My dream front awning

Saw this at Lowes and it is exactly what I have been looking to build over the front door.

My crochet

Here are a few pictures of the crochet work I have done.

Harvesting Watermelons

I am surprised that the two watermelon seeds I planted are doing so well. I have harvested three melons based on all the recommendations I found online. Look for a dried up spoon leaf. Check to make sure the tendril was very dried out. Thump it. Thump it again. Look for the creamy yellow spot on the bottom. I did it all, but none of my watermelons were ripe enough to enjoy. I feed them to the chickens, which is okay with me. Hopefully the next one I pick will be ripe and red and sweet.

Today's Plantings - carrots, cauliflower, cabbage and zucchini

The weather is cooling off in the evenings, though it's still quite warm during the days.  I have spent the last several weeks cleaning up garden beds.  There were (and still are) SO many weeds from summer.  I had a few extra minutes today so popped out and planted lots of seeds that will hopefully grow and be bountiful through the fall and winter.

• Planted Scarlet Nantes Carrots in front of the asparagus and next to the eggplant in the front yard beds.  
• Planted Black Beauty Zucchini near the chinese cabbage.
• Planted Snowball Self-Blanching Cauliflower and Late Flat Dutch Cabbage in all other open spaces in the beds.  

Garden Update

Well, Green Beans were an amazing flop this year for me.  I'd get some lush growth then BAM the beans were dead overnight.  I'm talking about dead brown twigs sticking up from the soil.  It's been a frustrating attempt to say the least.  I had big dreams of freezing, canning and meals of fresh beans by the bushel.  Sadly, it would take weeks to get enough green beans to make one serving.  All in all I'd guess we got a whopping 3 quarts of green beans these past months.  Maybe I'm missing something.  I even recently replanted a front bed with corn and green beans.  I planted a 2' x 4' section of each, and every corn seed germinated and is growing.  Only TWO green beans even sprouted.  I think this soil is holding too much water and rotting the bean seeds (possibly).  Green beans seem to do well in other areas of the yard...just not those amended with the soil builder.  Guess I'll re-plant some in the mulched beds for a quick crop before I really start planting cabbage and broccoli.

Planted Green Goliath Broccoli Today

In the back bed, where I unsuccessfully attempted to grow heirloom muskmellons, I planted the remainder of a seed packet of Green Goliath Broccoli today.  It's a bit early, but the weather has been bonkers lately so I'm taking my chances with an early planting.

How To Grow Enough Food To Live On

Here are some good reads on how to grow enough food to live on.

http://www.peakprosperity.com/forum/growing-our-75-our-own-food-our-yard-1-year/47353

http://readynutrition.com/resources/proof-it-can-be-done-a-microfarm-in-the-subburbs_17112009/

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=97148

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101003180710AARI0qE

http://growfoodeasily.com/growing-food-for-self-sufficiency.php

http://hungrymotherorganics.com/archives/1334

http://www.verdant.net/food.htm