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 treated 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.