Just returned home from my Dollar General coupon day (spend $25 - save $5...do it right, spend exactly $25 & it works out to 20% off everything you buy. That's all those $1 items now costing .80 cents)...My DG lets me do as many 'deals' as I want and I calculate them right to the penny of $25.... $25 worth of goodies for $20!!!
But this story is not about DG - so anyway, as I was driving home I noticed that gas has now gone up to $3.79 gal (that's 10 MORE cents since yesterday)....this is not good folks!
The weather is breaking and I have been staring at my garden plot in the backyard for the past few weeks, saying to the DH that I will once again plant a garden for us (Dh laughs hysterically at this comment every time. Where is the moral support here)...
Every year I plant. Some come up, most don't. The ones that make it above the dirt I somehow kill (by lack of water or weed takeover - I admit it...I kill them).
This year must be different. This year I can no longer call the plot my hobby that I can abandon at will when I grow tired of it. This year a garden is going to become a necessity everyone. Prices are going thru the roof and I see no end in sight.
You may say that not everything has gone up but let me tell you. I work in a grocery store. I watch items come in everyday that are now much larger packaging but have reduced contents inside and the prices are still the same. The manufacturers are playing with us consumers and your prices are very much going up on everything!
We need to do every tiny thing we can to keep as many of our dollars in our pockets as possible. A garden is one of the greatest ideas ever invented. It's very little outlay and a boatload of sweat equity. But the rewards can be stupendous!
I have a girlfriend who has a canner & the knowledge to use it so I made a deal with her the other day that if the garden has a bounty this year she comes with her supplies and shares the knowledge and I will share the bounty and we will can, can, can till we can can no more....
Our garden is officially planted. Well, except a handful of pepper plants that will go amongst the tomatoes. I also need to have the terror twins to go through the potatoes for any that are sprouting so that we can plant them.
Peanut;
The sq ft gardening book only has you make the boxes 6" deep except for things that grow underground. Just thought I'd add that after reading your post so you could plant more in your table. Just some info if you are interested.
Pam
Thanks Pam. We put the garden table on hold. We have more than enough pots for the patio. DH and I are considering moving some to the front yard. But before we do that he needs to get the rest of the rocks and lumber off the patio...after he finishes mowing the grass. And then there's edging the flower bed with the lumber from the fence he's been taking apart. You know, if he keeps this up I'm going to have to seriously make some lemonade for the man!
I just came in from raking the leaves off the beds (yes, it's still cold under them), moving rocks, and pulling containers and pots out of the garage. I'm having my break now. Need to pause and decide what to do next. Might try moving the 4x4's myself. How heavy can they be? Hmmm...bad back might not be a good mix with 4x4s.
Freebs, looks like you could make something yummy with you harvest! Today I planted the organic celery bottom. Keeping my fingers crossed it works. Tomorrow will try the carrot seeds.
Well so far, so good ~ (the garden plot that is)...
I have been keeping up with the weeding and the watering...
The plants that I bought and planted are still alive and getting a little larger. The seeds are starting to sprout and it is actually starting to look like a garden....
The tomato & pepper plants in the pots are growing and soon I will be able to transplant them into the garden and plant even more seeds in the pots...
I will be out of town at the end of next week for 4 days and I have secured a friend to keep everything watered (with a little promise of a bit of the bounty for her trouble)...
1) Nice day today. We'll be filling plant pots with dirt and planting.
2) Won 4 hours of gardening from 2 members of our youth group at a silent auction - for $20! That's 8 hours of gardening... (ahem weeding). We will be putting them into action here real soon.
3) A friend wants me to teach her to sew. She has a gorgeous yard/huge garden. We are thinking of bartering her skills/talents in helping us plan and execute a nice backyard that includes raised beds for vegetable production.
4) Another friend has horse manure to offer us, but she says don't put it anyplace but the compost for now. It is full of weed seeds. So DH and I are only taking one bag at the moment.
5) A friend came by with some garden seeds last evening. Plus I picked some up for free on Full Circles.
I am feeling really blessed. Even if all I have is a crop of lettuce, Swiss chard, carrots, and beets, I'll be happy!
Well we put our garden in the ground yesterday. It was 80 degrees and we haven't had a frost in weeks...so I felt it was safe. This is the first year we have had a garden. We live in an apartment complex and last year they started a community garden on premisis...for the tenents and if there is some left over they offer the remaining plots to the community. Last year the timing and my work schedule didn't permit me having one...but this year I was ahead of the game and got in on one. So yesterday the kids and I went out and turned it all over picked out all the weeds.....and went to the home improvement store and got a bunch of prestarted plants ( I wasn't comfortable starting from seed, being this was our first year) We came home and planted away. We filled our 4x12 plot. We planted tomatoes, green peppers, jalepenos, banana peppers, basil, cucumbers, zuccini, yellow squash, strawberries and butternut squash. I am hoping since everything was started from hardy little plants we should have a successful and bountiful garden. The kids and I had so much fun doing it and can't wait til we start harvesting our crops!
We were out looking in the yard yesterday and came up with some places to add more raised beds so we will be working on that!We have a bunch of reclaimed lumber we will use.
Well we didn't get as far as I'd like to yesterday. Means I'll be doing some today. But that's okay. didn't get all the pots filled with dirt, or planted. BUT we did buy the plants and seed packet we needed.
I am concerned the birds are going to go after the seed as soon as we plant. They are hovering... and the pots with dirt in them have depressions in them every morning when we go out there...like something has been digging in them.
A friend suggested bird netting, but I have tons of lightweight curtain sheers/mesh that was given to me that I think will work just as well. I am going to try that instead of buying the netting. Hopefully that and the cayenne/cinnamon mix will deter the birds and squirrels.
Talked to our horse manure friend and she said there are a ton of weeds in her manure and she does not recommend putting it on the garden directly. So DH and I are only taking one bag of it to put in the compost. We'll see how it fairs there before going any further with that idea.
Peanut - the problem with the horse manure is unless it is really old, it will be full of weeds... better safe than sorry. If you have a bag of it, leave it in the sun for awhile (so that it heats up - coz that is what kills the weed seeds)....
DH saw some rabbits nosing around the garden area this morning so we got the rest of the chicken wire replaced (where I ripped it off the fencing with the roto tiller- ugh)...now everything is buttoned up nice and tight.
Keeping my own weeds at bay in the beds and got the paths sprayed down again with the weed killer. They seem especially bad this year (warm weather maybe?)
Thanks for the tip SS. Don't know what we'll do in the end. But this coming weekend we'll go check out the situation.
I did get all the plants transplanted yesterday and it sure looks nice and comfy on the patio...even with just a little bit of green. Today's job is to try and plant the seeds.
MY GARDEN IS DONE FOR THE SPRING SEASON. Everything has either been picked or has dried up. We are so dry down here. We went away last week for a vacation and came back yesterday. Whatever was left dried up to nothing except for the scallions. So, now we wait until the end of August to start our fall garden.
Use moth balls to keep cats out of your garden. Place them around the outside and the cats will not do their stuff in your garden. Did it to my flower garden a few years ago and the cats never came back.
So far the cinnamon/cayenne trick seems to be working for the squirrels and birds. I've been gone for about 3 hours and came home to find nothing had been disturbed. That is better!
Was at a meeting today and someone mentioned cayenne as a barrier for ants as well. They spread it around the house, especially at doorways, to keep them out. I'd never heard of that one. Will have to try it and see if it works.
Last night after the hot afternoon sun receded a bit, I moved some of the tomato & pepper plants that were in pots into a newly tilled section of the garden.
Then I started some more seeds ~
cilantro
basil
chives
oregano
The seeds are sprouting!!!! Yesterday when I checked could not see anything sprouting. This morning the chives, cilantro, and carrots have sprouted. Am so excited. Just keeping my fingers crossed that they continue to grow. The re-planted romaine lettuce is still going strong and I have some leaves about three inches tall. Will be so psyched if the produce keeps growing.
Great job shoiji! I am looking forward to that day.
Today I just planted my containers and pots. A friend also gave me five ice-cream buckets of delphinium to plant along my fence. I was going to plant them along the alley, but now I think I'll keep them in the yard. They can be top heavy and fall down. And they do get rather tall.
Printed out a bunch of garden pictures from gardening books to create a file for DH and I to use for inspiration when we do some work in the garden. It's so nice...need to go find a binder...
I used some of my homemade seed tapes in the garden for things like lettuce & spinach when I planted.
Other, larger seeds I had saved up toilet paper rolls, cut them in half and sank them up to their necks in the dirt. Then I filled most of the way with dirt, dropped in a seed and covered up. (I know, seems like a lot of extra work to experienced gardeners - why not just plant them in the dirt) - because I cannot tell the difference between a plant and a weed. So now when I keep all the dirt tilled around the TP rolls I don't disturb the seeds within them.
About 75% of the seeds are up now and I can tell that the rest are not going to be making an appearance this year. So today I pulled the TP rolls that have no plants in them - (by now they are falling apart when you touch them from being so wet) and I replaced them with new TP rolls and fresh seeds.
I planted some leaf lettuce & salad blend in big pots on the deck (2nd story) - if the rabbits can make it up there, then they are certainly entitled to the prize of eating my lettuce-
We have had no rain in about a week. Great for the farmers getting their fields planted, but we are going to need some soon. No predictions in the immediate future either...
I am just so happy that we are getting produce too!! last year we had 90 days of 100+ in a row and i couldnt keep stuff watered enough and add that we had extreme drought too(we were down 25 inches of rain). I lost 2 apple trees and 2 pecan trees that were on there 6th year! There are so many people around this area that complain that they spent to much time and money on last years garden that they just werent gonna waste their time or money this year and im thinking it stinks to think like that!! I had over 100 tomato plants, pepper plants, cucmber plants out last year and got nothing, then i had the hail this year too but i plowed on thru and now look!!!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Frugal Village Forums
1.8M posts
47.5K members
Since 2001
A forum community dedicated to the frugal lifestyle and the enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about simple and green living, cost effective tips, life hacks, debt reduction, recycling, gardening, other homesteading techniques, and more!