Grow

I planted my herbs from seeds in late March.  A lot have done well so far, but they are all still pretty small.  I planted a dozen or so bean plants, but this is the only one that grew at all.  It is growing really well too.  I even broke off one of the leaves while I was trying to put an extension on the climbing skewer. Just like last year, the parsley is growing like a weed...  I think I have lost most of the dill and thyme... not sure about the rosemary...

I put the remaining basil and other herbs in these egg cartons. I found some fungus on the surface of the plants, so I took them all out of the little biodegradable bags that the starter soil came in.  I really hope it helps.

Out in the garden things are slowly blooming too.  The most impressive to me thus far is the asparagus. It is slowly getting bigger and it amazes me.  I felt like I didn't know what to do with it, but it turns out I was doing just what I needed to.

I planted one whole garlic bulb last fall (individual cloves, obviously)... so far only one is growing :(  I guess I will have to get more tips from Greg Millar, whose garlic from a couple seasons ago was amazing!

I am also staring to see little tiny red leafs poking through where I planted beets, so I have only to assume that my beets are doing well too.  Here is hoping that my carrots, lettuces, and potatoes are also brewing under ground.  Hopefully we have seen the last of the frost and I will be able to plant the rest of my gardens soon.

Spears

Yesterday Jon and I were outside admiring my gardens and finally getting my potatoes in the ground, when I was expressing my frustration about not knowing what to do with the asparagus.  I planted it last year knowing that it "takes two years". But I didn't know what to expect from the plant each year. So as I have watched it this spring, I had been worried that I didn't see anything but a couple mounds of dead plants... At just that moment, I started playing with the dirt around one plant, and noticed a tiny little pale green stem poking up... then I look at my other dead mounds and saw more and more pale green to pale purple stems poking up all around them!  These photos are the same plant, but it has the most.

I got giddy like a little school girl. I am not ashamed.

I have made (well grown) ASPARAGUS!

I cannot wait to eat it!

:)

Grass

I planted this grass in 2007.  I bought it in a 12 inch pot and it said that it would only get to a 12 inch height.  So I planted it in a planter that is right in the middle of the front of our house.  In the summer, it has the most beautiful green variegated color and its gorgeous.  However, each year, it has grown wider and taller.  Last year it grew a good foot over my head.  So I decided that while I love it, and want to keep it, it needs to move.

So on Tuesday I spent all day trying to dig the root ball out of the ground.  I had to split it to get any of it out since it has grown to over 24 inches wide now.  I battled for hours and hours until I literally couldn't lift anything anymore.  Unfortunately I only got half of it out.  So guess what Jon is helping me do later this week!?

Beans

I planted this bean plant last Sunday,  and it is growing like a weed! 

I am super excited to finally have some green starting to pop up.  Unfortunately though, I planted 13 bean plants and only this one grew :( 

So I'll plant some more later this week.  

Happy Gardening!

Peaty's by IntelliGrowth

Yesterday I took advantage of a little free time to polish off some more errands.  At the top of my list, Goodwill Run, Returns, and Fertilizer.  Yup, I said fertilizer. Jon's company is affiliated with a Company in town that sells worm castings as organic fertilizer.  I now own a bunch, and I can't wait to put it all in my garden beds!

We have big dreams that this will solve or at least lead the way to solving my endless problems with my tomatoes.  We also invested in a fancy new irrigation system, I think this will aslo help with my blossom end Rot.  I have big dreams that the plants now germinating under my bed will supply us all summer long (and then some!) I intend to try an indoor herb garden.  Since I have never been able to keep house plants, this is a new adventure.  This winter I managed to kill my parsley, basil and rosemary plants, but I think there are a couple of reasons for that.  Hopefully I can get the right light, the right moisture, and with a little help from Peaty's, the right nutrients, to keep them alive! Big dreams for the Veggie garden this season! Now if only the weather would cooperate... I have spring fever, mother nature, give it up and bring on the sunshine and warm breeze!!!!!!!!!!

Productivity

Since we had been so busy yesterday, we were all somewhat exhausted when we finally got home.  We ate a pretty quick and processed food type meal, read our chapter in the book, and sent the kids off to bed. Jon and I surprisingly, did stay up long enough to watch another episode of Breaking Bad... We are inching along in our goal of catching up in that series. Still, we hit the sheets at about 9.  So I had a good length of sleep for a change. I still woke up tired, just a state of life these days I guess.

After I got Wes off to school, I stopped to pick up another tray of Jiffy pellets for my indoor plants. My Basil that I planted last week has all germinated. I have several plants that are two inches tall and sprouting tiny basil leaves! Today I planted Dill, Thyme, Rosemary, and Parsley. I am planning to keep the herbs mostly indoors this year. Then I ran 4 miles while watching "Riding in Cars with Boys". Made lunch for the kids and played a little Mario Galaxy with Livi. I had the girls pack for their overnight at Grandma's, made a bank deposit, and voted. I thought it was  a very productive day.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to a few hours to myself since the girls are hanging out with Grandma and the boys will be at Connections.  Sounds like a good time to pick up fertilizer and hit GoodWill...

Update: Woolite, Celery, Onions

So, last week I posted on a few Pinterest pins that I tried out.  This week, I thought I should update on the progress.

Woolite:
I used my Woolite to cover all the grout in the kitchen this morning.  I covered all the grout before I left to bring the kids to school.  When I got back I got out a towel and hand scrubbed all the lines.  I worked in small six square areas, scrubbing with my brush first, then gently with a damp cloth.  Finally I towel dried the floor using the towel I was kneeling on.  As I rinsed my cloth I watched all the dirt deposit into my tub.  I had to switch out the water several times.  It was amazing.  I didn't even know what color the grout was supposed to be.  I don't know how much the Woolite really effected the effort of cleaning the grout.  I felt like my scrubbing with water almost did most of it.  So I might just try it next time without Woolite and see how it goes.

Celery:
After posting about my celery, growing in a mason jar from the remnants of a bunch that was rotting in our fridge, I planted it in a pot with dirt.  I didn't think about how I would get the celery out of the jar when I first put it in there.  Honestly, I didn't think it would grow.  So when it came to getting it out of the jar... well it took a beating.  I planted it anyway, but it was really doomed.  It never showed more growth after that and today, I'm calling it.  Time of death: 12:52pm.

Onions:
Another pin I saw showed people putting green onions in a jar with water.  They said that the onions could be used like herbs and would regrow... somewhat indefinitely.  As it turned out, I had some of those starting to rot in my fridge too.  So I put them in a jar with water, and placed it on my window sill.  It took a few days, but suddenly I noticed that the leaves had all perked up.  I clipped off the brown stems, and new bright green ones slowly replaced them.  Jon and I actually have been clipping on them too.  I can see in the jar how the roots have spread out and they look really healthy thus far... I am not sure if I intend to plant them or not.

On a side, we also had some yellow onions that started to sprout on us in our pantry.  Since I was experimenting with the green onions and celery, I just went ahead and planted them.  Actually, I told Jon that he should plant them, he was the one who just kept buying more and more onions thereby leaving them to spawn in the cupboard.  He took them and put them on top of some dirt in the pot I had designated for them.  But he did not actually plant them.  So after a few days of this, I got sick of waiting and did it myself.  I was surprised that the growth had almost doubled, and the onions had rooted into the dirt all by themselves.  I am not sure what I expect to achieve from this, but maybe I can transplant them in the garden when the weather is suitable.  As for now, they are doing really well, green and growing, even though I am terrible at watering.

Basil:
I rescued two of my basil plants that I grew from seeds last year, I potted them, and we have been eating from them since early summer.  I am really sad to report that they have taken a strong turn for the worse.  One is totally dead, and the other is so wilted that I don't think I can save it.  I am not really sure what went wrong, but I think they didn't like being moved to the patio door light.  I never knew that indoor plants could be so particular.  So I guess its time to plant some new seeds and see how it goes.

Just a Pinch

I was browsing Pinterest last week when I came across a post about regrowing celery.  It occurred to me that we had a stalk of celery in our refrigerator that was slight more than ripe... So I thought why not? I cut off the remaining tops and stuck, well forced, the bottom in this mason jar.  I wasn't really thinking about how I would get it out of the jar later... hmm, I guess I didn't think it really would grow.  Well, about four days later, its growing...  

I am excited to pot it soon... the stuff around the new growth is literally rotting, and to my sensitive nose, is smelly.  To start this  process, you simply add warm water to a height covering the roots at the bottom and let sit near a sunny window.  I change the water every day.  My plan is to pot it on Saturday, about a week after I started it.  

As I was looking back at what I needed to do with my celery, I also found a pin about regrowing green onions... It always seems to me that we buy both of these foods, use it once (and not all of it) and the rest rots.  So according to the pin, I can allow them to grow continuously while snipping off what I need when I need it... like herbs... fantastic!  More on this as it develops!

Tomatoes

There is something very beautiful about tomatoes or so I have always thought. I have also always enjoyed eating tomatoes... This year, I grew orange, yellow, and Roma varieties... Love them all!

Lunch!!!! :)