  My mom-the all around expert on all things growing-told me that it's just normal yellowing of the leaves, and that they just need some food, but I'm having doubts.  I'm paranoid from last year when my whole crop of tomatoes caught blight right as they were turning red!  Even the one in the container.  So I'm a bit worried.  Time will tell. 
Also, I found in my book that tomatoes need up to 5 gallons/week of water!  So that could be part of the problem.  Good thing it's rained so much this year.  But you also don't want to water the leaves of a lot of plants b/c they are susceptible to diseases that are brought on by wet leaves.  Most of the time I water right at the base anyways just so I know it's getting right to the roots and not sitting on the leaves and evaporating.  At my house, water is short since we are on a spring; so I've been using rain buckets to catch gallons of water out of our gutters for the hot, sunny days.  It's been working out really well!  As long as I use it right away, then we won't have mosquitoes breeding in it; that's the only thing I worry about.

Ta Ta for now! I'll take pictures when it's sunny!

Blueberries!!!

I got a pretty good handful of blueberries today!  They are so sweet!  Check them out!

Hurray!  Cheers!

Scorcher in Vermont

It's been unbearably hot these past 4 days in Vermont; but my garden is blooming because of it.  I picked 7 snap peas yesterday night which is double what I picked a week ago!  And the tomato plants have started to take off with all the sun they are getting!  I'm feeling a lot better about them now.  And I planted some more radishes to take up space, beans and morning glories. 
My wonderful boyfriend climbed up a ladder in our garage and got down the plant cages for me (I couldn't reach them on the shelf) and now the garden looks lovely! I just have to keep up with the weeds.  Using the horse manure sort of backfired on me in that domain.  It's wonderful for the plants, but it's also fantastic for weeds!  I have lots of dandelions (the bane of my existence) and clover growing.  But now it's become manageable. 
I'll post some pictures of the progress tonight! 

Toodle Loo for now!  Stay cool!

Progress!

I took these pictures the other day of my seedlings, but I just didn't have time to post them. :)  Finals take a toll on my free time!

The poor lettuce grew sideways because I didn't rotate them! oops.

The tomatoes finally sprouted!

And the pepper plants are getting big!  

Here are most of the plants! The pumpkins are really taking off now!  I've made sure to water them regularly; my seedlings need water about every few days (depending on the sun).  I bought a "daytime bulb" (it looks like it's just tinted to look like day light instead of a yellowish hue) and put it in the lamp about 5" above the seedlings.  I think the heat is what is making them grow more than anything.  I left it on all night on Tues night (by accident) and there were tomato plants 2 cm high the next day! There was no sign of life the night before!  It might be a coincidence, I don't know.  Pretty soon, it will be warm enough to put them outside anyhow (during the day). 

Here is a picture I took while at a stop sign yesterday! The rain was coming down in sheets! It's a little hard to see in the picture, but trust me it was terrible!  

Time to finish my exam! Then I'm done for the semester! woot woot!  ;)

As usual, I have more pictures on my flickr account (see link in right hand menu) if you want to peruse them! 

Good night!

PS. I'm FUNDED this summer for my project! hurray!!!

After the Storm

The snow is all gone now, and the daffodils survived, but they are flattened to the ground instead of upright now. 

I cut some of them for mom.  Don't they look pretty?

Patch is chillin' by the indoor garden.

Some of my seedlings are finally coming up after a week!
The lettuce is getting big!

Cucumbers are coming up.

Scallion...

And then I put in the trellises and planted the peas...

I used my hammer and measuring tape...

 And the little garden gnome is just hanging out...

That's all for now!  Going to hang out with Jay for dinner and a movie! 
Have a good weekend!

Winter Fun in Spring

So, it snowed yesterday and continued through today.  And not just a dusting, but it was a blizzard!  This is not normal; although it has snowed in June before (but it didn't stick that time). So me and Patch decided to make a day of it and take some pictures!

Just to show how LARGE the snow flakes are!

You can't even see my poor garden layout! I measured it and laid it out the other day; I'll probably have to do it all over again.  You can kind of see the sticks I used as markers.

 

My decorative bird house is all iced over!

 

Daffodils and Apple Tree buds; they both got glazed!

Patch is very unhappy with me.  He's being grumpy about the snow.

Here are the trellises I bought for the cukes; Home Depot!  The installation is being delayed by snow.

Deer came to play too!

Inside....the seedlings are nice and warm.  The lettuce popped right up!

Onyx and Patch are very happy to be inside, toasty.

There are more pictures on my flicker site if you want to check them out!  Hope everyone stayed warm!  Our power was a little shaky but at least it didn't stay off! 
Good night!  :)

Seedlings

Every year, me and my mom make a garden together.  This year, we felt adventurous and start our own seedlings.  We got the seeds from the Vesey seeds website.
Since the seeds are from Canada, it took a month to get to VT (which we didn't plan on).

Here are the brands/types I'm using:

Veseys:
Tomato Applause
Tomato Tiny Tim (extra early mini cherry)
Summer Squash Richgreen (early hybrid zucchini)
Pepper Early Jalapeno (Certified Organic)
Pepper Fat 'n Sassy (hybrid sweet green pepper)
Pumpkin Howden (hallowe'en pumpkin)
Cucumber Sultan (Beit-Alpha cucumber)
Beans Stringless Blue Lake (Early Green Pole)

Burpee:
Nasturtium Alaska (Capuchina Alaska)
Garden Bean Burpee's Stringless Green Pod
Pea Super Sugar Snap
Onion Parade

Page's Seeds:
Lettuce Mesclun Blend
Spinach Bloomsdale Long Standing

Fredonia Seeds:
Radish Early Scarlet Globe


Ferry Morse:
Chives
Parsley
Basil

I reused rinsed out yogurt and frosting containers as planters. 

I drilled holes in it with my Black and Decker drill.

 Here's everything I used to plant the seeds.  I love Miracle Grow!

 These seeds are a lot bigger than I expected!
Nasturium are a natural bug repellent.  I've never grown them before, so we'll see if it works.  I have to look up what kind of bugs they repel still.  They will look pretty no matter what!

Since VT is still at risk of frost, I brought the seeds inside.  They don't need to be in the sun, but I put them in front of the window anyways, so I don't have to move them again!

 This is my indoor "garden"  so I can get my gardening fix during the winter.  It's just a plastic shoe mat from Bed Bath and Beyond to stop the dirt and water from running everywhere.
I bought a little gnome the other day from JoAnne Fabrics.  I love him! He's so cute! He makes me giggle!

To tell each plant apart, I labeled the containers with numbers; this way I can reuse the containers next year and not have to match them up exactly with the plants.


Here's the lettuce and spinach I'm trying to grow inside (it's an experiment).  The huge branch is my 2nd attempt to grow a blueberry bush from cuttings (Rootone and water); if it works, then I'll post directions.
That's all for now.  Next thing to do is to measure out my square foot garden!
Ta ta for now!  :)

They've just started to grow leaves! I need to replant some of them.  I grew too many in one area.