The usual motions.

The garden is coming along. More tilling of the ground, but I'm finally getting close enough to buy my starts and get most of the seeds sprouting.
I purchased starts of broccoli, brussel sprouts, garlic, onions, potatoes, and a few flowers.
The plan is to have the garden finished and the starts planted by the time mom comes home from her hip surgery. She is doing well so my time might be cut short, though I can't complain about that. I know she hates being away from home and in a hospital instead.
Being started right now I have Sweet Corn and Popcorn, Beefsteak tomatoes as well as yellow pear and super sweet 100s. Golden sweet peppers, Serrano, Habanero, Ghost peppers and Jalapenos are also coming along.
I just seen to finish up the actual garden beds then I'll be able to plant the rest. I'm going to grow pumpkins in large containers again because it seemed to work very well for us at our old house.

Slow Progress

John and I worked on the garden yesterday. It was nice, one of the warmer days so far and it was actually sunny! About half of the garden has been tilled and weeds removed. Guess it'll be a while before I have another day off to make more progress, though.

There are a few projects we've been brainstorming. There are a lot of old unused tires in the yard from my dad so my mom suggested we line the fence with them and use them as planters. There are plenty of them so that adds some garden space. We are also going to grow some potatoes using the tires as well.

I'm so antsy to get the garden growing, I hate that other things keep getting in my way. Like work! hah. At least I have a few tomato seedlings to keep me somewhat satisfied.

Landreth Seed Co may vanish before our eyes

America's oldest seed company, Landreth Seed Co, could very possibly go out of business at the end of this month. It seems a bit dramatic, right? But it is true. Apparently there have been errors in paperwork and their loan is not able to be extended. This means that they now are in need of $1 million to continue business and pay off this debt.

On days like today, I literally love being a member of such a caring community. I discovered this via Twitter earlier in the morning. Dozens of posts on my page were about a company that I knew very little about giving a description of what is actually happening to them. It is so amazing how many gardeners are banding together to get the word out as far as they can yell it or tweet it. They are trying to sell as many seed catalogs as they can for 2012 in order to attain the funds that they need.
On twitter, you can find many posts by using the #SaveLandreth tag. You can go to the Landreth website and order a Catalog or Seeds. You can also help out by spreading the word via Facebook. Simply invite your friends to the event and they can check it out or ignore if they so choose.

Landreth Seed Company is responsible for introducing many different seeds to the United States. Many varieties of flowers, heirloom tomatoes, and even spinach have been released to the home gardeners thanks to this innovative company. It is a shame we're losing such an important asset in a day and age where it is difficult to find natural, organic vegetable seeds to keep the gardening tradition alive.

Lazy Gardening, Cosmos Blooming.

I haven't had much energy these past few days. I'm not exactly sure what it is but I have severely neglected the garden to say the very least.
A very kind friend on a gardening site send me seeds that I've yet to try previously. It was very generous. I've had a lot of really nice friends recently sending me seeds to help me grow a wonderful lush patch of earth and it really means so much to me! Specifically my friend Sadie Sams! She has sent me Eggplant and Kohlrabi, in addition to tons of flower seeds that I am really excited to try out. My favorite out of all of them are the Red Sunflowers. I've never seen them around here at all.

The few cosmo seeds that I scattered under my front window are finally blooming! I hope a few more open up, and I'll take a photo. They are shades of magenta and lilac. Cosmos are such cute little flowers, they grow up tall about 2-3' and then have very sweet delicate little flowers. Very colorful!

One of the packet of seeds that I was sent by my friend at MyFolia that I am especially excited to try is the "Purple Cape" cauliflower. This variety is meant for colder climates as I hear. Overwintering is something I have never made an attempt at but it is how to grow this particular cauliflower, so I will give it a shot! Nothing like a new adventure in gardening. Kale is another plant on the list that I have no grown before, which I now have the opportunity to grow.
I HIGHLY recommend anyone check out MyFolia, there are tons of kind and caring people there that LOVE to swap seeds! There is even a map showing you where the seeds traveled from to you, and a note for the person receiving the seeds if the sender chooses. It's very awesome.

I just enjoyed the first cucumber of the season. It was so tasty! I forgot to take a photo, as it is very dark out but I don't think it was ready yet.

Photo Update: Lemon Flowers, Baby Pumpkins, & Siamese Cucumbers

Improved Meyer's Lemon Flowers

I love this photo! This is the lemon tree I purchased for $10 on sale. Yay! I am really happy to see the flowers, I think they are REALLY pretty.

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin

I am so excited to see the first pumpkin finally pollinate! The plant produced a few female flowers however at the time there were no male flowers on it or other plants. Thankfully the pumpkin pot in the front yard flowered profusely with male flowers, and suddenly I had a golfball sized baby pumpkin. It is now the size of a grapefruit!

Siamese Boston Pickling Cucumbers

As you can see in the photo, I have 2 baby cucumbers connected! They both look pollinated, it just looks like they sprouted off the same stem. I have heard of this before on MyFolia!!! I believe it is called a mega-bloom.

A very bottom heavy Boston Pickling Cucumber

This cucumber looks very bottom heavy. I've never seen one like this, and I'm not sure if it is an issue because it wasn't completely pollinated.. But the thing is the bottom looks much larger than those of others.

Orange Habaneros

To add a bit of color to the post, my habaneros are ripening like crazy!! Yum. They are perfect to give away as 1 goes a long way for some people.

Word of the Day.. ouch! & Greenhouse Brainstorm

My hand is still very sore, but life will go on!

I've been a bit busy lately, and slow. I smashed my hand in a door about a week ago and have been trying to continue on as if it's okay, but it's not!! I'm sorry for my absence!

I don't want to make this off topic, as it is a Word of the Day.. but it's a bit lackluster I do admit.
I am planning a project! It is pretty ambitious but I am soo pumped to give it a try. My plan is to build a small greenhouse out of hopefully re-purposed items. It needs to be adequate in size however I want to be able to take it apart and move it when the time comes to leave this rental house. I hope to use PVC pipes as the structure, as it is easy to stick together and take apart as long as you have proper connectors.
My intention with this project is to grow enough food to provide for my parents, as well as plenty of surplus to donate to the local Food Bank. There is also a church in my town that does a a weekly lunch for anyone, free of charge and it would be fantastic if I could provide healthy, nutritious food to the people in my community. The food bank currently has a greenhouse that they grow food in, but it doesn't seem like a sufficient amount to help everyone in need. There is always a need for food and there always will be.
I myself have had to pick up things at the local food bank and I'm not embarrassed by it. I am a 22 year old and I don't make much more than minimum wage so I understand how important it is to eat healthy and have good food but maybe not always having money to buy it. As a child, my parents understood this and reached out for help when they were in need from the food bank. While there are fresh veggies included in the food you receive, it is very limited and seems as if there are excesses of some items and not enough of others. I hope to try and grow a healthy and colorful variety throughout the year to offer as many vitamins and nutrients as possible.

The problem with this is I am still a very poor young adult. I do not have money to spend on supplies, nor the gas to find things for free from craigslist. My passion for gardening and for helping others won't let this die. I will come up with a solution, it will just take time.

The Whole Picture: My yard at a glance, Garden from afar

I'm very unorganized.

This is the scene when you pull up the driveway of my home. My little personal corner of the natural world. The shed is home to my boyfriend's "man cave" in which he has a stereo and a recliner, ha! Next to it we have the can used for misc garden tools and whatnots. There is a small bed along the fence, with peas and popcorn planted but they're either small or covered in the shade in this shot. You can make out the string tied to the cherry tree, all with a viney plant of some kind attached. Boston Pickling cucumbers, Sugar Baby Watermelon (this one will probably do nothing for us..), and Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins. Barely visible is the trellis i fashioned from string and sticks. The green beans are going to overtake and concur the entire thing. Most of the rest of the garden from here looks like a large singular green bush. That is fine with me, I dont care if people can't make out what I am hiding within. Less issues with unwanted vegetable pickers, in my opinion.

Before it turned into the unrecognizable bush.

Current day bushiness.

 I think the dense planting of my garden has helped a lot with keeping some parts shady, but the soil remains so warm! Everything thrives, and flourishes. I'm really excited! Next year I intend on planning my placement much more carefully to accommodate some plants I discovered are very space demanding.

Tomatillo Monster

Next year I intend to give my tomatillo plants their own space. They want to grow over and on top and into just about every single vegetable plant in the garden. I cannot find my strawberries, and it is giving the chives full shade. As much trellising and tying that I try, nothing prove to solve the issue. They are here, and they are going to take over the garden! At least, that is the message they've given me.

Bush Beans

My bush beans are filling up this home-fashioned trellis very nicely. There are so many tiny, itty bitty baby beans on these plants and it makes me feel just like a kid again. I remember eagerly checking the bean vines often for my mom, seeing if there were any I could steal away without her noticing. Even now, I get equally as giddy seeing a half inch long green slender vegetable starting to grow.

Jack-O-Lanterns in a pot

This is perhaps my favorite planting. These were started from seed and are growing to be huge! There were about 6 seeds planted and 5 sprouted. There is also a mini-sprout from a seed that had split. it is a plant half the size as all the others. Anyway, this is sitting under a willow tree settled by my front door. It was in the sun, but started to wilt too frequently from the August rays. Since being moved to it's shadier, cooler location the plant has thrived and not wilted once. It seems to need much less water.

And my dorky cat.

My cat Cheech is the official mouse, rabbit, and otherwise critter chaser. He does a wonderful job!!

Artichoke.. I really want you to do something!!

My Glorious Artichoke, with a wall of sunflowers for shade.

Ever since I was a little girl, I remember my mom boiling up the most tasty dish ever. Usually when she'd cook it, it would be the "first course" then we would have a main dish a bit after it had settled. I recall forgetting what it was a lot as a little kid, but eventually learned that one of my favorite vegetables is the Artichoke!
When I first saw this plant at the hardware garden center (the locally owned one, at that!) I was sure it was some kind of odd fern. It was sort of brown, wilting, and had one tiny little bitty green leaf inside. 3 leaves total, perhaps no more than a foot high out of the ground. After a closer inspection, I made out the handwritten tag stating the plant was in fact an Artichoke! I eagerly ran over to my boyfriend to present it to him, and ask ever so politely if he would buy it for me. I'm just sweet as pie.. sometimes.
He happily bought it for me, as he is equally excited about the results of my gardening. He does tend to stay away from the actual garden work, but he shows just the right amount of enthusiasm for my hobby to make me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Now that I HAD this poor little, wilting artichoke.. I needed to do something about it!

The young artichoke, perhaps a week old in this photo.

At first, the plant did not seem incredibly thrilled about it's new home. The outter leaves turned completely brown, and I was completely devastated in thinking I had lost my precious new addition. After doing some research, I discovered that the artichokes love lots of water. I wet the soil very well, and continued to do so until it started perking up. On a few very sunny days, the young plant actually wilted to the point where it was laying flat on the ground. I SURELY, most DEFINITELY lost the plant this time.. absolutely, I thought. I covered it with mesh and watered the sucker until I was sure now it would just drown.
Somehow my beautiful plant did not die. I grew some sunflowers in front of the 'choke to give it some permanent shade without really having any negative effects on other plants.. Just have to make sure to water well as they're both very heavy feeders.

I discovered that some people grow these as annuals.. but I have no idea how they would bloom here in time. I didn't realize the amount of time this guy needed when I puchased him, and I worry that I may need to pot it up when it gets cold out. However, I have ready that if mulched well and cared for, someone in my Zone 8 could possibly overwinter (as long as the winter is not too harsh.. uh oh, I heard we're getting a visit from La Nina Again..) to produce for a few years. The artichoke is a perennial, after all.

After establishing a bit. Tiny sunflower sprouts below!

More new leaves! This is about a month after planting.

I am so excited to eat up an artichoke from my own home garden. I really hope that this plant overwinters, and perhaps multiplies. I would love to be able to divide it and share a plant with my mother. If you would enjoy a more detailed post about how to grow Artichokes, please check out this other great blog! I don't run it, or know them, but it is very useful.