Today we decided to re-pot the ghost pepper plant because it was root bound. We bought a huge plastic bucket from Big Lots, drilled holes 3" from the bottom all around the pot, added soil and planted the ghost. Hopefully this will provide adequate room for the roots to spread!
With a second bucket we bought we drilled the holes, added soil, and I planted 6 Swiss Chard seeds, which I will later thin to 3 plants.
I had 4 8" pots laying around, so I filled them with potting soil and planted Kohl Rabi in each one. I've never had Kohl Rabi before, but have heard good things about it, and have wanted to try it. I figured this was the easiest way to do so.
I felt like a murderer as I thinned my seedlings in the main bed. It saddened my heart to pluck out the tiny babies I've nurtured these last weeks. However, everything I've read online says you really do need to thin seedlings so they don't have to compete for water and nutrients, so I did it. The only plants I didn't thin were the Mesclun. I'm waiting until the greens get a bit bigger before I thin them so I can make a baby greens salad. It made me feel a bit better for composting the tiny seedlings. At least I know their nutrients will help provide a good future in the compost.
I've also decided to use the extra blue barrel as a potato grow bin. We have an ABUNDANCE of pine needles here, so I'll try using them instead of purchasing straw. They are more acidic, which the potatoes like anyway. :)
UPDATE 12/2/11: The transplanted ghost pepper plant seems to be loving it's new environment. After a couple months of being seemingly dormant, we finally have more buds. Since we purchased The Ghost last summer we've only gotten 2 peppers from the whole plant. Hopefully we will get a big yield now.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
ONIONS!
When I went out to put my kitchen scraps in my compost bin this morning I noticed some tiny little onion sprouts peeking through the soil! I've NEVER been able to get an onion seed to grow, so I'm VERY excited! (Doing a happy dance while typing.)
Monday, November 28, 2011
I've got BEETS! Plus a garden update.
My family loves beets! I've tried to grow them a couple times with NO success which is why I was quite surprised when I checked the garden this morning and saw my beets have sprouted! Here's a photo journey of what's happening in my garden today.
 |
| The beets have sprouted in just 1 week! |
 |
| Bibb Lettuce |
 |
| Broccoli |
 |
| Carrots in rows |
 |
| Carrots |
 |
| Cauliflower |
 |
| Grand Rapids lettuce |
 |
| Mesclun |
 |
| Radishes all in a row |
 |
| salad greens |
 |
| spinach |
 |
| test lettuce |
 |
| more test lettuce |
 |
| and more test lettuce |
 |
| turnips |
Potatoes: To Grow or Not To Grow
I have an extra plastic drum sitting around and haven't figured out exactly what I want to use it for yet. Originally I wanted to convert it to a third rain barrel, but I haven't even set up my first two yet, so I don't see it as an urgent project. I've been researching how to grow vegetables in it, but I'm not seeing any hard fast how to information and I'm not confident enough to jump into a project like that without knowing the outcome. But I did find a great article on the Mother Earth site about growing potatoes in the drum. Here in Central FL we can only plant potatoes in January and February, so I have a little time to decide if I want to try it or not.
I need to research:
Growing material to fill the drum with. I've read straw some places and sawdust other places.
Sun or shade.
Potato varieties: Should I grow white, gold, red, blue, baking, fingerling, etc?
Do you have a favorite variety of potato you can't live without or a company you'd recommend getting seed potatoes from?
I need to research:
Growing material to fill the drum with. I've read straw some places and sawdust other places.
Sun or shade.
Potato varieties: Should I grow white, gold, red, blue, baking, fingerling, etc?
Do you have a favorite variety of potato you can't live without or a company you'd recommend getting seed potatoes from?
Saturday, November 26, 2011
What to plant for a family of 4
Seed Planting Chart
Type | Spacing | Plant per 4 Persons | Seeds Needed* | Seeds/oz | Seeds/gram |
| Asparagus | 9" to 12" | 32 plants | 32 | 1300 | 46 |
| Bush Beans | 4" to 6" | 80 to 120 foot row | 360 | 90 | 3 |
| Beets | 4" | 60 foot row | 180 | 1000-2750 | 37-99 |
| Broccoli | 24' to 30" | 12 to 15 plants | 15 | 5000-9300 | 174-330 |
| Cabbage | 24' to 36" | 12 to 15 plants | 15 | 2750-10500 | 99-370 |
| Carrots | 2" to 4" | 40 foot row | 240 | 11000-24300 | 385-850 |
| Cauliflower | 18" to 24" | 12 to 15 plants | 15 | 5000-9300 | 174-330 |
| Corn | 8" to 12" | 140 foot row | 210 | 135-400 | 5-6 |
| Cucumbers | 8" to 36" | 6 to 8 plants | 8 | 1000 | 35 |
| Kohlrabi | 6" to 8" | 12 to 15 foot row | 30 | 7300-9300 | 257-330 |
| Leaf Lettuce | 12" | 20 to 30 foot row | 30 | 26500 | 935 |
| Mustard | 6" | 3 to 4 plants | 4 | 13125 | 462 |
| Green Onions | 1" to 2" | 10 foot row | 120 | 13000 | 440 |
| Peas | 2" | 120 to 160 foot row | 960 | 100 | 3 |
| Peppers | 18" to 24" | 6 to 10 plants | 10 | 4300 | 154 |
| Pumpkins | 36" to 48" | 3 plants | 3 | 185 | 6 |
| Radishes | 2" | 20 foot row | 120 | 2000-4500 | 70-160 |
| Spinach | 12" | 10 to 20 foot row | 20 | 1500-4000 | 50-150 |
| Squash | 36" to 48" | 3 plants | 3 | 260 | 10 |
| Tomatoes | 24" to 36" | 10 to 15 plants | 15 | 10000-11875 | 350 |
| Turnips | 4" to 6" | 10 to 15 foot row | 45 | 7800-15300 | 275-530 |
What I'm Planting - November 2011 - Week 1 Update
This morning I went out to check on things in the garden and water and found some tiny holes (already) in the seed leaves of my broccoli plants. Last years homemade "garlic, onion, pepper stock" spray was a big flop and I didn't get much of anything out of the ground. For this year I've decided that yield is more important to me than pesticide free is right now, so I gave everything a good misting of Ortho Max Gtarden & Landscape Insect Killer. The bottle says it kills 100+ Insects and is safe for use on vegetables, fruits, flowers and shrubs. I was gentle/light on the mist since my plants are so tiny, not even having their true leaves yet. We shall see how well this works for keeping pests away.
Sunday, 11/20/11 I planted:
As far as the garden grows, I am very happy with how things are progressing.
All of my lettuces are doing wonderfully! They are beautiful shades of light greens. I'm afraid I may have crowded them too much, but am not sure when to thin. I'd like to wait until they get a bit bigger so I can see which will be the stronger plants and then thin the weaklings.
Spinach finally sprouted a couple days ago. It's looking healthy and strong and I'm very excited!
My cauliflower seeds have all come up now too. I almost gave up hope on them, but they made it!
Broccoli looks brilliant (other than those little bite marks).
My carrots are all sprouting!!! Yes, that required bold because in all my gardening adventures I've never had any luck getting carrots to grow! I'm hoping for a BIG yield!
The garlic I planted hasn't done anything so far. Folks say it has to stay in the ground through winter and can't be harvested until Spring next year. I'm hoping it's just a SLOW grower and I don't get too discouraged and dig it up.
The Turnips are all popping up finally too! This was another I thought I may give up on (notice a trend here?) but I'm glad I didn't. Very nice spacing and sprouting.
My radishes are all sprouting now too! I don't eat radishes, but LOVE the idea of harvesting in a month or less. That's my kind of garden turn around. Who knows, maybe I will learn to love them.
There is no activity from my beets or onions yet. Again I am hoping I just need to practice some PATIENCE! I won't give up just yet. :)
As a reminder, here's what I planted:
Planted Saturday, 11/19:
- Lettuce (Bibb, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, mesclun mix)
- Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing)
- Cauliflower (Early Snowball A)
- Broccoli (De Cicco)
- Carrots (Danver's #126)
Sunday, 11/20/11 I planted:
- 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix). I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes.
- Turnips (Purple Top White Globe)
Monday, 11/21/11 I planted:
- Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)
- Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR)
- Radishes (Icicle, Short Top)
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
What I'm Planting - November 2011
As soon as it settled down around here, I raced out to plant my new garden bed!
Saturday, 11/19/11 I planted:
- Lettuce (Bibb, Grand Rapids, 3 test varities, mesclun mix)
- Spinach (Bloomsdale Long Standing)
- Cauliflower (Early Snowball A)
- Broccoli (De Cicco)
- Carrots (Danver's #126)
Sunday, 11/20/11 I planted:
- 6 cloves of white garlic (from Publix). I've heard mixed results using store bought garlic so I want to try this myself to see how it goes.
- Turnips (Purple Top White Globe)
Monday, 11/21/11 I planted:
- Beets (Detroit Dark Red, Morse's Strain)
- Onions (Hybrid Granex Yellow PRR)
- Radishes (Icicle, Short Top)
I was excited to see the lettuces sprouting after only 2 days! At 3 days I had broccoli come up, and at 4 days I'm seeing lots of little spinach plants showing themselves.
Last year I double dug a 4' x 7' bed and amended it with lots of compost and nutrients. After weeks of watering I saw a few pathetic little sprouts come up, but never got a full harvest from any of the plants (except a few dozen cherry tomatoes).
For this new bed, Justin Cave (the host of HGTV's "Ground Breakers") brought in a half dump truck of organically amended, healthy soil. I'm amazed at what a difference this good quality soil has made so far!
To mark my rows I am using "craft sticks" since I have a ton leftover from a past craft project. I've used them in the past and do know they will start to rot eventually, but that's okay because as long as I know what I planted where I'll remember what's what when the true leaves come in. Now if I can just keep little hands from pulling the markers out I'll be all set! :)
Our No-Longer-Blah Backyard
Today was the big reveal for our backyard makeover and I want to jot down the details so I don't forget. Forgive me if this is a long post, but my memory isn't what it used to be and I want to remember everything.
Thursday, November 10th:
The fencing company installed 3 sides of our fence, leaving the front open for the trucks that need to come over the next few days. The landscape company also came out and removed all of our existing sod. We had a few packages here already, but kept UPS and FedEx busy with several more deliveries today.
My thoughts: I won't go look at the backyard, but from the little I can see on the sides it already looks better! Who knew a fence could make such a big difference. I can't believe this is actually happening.
Friday, November 11th:
Four pallets of patio pavers and an entire dump truck full of mulch was delivered.
My thoughts: I was told it would be a quiet day today, so both of these deliveries were a pleasant surprise. That looks like a whole lot of pavers and mulch, but both are beautiful. I'm even more curious about the design. I'm very nervous about the big day tomorrow, but thankful that my husband took the afternoon off to help me remain calm. (He can tell I am a wreck.)
Saturday, November 12th:
Today is the big day! There must be 100 people out in the yard. I've never heard so much sawing, hammering, thumping, and noise in general in my life. My husband was sweet enough to take the day off to be with me and help entertain the children. I met the crew from Wayfair.com and they are an outstanding group! I had to laugh at myself for being so nervous to meet them. Dave, Chuck and Justin are all amazing men and were very easy to talk to. We loved them. The kids loved them. They went to the nursery and picked out plants for us. There are some empty nursery containers laying around so I guess they've planted some stuff. We have been stuck in the house most of day, which is fine by me but the kids don't like it too much. I can't believe this is finally happening.
Sunday, November 13th:
We are stuck in the house again today and we are going stir crazy. There isn't a lot of work being done today, but we don't know if people are coming so we are here waiting. We have resisted all urges to peek, even though it has been hard.
Monday, November, 14th:
Today has been a very busy day. Back to school for my oldest. She is thankful to get out of the house. The fourth side of the fence has been installed, making it easier for us to come and go, since there's no way we can see anything. We managed a much needed trip to the grocery store and may have dragged it out longer than we needed because we are happy to be out of the house. The crews are working so hard we are afraid they would forget to eat so we got them a Tampa favorite...Cuban Sandwiches which they devoured! It feels good to do something for them after all they are doing for us. Tomorrow is the Big Reveal! There will be a few more media opportunities than we originally thought which is wonderful, yet nerve wracking. I'm on the shy side so I said a lot of prayers that I don't freeze up and that I do Wayfair justice. (Without them none of this would be happening!)
Tuesday, November 15th:
WHEW! What a whirlwind of a day it has been! After a restless night (too much anticipation) we were up at 5:15 am. That's 3 hours earlier than my normal get out of bed time! Thankfully my wonderful husband was quick to get the coffee flowing and keeping it coming. By 8:00 am we had polished 4 or 5 pots of joe. We were told we would be on live tv at 9:00 am, but that got pushed back to 9:40. The news channel aired teasers at 9:20 and 9:30. Since we still hadn't seen our new yard we sat at the dining room table while the Wayfair crew gathered in the living room to watch. Once I heard the anchor announce the teasers I got very nervous. The minutes flew by and before I knew it we got to walk out and see our new backyard!
Here are some of the media highlights!
Before pictures:
 |
| Photo Credit |
Thursday, November 10th:
The fencing company installed 3 sides of our fence, leaving the front open for the trucks that need to come over the next few days. The landscape company also came out and removed all of our existing sod. We had a few packages here already, but kept UPS and FedEx busy with several more deliveries today.
My thoughts: I won't go look at the backyard, but from the little I can see on the sides it already looks better! Who knew a fence could make such a big difference. I can't believe this is actually happening.
Friday, November 11th:
Four pallets of patio pavers and an entire dump truck full of mulch was delivered.
My thoughts: I was told it would be a quiet day today, so both of these deliveries were a pleasant surprise. That looks like a whole lot of pavers and mulch, but both are beautiful. I'm even more curious about the design. I'm very nervous about the big day tomorrow, but thankful that my husband took the afternoon off to help me remain calm. (He can tell I am a wreck.)
Saturday, November 12th:
Today is the big day! There must be 100 people out in the yard. I've never heard so much sawing, hammering, thumping, and noise in general in my life. My husband was sweet enough to take the day off to be with me and help entertain the children. I met the crew from Wayfair.com and they are an outstanding group! I had to laugh at myself for being so nervous to meet them. Dave, Chuck and Justin are all amazing men and were very easy to talk to. We loved them. The kids loved them. They went to the nursery and picked out plants for us. There are some empty nursery containers laying around so I guess they've planted some stuff. We have been stuck in the house most of day, which is fine by me but the kids don't like it too much. I can't believe this is finally happening.
Sunday, November 13th:
We are stuck in the house again today and we are going stir crazy. There isn't a lot of work being done today, but we don't know if people are coming so we are here waiting. We have resisted all urges to peek, even though it has been hard.
Monday, November, 14th:
Today has been a very busy day. Back to school for my oldest. She is thankful to get out of the house. The fourth side of the fence has been installed, making it easier for us to come and go, since there's no way we can see anything. We managed a much needed trip to the grocery store and may have dragged it out longer than we needed because we are happy to be out of the house. The crews are working so hard we are afraid they would forget to eat so we got them a Tampa favorite...Cuban Sandwiches which they devoured! It feels good to do something for them after all they are doing for us. Tomorrow is the Big Reveal! There will be a few more media opportunities than we originally thought which is wonderful, yet nerve wracking. I'm on the shy side so I said a lot of prayers that I don't freeze up and that I do Wayfair justice. (Without them none of this would be happening!)
Tuesday, November 15th:
WHEW! What a whirlwind of a day it has been! After a restless night (too much anticipation) we were up at 5:15 am. That's 3 hours earlier than my normal get out of bed time! Thankfully my wonderful husband was quick to get the coffee flowing and keeping it coming. By 8:00 am we had polished 4 or 5 pots of joe. We were told we would be on live tv at 9:00 am, but that got pushed back to 9:40. The news channel aired teasers at 9:20 and 9:30. Since we still hadn't seen our new yard we sat at the dining room table while the Wayfair crew gathered in the living room to watch. Once I heard the anchor announce the teasers I got very nervous. The minutes flew by and before I knew it we got to walk out and see our new backyard!
Here are some of the media highlights!
 |
| bizjournals |
 |
| abcactionnews Here are some of the media articles and videos showing the big reveal. |
 |
| The (left) side yard |
 |
| View of the entire yard |
After pictures:
 |
| New fence, plants, sod and mulch! |
 |
| A new shed, more plants, a 500 sq ft paved patio, fire pit, patio set, new grill, hammock and so much more! |
 |
| My new vegetable garden area (left side of house). I've already put up my compost bin. |
We LOVE our new backyard and have spent all our free time playing, relaxing and grilling! I'm SO thankful to Wayfair.com for giving my children a safe environment to play!
Our next big project is to paint the house...
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Planning the New Vegetable Plot
Today was the groundbreaking for our new backyard. I have not seen what they have done, and won't until the big reveal on Tuesday, 11/15/11 at 12:00 pm, but I did get confirmation that they have tilled an area for my new vegetable bed!
Next week I think I will plant:
Garlic
Broccoli
Lettuce
Beets*
Kale*
Cauliflower
Carrots
Spinach
In December I'll be looking to add these to the new bed:
Large Onions*
Potatoes*
English Peas*
Cabbage
Broccoli
Carrots
Herbs*
* indicates I need to acquire these seeds
Next week I think I will plant:
Garlic
Broccoli
Lettuce
Beets*
Kale*
Cauliflower
Carrots
Spinach
In December I'll be looking to add these to the new bed:
Large Onions*
Potatoes*
English Peas*
Cabbage
Broccoli
Carrots
Herbs*
* indicates I need to acquire these seeds
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)