Back From Ohio

Hello Everyone...You haven't heard from me in a week because I was back home visiting friends. I took my 84 year old mother back to Ohio to see her dear friend who was celebrating her 86th birthday. All the ladies were in their 80s, so it was quite a site of white hair and rollater walkers lined up. While I was there we were able to visit several friends and relatives. She had not been back in nearly 20 years, and it's been quite a while for me as well. 

While I was gone I left my garden in the care of my husband. Just asking him to water and tend to harvesting. I know he wasn't thrilled about that, but he seems to have kept up with it. The days are getting hotter, so it's necessary to water twice daily. Luckily it rained a few times, including last night, so that helped tremendously.  

I was especially worried about my tomatoes and sweet corn. I am hoping that we will have an ample supply for the 4th of July next week, and be able to have our first harvest of sweet corn when our son is here visiting.

Here is what I found when I came home today:

Brussel Sprouts on the patio

the Patio Garden Spot

looking at the patio garden

the tomatoes needed support

tomatoes ripening

purple Hydrangeas still in bloom when I got back

the corn in the raised bed needed support

Almost all the peppers are turning RED!

A few pictures of the friends we visited back home.

 

What Today Brings

Today is Father's Day.  My husband and I went to church and out to lunch to celebrate. Our son called him later in the day.  Later, I worked in the garden for a short time. There really isn't much to do now, except harvest my "crops". This is what is so nice about container gardening. There are very few weeds or insects. So far all that I have treated are the Brussel Sprouts for the Aphids / Flea Beetles. Once I saw the leaves had tiny holes in them I was pretty sure it was some kind of insect, so I looked it up in Edward Smith's book that I had purchased on container gardening, then it was fairly easy to select an insecticide which covered these lil "buggers", and it looks like it did the trick.

Today I harvested 2 zucchini and 1 yellow summer squash. I have tomatoes that will be ready tomorrow along with my first red pepper.  Not quite sure what I am going to do with that right now since my husband doesn't like peppers, but I was thinking about a stuffed pepper with a ground turkey  mixture. I may have to peruse the internet for a tasty recipe.  

In addition to Edward Smith's book on container gardening, I have been using resources from Clemson University Extension, which has proved very helpful.  Today I was surfing information on some of the new vegetables that I plan to add to my garden in 2013 and ran across The University of Arkansas Extension service and was quite impressed. They have an entire page of pdf publications they have written, and a series on Vegetables. There is a pdf on each vegetable which can be saved and printed.  Check it out!

Lettuce is about finished to I planted a summer squash.

More starts of Supper Squash

More starts of Summer Squash

Watching My Garden Grow

I have been harvesting a lot this week. More tomatoes, zucchinis, yellow squash and green beans...they are all so tasty and fresh!  I am so anxious for the corn to be ripe....my mouth is watering!  The Yellow Pear Tomatoes will be ripening soon as well. 

Oh look at my corn, its doubled in size since last week

The Peppers are finally turning RED

New Squash and Zucchini started

More tomatoes

New Information

I want to share with you what I found today when I was on Twitter. That place is really hopping. I had no idea it could be used like this and for researching gardening. I am impressed!  Of course, I had to call my son for help....LOL I think I am too told for all this Twittering, and Tweeting and Blogging, but with his help I might survive.

Anyway...I started following a few Twitter-ers and found a couple neat links to share.  Video

Follow me on Twitter

I can't believe I did this. My son said I should promote my garden website blog on Twitter. Of course I always do what he says, so I signed up for a Twitter account, now I can Tweet. You can find me and follow me on Twitter:

@SCgardenlady

Plans for 2013 Growing Season

All this is pretty new to me, so I am using the "Trial & Error" method along with anything I can read online and in the books I have purchased to help.  I have learned that I can grow vegetables year round with a little luck and temperature control. So I decided to add a small inexpensive, portable greenhouse to my garden. Of course, I looked all over online and found one at Amazon

Gardman 4 tier mini greenhouse

It was extremely easy to assemble.

No tools were necessary.

Now we will see how it works this Winter.

•  Product Features
• Small greenhouse with 4 shelves for deck, patio, or balcony
• Ideal for seed propagation and plant growing and display
• Sturdy shelves for pots and seed trays; plastic cover with full length roll up zipper
• Dimensions when built: 62 by 27 by 19 inches (h x l x w); each tier is 12-1/2 inches high

I plan to raise a few vegetables through the winter, and also use the greenhouse to start my seeds early for the 2013 growing season.  Wish me luck!

Along with the greenhouse, I have purchased 6 early safeguards for planting, called Wall O Water at Burpee online.  I will let you know if they prove beneficial or if they were just a waste of my money.

• Product Features
• Protects small plants down to 16° F.
• reusable for 7-10 seasons.
• 18" tall, 14"-16" in diameter
• Extends the planting & growing season by up to 2 months

Supposedly you can just fill the tubes of these plant protectors with water, and you can plant weeks earlier and harvest later. I will let you know if this works and extends the growing season.

In 2012 I started my seeds in recycled spinach containers that I had purchased our spinach in from the produce section of the grocery store. I usually purchase Market Place Organic spinach from Wal-Mart mostly because it comes in large quantities and is cheaper in bulk.  There is so much packaging now-a-days that we get and we just toss it away. I thought there should be a good use to these containers, and there was! The containers provide a little "greenhouse" setting for seeds to germinate. Some of the containers even have a bubble, raised top.  I have saved and collected a few of these for next year's plantings.  

In addition to these handy containers I was able to pick up a couple "mini-greenhouse" seed starter kits on clearance at Wal-Mart. These will be a nice addition to my greenhouse for spring seed germination.

When I was at Wal-Mart checking out clearance, I also selected the seeds I will be sowing in 2013. Of course I will be expanding my garden since this year has already proved fruitful, and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be. I didn't purchase Heirloom seeds, nor do I plan to save my seeds from this year. My son is encouraging me to do this, but I just don't want to be bothered.....I know, I know, I should.  Look for 2 upcoming blogs on:  My Winter Greenhouse Garden & Vegetable Plants for 2013.

Things Needed Attending To

I worked in my garden this morning for about 2 hours before it got too hot. I think it's going to be over 90 today. There were several things that needed attending to. The Brussel sprouts were a bit crowded so I separated them. I pulled the remaining spinach and divided the sprouts to use that container. Now they have more room. I am beginning to see little baby sprouts on the stalks, they are about the size of small peas. They have several more weeks before maturity. 

See the tiny Brussel Sprouts on the stalk?

I used my new Garden Workbench, pulled it off the screened porch and used it on the patio near the garden. It worked great. It's just the right height. I made a mess of it, then hosed it off and put it back on the porch until the next time. It's very sturdy, yet lightweight and easy to move around. (Has 2 wheels on one end)

Re-potting the Sprouts using my new workbench

My handy new garden workbench