There’s a lot going on in my gardens this week. The Roses and Day Lilies are blooming in the Bible Garden

Beautiful!

We had a storm go through earlier this week that had a lot of wind. My Hisbicus didn’t care for the wind that much.

The two Hibiscus below are are between the driveway and the house, going towards the front yard. The one on the left survived the storm, the one on the right is severely leaning over. The wind didn’t break the bush, so I’ll prop them up and they will still bloom.

Now on to the vegetables! The lettuce in the raised bed behind the house didn’t appreciate the wind, either.

We finally made it out to the garden to plant the potatoes. We like to place the seed potato on top of the ground, then cover with straw. We had more straw as needed to keep the potatoes covered.

Harvesting is so easy! Pull pack the straw and there are your potatoes. No digging! This year we’re using some hay that was given to us for free. If anything starts growing from it, it is easy to pull the weeds out, as they are not in the ground, just in the hay.

I started to plant the Armenian Cucumber seeds. When I pulled back the cardboard and used my little hand shovel to make a row for the seeds, I found lots of worms.

That’s why I love using cardboard and mulch gardening. The worms love it. I never did get the cucumbers planted. I got sick from the heat and and to stop. Those will be going in the ground shortly.

Once the cucumbers are planted, we’ll have all the major veggies that we wanted planted done. We will put in two more rows of corn in another week, so that it doesn’t all ripen at the same time.

What’s growing in your garden?

 

 

 

 

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This week, on Saturday on the Farm, let’s talk about compost!

Compost is a great way to add organic matter and nutrients back to your soil. Composting is very frugal. Since your adding food scraps, leaves, clippings, and etc. from your yard, your compost is free. For a minimal investment of time, you receive a fertilizer that is better for your garden that store bought fertilizer.

To start composting, you need someplace to put it. Below, you can see the compost bin my husband made for me out of used palettes. There are numerous kinds of compost bins you can buy, but you really can make your own. You can also use trash cans for compost bins. You just have to make sure that you put numerous holes in the sides and bottom of the can. Water needs to drain out, and compost needs air to decompose.

Once you have your bin, it’s time to start building your compost pile. Here are some of the natural items that you can add to your compost bin.

• Vegetable scraps
• Fruit scraps
• spent vegetable plants from your garden
• leaves, fresh or dried
• grass clippings
• hay and straw
• newspapers, cardboard, old phone books, paper napkins
• wood shavings, sawdust, and ashes
• weeds you’ve pulled, as long as they don’t have seeds
• coffee grounds, tea bags
• popcorn kernels
• old spices
• egg shells, rinsed
• manure from cows, goats and rabbits can also be used

 

What NOT to add to your compost pile:

• meat or seafood
• bones
• cheese
• oils
• citrus fruits

If you have enough to build your compost all at once, that is an option. Just layer your items, preferably alternating green (things that are still alive) and brown (your dried leaves, hay, straw, etc). Then leave your pile alone for several months. You can turn it once a month or so, and if it looks really dry, water it a little, but don’t soak it.

I like to add to my compost pile as I go along. Since my bin has two sides, I keep one side that I’m always adding to. In the picture below, the compost on the left is ready to be used, and the pile on the right is the one I’m adding to. Later this fall, I’ll stop adding to the pile on the right. By then, I will have used all the compost in the left pile, and I’ll start adding to it. In the spring, the pile on the right will be ready to use.

To use your compost, spread it around your plants. Compost is especially good for vegetable gardens and fruit trees, bushes, etc. I shared earlier how to make compost tea. This is a great way to get some quick nutrition to your plants.

Composting is easy, free (after you build or buy your bin) and your gardens will love it.

 

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This week, two kids learned how to use the weed eater. Hopefully, that will help keep everything looking neat this year. Zach will be 13 in July, and I thought it would be good for him to learn. He did really good, and was really careful.

Abby, 14, volunteered to learn to weed eat. Volunteers are never turned down here. lol She, also, did really well and was very careful.

Now onto the garden tour.

This bed is in the back yard. The Wilds Roses on the right are trying to take over the Iris’s. After they bloom, I will trim them back. I just can’t bring myself to trim them before they bloom. I love Wild Roses too much to take the chance that I might not get any after trimming.

They Iris’s love it in the shade back by the creek.

Also in the back yard, and all over the area, the Tulip Poplars are blooming. It’s very pretty to see the full tree covered in these blooms.

The Spinach and Lettuce bed by the creek is doing well. The Romaine Lettuce is on the right, and the spinach is on the left. I’ve been very patient this year, and haven’t harvested any leaves. I’m usually out there picking leaves to eat as soon as they are big enough. lol

The Iris’s on the end of the house are blooming. There are yellow and purple ones.

Very beautiful.

The cat followed me around the yard while I was taking pictures. She settled on the rocks under the tree by the Iris in the above pic.

 

Now, to plant the vegetable garden!

 

 

 

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Using mulch in the garden has many benefits. It helps control weeds, meaning less work for you. It helps to keep the ground moister, meaning you have to water less, thereby conserving water. I’ve listed a few of the many choices below.  A Pinterest search will bring up a plethora of mulch pictures. I’ve included a few pictures of the mulch we’ve used our gardens over the years.

 

Mulch

Grass Clippings – puts lots of nitrogen back into the soil, use just cut grass and layer about 6 inches deep. As long as it’s deep enough, the grass won’t start growing. The picture below is the grass clippings between the fences we grow green beans on.

Bark – store bought, or gather your own

Rock – different kinds – my inlaws use lava rock in some of their flower gardens. It’s lasted for years

Hay, straw, or dried grass – You don’t have to layer dried as deep as fresh cut grass. 3 inches or so will stop the weeds. Gather your own dried grasses, or get hay bales from your neighbors for free when they take down the fall displays in their yards.

Newspaper and magazines

Brown paper bags, or packing paper

Rubber

Cardboard

Nut shell mulch – a great option if you have nut trees

Sawdust – A frugal option if you know a woodworker, or live near a saw mill. If your town or city shreds Christmas trees or when they trim back the trees in your neighborhood, you can often get the the shredded trees for free.

Branches or twigs – break the pieces as small as you want, or leave them longer. You can do this by hand, although a chipper-shredder will make the job faster. I don’t have one, so I do it by hand. That’s why the twigs are longer. lol

Shell mulch – a perfect option if you life near a beach

Pinecones

Pine needles

Leaves

As you can tell from my pictures, I prefer the more frugal, natural options for mulch. Whatever mulch you choose, you should put something under it, instead of the mulch directly on the ground. Using the store bought black weed barriers that are available, newspaper, or cardboard, will help to control the weeds better. I also use magazines under the mulch. If your using natural options for mulch, using a barrier underneath it will extend the life of the mulch longer than putting the mulch directly on the ground.

The natural mulches are cheaper, and will put nutrients back into the soil. The rocks, rubber mulch, or shells won’t to be replaced as often as the other mulches.

The mulch you choose will depend on your budget, the look your going for, and your goals for the mulch.

 

 

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Welcome to another Saturday on the Farm garden tour! I’m pleased to say that the Lilacs are in full bloom! And do they ever smell delightful!

My 17 year old daughter took the picture below. Beautiful!

Anyone know what this yellow flower is? It comes up by itself in the back yard beside the creek.

This is the second year that I’ve let part of the yard just grow back under the trees. And this is the second year this flower has come up. Last year, it died off before summer. I’m really curious about what it is. You just never know what kind of wild flowers will show up when you stop mowing them down.

The Lily of the Valley in the Bible garden are blooming. Please ignore the grass planted there by my male lawn mowers. That drives me insane, by the way. lol

The Lily of the Valley has such sweet little flowers. I just wish they lasted longer!

 

Next week, I’m going to talk about mulch. Now, I’m not an expert,  but I have used several different types of mulches. So if you have any questions, ask them below, and I’ll try to answer them. See ya next week!

 

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The Lilacs are blooming! The Lilacs are blooming! I tried hard and just kept myself to sharing one picture. I love Lilacs!

The bushes that are blooming are right by our back porch stairs. In this picture below, you can see the top of the railing, the Lilacs, then in the back, a Red Bud Tree, a Dogwood tree, with the raised bed in between. Then another bed on the other side of the Dogwood Tree. It’s kind of hard to see, but between where the green grass ends, and the half dirt banking in the back is the creek. It’s several feet down in this part of the yard, but it’s there.

I have been standing on the stairs just so I can smell the Lilacs. lol

Here’s a picture of the bed in the right of the above picture. I just added this last year. It contains Hostas, Iris’s, Wild Roses, and an assortment of weeds. haha It also holds my latest project. I took an old wagon that was hanging around the yard, it doesn’t even have any wheels on it, and added several cans that I spray painted white. I planted flower seeds in the cans.

I love the Dogwood flowers, too, so pretty.

In the herb bed that extends from where the Lilacs are, I planted two Lavender plants. yes, I bought them. I have not had any success growing Lavender from seed, I’ve been trying for years. So I finally gave in and bought some. I’d love to have a whole garden full of Lavender.

In the raised bed, in the above picture, I have Spinach and Lettuce planted. They are growing good.! Here’s the Spinach.

And the Lettuce. Won’t be too much longer, and I’ll be eating it. yum!

When I bought the Lilacs, my husband was looking around and found this plant that he liked. It’s a Catmint. Butterflies love Catmint, so it should be a great addition to the front yard.

I have found out that cats love Catmint. should be interesting to see what my cats do with it. Hopefully, they leave it for the butterflies. I also found out that you can brew Catmint tea. I’ll have to dig deeper to see if it has any medicinal properties. You can divide Catmint in the spring, and the plant will put up suckers. From what I’ve read, it spreads easily and quickly like other mints. So be careful where you plant it! I have it in the front yard in a flower bed between two Butterfly Bushes. It’s the only flower in the bed that’s somewhere around 20 feet long. I’ll be planting annuals in it this year, but it wouldn’t be a bad thing if the Catmint took over the whole bed. Just think of all the butterflies we’d have!

What’s blooming in your yard?

 

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Time for another Saturday on the Farm Garden Update! It’s such a beautiful time now, everything is growing and the flowering trees are gorgeous. We have several Dogwood and Red Bud Trees on the property. These two are in the backyard.

The Dogwoods were already here when we bought the property. We add the Red Bud trees. We got the seedlings for free at the conservation office. They give away several types of seedlings every year. If your looking for trees, check with your local conservation office to see if/when they giveaway trees.  We’ve also gotten pine trees and white oaks, in addition to the Red Bud trees. Of course, the seedlings are small. Ours have been in the 2 – 3 foot range. If your willing to be patient, you will end up with some beautiful trees for free.

The Red Bud flowers aren’t only beautiful, they are edible! I like to surprise guests by pulling down a branch and nibbling on the tree. roflol The flowers taste like lettuce, I think, not bitter, but a sweet sort of lettuce flavor. They make great garnishes, and are delicious in salads. I have also made Red Bud Jelly.

The Lilac bushes below are by the back porch stairs. The window on the right is the dining room, so I can see these when I’m sitting at the table. 🙂

That’s my little garden seat next to them. And just pretend you don’t see the grass growing under them… ahem….time for more mulch! The blossoms are getting ready to open. I can hardly wait. I check them every day !

I found blossoms on several Strawberry plants in the herb garden. The chickens usually get any strawberries that have ever grown. We don’t have any chickens this year, so hopefully, we’ll get some berries! (We’ll be getting chickens in the next month or so. yippee!)

In the Bible Garden, the Lily of the Valley have really spread this year. That’s a Hardy Cyclamen in front of them.

I love the little flowers on the Lily of the Valley’s. They’ll be open soon.

Our Apple trees are full of blossoms. They are pretty, too!

I hope we get lots of apples. Last year we didn’t get very many because a frost got the blossoms. This year they seem to be doing very well.

My father in law’s apple trees have even more blossoms than ours. He always shares with us, so I see lots of applesauce, homemade cider, and apple pies in our future.

 

What’s blooming in your yard?

 

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