The insanity began at our house today. Please note: the National Weather Service is currently calling for snow flurries tonight.
I love Texas weather.
However, regardless, anyway, I planted in my garden.
Here's a quick run-down of the victims...., eer, I mean plants.
Mary Washington Asparagus
Martha Stewart told me to buy this type of asparagus, so I did. Really, I know very little about it (other than what I just read). Wait to harvest this until the second year. Seedlings produce more than crowns (which I planted crowns). They love manure - straight manure.
Red Potatoes
I really want these to taste as good as Muleshoe. You see, my hometown raises a lot of potatoes. And they are delicious. Here's hoping I did something right out there today.
Onions
I have some volunteers left-over from last year so we'll see how they do. Also, I wonder what kind of onion I really got. My package just says 'white'.
Garlic
I LOVE GARLIC!
Shallots - I was just recently introduced to shallots. Hopefully they'll want to live here too!
Mesclun
Spinach
I'll post later on their harvest dates. We'll see if I can keep them alive that long. Now, to go move the water.
(C) Courtney G. Milleson, M.Ed.
courtneymilleson@gmail.com
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Well that stunk.
When I started this blog in early March I anticipated the pictures I was going to take. Gardens filled with lush green leaves. With red and yellow pops throughout (tomatoes, corn, squash, eggplant) that just made your mouth water as you walked in it. Soil that was black - coal black - and filled with earthworms happily digging their little aeration trails.
You know - that kind of garden.
Instead, what Jay and I found was that none of it - NONE OF IT - was going to be that easy this year.
Most of what we learned about our garden this year was that we didn't know anything about gardening. Here's a short list of what we didn't know.
1) We started too early. Being anxious about our success as gardeners, we started planting seeds WAY too early. Like maybe in January. Yeah - I know. Additionally, after we set-up the fence (to keep out the rabbits) we only tilled the ground once (because we were in a rush to plant). Again, way to early.
2) As I mentioned earlier, we only tilled the ground once. A friend of mine from high school (aka Charla 'the mad seed grower' Cogdill) tilled her garden up two or three times before planting their seeds. That way all of the 'weeds' were killed off. The idea is that you till the ground and let the new seeds sprout. Then you till it again and wait. This till and wait approach would have saved us many hours of backbreaking weeding. Do you know how hard it is to weed tumbleweeds? Let's just say it's not fun.
3) We needed to plant smarter. We just didn't have a plan this year for our planting. We had way too many tomatoes (I just love them though) and far few beans. We had too many carrots, but none of our onions and garlic made the cut either. And, the greatest travesty is that none - NONE - of my pumpkins made it. That's going to have to improve.
4) We need a better watering system. Basically, we left the garden to a wing and a prayer with fertilization and watering. Somehow we need to figure out an efficient way of getting H2O to the plants while also chasing three kids and all the other things. Jay's got some ideas, so hopefully we can make this change for next year.
5) Finally, the thing that surprised me the most was the quality of the soil. The land where our home is built is literally old farm land. (I guess technically everywhere is also old farm land.) The quality of the soil was pathetic. When I say I want black soil - I'm not sure how much organic material you'd have to put into this to get it to look dark, much less black. Also, because we're 'farming' out over the septic tank lines (and it's a new home) there's still lots of settling that's occurring. I over-watered one day and Jay found a HUGE sink-hole area. No telling how far down that went.
Don't get me wrong. We had lots of tomatoes this year. And we had a great run of round zucchini. But as for other items, we just didn't have the greatest luck. Oh, except we did have a bumper tumbleweed crop.
So overall, we've got lots of planning to do this winter. We're supposed to have our first snow this week (we'll see about that) so it's time to think about next year!
But somehow I've got to get my new bulbs in the ground! I need more time! :)
You know - that kind of garden.
Instead, what Jay and I found was that none of it - NONE OF IT - was going to be that easy this year.
Most of what we learned about our garden this year was that we didn't know anything about gardening. Here's a short list of what we didn't know.
1) We started too early. Being anxious about our success as gardeners, we started planting seeds WAY too early. Like maybe in January. Yeah - I know. Additionally, after we set-up the fence (to keep out the rabbits) we only tilled the ground once (because we were in a rush to plant). Again, way to early.
2) As I mentioned earlier, we only tilled the ground once. A friend of mine from high school (aka Charla 'the mad seed grower' Cogdill) tilled her garden up two or three times before planting their seeds. That way all of the 'weeds' were killed off. The idea is that you till the ground and let the new seeds sprout. Then you till it again and wait. This till and wait approach would have saved us many hours of backbreaking weeding. Do you know how hard it is to weed tumbleweeds? Let's just say it's not fun.
3) We needed to plant smarter. We just didn't have a plan this year for our planting. We had way too many tomatoes (I just love them though) and far few beans. We had too many carrots, but none of our onions and garlic made the cut either. And, the greatest travesty is that none - NONE - of my pumpkins made it. That's going to have to improve.
4) We need a better watering system. Basically, we left the garden to a wing and a prayer with fertilization and watering. Somehow we need to figure out an efficient way of getting H2O to the plants while also chasing three kids and all the other things. Jay's got some ideas, so hopefully we can make this change for next year.
5) Finally, the thing that surprised me the most was the quality of the soil. The land where our home is built is literally old farm land. (I guess technically everywhere is also old farm land.) The quality of the soil was pathetic. When I say I want black soil - I'm not sure how much organic material you'd have to put into this to get it to look dark, much less black. Also, because we're 'farming' out over the septic tank lines (and it's a new home) there's still lots of settling that's occurring. I over-watered one day and Jay found a HUGE sink-hole area. No telling how far down that went.
Don't get me wrong. We had lots of tomatoes this year. And we had a great run of round zucchini. But as for other items, we just didn't have the greatest luck. Oh, except we did have a bumper tumbleweed crop.
So overall, we've got lots of planning to do this winter. We're supposed to have our first snow this week (we'll see about that) so it's time to think about next year!
But somehow I've got to get my new bulbs in the ground! I need more time! :)
Monday, April 26, 2010
We have vegetation!!!
After all of the rain we've gotten over the past two weeks I was afraid that all of our seeds had slid away into some other yard. But never fear - we have vegetation!
The first thing I checked was the lettuce. Check - two long rows of teeny, tiny lettuce has sprouted. So from April 11th until April 25th (14 days). That sounds right.
Then we checked the onions. Hmm, they don't look so good; however, the garlic has gone gang-busters! Little green shoots of beautiful garlici-ness are covering three rows of our garden. Can anyone say 'Italian' or 'hot sauce'? Yum!
Then a couple of rows over we have carrots (nothing) then celery (we have life!) and then broccoli (again, life!). Sounds so yummy, but wishing the weather would perk up a bit so I could plant everything else!
We sat our seedlings outside yesterday to harden a bit. I think they enjoyed the sun, but they're safely inside again today. Madeline and I started some more seeds on Saturday. Mexican Feather Grass, English Daisies, African Daisies, Shasta Daisies, Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Chives, Petunias, Coleus, Zinnias, and two others I can't think of now.
On Saturday morning, a WT friend posted that the Canyon High School PTSA was having a tree sale. Okay, up and at 'em. Madeline and I went (in the wind) to check out the sale. I think we made a killing! Here's what we got: 4-1 gal. Pistache trees, 5 Shumard Oaks, 5 Burr Oaks, 5 Locusts, and 5 Pecans (hey, I'm a Texan, I had to have them). So excited by our recent additions to the family. The lists of five are all seedlings and will need lots of TLC to make them grow. They're about, John Alan's height! :) I also, got several plants from the Flower Power students at CISD. They are precious and a steal of a deal!
We did plant my circle of oaks out in the back forty. My dream was to have a place where we could someday congregate under the canopy of giant oak trees, one for each of us, and one to grow on! So Jay planted those yesterday. It's funny to watch a geologist plant trees exactly based on magnetic north. I can't wait to watch these little guys grow. We were going to only plant five, but then decided that we wouldn't want a pentagram in our backyard. How silly is that?
We're contemplating names for our 'manor' now. When we were going to do five oaks, it was easy, "Five Oaks". But now that superstition has created six, eeeh, not so sure. We could do 10 Oaks. Thoughts?
Last night after the kids went to bed, Jay went back outside to plant our seedling trees in a bucket until we could decide where they should go. He'd been out there a while, and I went out to see what was going on. He was planting irises in the flowerbed. I'm telling you, this guy works. But our irises are beautiful and are about to start blooming! These are precious to me. I haven't bought a single one - they are all from my mom's garden and my father-in-law's garden. I love them and they are going like gangbusters too! I would have thought they wouldn't have bloomed this year (since we just planted them last spring), but they are going to make a show at last! If you didn't know, irises are my FAVORITE flower of all. Heaven smells like rain, rising bread and irises. See, you learned something today!
The first thing I checked was the lettuce. Check - two long rows of teeny, tiny lettuce has sprouted. So from April 11th until April 25th (14 days). That sounds right.
Then we checked the onions. Hmm, they don't look so good; however, the garlic has gone gang-busters! Little green shoots of beautiful garlici-ness are covering three rows of our garden. Can anyone say 'Italian' or 'hot sauce'? Yum!
Then a couple of rows over we have carrots (nothing) then celery (we have life!) and then broccoli (again, life!). Sounds so yummy, but wishing the weather would perk up a bit so I could plant everything else!
We sat our seedlings outside yesterday to harden a bit. I think they enjoyed the sun, but they're safely inside again today. Madeline and I started some more seeds on Saturday. Mexican Feather Grass, English Daisies, African Daisies, Shasta Daisies, Tomatoes, Tomatillos, Chives, Petunias, Coleus, Zinnias, and two others I can't think of now.
On Saturday morning, a WT friend posted that the Canyon High School PTSA was having a tree sale. Okay, up and at 'em. Madeline and I went (in the wind) to check out the sale. I think we made a killing! Here's what we got: 4-1 gal. Pistache trees, 5 Shumard Oaks, 5 Burr Oaks, 5 Locusts, and 5 Pecans (hey, I'm a Texan, I had to have them). So excited by our recent additions to the family. The lists of five are all seedlings and will need lots of TLC to make them grow. They're about, John Alan's height! :) I also, got several plants from the Flower Power students at CISD. They are precious and a steal of a deal!
We did plant my circle of oaks out in the back forty. My dream was to have a place where we could someday congregate under the canopy of giant oak trees, one for each of us, and one to grow on! So Jay planted those yesterday. It's funny to watch a geologist plant trees exactly based on magnetic north. I can't wait to watch these little guys grow. We were going to only plant five, but then decided that we wouldn't want a pentagram in our backyard. How silly is that?
We're contemplating names for our 'manor' now. When we were going to do five oaks, it was easy, "Five Oaks". But now that superstition has created six, eeeh, not so sure. We could do 10 Oaks. Thoughts?
Last night after the kids went to bed, Jay went back outside to plant our seedling trees in a bucket until we could decide where they should go. He'd been out there a while, and I went out to see what was going on. He was planting irises in the flowerbed. I'm telling you, this guy works. But our irises are beautiful and are about to start blooming! These are precious to me. I haven't bought a single one - they are all from my mom's garden and my father-in-law's garden. I love them and they are going like gangbusters too! I would have thought they wouldn't have bloomed this year (since we just planted them last spring), but they are going to make a show at last! If you didn't know, irises are my FAVORITE flower of all. Heaven smells like rain, rising bread and irises. See, you learned something today!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
We have mud!
I thought I'd check on the garden tonight. You know we've gotten some rain. About half an inch. This is what half an inch looks like on your flip-flops. link://http://twitpic.com/1fvwfw
Monday, April 12, 2010
I think it rained.
I'm not sure but I think it rained. Nothing grew overnight. I'm disappointed. I was expecting big things for today but here's hoping for something tomorrow.
Seriously, it did rain here so no need to water today. I've got to get one of those fancy digital rain gauges. Or maybe I'll just figure out how to get Doppler Dave to send me one, ya think. ;)
Seriously, it did rain here so no need to water today. I've got to get one of those fancy digital rain gauges. Or maybe I'll just figure out how to get Doppler Dave to send me one, ya think. ;)
Sunday, April 11, 2010
It's begun!
Yesterday (4/10/10) marked the official begining of the 2010 Milleson garden. Jay spent most of the day working on the tiller, tilling, buying fence supplies and installing them.
The purpose of our blog is to keep a high-tech garden journal and to hopefully make our friends laugh. If we achieve neither, then we've done our best.
So who are we?
Both Jay and I are city-folks, pretending to live in the country. We live on 2-acres out west of Amarillo. It's farm-land turned quasi-domestic so we feel like we're roughing it. Jay's family came from farms. Mine came from oil fields and millwrights. Between the two of us, we're just north of clueless, but determined to make the best of it.
Technically, some seeds were started a few weeks ago, but the vast majority were planted outside today. They were:
I'll post more 'technical' information later, but for right now, welcome to the journey. ;)
The purpose of our blog is to keep a high-tech garden journal and to hopefully make our friends laugh. If we achieve neither, then we've done our best.
So who are we?
Both Jay and I are city-folks, pretending to live in the country. We live on 2-acres out west of Amarillo. It's farm-land turned quasi-domestic so we feel like we're roughing it. Jay's family came from farms. Mine came from oil fields and millwrights. Between the two of us, we're just north of clueless, but determined to make the best of it.
Technically, some seeds were started a few weeks ago, but the vast majority were planted outside today. They were:
- Parris Romaine Lettuce
- Lettuce (Fancy) Mix
- Red Onions
- Sweet Texas Onions
- Garlic (a butt load - it's a technical term)
- Stringless Green Beans
- Peppers
- Bell (Green, Red, Purple, White, Yellow)
- Jalepeno
- Anaheim
- Green
- Habenero (Amanda these have to be for Tim)
- ?? There's one more but I can't remember
- Carrots
- Broccoli
- Celery
- Lemon Cucumbers
- Round Zucchini
I'll post more 'technical' information later, but for right now, welcome to the journey. ;)
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