cauliflower

the leaves look great, but where is all the cauliflower? 

lots of lettuce

Nate tells me the lettuce is really coming along and I need to eat some. True, I need to eat lettuce and I don't want it to go bad. After yoga tonight I'll have a good salad. It looks so good and healthy! I am so happy with our progress so far. 

tented food

no, it's not some strange bio-harvesting project subsidized by the gubment.

So this is what the backyard garden looks like at present. I have to admit, as much of a pain as it was to put up these things, it sure has saved us a lot of grief and headache and heartache. This fabric has saved our plants from pests, disease, and the burning sun, but still allowing for rain and sunlight to get to the plants to feed them. I thought Nate was crazy to buy such things, but I've found that we need it in florida. 

The weather here has been beautiful all week. I rode my bike to work one day this week, and we have actually had a chance to open the house windows and let some breeze in. It is beautiful. I always tell people; we suffer through the summers to have winters like this.

and here's what's in the garden tents...

here we have some tall, hot peppers, and views of cabbage...

2 different kinds of cabbage, and some lettuce. all is well, so far, thanks to the fabric covering our food. Let's hope it stays that way. 

new garden tents

well, I call them garden tents because that's what they look like. They are protecting our fall vegetables. 

hurray! cooler weather!

It is amazing! The weather has actually been tolerable these past 2 days! We've had the windows open today in the house for the first time in months! This is so refreshing! I know I could go on and on and on about this, and I just might, because this is what we have been waiting for since May. Now, it's tolerable for us, which means in the low 80's, but I know for many it would be way too hot. I am so glad that fall is finally here. I doubt that we'll get any hurricanes now, and we have planted for the fall harvest, and what we have already done has come along so well. I am just so thrilled that the plants that are covered are doing so well. 

I planted some cat grass the other day and that has already sprouted. I don't know that the cats have seen it, as they usually go for what they are not supposed to get into. Nevertheless, it looks good too. I'm waiting for it to get a little taller before I move it to pots. Then I'll put it in the screen porch for the cats to gnaw on at their leisure. 

Rogue got in the yard waste bag. She was trying to hide. I caught her as she was coming out. 

enjoy the weather wherever you are!

covering the garden boxes

The bugs have been so bad here that Nate bought this very thin fabric to cover the boxes. He's ingenious at putting things together, and he came up with an idea of using pvc pipe as an arch over the boxes, and using this fabric to protect the plants. So far, it has worked well on the one box that we have covered right now. It is just so damn hot and humid that it's not fun putting this together. Either at 6am or after 6pm is when it's best to be outside. I can't wait for November. 

what're you lookin' at?

We have some plants for the fall: broccoli, cabbage, and we're going to try some lettuce again, in these covered boxes. I am hoping for the best. The herbs have done very well uncovered in this weather, so we may leave those smaller boxes as is for now. 

sweat rag and water bottle are de riguer around here.

Happy Labor Day

Take a break everyone! enjoy the day off! here is to all who labor, sweat, toil, and stress for a living. Congratulations on an extra day off. Do whatever you like today, enjoy the day. Because tomorrow will be here too soon. 

My beloved was working in the garden putting this cover over the plants. The bugs have been brutal this year, and the one container that already has this on it has been very successful. I told him to stop for today and take a break. It's too damn hot too. It's supposed to feel like 100 today. A great day to stay inside. (pay no attention to the butt crack.)

Full Moon planting

I've known for some time that the moon affects the earth as well as our bodies. Since we've just had a full moon, I thought I'd check out what this is all about. I found 2 books that have all sorts of information on the moon phases and what they mean as far as when to plant. 

I've never heard of this one, but it includes all kinds of information on gardening, the weather, and moon phases. The almanac for all seasons, they say. The website is very simple, and there's no way to order online. We have to go old school and send a check! I wonder if I still have some....

The Farmers Almanac I remember from back in the day. My dad had a copy of this every year. There's information on astronomy, astrology, gardening, husbandry (no, not that kind), even sports. To think, they were talking about astronomy and astrology back in 1792! I think that's kind of cool. We're all connected you know, and the more we know, the better off we will all be. I think I'll get one of each almanac for Nate. Well, for both of us really. I always liked reading the farmers almanac. Such interesting stuff!

we have a watermelon!

I could hardly believe it when Nate showed it to me! The weather has been unbearably HOT (feels like 102F today) and most things are withering brown and dying. I was wondering how a watermelon would grow on a vine, but it is! I am so ecstatic! I am hoping this one comes to fruition so we can have some for later this year. Watermelons take a LONG time to grow, and this is a baby one. We'll keep an eye on it to see how it progresses. 

Our tomatoes are growing really well. Almost everyday we have at least a few yellow pear tomatoes and one big red tomato.

even the hanging tomato planter is producing! 

bad news...

the corn looks terrible and all eaten up, one of the watermelon plants is shriveling, and the pepper plants are only producing small peppers. I think we started too late on some things, and it's too hot now to save them. Next year we'll start earlier. In September we'll try the cooler weather plants.

On a brighter note, we have LOTS and LOTS of yellow pear tomatoes! yay!

here's what we started with...

We started the day after Earth Day this year with just 2 garden boxes. I thought that was all we were going to start with and try, since this is our first time growing a garden. Our local landfill has free compost, so we shoveled a bunch in the back of Nate's truck and used it for garden soil. So far, it has proven to be very good. Nate added some vermiculite to it, which seems to help also. I've used the free compost for years in my yard in starting new plants. Can't beat free! The cats were very curious as to what we were doing, and Scotty helped dig up some of the weeds. Actually, he made himself a nice, soft, cool dirt spot to lay in while were were getting rid of weeds and grass to make room for the boxes. I like to say he helped, as he did dig out some weeds. I just don't think he knew what was going on.

Next to the 2 boxes is our compost bin. We have since moved it to make room for the other boxes. We have another rotating compost bin that we are in the process of putting together. The one we currently have is ok. I guess it's just not composting as fast as I would like it. We do have quite a lot of worms in the current compost box, which I am happy about. They are some pretty big suckers too! Nate says we should grow worms and sell them. That's another idea for another day. We'll get around to it.

our first garden posts

This is one of the first pictures of our square foot garden. This was probably in April of this year. our cats love the garden. We've been pretty successful at keeping them from making the boxes their own personal litter box. This is Rogue. She's our fierce jungle cat. She has brought us rats already. At least she is earning her keep around here.

We started with cucumbers, red tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, and corn. Along with some cat grass in the last box. The cats LOVE the cat grass. Good for the teeth and fresh breath too!