Newbie

Ready for 'hair.' I haven't had luck with the small succulents because I can't tell what they need. Gonna try Ivy. Her headband gives me total life. Welcome to the jungle. 👏

WHAT? I HAVE A SECOND BLOG???

OH. MY. GEEZ!! I completely forgot I had this blog spot. LOL!!!! "Neglect" is an understatement. Everything in it's own time I guess. 

Welcome back, me. And hopefully - YOU! 😀 Just, wow.

 This is the Community Garden. A couple of years ago, I considered joining; $15/plot for a year. Very secure with a combination for gardeners only. When it just started out a few years ago, they didn't have water aside from a nearby house willing to share their hose. I'm glad to see today they have several hoses for the sharing.

I love the whole community 'thing.'

The garden is also bigger. There is plenty of room to expand from houses that have been torn down.

 There was word in the beginning of theft - stealing others' veggies. Can you stand it? C'mon folks. Hopefully that's over. But while I looked around, I missed being able to grow my own space. Maybe one day later on...

Pictures by me.

Update

Green & Red Bell Peppers & Slicing Cukes

Hey friends!

Picked up some more things for the garden. I haven't tilled, but time is going quick, so I'm going to just go out, dig what I can & get these plants in the grounds. I also bought some delicious smelling Basil, but that's going on the patio with the lettuce & cilantro. So, back in the garden, I'll have: tomatoes, cukes, & the peppers. I know I said I was kinda nervous about the new neighbors back near my garden, but things seems pretty tame now, so I'm gonna go for it. Everything will be fine.

I also picked up some Geraniums, Impatients for some pots. My Marigolds seems to have died??? What the hell? Those are the easiest things to grow. I don't know what went wrong, but I'm ripping them out & replacing them with Begonias. I'm so impatient - if things don't do what they're sposed to, I'm done (LOL!) I want constant color & dammit - that's what I'll have! Lol.

My Boston Ferns hanging on the porch look puny. What's the deal? I discovered this year that they need to be watered from the bottom up - watering from the top cause the water to just run right out the bottom. So I've been sitting them in a bucket & letting them soak up from the bottom. Then of course, I have to mist them daily. They're a lot of work, but I like the look. Just wish they would perk up.

Choleus basket

I treated the yard to this GORGEOUS hanging Choleus basket. I normally shy away from these cuz they're so expensive. But this beauty was marked down to $12 & the lady talked me into it for shade purposes. She said fertilize once a week w/MiracleGro & it will "take off." Sounds good to me.

Then "D" took a shepherd's hook & placed in the middle of the back of the yard & it looks awesome. I'm so blind when it comes to 'style'. I stick to the rules & put everything along the fence. When he brought it to the middle of the yard, it just popped! Breaks the yard up so it doesn't look so bare under the willow.

Okay - that's all I have for now. Will update once I get the plants in the ground. TO-DAY!! Please come back again :-)

 Howdy!

Just some random thoughts on the garden end of things:

This is my first Hibiscus tree, braided at that. I am soooo happy with it. I have a huge pot I want to put it in. The nursery said they actually prefer pots, so that way when winter sets in, I can just bring the whole pot inside. I am also limited on sunshine in the back yard, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm feeling a little leery about my garden space this year. The garden is behind my garage where I can't see it and a new family of wild children have moved in. :-( I want the garden, of course, but I always want to continue being a good neighbor. Kids who don't respect property of others make me not a good neighbor (LOL!).

So far for planting, I have spinach, lettuces (for the patio), tomatoes & cilantro. I never

realized how much I loved until I used it over the winter.

Lastly for now - what are the odds that I would find TWO robin's eggs this Spring? Aren't the beautiful? The nest was one that was left behind so I kept in on the patio & put the first egg inside. The second one fell out of a tree @ the office. I was going to get it, but when I came back the next day - it was gone. More than likely, some "woody wild thing" ate it. Scream.

Will continue to post as I progress. I hope you join me. :-)!!

Heller! (Madea Style)

Welcome back! Looks like it's time to dig in the dirt again!! We literally had NO winter in NE Ohio. I was so happy, even though it was rather weird. Just light dustings here & there as opposed to a couple of feet of snow. Everything started budding & blooming in April! This caused huge problems for lots of plants. One day I took a picture of a beautiful Magnolia & 24 hrs. later, it was dead. Three major frosts before it was safe to leave anything out. Even though temps are hgh, I still don't plant the garden before May 10th. It's what the Amish say, too. And they should know.

I've been eating A TON of spinach. I have to have it in the house. I'll cook dinner, but I usually eat spinach salad instead. Mangoes & Kiwi are ranking pretty high on the addiction list, too. The bean sprouts & alfalfa sprouts are always on the spinach.

 I'm going to grow lettuce in a big pot on the patio. I don't want to put it in the garden. It's so delicate, I want it nearby.

Speaking of the garden, it's time to roto-till. Scream! The tiller we rented last year was a beast. WAY too large for my little space, but the nearby shop doesn't rent small. Yet just a pitchfork was major work. It has to be done.

Lastly, over the winter (or lack of it), I fell in love with fresh cilantro. During a veggie/fruit shopping craze, I added it to chicken soup in the crock pot. Addiction. It's great on the everything if you want a tart, lemony taste. When I use this, there's no need for salt in my book.

I'm not sure what I'm growing this year. Last year, my tomatoes didn't do so well, & neither did my green peppers. They took nearly all summer to finally grow anything & it grew was very small. I will try cabbage again & spinach for a first time. I have to work with the space I have.

Again, thanks for coming back if you're reading this right now. I hope you join me for another season of growing :-)

Late summer

Welcome back!

I've been regularly getting lots of cucumbers. In fact, more than I know what to do with. I've been eating them plain, with onion in Italian dressing, over spinach salads, putting slices on my puffy eyelids... they're growing still as I speak. Some grow in heavily marked with lines - i don't know what that is, but they're still good.

This is a freak of nature for sure! The cuke started small, then grew thru the hole in the wire & continued to grow. I can't remove it from either side. Of course, the bad-girl gardener in me thinks it looks like a penis! (LOL!) "The Garden Penis." Hmm... could be a book... :-)

The peppers are still growing steadily. Since they're for the most part hot, I don't use them. Dwayne chops them very finely and adds them to different things, but no matter how small he chops, I can still feel the fire. They're beautiful, but deadly (LOL!)

As you can see, the cabbages are looking great! Seems the closer it gets to Fall, the better they do. I read that you should try to leave them out as long as possible. Hey, I've seen old-school gardens that had greens and cabbages with snow on them. The colder the better. I am glad to see the center finally form into a ball. A friend of mine told me they would never get to that stage.

FINALLY... the green bell pepper plants have small fruit on it. They plants are nearly at my shoulder & I'm 5'5"! I have never seen them grow so tall without producing anything, but I'm glad they growing.

The tomatoes didn't do near as well as I thought they should. For two mighty plants, I've gotten a total of MAYBE 6 tomatoes all summer! They're are delicious, but small & very few. They have lots of sun - I don't know what happened.

The watermelon plants were a flop. They're still growing long vines w/tiny yellow flowers, but I don't expect anything. An older lady told me Ohio's hot season isn't long enough for the melons to grow - from seed. Next year, I spose I should start with small plants. Trial & error, indeed.

The pack of sunflowers seeds I put out never did anything. The beetles ate them down to the ground. No big deal on that one. On the outside of the garden fence where I transplanted lots of Moonplant, it is growing wild & crazy which is what I wanted. It lines the fence & hides the garden from the street. Score!! Moonplants comes back each year w/a mighty vengence, so I cannot wait to see what next year brings!

PS: the rosemary is still hearty & delicious. I use it quite often when cooking. The smell is like perfume :-) That's all for now - stop back again soon!

Update

Welcome back, friends! Lots of growth going on. First I want to say if something is eating your plants and/or veggies - this stuff is the way to go. Remember I had my bottle of melted Ivory Soap? WRONG!! Well, not too wrong, but a little too strong. I found this stuff @ Walmart. I was going to get Sevin Dust, but when I found this with the "eco", "sense" , I wanted to go this route.

See beneath the vines? There's a nice sized cuke or zucchini.
I'm not so sure. LOL! This veg is long & thin, so I'm guessing
it's zuke.



I love the tiny yellow flowers. The beginning of the veg.


Delicate, but so strong! They have wrapped around the
fencing & pulled the hook nearly out of the ground!

Had 1 red tomato so far. It was small :-( Yet tasty :-)

SURPRISE! These aren't sweet mild at all. They're pretty
h-o-t! I can't eat them. Maybe I grabbed the wrong plant.
Wow & ouch!

This is "killer ivy" that grows all over anything nearby.
I have to keep it off the garage, it's horrible for any
structure. I could destroy it, but...it's so cool against
the worn paint, isn't it? :-)

Okay - a little white flower now means more super hot
peppers. Yay???

The watcher of the morning glories. Real birds
don't like him. :-\

Bee balm. I thought I would put it in front of the house
where I have a blank spot, but the bee attraction didn't
go over well for D. Too pretty to put out of site in the
garden, but it needs lots 'o sun.

The watermelon vines are growing long w/tiny yellow flowers. It's been very hot so I water often. I staked the tomatoes w/the tall stakes. Still no bell peppers - just white flowers. There are so many notes I'm making for next year.

Thanks for coming by!

Pictures by: me

Do you see what I see??? :-)

Welcome back, friends!! :-) As promised, here is progress of the garden. This was early this morning around 6:30 a.m.

I nearly passed out when I noticed so much growth, even though I just watered last nite. Notice how the sweet peppers grow in an upward direction? Hmmm.... The cucumbers; should I stake them? They're spreading out & going wild!

Also, the tomatoes have outgrown the cute little stakes as I knew they would. they're getting heavy & making the plants lean. On to bigger stakes.

Even tho planted in the rocky part of the garden, the watermelon is thriving. This is my 1st attempt ever at this - from seed - so i'm very happy.

Notice how huge the cabbage plants are? Hmm... I'm documenting all of this for next year - they should've been planted further apart. Always remember to leave room. Even though the plants are little & oh, so cute when you buy them - they will not stay that way. And that's a good thing! :-)

More tiny white flowers on the sweet pepper mean more tiny peppers on the way. The bell peppers haven't done anything yet, but get tall. It should be soon!

Notice how the cucumbers are crowing out the rosemary??? Scream! LOL! Also, lookat those 'feelers' on the cukes - dying to wrap around something. I discovered in the garage, I have left over trellis (from the trellis project in previous post). I am going to rig that up tonite, so they can do their thing.

This is all so trial & error, but to me everything looks great.

For some color, I picked up two packs of Zinnias. I love these things. I tried planting some by seed & they epically failed. So to fill in the space where they didn't produce, I bought some.

This is a good time to get some extra flowers for next to nothing if you need some. Places are trying to get rid of them, so now's the time. Most folks think 'it's too late', but not me. Lower prices mean I can go crazy & experiment with everything.

Do you not love the little tin man @ the beginning. I do, too. I found him on a walk last week.

Thanks for coming by. Check back soon - I'll have more updates. I also have some fabulous pictures of flowers I captured on a photo walk last Sunday. See you soon! :-)