Showing posts with label Veggie Spot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Veggie Spot. Show all posts

Sunday, July 3, 2011

I Guess This Was A Learning Year

POOP! The veggie patch has all been eaten, I was able to save 4 radish roots - not even plump. Something also ate ALL the flowers in the wild flower garden. I feel like posting a help wanted ad - Wanted, strong person that's willing to help for NO money and unless the garden works, NO food. LOL.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Snow on May 11th

This is what it looked like outside, yesterday morning.

May 11th Snow

Needless to say, not a lot of gardening got done. Over the day the snow did melt, but it never really got warm.

This morning I was able to get a video of a squirrel trying to get into the bird feeder. This little guy is hilarious - and his comedic timing is just perfect.

What this did make me rethink was the fencing around the veggie patch. With the plan I was working on, the tenacious squirrels and rabbits will STILL be able to get at the garden. I really do need to come up with another idea.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

2 Little Spring Flowers

2 Little Spring Flowers

These 2 little Spring Flowers were found in the Garden area. Yesterday I moved them to Wildflower Garden #1 and put them in an area that had not sprouted. A wonderful bonus was that I also moved a worm, lol. I hope he / she likes its new home. I'll be moving more things in as I see them sprout. It's best to have Wildflowers that grow naturally in your area, rather than trying to grow something you don't know.

By the way, the fence around the Veggie Patch is STILL not done, lol.

Over these next 2 days we have high wind warnings so not much is going to get done. They are calling for sustained winds of 25 - 35 mph with gusts over 50 mph. We are praying for rain. It seems strange to me that just 2 States away they are dealing with flooding while we are dealing with drought and high wind (fire danger). I wish there was a way they could send some of their water this way.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Photo Update of the Garden Project

Yesterday I was able to get some pictures of the Garden Project, enjoy.

In The Veggie Patch
Baby Radish
Baby Radish
Baby Lettuce
Baby Lettuce

Wildflower Garden Area #1
Wildflower Garden Area #1 is starting to really green out.
Wildflower Garden #1 Doing Okay :-)
This little flower came to visit - I need to learn its name.
Wildflower

Bonsai Oak Overlook
In this picture you can really see how Bonsai Oak is bent.
I can't wait till the buds turn into leaves.
Bonsai Oak

Prepackaged Mullein?
PVC pipe for inserting fence posts. This Mullein decided it was a good place to grow.
Prepackaged Mullein?

Garden Update

The funny thing about living up on the Mountain is that everything you decide to do requires, at least, three things be done before you can get to your project. It all started on May 5 with wanting to build a small protective fence around the veggie patch (to keep the deer from eating everything).

Mom said she had a roll of Chicken wire, my preference, and to use this I would need to build a small wooden frame. No problem, there's a lot of wood up here. Over the years the wood had been piled by the corner garden - it was a mess. Not only did it look terrible, but it wasn't organized and finding anything was difficult. So, instead of building the fence, the first order of business became moving the three piles of wood and organizing them. This was a big project that took the whole morning (work stops in the afternoon because of the Spring winds that blow hard at this altitude).

The following day (May 6) the snow had pretty much melted so I figured I better get the well set up for watering (I already have seeds planted and they need water). Keep in mind I still needed to build that fence. Water up here needs to come from the well - the outdoor house faucet runs from the water softener and that's like watering plants with salt water (learned that mistake last year). So the ordeal begins by going out to the well and lifting the handle. I was smart I brought the hose with me, hooked it up and attached the spray nozzle. The first thing I found out was that the hose JUST makes it to the garden, it's not long enough to get into the garden. "Oh well - I'll still water what I can and fill up the watering can for the rest." All the way back up to the house to turn on the pump, then all the way back down to the hose to find that the spray nozzle is cracked and spraying all over heck. Now - not wanting to do all that walking again I just decide to get wet and get the spray nozzle off. 15 minutes later I'm soaking wet but the garden got watered too. All the way back up to the well (taking the hose with me) to turn it off. The rest of the morning was spent digging out the other hose to attach it for the length I need.

May 7: Composting is down the cliff - we had buckets of stuff that needed to go in. I can't climb down the cliff with buckets of compost material and shovel so that's driving around to get down there. Needless to say that was a whole mornings worth of work as that area needed tending as well. And - the hoses down there are all split so there I have another water problem. To top it off I find the Chicken wire has been used by my brother to build the compost bins. There is some VERY heavy wire 'fencing' (normally used for laying under concrete) that I can use for my veggie fence (now I don't need the wood (organized on May 5), ha ha ha).

Mother's Day - May 8: "TODAY I'll get the fence built!" I thought. In order to move that heavy fencing material I needed the wheelbarrow. The first job became changing the wheelbarrow tire. After I get that job done Mom suggests maybe between the two of us we can get the fencing down to the garden without the wheelbarrow (the tire needed to be changed anyway). So, between a 78 year old woman and a 54 year old woman - we decide to carry it. Picking the fencing up, there is a part I didn't see sticking out, it cuts my leg. Now, with Multiple Sclerosis, any bad cuts turn into cramping and ouchy so - although we get the fencing down to the veggie patch - the rest of day is lost.

Today I go to the Clinic to get a tetanus shot.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Snow In May

What happened to all the work going on in the Mountain Garden Project? Snow happened.

Snow in May

And that's what living on the mountain is all about, ha ha.

So right after all the great little seeds were put into the ground - we had a few days of snow. On one hand it's good, all the garden areas got a good soaking as the snow melted. However on the other hand, I'm afraid a few things may be lost.

Today - May 5th - the weather is wonderful and I'm heading out to take a good look around.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

My Bed Is Made

To most gardeners having a small area like this is easy. But up here, at 7,800 feet on rock mountain, there was a lot of work just to get it to this point. This spot is about 6 feet wide by about 4 feet deep. It will be a small vegetable patch for us to enjoy.
Veggie Bed

Just to give you an idea of what went into getting this area ready, here's the pile of rocks that came out. I put my gardening gloves down so you could get an idea of how much (and how big) these rocks are. My goal was to get a full shovel down in and be able to turn the dirt over. It took getting all these rocks out - just to allow that to happen.
Rocks

Later this afternoon - if the wind holds back - I'm going to get the seeds in the ground. I'm planting: 2 - 3 Tomato plants, a small patch of Chives, Spinach, Lettuce, a few Radishes, 2 - 3 Basil plants, 2 - 3 Bell Pepper plants, and some Eatable Pod Peas. It will be a blessing just to see some green garden plants coming up.

2 Days of Snow

Mom reminded me that Dad used say it was 'safe' to go up to the mountain after April 15 - No More Snow. NOT THE CASE, this year.

April 26 Snow

We had near blizzard conditions on Easter Sunday, and it snowed for the next two days as well. True - the ground isn't frozen so its not accumulating large amounts. However, it has been bitter cold and working in a garden area just isn't fun with the white stuff flying around.

Finally, today, the strange weather seems to be over. No more snow predicted, just sunshine - but it will still be cold. Needless to say the garden bed I've been working on WILL get finished today and I want the seeds in the ground.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Veggie Spot

After a lot of hard work last year, and no green rewards, I decided that I would create a small veggie spot this year. Hopefully I'll get some Wild Flowers in Wild Flower Garden Area #1 - and if I'm lucky I'll get some Veggies in this new spot too.

There's a small area of good dirt behind the workshop. It had been covered with a lot of trash - water barrels, old sinks, plastic and just stuff that blew in. The trash needed to be picked up and the dirt turned for the first time (ever).
Veggie Spot

My brother helped me move the barrels and the sink out of the way. And my brother suggested hooking this sink up to a water catchment system. Now that would be nice.
Sink

So, after picking up the garbage I started turning the dirt over. GUESS WHAT? The area already has WORMS!!! Now I'm REALLY excited. This guy was tucked back into his home after his picture was taken. What this tells me is that the dirt here IS good enough for gardening.
My Garden Has Worms

The only bad thing is that I have a nasty cold so my energy level is non-existent. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.