Luscious

Here's a pic of the lettuce this morning after watering. It's only about an inch and half high, but doesn't it look luscious?

We've been going out early every morning and hand watering with a misting wand for between 5 and 10 minutes. Today I'm going to attach and lay out the soaker hose. Give everything a good long soaking.

The tomatoes have blooms! I'm extremely excited. Take a peek:

That scraggly mess on the left is the turnips. They still need more thinning, but I think there might not be enough light for them. They are growing tall and laying down. Nothing I can do about that. The only spot in the yard that gets sun all day is the front yard. I'm not ready to plant vegetables out there. The neighbors already think I'm strange enough. I'm not ruling it out though. With raised beds, all is possible.

I've never been crazy about the lawn, ( and it shows!) it's completely full of weeds and sandy bare patches. I think that raised beds can only improve it.

I don't have a shed, and I desperately want one. For now I store everything on the front porch. Not a very pretty sight for visitors. But it makes me feel industrious whenever I walk in or out of the house and it's a visual reminder that I need to go work in the garden.

Here's the full view, look at those Collards!

happy halloween

I decorated my cubie at work, it turned out pretty well. Above is the side, and below is the front.

The picture below is across the aisle from me.

I got the bird's at Michaels, Martha Stewart I think. The banner is from Marshal's and I've had the cards for years. I put them up every year.

I'm doing a Day of the Dead Altar at home, it's still in progress, I'll put up pics when it's finished.

Sugar Skulls

So this is what I've been working on this afternoon. I got 2 white glitter skulls from the $1`store and made my own faux Sugar Skulls.

They're still in progress, I want to doodle all over them, just fill up all the spaces with pattern. I got the last 2 white skulls in the store. I may have to go looking for another location and see if they have any more.

Before and after:

I want to do more on the eyes, but not sure what yet. I'm going to live with it a couple of days and see what comes up.

Those three stripes of green in the lower right of the garden are the Turnips! Tomorrow I'm planning to thin them out with a very sharp and pointy scissors.

Now we're looking from the other end, the specks in the lower right are the lettuce, and they are beautiful. That large blank spot in the upper right is the Spinach. It's just starting to poke up, it should be about the size the Lettuce is now by next weekend.

Everything else is looking good, no droopies, and so far no bugs.

We made a trip to the Depot today to get some Fish Emulsion and a water can, so I can start fertilizing every two weeks. I also picked up a couple of bags of cypress mulch, my plan is to buy two bags every weekend. I want to pull up all the grass and weeds in the whole side yard, build two more raised beds and mulch everywhere else.

For now though, I'm mulching a path all around the garden and to the front of the house, to hopefully cut down on some of the mud that keeps getting tracked into the house. Maybe I need a boot scraper.

it worked, we have sprouts

We have sprouts!! these are the Turnips, lots of thinning to be done.
The lettuce has also sprouted, but they are too small to take a picture of. The Spinach is uncertain. It may be a casualty of kitty toileting.

DIY

This is a dresser that was a hand me down to my parents when I was born almost 50 years ago. I used it, my brother used it till he left home, my passed it on to me when I bought my house in 1984, and it sat on my front porch holding garden supplies for many many years.
In the first two pictures I've started sanding the finish and dirt off prepping it for paint.



and Ta Da!
I handpainted the birds by looking at pictures of wall decals online and did them freehand. I'm still not happy with the door, but not sure where I want to go with it.
It sits in the living room now, holding all the old VCR tapes that no one is watching. I'm saving them for the grandbaby, I think I have most of the Disney movies. Probably by the time she's old enough the VCR will be broken!!

So we've made a very small garden. I've planted way to much, but I figure half of will not make it so I overplanted.
We've got 3 tomato plants, Lemon Boy, Brandywine, and a Grape. Collards, Turnips, Spinach and a Lettuce mix. Globe Basil, Oregano, and Rosemary. Marigolds.
I always had a garden when I was younger. It made me feel good. I've been making compost for about 2 years in garbage can. Not the best method but it keeps it out of site of the neighbors. I'm ready to make a pile in the side yard and start composting leaves and grass clippings and not just kitchen waste. In other words I'm ready to get serious about it.
So this little garden is an experiment to \see how well we are able to keep up with it. I'd like to acutally have 4 raised beds in this area. They will just fit if I put them up against the house and the fences with a central mulched path, no grass. The compost heap is going in the back under the tree. Right now that is full of weeds growing about 4 feet high and kudzu vines growing up the weeds into the tree. So I have my work cut out for me. At the other end is some kind of scubby bush/palm that thre neighbor planted and it died on his side of the fence and grew like crazy on my side. So the has to be dug up also. We've got the entire Winter (until February) to do it as the ground never freezes here in Flor-i-duh.
I'm going to look around for a Meyers Lemon, there's a spot in the front yard I have in mind. I had one before and I loved it. About 12 years ago we had a severe drought followed by a severe frost and I lost it. Lost my azeala's that year too. So I will replace it.
I'm also thinking about making a hedge of Blueberries down the side of the front yard. Fresh Blueberries every year, wouldn't that be nice?