GARDEN 01.28.2012
Last night we had fish and brown rice for dinner so I cut about a pound of broccoli florets and David steamed 'em for dinner. Well what was left after I tasted several...
I left some that are bolting (flowering and going to seed) so I can gather seeds from these plants. They were super hardy during the drought and I'd like to be able to plant them again.
The lettuce is ready to be cut again - I see Chicken Cesar Salads in our near future. Lunch probably since we have left over chicken in the fridge. The barrier is doing it's job and the mint and strawberry have been corralled. The cilantro is growing like crazy too. It's going to bolt soon. I've been pulling up the cilantro one by one, washing them and drying them for use. I don't really want it to bolt because the seed will end up everywhere and I'll end up with massive amounts. I hate pulling good plants, even to make space for new seeds. By keeping it from bolting I can prevent the need for pulling seedlings.
The baby garden loved all the rain and has doubled or more in size since the last photo two weeks ago.
I put garlic in the ground in the herb box two weeks ago and have sprouts on all three. Yea!
Our composts have been switched. The green compost from two weeks ago is being stirred regularly and will be used in the next bed. I'm relocating the mature compost from the pics two weeks ago, so I can squeeze in one more bed. It'll then be the green compost.
We have a little green frog living in the broccoli plant. I've been hearing toads from the garden at night too. I want to get a toad house and a frog house for the garden to encourage them to hang out permanently. David's building a birdhouse too. I plant the empty bed next weekend but don't have my final plans ready. I am going to put flowers between sections of veggies to encourage bees, butterflies and birds.
We got lots of rain last week. I was really happy that all my beds drained well. Too much water, not enough drainage, encourages grub worms, which are happy to be in Texas anyway. In my original 4*4 I lined the bed and when I tore it out to build a bigger bed, there were lots of grub worms. (I've learned so much since then...) I squished the ones I ran into and tr
eated the soil with organic granulated sugar. When I turn the new, empty bed now I don't find any grub worms. Just happy fat earth worms. Yea!
My strawberry transplant from two weeks ago is doing well too. It's growing and seems happy in it's pot.
Gardening
Soothes the soul and feeds the belly... Also I really like it. Thus we've built several. I went to get soil for the one bed but it was less to get a pick up truck load than a few bags... so then we had to build a few more. And sweet potato has a was of taking over the world if one lets it.
A small mint plant was placed directly in the ground about ten months ago. A few feet away was a small strawberry plant. A foot or so from there, an oregano. All of them are vigorous spreading plants. Especially the strawberry and mint. So we dug a foot deep barricade and dropped a board in before my entire long garden became mint. I'm quite pleased it's doing so well and all but there's only so much mint a girl can use. I also dug up a strawberry runner and planted it in a large pot, hopefully we'll get loads of berries between the potted one and the garden.
Basically what I have now is three full beds.
One is my baby garden, planted just before Thanksgiving and carefully covered when the temps are supposed to drop below 40 degrees at night. It's quite the jerry-rigged affair these days as the plants are growing
so quickly but thus far we've lost none of the babies to the freeze. I tucked an old bell pepper that might be a goner in the corner in hopes it'd come back. She didn't do so well in the first freeze.
Another garden, now partitioned to keep the mint and strawberry at bay, has two broccoli plants, a variety of lettuce and a couple cilantro. I haven't ever covered any of this but it's hardy and doing well none the less. I just picked back all the lettuce so they are a bit naked right now but I get a few salads a week from them. The broccoli was growing in another garden up against chicken wire so they look scraggly but they are still producing quite well in spite of the freezes, the transplant and the general abuse from chicken wire.
The third garden is basically a doubling of my first garden, which was a 4*4. We basically used the wood from that garden and some other scavenged wood to build a much bigger bed then transferred the soil from the original garden into the bigger, slightly rearranged bed. (It was up against the short fence on the right.) Because about 1/2 the soil had been planted for a full year this bed, built in November, won't be planted until early February, although the soil seems 
good as I can't keep the volunteer plants out of it.
The fence to the right in the first photo, we put up right before adding the beds. There was a chicken wire fan fare that, while mostly did its job of keeping the dogs out, was ugly and difficult to work around. I wanted something more workable and pleasant to look at and I think we got both with this semi-pre-fabricated fencing from Home Depot.
We have two composts. One is mature and I use it in the gardens. The other is immature and we add our (organic) scraps from the kitchen as well was tea and coffee grounds.
I have a box that's dug into the ground that I am planting herbs in. I have cilantro and dill already and there's three garlic bulbs planted that will hopefully be ready in June or so.
Lastly, I have a box that has a bottom on it in which I'll plant sweet potato. I planted last year and it took over the entire 4*4 and when I dug up the 4*4 in November, despite the lining that was down, I found sweet potatoes. They were the size of peas up to the size of a thumb but they were there despite the fact that I had dug up all the sweet potatoes and turned the soil really really well over a year ago. And so, I'm planting sweet 'taters in a box this time around lest my entire yard be taken over by sweet potato.
I'm working up the plan for my February planting - only 2.5 weeks away!! And then the long garden will rest until mid-March or so when I'll plant again... Lots of planning to do.
Gifts that don't fit under a tree
Needing Christmas gift giving inspiration? Have a list of relatives that have to be shopped for but have NO IDEA what to get?? Consider the following options for a unique gift that requires no wrapping or shipping and provides so much more than the obligatory tie or sweater.
Animals for a family in impoverished areas:
http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=11080
85% of money goes directly towards helping other people
You can choose to give a family a range of gifts in the name of a friend or family member and have a nice card sent to said gifted to let them know of your Christmas wishes and gift. Gifts start at $16 for a bunny, so there is something to gift for every budget!
Adoption assistance:
http://www.showhope.org/
In 2010 79% of money went towards programs
Show Hope primarily provides financial assistance towards the expense of adoption and strives to utilize funds responsibly.
Transportation in rural areas:
http://worldbicyclerelief.org/
76.4% of money goes towards programs
A bike can make a three hour trek to school something more attainable for a family striving to move forward. WBR makes heavy duty, well constructed bikes and trains people to fix them providing a means of transportation and lively hood.
Help improve the lives of women and children in Ethiopia:
http://www.aglimmerofhope.org/
They promise 100% of donations will go to the field
Glimmer focuses on water, health, education, and microfinance in Ethiopia. We have a tender spot for Ethiopia as our dear friends brought home their babies from Ethiopia and asked us to take the role of and Uncle and Auntie. Our friends encourage their children to know about their birth country and we can't think of a better way to honor our nieces than to support their birth country to become self reliant and strong.
****Images taken from the websites of each of the organizations listed****
