Is it Spring yet?

 Enjoying what comes naturally.

Busy planting seeds in my greenhouse!

 

Tomato Seeds

4 Varieties of Tomatoes:
Superba Hybrid, Container Hybrid, Cherry & Lemon

2 Varieties of Sweet Corn:
Silver/Gold & Hybrid Container Yellow

4 Varieties of Cucumbers:
Green, Lemon Cucumbers, Bush & Pickling

3 Varieties of Beans:
Green, Royal Burgandy & Yellow Wax

Seeds started in greenhouse

Petite Carrots for Containers
Lima Beans
Broccoli
Cauliflower 
Beets 
Chives

4 Varieties of Squash:
Yellow Summer, Zucchini, Acorn, Butternut

3 Varieties of Sweet Peppers:
Green, Yellow & Red

2 Varieties of Onions:
Red sets & White Bunching

 

Dwarf Sunshine Blueberry

Fruit plants started:

25 Strawberry plants
3 Raspberry bushes
2 Blueberry bushes
1 Container Banana Tree
1 Sunshine Container Blueberry bush
1 Tickled Pink Red Seedless Grapes






This year I will have a mixture of gardens, direct soil, raised beds, patio containers, poles, trellis and hanging baskets. 

Bean Tower & Garden Bed

Bean Tower & Strawberry Pyramid

I am looking forward to maintaining the areas. 

February Update

We have been working on the weekends to prepare for Spring planting. Saturdays are the only real time we have to get chores done inside and out. Last week we were able to get a lot accomplished. My husband worked on his motorcycle most of the day while I worked in the back yard preparing pots, and moving soil.

Most of my plants have survived winter in the greenhouse. I did lose 2 tomato plants, but have lettuce and spinach ready to harvest. As soon as I can take the larger pots with the flowers and non vegetable plants out of the greenhouse.  

I will prepare my seeds to get a jump start on the planting. I have several multi-plant seed trays along with peat pots and pellets to get my seeds started. I am anxious to get working on all this.

 More soil is needed for the Strawberry beds and the raised beds, as well as all my pots, so we were able to make a run to Lowe's to pick up 6 more bags.

I am eager to try out my Wall of Water for starting plants earlier.

What We Accomplished on Chore Day

We worked outside all morning and got quite a bit accomplished.  It was a lot of work for both of us, but of course my husband did all the heavy work.  The Strawberry Pyramid which is 6 feet across, took quite a while since all that dirt had to be filled in. It took over 8 bags of soil, and we still need more.  Before we could build it, he had to remove one of the Crepe Myrtles. He had already planned to give the 3 of them a good trim, but the first one we decided to remove to make room for the strawberries.

I have been composting, rotating compost that I had saved from "garbage" indoors, mixing with soil from last year's pots. We used all of the composted soil and mixed it in with the new soil we bought. The strawberry beds should be well fertilized. 


The area by the fence needs to be prepared for Spring planting.  We relocated the edging and made it "mower-friendly".  

I am thinking about using the area between the strawberry bed and the Crepe Myrtles for corn.  

The hose is connected to the strawberry pyramid and can easily be connected to the water source to maintain the moist soil that is required for the berries.

  

Next we kill any grass and weeds in the bed, then bring in more soil to complete the strawberry pyramid and new bed.  The strawberries are on order and should arrive in mid February. 
  

The raised bed on the side of the house has settled from last year, and needs to be filled with a few inches of soil. This worked well for the zucchini and summer squash last year. Not sure if I will rotate my crops or use it again for the same vegetables this year. More thought needs to be given to my planting plans.  Also, the back side of the house between windows I have been planning to build a trellis for cucumbers and beans. Some additional planning will be done there, as well.

I will be posting more soon on "Pot Preparation".

 

Weekend Chores

Tomorrow is workday 2013!

I asked for help from my husband to assemble my strawberry pyramid. The unit was purchased from Gurneys. This is what we will be building tomorrow:

There is a slight controversy as to where we will be placing it in the backyard. Since it is round and needs direct sunlight I have to tread carefully as to where it will be placed due to the rider lawnmower path. The strawberry plants are on order and will be arriving some time in February. 

Greenhouse Updates

 

  
I have a few plants growing in my greenhouse. A couple volunteer tomato plants, some starts of spinach and lettuce, and a few decorative plants that I saved from summer, along with the 2 mums that were on the front porch.  

This year was the first year for my greenhouse, so I am still experimenting. I found it it can get way too hot during the day and too cold at night. On days that it's expected to get around 70 degrees, I have to open and unzip the flap to allow the heat to escape. On nights that drop below 40, it got too cold.  

For Christmas, my husband surprised me with a light unit that supplies heat and is temperature activated. If the temperature in the greenhouse drops below 45 the incandescent blub comes on and provides just enough heat to keep the plants from freezing. He is just so smart! It was quite a surprise.

 

Christmas Cactus Are in Bloom

Orange Christmas Cactus

Pink Christmas Cactus

A Little Surprise Popped Up

After cleaning up last week, and putting my pots aside for next year's growing season I noticed a plant that had popped up since then. To my surprise it was a new tomato plant which must have come up from seeds from the remaining tiny tomatoes that fell off the old plants as I pulled them out of their pots. I had 2 kinds of tomatoes, regular large Burpee Reds and the small Yellow Pears about the size of large cherry tomatoes.  I hope its one of the Yellow Pear Tomato plants.  I can't believe how big it is already!  I must save this and nurture it through the winter. Maybe we will have fresh garden tomatoes for Christmas!

Volunteer Tomato Plant

 While I was outside I took a couple more pictures.

 4 Pots on Front Porch of Potted Mums & Summer Plants

And here is my "FIND of the Day"

While I was out doing some last minute errands this morning, I ran across a 90% off Sale at Dollar General Store....10 inch plastic pots suitable for house plants or patio gardening reduced from $3.00 to 90 cents!! They had 4 I bought them all!

Cheap 10 inch Pots

 

Saturday Chores

Well today was the official day to clean up the patio garden. 

Out with the old, and cleaning up for the new!

It took me a while, but I cleaned most of it up. Dumping the old soil from most of the pots and saving it in a black garbage bag with some compost should provide a good mix with the new soil next year.  Some pots I left with the soil in and will decide if I will reuse it next season.

Patio Garden Summer 2012

Fall 2012 Clean-up

Patio Garden Summer 2012

Fall 2012 Clean-up

Pots lined up near house, ready for the 2013 Planting Season to begin

Ready to go for Planting 2012

When I was outside cleaning up the patio, I noticed the color and size of my Mums was especially lucious this year...the above picture (at the far end of the pots) doesn't do them justice so I took a close up below....

Purple Mums 2012

The plant boxes on the front porch still look nice from Summer, as well as the small mums that I recently planted behind them.

Front Door Summer pots & Fall pots behind