My Poor, Confused Garden

We’ve had some unseasonably warm weather, lately, and I’m assuming that’s part of the reason my tomato plants are still producing. What’s really interesting to me is that I had a whole lot of pollination issues this past growing season that manifested in crooked cukes, zukes with blossom end rot, and TINY grape tomatoes. Now that they aren’t really competing for pollinators, my grape tomatoes are back to being grape sized, and before it gave up the ghost due to mildew, my zucchini gave us one more actual zucchini. (The gardener cut it back, I think. He probably wanted to mow the lawn, and the zuke plant had crept out about 10 feet into the lawn. )



So, it’s about time to clear out the front garden. I didn’t make time to do so this weekend, but I will soon enough. I need to clear away weeds from my raised bed, and start buying bags of soil for the big planter we’re doing this year. I think most of my bonus money (if we get a bonus this year) will be going to our drip irrigation system my hubby wants to set up for me *swoon*. In the front, we have this big dirt patch that I tried to plant melons in last year (I think the gardeners thought my seedlings were weeds). This year, I bought some wildflower mix!

My wildflowers bring all the bees to the yard!

I’m going to put them in the front of the windows, and in some pots to place throughout the garden, hopefully to encourage better pollination this year. I also bought butterfly weed to grow, as well. I am learning more each year that I grow things. It’s so fun. And it’s only two more months before I start my seeds. If the weather continues to be this nice, though, I don’t know if I’ll even have to start new tomatoes.



Vegas ~ Veggies ~ Glowtoys

Lots of things going on, lately. Went off to Vegas last weekend with the hubby and my mother-in-law- had a blast! This upcoming Friday, I fly out on vacation for two whole weeks! Yep. My MIL and I will be going to visit my sister in law and my nieces! We fly out on Friday, then on Thursday jump on a cruise ship. Though I'm missing many events with my coven sisters, including Litha, I look forward to finding a creative way to celebrate it on the ship. If possible, I'm hoping to greet the sun on Litha morning. Maybe there will be other Pagans onboard- I can only wear my pentacle and hope.

In the garden, my cucumbers are blooming and my hearloom pear tomato plant is over three feet tall. It's outgrowing it's little cage, and I finally have little bitty pear shaped tomatoes. Early girl is doing alright, and have quite a few tomatoes coming up, too. I really hope they wait until I get back from vacation to do their thing! I can't wait for the heirloom pears to ripen- we are going to have yummy BLTs, for sure. Zucchini is finally finding it's feet, since I've thinned it out- the flowers are blooming. No veggies yet, though! I've been harvesting a few green beans here and there and putting them in the fridge. No peppers yet, but my orange and purple pepper plants look happy! Lots of veggies in such a small area.

I purchased a sport-weight hula hoop a few months back, and have been hooping on and off, as well as practicing poi. I find this so much fun, as I've always loved dance and dancing with toys. I love listening to the music and feeling the flow. I have traditional poi balls from Hawaii, but want to purchase glow poi, and possibly a LED hoop at some point. I figure if I can manage the sport weight hoop, at some point, I'll get a dance weight hoop - the LED hoops are expensive, so I want to make sure I can stick with it. I've been into poi on and off since the fifth grade. I'm pretty much in for the long haul, there. Another fun glow flowtoy that is popular is the glow staff. It's 4' long and glows. Well, I did tall flags in high school about *coughcoughcough* years ago, and loved it. LOVED it. So much so, that if they had an old person club for it, I'd join. My flag was about 5; long, and so I want to MAKE a glowable staff that size. That would be pretty neat, I think. If so, I'll post a tutorial, of course. Sharing knowledge and experience is where the power really is.

Beans!

Just so excited- had to share a picture... my beans are beginning to sprout. This is the first time I've ever tried to grow green beans, so I'm pretty darned excited.

May's Full Moon

Tonight's the full moon! I love it when it's stormy here, especially while doing witchy workings. I feel that it adds energy to whatever I'm working on. May is the Hare Moon or Planting Moon (depending on the culture), and the energy that it brings is an energy full of growth, fertility and workings toward keeping ourselves fed. Today, I'm focusing on fertility.I do have a few things to plant in the ground, but am unable to do so in the rain.

Here are a few ideas on what you can do for this full moon:

• Focus on making a baby!
• Focus on renewing your creativity
• Plant seeds in the ground
• Charge seeds in the moonlight
• Start some seeds in small containers
• Or of course, do a working for whatever you need at the moment

If you are looking for some easy plants to start from seeds, I suggest radishes. They go from seed to food in about six weeks. If you start new seeds on week 4, they should be ready to plant by the time you are pulling your grown radishes out of the ground. This is a great lesson to kids about how food doesn't originate in the grocery store.

Building a Garden Bed!

 

Last year, I just plunked some plants in the ground, and had some success, so I’m going bigger this year, with carrots, lettuce, radishes, beans and more. I’m very excited. This weekend, my husband and I build a garden bed. It was super simple, and while it was more expensive that I expected, now that we have the correct screws and the weed preventative, it will be less expensive the next time we do it. I chose redwood, as it’s a harder wood, and less prone to rot. Our bed is 6’ x 3’. We purchased our wood at Lowe’s, where they were kind enough to cut it for us, saving us a big step. We bought a 2 x 8 that was 12 feet long (had them cut in half), and a 2” x 8” that was 8 feet long (cut in 3 foot sections with 2’ left over). When we got home, we attached them with the screws we bought, and then cut stakes and staked it in the ground so it wouldn’t move. We then filled it with 4 bags of soil we purchased. Ta da! Garden bed. Just in time, as my Ostara seedlings are beginning to sprout! I have two seedling greenhouses I’m starting this week, too, so I think we’ll probably build a second bed. I’m going to also clean out a bunch of pots as well, and may even try growing potatoes. I’m hoping to have a lot of tomatoes this year, and learn how to make pasta sauce from scratch! I’m so blessed to have family that doesn’t mind me taking over their front yard with plants!