April 2018

This is what is going on in my garden April 2018!

Total grocery bill: $168.21 (vegi only total $20.65)

Month’s To Do List:

  • (done) Order small planters (from potsplantersandmore.com)
  • (done) Rototill and start composting in okra bed area
  • (not done) Finish shed organization
  • (not done) Buy last 2 grapes
  • (almost done) Sift rocks from dirt in remaining 10 raised beds
  • (not done) Add wire to rebar to finish espalier tree supports
  • (not done – move to August) Continue working on master seed spreadsheet for when to plant anything
  • (partially done) Pull all weeds
  • (partially done) Fertilize all plants & trees

Harvesting:

  • Beet
  • Kale
  • Lemons
  • Onions – bunching
  • Swiss Chard

Planted:

  • Avocado Seed (planted the seed my daughter brought back from Hawaii)
  • Eggplant
  • Green Beans
  • Peppers – Thai
  • Potatoes
  • Squash – Lemon
  • Squash – Spaghetti
  • Squash – Yellow
  • Squash – Zucchini
  • Strawberries
  • Snake Gourd

What am I doing?:

  • Weeding……omg……lots, and lots of weeding!
  • Sifting the rest of the raised beds for rocks.  I really, really wanted to be done with that this month, but working full-time and well, ‘life’, I sure don’t get as far as I want to.  I seriously almost finished……I have 1/2 a bed left to do.  I had to stop because my back was forcing me to……but I really gave it my best effort.
  • Leveling the dirt in places where it is high.  My husband rototilled  the corn and okra planting area, and I asked if he could do a bit bigger patch so I could remove some of the stubborn rocks that are just making my attempt of leveling hard, and have a good go at leveling that whole side patch.  I am still working on sifting all the areas and then I will level the dirt out.  So, at the moment you see a few mounds of dirt hills  :]
  • I have completely stopped working on my master seed spreadsheet……I just have so much to get done, and so much to plant, that I need to focus on getting that all done now that I have more sunlight hours to work.
  • Pruned the fuchsia plants and the parrot plant
  • My peas are not doing well……..shall I admit that I did NOT inoculate the seeds!……..I really felt that I added a decent amount of nitrogen to the soil during prepping, but alas, something is wrong.  I fertilized it a couple times with a complete fertilizer when I saw it yellowing and some sprigs dying, others are just stunted and not growing much at all.  But, then I started to see buds with still no growth to the plant, so complete fertilizer is not the answer.  They were out of inoculate at the nursery, so came home and made a tea from my soybean meal, since that is 7.2.1, so high in nitrogen.  I am hoping that helps.  I planted some more seeds to boost what I have lost so far and to just keep on practicing succession planting.
  • I pulled out my previous hot pepper plants, as I did not care for them well.  I let the pepper stay too long on the plant, and it was trying to produce more, but they were stunted, and the plant had black spots all over it.  I have to treat it better next time.  I cleaned up the pot, put in fresh dirt, and planted only Thai pepper, as that is all we really eat anyways.  So no wasting!
  • Really liking the small watering pots I am adding to my planters.  So I decided to incorporate them into my beds too.  I placed them with the squash and eggplant so far.  Wanting to do with the tomatoes too when I transplant them next month.
  • Added 3 trellises to the garden.  Each trellis straddles 2 beds, so that you can walk underneath, through the trellis.  My plan is to encourage vertical growth where I can, so that I can pack more plants in the garden.

  • Also, my husband made me a trellis for my raspberries, and I strung wire on/through it for supporting the canes

Musings:

  • Saw 2 little blueberries, and there are tons of flowers on the blueberry bushes  :]
  • Wow, in just a few weeks my blueberry bush is loaded with blueberries.  I will have my first harvest of blueberries in May!  Yay!
  • Saffron appears to be all dying back
  • One plum tree (closest to fence) appears to have leaf curl, will need to get something to treat it with
  • Boy is the garlic doing good!
  • Echinacea is growing back up and starting to form buds
  • Tulips are starting to die down, but boy were they a pretty show  :]
  • An animal of the night (unknown, but I have seen rats and opossums), has been digging up my saffron bulbs.  This must stop, so if I see an additional bulb pulled out, I will cover the saffron bed with wire.
  • Spring is in full bloom, trees are budding, flowers are getting more greenery and filling out, and raspberries and blueberries are full of life.
  • Saw the hugest orange bee I have ever seen in my life!  I was so intrigued that I had to look it up.  Found out it is: Male Carpenter Bee! – Xylocopa varipuncta.  Here is a video of it that I took:  https://youtu.be/psC2VeDh1gw 
  • I had 3 raspberries ripen, my daughter and her husband took one……..then……omg……my dog Tyson stole the third one directly from the plant! That stink-pot, I did not even check yet if dogs can eat raspberries.  Googled, yes they can, but not lots at a time  :]   Well, now I know what he likes!
  • I will have carrots to harvest in May  :]

Photos:

Here are some progress photos……

I also wanted to start showing some close-ups of the beds, as there is actually progress showing now:

1st photo – showing 2 beds – just planted 7 eggplants on left side, right side beds show one final one to sift half of…..and the back one only has snake gourd seeded by the trellis.  Front pots both have peas, left regular peas, doing basically nothing, and right is snow peas, doing slightly better, but not lots!

2nd photo – showing 2 beds – front has kale, beet, swiss chard, back has one broccoli (only one that came up, need to re-seed more), and then snake gourd seeded by the other side of the trellis (so 2 beds have snake gourd planted, so that it can grow up both sides of the trellis).  Right side is empty in the back and the front is my garlic.  Front pots have my dead chayote squash and then a pineapple, and on the right is a big pot of carrots.

3rd photo – showing 2 beds – bunching onion (seeding), and full onions growing, but hard to see their green tops.  The back bed with the a-frame on it, has cantaloupe starting and beets.  Front pot is another big pot of carrots.

4th photo – showing 3 beds – the left beds are completely empty right now (just sifted), and the back bed has watermelon starting and turnips.  The bed on the right has all my squash.  Hoping to successfully contain it in cages this year.  We will see how that plays out!!!!!  Front pots are green beans on the left, and Thai pepper and bitter gourd on the right.  Oh and of course Tyson in the middle checking everything out  :]