Sunday, June 28, 2009

More work in the garden


Saturday night Greg helped me work on the old pepper box from last year. We built it last year when our peppers were dying from the brutal wind. Then, at the end of the season I took the plastic off because it would have gotten all torn up through the winter anyway.


This year we made that bigger greenhouse and put the peppers there, so this year we're putting cantaloupe and honeydew melon in that box. It's fun to finally get to plant all my little starts in the ground. I started growing this cantaloupe about three and a half months ago in the window sill. I'm excited to watch the fruit grow and get to enjoy it.


This is the first bell pepper of the season. I don't know if it's going to turn yellow or red...I got the plants kind of mixed up when I first planted the seeds in their little peat moss cups. I'm anxious to see the peppers appear from all the other kinds of plants too. Growing food is just like magic!


I planted the tomatillos Saturday night too. I grew the smaller ones from seed, and the two bigger ones I bought at Ace just in case my little plants didn't come through. That's one of the most important ingredients in our salsa!


I also planted some pumpkins by the field. They take up so much space, and I'm expecting my squash plants to branch out and take up most of the garden, so I thought I'd try it outside of the garden. I pulled some weeds in that small area and stuck the pumpkin seeds in the clay and watered it well. I've been watering it a couple times a day since it gets so hot out there. Later I had the bright idea to put some potting soil over there. It has fertilizer beads that will help feed the pumpkins over time...I just don't know why I didn't think of that before I planted them. Oh well, they seem to be doing good out there.


When we get back from our vacation and I have a little time I'm going to go dig up the dirt around the pumpkins area and get some of the weeds out of there. I'm hoping the pumpkins will just take off and I can have a cool pumpkin patch out there. Maybe I will tell all my friends to buy their Halloween pumpkins from me for half the price of the store.


Out in the weeds there are some wild flowers growing that I like. There's lots of daisies (big and small), some yellow snap dragons, and this purple flower.


I don't know what it is but it looks pretty. Last year I tried growing wild flowers out in the weeds and field just by sprinkling tons of seeds all over. I had dug up the ground and gotten rid of a lot weeds, but the flowers never sprouted. This year I found all those purple flowers, and the snapdragons surprised me too. (They weren't there last year.) There are snapdragons growing out of the cement block wall next to the storage units, and out of the ground all along the perimeter of the property. It makes me want to try again to grow more wild flowers. I want to just spend a few days digging up the ground and planting seeds. The problem is that I don't have a good source of water over there. Last year I watered a large area by hand for awhile, but it didn't seem to work then.

Someday I'll have a house and my own yard and there will be the most beautiful flowers growing all around!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

That mystery flower is foxglove. It is used for making digitalin, medicines used for the treatment of heart diseases. You can read about it in the Wikipedia.

Looks like you need a small tractor so you can turn that whole field in the front into a cornfield.

Granma Faye said...

Holly, you'll be in Planter's Paradise when you can finally have your own REAL garden by your home! You're so funny! Who knew?!!! I think I need to have you live near me to keep me supplied with fresh veggies and flowers! I like all that stuff but don't LOVE the effort it takes to keep it all up and going. Maybe if I didn't otherwise work it would be OK. I had to laugh at your nice little greenhouse (the old pepper box). Isn't duct tape wonderfully useful?!! Looks like it's doing the trick. I'm eager to see your cantaloupe! ♥

CoplanRanch said...

Wow Holly, I sure wish you luck on your garden. I admire your enthusiasm and skill in gardening. The last couple years I've been trying harder to grow veggies but I don't think I put enough work into it.

Summer said...

That's fun to see your plants growing. They look really good and green and not infested with bugs. I'm excited to do my OWN garden. I haven't messed with the "family" garden at all this year. I'ld rather help Glen on the house when I can.