It must be that time of year- the time when you are all pooped out on the garden chores. In the spring, there's something inside you that makes you want to get outside and do anything at all. Cut grass, clear weeds, plant flowers, clean up winter's debris, paint the porch, wash the car, whatever, as long as it includes being outside. I tell myself that very possibly this is a spring-time occurrence only, but I really don't believe that this is the case. I still feel that urge to get outside and beautify my little corner of God's green earth, but I just can't take the heat anymore. I've tried to do it at night, but, for one thing, it's not much cooler, and, another thing is, I'm scared of critters. Isn't that crazy? I've never really been afraid of snakes, or insects, or anything that would do me harm, but ever since I found that wretched black widow spider, I've been afraid to turn over rocks, do heavy weeding, go in brushy areas, woods. Good grief! I hate letting something like that keep me from doing what I need ( and enjoy) doing. That doesn't mean that I will never do these activities again, it just means that I will be very, very, cautious. ( BTW- I was looking on the internet to try to find the ever-elusive mosquito repellent recipe, and I found out that Listerine mouthwash sprayed all around your yard, porch, or any other place that you would want to repel those wretched beasts, works very well. I have personally tried this remedy, and was very pleased to find good results. It won't last forever, of course, but is a very good short-time remedy.It works as a general bug killer as well, it can be sprayed directly onto the bug, and at least stuns them enough so that you can kill them with the fly swatter. I tried it on my skin as a repellent as well, it worked, but left a very sticky residue; highly unappealing, but I sweat so much when I am outside working, that it might actually be worth the sticky feeling. It doesn't smell too awfully medicine(y) , and it is fairly inexpensive. And I figured that if you could put it in the inside of your mouth, then it couldn't be that bad to spray onto your skin. Oh, and I tried rubbing olive oil all over my skin; according to Captain Compost of Al., this works great for him. Didn't work for me, though. JoAnna thought I was nuts, but she's getting used to seeing me use strange and unusual kitchen lotions and potions to try to get some relief from these horrible creatures. )
So, back to the yard chores; I see so many things that are just begging to be done, but it is so hot, that, even if I convince myself to go out there and get busy, the heat gets me before I make a good dent in any project that I happen to start. A friend drove by the other morning about six a.m. when I was in the front yard, and asked if it wasn't just a little too early in the morning to be raking up lawn clippings, and I asked him what better time there was to do it? It was as cool as it was going to get. I thought it made perfect sense, but I had to question the wisdom of that when the hornets got after me. Man, oh man! do them boogers ever hurt! Only one of them managed to get me, but bam! bam! bam! , he got me three times in very quick succession! Yee-oowww! So, that's another reason that I am afraid of critters. I have not been afraid of insects too much in the past, but just this summer, I have gotten bitten by a tick, (first time ever), stung by the hornet, and bitten by all manner of biting insects. My things that I have been particularly abhorrent of have been spiders, and ticks; now I am actually afraid of them. But I'll be doggoned if I am going to let these wretched beasts cripple me, I've got enough phobias as it is, without going out and collecting more. So, there!, you wretched beasts, Carole ain't gonna give up, it's all-out war!
Hey, something else I've found out on the internet: In researching natural weed killers, 90% of people on all the gardening forums that I looked on agreed that vinegar, ( household vinegar is 5%, horticultural vinegar is 10 - 20% strength) , used alone, or in combination with regular household salt is a great weed killer. There is some debate about the salt, it is supposed to work very well with the vinegar, but is supposed to be bad for the environment in large quantities. It is not supposed to break down easily, staying around for years. Vinegar works, used alone, but the vinegar and salt mixture is supposed to be the absolute best remedy around. I haven't tried it yet, ( still too hot for me to be outside for any length of time), but I do know someone who used regular household vinegar, and had very good results. If one application doesn't kill the weeds, then another application should take care of the problem. I'm not sure where horticultural vinegar can be found, the web-sites all say that garden centers will carry it, but either they don't carry it in our area, or I am not looking in the right place. I'll keep looking, however, and post it if I am able to find it. It has been said that boiling water poured over weeds will kill them as well, but either my weeds are way too big, or I didn't use enough boiling water, because the weeds didn't die.
Well, that's my two-cents worth, ( for what it's worth, he he he!) Happy Gardening.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
In The Rural Setting......
In the rural setting:
1. You get to share your space with a multitude of God's creatures- rodents, insects, deer, snakes.........good grief! where do all these critters come from? And the bad thing about it is, even if they are cute and fuzzy, most of the time they are destructive. The deer will eat anything, including the baby fruit trees that you paid $150.00 for, and paid your son-in-law $100.00 to plant for you. The rodents dig up your flower bulbs and eat them; the insects chomp down on your vegetable plants until there is nothing left but skeletons of what used to be; rabbits eat your vegetables as well; and good grief, what the worms and raccoons will do to your corn patch! It's enough to make you want to cry! ( or get mad; or get even; or declare WAR!) We bought three six-foot-high dog pens to encircle our garden with; this has worked pretty good about keeping the animals out. The deer don't like to jump inside an enclosed space; also, there is not a good landing-place inside the fence, because we have raised beds; two concrete blocks high.
Lizards, toads, and snakes, however, are very good to have around. Toads and lizards eat insects, and snakes eat mice. Also, ladybugs and praying mantis eat aphids! Yay! Bats are also wonderful to have around, they eat mosquitoes.
2. You might have a lot more lawn to cut when you live in the country, but you get lots more grass-clippings and leaves for your compost pile. I got out there today and cut grass, and then raked up all the clippings, and got LOTS of material for composting. I'll bet all the neighbors thought I was nuts; you can drive down the road, you can see the yards that have just been cut; that the grass has gotten so large that it has gone to seed. And when the grass is finally cut, there is huge clumps that have been spitten out by the lawn mower. ( I want to get my rake and go get all of that free mulch). Anyway, most everyone in MY neighborhood just leaves the grass where it falls........the yard is too big to do all that raking, don't you know. Me, though, I get out there and rake up all them precious greens, and dream of all that precious black that will eventually grow my next ford-hook lima beans. ( see previous post on composting).
3. You can have a bigger garden when you live in the country. The one I planted this year wasn't big enough. We put in three, 30-foot raised beds; we planted corn in the middle of two of them. The corn took up too much room, so when I plant again, I will put the corn in a separate area, (and hope they don't get ravaged too awfully bad by raccoons). I'm telling you what, though. That was some of the best ( and sweetest) corn that I have ever eaten. The ears didn't get as large as I thought they should be, but they made up for it in taste. ( We didn't plant the corn the way it is supposed to be planted; we planted just two rows. You are supposed to plant more than two rows, at least four or six, so that the corn can help pollinate each other. It doesn't matter how long the rows are, in other words, plant it in a square-shape instead of rectangle or row-shaped. ) That way, they have a better chance to help pollinate each other. I think my corn did not have enough corn around it to get good pollination; hence, the smaller ears. BTW, something interesting about corn; each of the silks goes to a kernel inside the corn husk. Each silk has to be pollinated to form a kernel of corn. If you have an ear of corn with bare spots on the cob, that means that the silks didn't get completely pollinated. Interesting, huh?
4. It is quieter out in the country. There are not as many people all around you; if you don't live in an apartment or in a trailer park, that is. I live in an area that has people all around; but we are currently building a house on 6.75 acres, which is where my garden is located. The place where I am now is very noisy; I can hear my closest neighbors talk when they are out in their yards. And unfortunately, I can hear their music as well. I had my garden up here until this year, and I would take my music outside to listen to while I was working, but it had to compete with the neighbors music as well. And the neighbors in the back are prone to have large gatherings. Frequently. And loudly. And, the language is not exactly g-rated. Goodness, I can't wait to move!
5. It is darker out in the country. And that is not always a good thing; especially when you are building a house, and people keep coming onto your property and stealing things. We put up a fence, and installed a gate ( with padlocks), and STILL they got in and stole my little tiller. My husband bought me a Little Mantis tiller, because I have back problems, and this tiller weighs less that 20 pounds. He paid $450.00 for that little tiller, and I had only had it for 2 years, and someone UNLOCKED the doggone gate and stole my tiller, ( along with an air compressor of my husband's) . It's too hot to stay there at night to guard the place; no electricity or plumbing yet. I sure mourn the loss of my tiller, though.
Well, there are lots more good things, and bad things about living in the country, but I'll have to ruminate on them later; most of the Locust Fork population is asleep but me, and I wouldn't want to rock the boat. Good night!
P.S. May God continually bless the man who invented the riding lawn mower!
1. You get to share your space with a multitude of God's creatures- rodents, insects, deer, snakes.........good grief! where do all these critters come from? And the bad thing about it is, even if they are cute and fuzzy, most of the time they are destructive. The deer will eat anything, including the baby fruit trees that you paid $150.00 for, and paid your son-in-law $100.00 to plant for you. The rodents dig up your flower bulbs and eat them; the insects chomp down on your vegetable plants until there is nothing left but skeletons of what used to be; rabbits eat your vegetables as well; and good grief, what the worms and raccoons will do to your corn patch! It's enough to make you want to cry! ( or get mad; or get even; or declare WAR!) We bought three six-foot-high dog pens to encircle our garden with; this has worked pretty good about keeping the animals out. The deer don't like to jump inside an enclosed space; also, there is not a good landing-place inside the fence, because we have raised beds; two concrete blocks high.
Lizards, toads, and snakes, however, are very good to have around. Toads and lizards eat insects, and snakes eat mice. Also, ladybugs and praying mantis eat aphids! Yay! Bats are also wonderful to have around, they eat mosquitoes.
2. You might have a lot more lawn to cut when you live in the country, but you get lots more grass-clippings and leaves for your compost pile. I got out there today and cut grass, and then raked up all the clippings, and got LOTS of material for composting. I'll bet all the neighbors thought I was nuts; you can drive down the road, you can see the yards that have just been cut; that the grass has gotten so large that it has gone to seed. And when the grass is finally cut, there is huge clumps that have been spitten out by the lawn mower. ( I want to get my rake and go get all of that free mulch). Anyway, most everyone in MY neighborhood just leaves the grass where it falls........the yard is too big to do all that raking, don't you know. Me, though, I get out there and rake up all them precious greens, and dream of all that precious black that will eventually grow my next ford-hook lima beans. ( see previous post on composting).
3. You can have a bigger garden when you live in the country. The one I planted this year wasn't big enough. We put in three, 30-foot raised beds; we planted corn in the middle of two of them. The corn took up too much room, so when I plant again, I will put the corn in a separate area, (and hope they don't get ravaged too awfully bad by raccoons). I'm telling you what, though. That was some of the best ( and sweetest) corn that I have ever eaten. The ears didn't get as large as I thought they should be, but they made up for it in taste. ( We didn't plant the corn the way it is supposed to be planted; we planted just two rows. You are supposed to plant more than two rows, at least four or six, so that the corn can help pollinate each other. It doesn't matter how long the rows are, in other words, plant it in a square-shape instead of rectangle or row-shaped. ) That way, they have a better chance to help pollinate each other. I think my corn did not have enough corn around it to get good pollination; hence, the smaller ears. BTW, something interesting about corn; each of the silks goes to a kernel inside the corn husk. Each silk has to be pollinated to form a kernel of corn. If you have an ear of corn with bare spots on the cob, that means that the silks didn't get completely pollinated. Interesting, huh?
4. It is quieter out in the country. There are not as many people all around you; if you don't live in an apartment or in a trailer park, that is. I live in an area that has people all around; but we are currently building a house on 6.75 acres, which is where my garden is located. The place where I am now is very noisy; I can hear my closest neighbors talk when they are out in their yards. And unfortunately, I can hear their music as well. I had my garden up here until this year, and I would take my music outside to listen to while I was working, but it had to compete with the neighbors music as well. And the neighbors in the back are prone to have large gatherings. Frequently. And loudly. And, the language is not exactly g-rated. Goodness, I can't wait to move!
5. It is darker out in the country. And that is not always a good thing; especially when you are building a house, and people keep coming onto your property and stealing things. We put up a fence, and installed a gate ( with padlocks), and STILL they got in and stole my little tiller. My husband bought me a Little Mantis tiller, because I have back problems, and this tiller weighs less that 20 pounds. He paid $450.00 for that little tiller, and I had only had it for 2 years, and someone UNLOCKED the doggone gate and stole my tiller, ( along with an air compressor of my husband's) . It's too hot to stay there at night to guard the place; no electricity or plumbing yet. I sure mourn the loss of my tiller, though.
Well, there are lots more good things, and bad things about living in the country, but I'll have to ruminate on them later; most of the Locust Fork population is asleep but me, and I wouldn't want to rock the boat. Good night!
P.S. May God continually bless the man who invented the riding lawn mower!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Subtle Signs Of Dedicated Composters
This is too funny! I've been guilty of a lot of these, but now I have lots more ideas!
1. You get very excited when your next-door neighbor gets a herd of cows.
2. You scavenge your friends trash cans when you visit, to get all the 'goodies' that they've thrown away.
3. When you see your neighbor raking leaves in the fall, you run over to ask if you can have them.
4. When visitors ask you if they can use your bathroom, you tell them your toilet is broken, and ask them to pee into a container, so that you can add all that 'natural nitrogen' to your compost pile.
5. When neighborhoods place all of their raked and bagged leaves out for the city to pick up, and you want to cry because you've run out of room in your car to bring all that you see home.
6. You can't see how to change lanes, because of all the bags of leaves in your car that you've picked up.
7. Your car still has tell-tale odors from last year's manure haul.
8. You bribe employees of the local coffee shops to save their spent grounds for you.
9. You barter home-grown vegetables for sacks of lawn and grass clippings.
10. When you give a compost-turning tool for a house-warming gift.
11. When you start talking to other people about 'greens' and 'browns'.
12. When co-workers look at you strange for taking home all the scrap paper from the trash can beside the copy machine.
13. When you ask your co-workers if you can have their banana peels and apple cores.
14. You offer to help clean a chicken coop in exchange for the bedding.
15. Weeding is now for the purpose of feeding your compost pile.
P.S. My bathroom is in good working order, so feel free to visit.
1. You get very excited when your next-door neighbor gets a herd of cows.
2. You scavenge your friends trash cans when you visit, to get all the 'goodies' that they've thrown away.
3. When you see your neighbor raking leaves in the fall, you run over to ask if you can have them.
4. When visitors ask you if they can use your bathroom, you tell them your toilet is broken, and ask them to pee into a container, so that you can add all that 'natural nitrogen' to your compost pile.
5. When neighborhoods place all of their raked and bagged leaves out for the city to pick up, and you want to cry because you've run out of room in your car to bring all that you see home.
6. You can't see how to change lanes, because of all the bags of leaves in your car that you've picked up.
7. Your car still has tell-tale odors from last year's manure haul.
8. You bribe employees of the local coffee shops to save their spent grounds for you.
9. You barter home-grown vegetables for sacks of lawn and grass clippings.
10. When you give a compost-turning tool for a house-warming gift.
11. When you start talking to other people about 'greens' and 'browns'.
12. When co-workers look at you strange for taking home all the scrap paper from the trash can beside the copy machine.
13. When you ask your co-workers if you can have their banana peels and apple cores.
14. You offer to help clean a chicken coop in exchange for the bedding.
15. Weeding is now for the purpose of feeding your compost pile.
P.S. My bathroom is in good working order, so feel free to visit.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Things To Do
Today, I am going to use this forum to give myself a pep talk.
All of my pink-eye-purple-hull peas have given up the ghost, and instead of pulling them up and re-planting, I let the heat intimidate me. Good grief! I'm telling you what, I just can't take the heat anymore. I go out into the garden with a wet rag around my neck, use the hose to wet various body parts, strategically place fans all around............. I feel like such a wimp. So, I have let this deter me from doing what I KNOW that I need to be doing.
Here are the things that need to be done; ( and this list is not only for me, but for others that may be first-time gardeners that may wonder what needs to be done next.......)
1. I need to pull all of the spent pea-vines, and throw on compost heap.
2. Need to turn compost heap. ( despite all of my good intentions, this heap has not been turned once this year. )
3. Need to pull all spent corn-stalks, compost the remains. ( Although, let me tell you what I did with some of the last ones that I pulled up. When I pulled them out of the ground, I tossed them into the middle of the rows that were growing , to help provide mulch, because the mulch that I had put into the middle was not thick enough, and weeds were beginning to get large. Worked pretty good!) In any event, it's still time to clean up the garden, so that I can get another crop in before winter.
4. Gonna have to scrape the mulch out of the way, and scrabble up the ground a bit, and throw some more seeds in, along with a little of that un-turned compost, and see if I can get some cool-weather crops growing; carrots, turnip greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, etc.
5. Need to use some of my wonderful fish emulsion to fertilize what is currently growing. BTW, have any of you folks ever used fish emulsion? I have discovered this wonderful stuff recently. I found it at Wal-Mart and Lowes; I had been reading about it in my garden books, and had no experience with using it, didn't know anyone that HAD used it, but in all of the books, it was supposed to be good stuff. (Organic). The problem with everything recommended in these books is, they all give the ingredients of the products, but they don't give brand names, and the sales people look at you like you're crazy when you go in and ask for IGR (insect growth regulator). It has been a dickens of a time trying to find most of the organic items that are recommended. Anyway, back to the fish emulsion, this is a liquid foliar fertilizer, that is mixed and sprayed directly onto the plants, leaves, stems, all of the plant parts. The first time I used it, I sprayed it onto some sad-looking pink-eye-purple-hull peas, and the next day when I went back to the garden, the difference in the appearance of the plants was very noticable. I'm not kidding, them boogers were standing up straighter, looked a lot greener, it was awesome! I like that fish emulsion! ( just a note: it is sold in the garden centers in the spring, once they sell all that they have ordered, they normally don't buy any more, because they don't want to have to put it on the clearance rack in August; note-to-self- buy fish emulsion when you start the garden season, if you wait until later, you probably won't be able to find any. I have sung its praises so much, and it is not available right now, so I have poured a little in quite a few little bottles, and passed it out. Fortunately, I bought extra, so I had some to share. ) Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, look at all the garden center's clearance racks right now; everything seasonal is being marked down, you can get lots of good buys! It's a great way to get some things that you have wanted but haven't had the extra money to buy. ( They say seeds are cheap, and they are, but when you have to buy everything that you absolutely HAVE to have, some things you just have to wait until later on.)
6. I really need to water the garden as well- this is a time-consuming job. It usually takes me about an hour and a half to water. ( Of course, this is a great job for kids to do, THEY don't seem to mind if the hose "just happens" to get them wet as well as the plants!)
7. There are some BIG weeds that have grown around the edges, that the landscape fabric didn't quite cover, ( there is one huge plant that grew in one of my raised beds in the tomato patch, it has little ball-shaped seed pods on it.......... my husband asked me what kind of vegatable was the one growing in the tomato patch. It was kind of embarrasing to tell him that it was a weed that had gone to seed,.....he he he!) Since my weed-eater is not working, I will have to get the grass-shears and shear the weeds by hand. I enjoy this kind of stuff, but it is so hot, that I get wet from head to toe from sweat, how I long to take my clothes off; couldn't do that to the neighbors, though. My, how I do ramble!
Well, just from seeing a partial list, I have revved myself up, ..........I think? In any event, revved up or not , guess I'd better get to it. More later........
All of my pink-eye-purple-hull peas have given up the ghost, and instead of pulling them up and re-planting, I let the heat intimidate me. Good grief! I'm telling you what, I just can't take the heat anymore. I go out into the garden with a wet rag around my neck, use the hose to wet various body parts, strategically place fans all around............. I feel like such a wimp. So, I have let this deter me from doing what I KNOW that I need to be doing.
Here are the things that need to be done; ( and this list is not only for me, but for others that may be first-time gardeners that may wonder what needs to be done next.......)
1. I need to pull all of the spent pea-vines, and throw on compost heap.
2. Need to turn compost heap. ( despite all of my good intentions, this heap has not been turned once this year. )
3. Need to pull all spent corn-stalks, compost the remains. ( Although, let me tell you what I did with some of the last ones that I pulled up. When I pulled them out of the ground, I tossed them into the middle of the rows that were growing , to help provide mulch, because the mulch that I had put into the middle was not thick enough, and weeds were beginning to get large. Worked pretty good!) In any event, it's still time to clean up the garden, so that I can get another crop in before winter.
4. Gonna have to scrape the mulch out of the way, and scrabble up the ground a bit, and throw some more seeds in, along with a little of that un-turned compost, and see if I can get some cool-weather crops growing; carrots, turnip greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, etc.
5. Need to use some of my wonderful fish emulsion to fertilize what is currently growing. BTW, have any of you folks ever used fish emulsion? I have discovered this wonderful stuff recently. I found it at Wal-Mart and Lowes; I had been reading about it in my garden books, and had no experience with using it, didn't know anyone that HAD used it, but in all of the books, it was supposed to be good stuff. (Organic). The problem with everything recommended in these books is, they all give the ingredients of the products, but they don't give brand names, and the sales people look at you like you're crazy when you go in and ask for IGR (insect growth regulator). It has been a dickens of a time trying to find most of the organic items that are recommended. Anyway, back to the fish emulsion, this is a liquid foliar fertilizer, that is mixed and sprayed directly onto the plants, leaves, stems, all of the plant parts. The first time I used it, I sprayed it onto some sad-looking pink-eye-purple-hull peas, and the next day when I went back to the garden, the difference in the appearance of the plants was very noticable. I'm not kidding, them boogers were standing up straighter, looked a lot greener, it was awesome! I like that fish emulsion! ( just a note: it is sold in the garden centers in the spring, once they sell all that they have ordered, they normally don't buy any more, because they don't want to have to put it on the clearance rack in August; note-to-self- buy fish emulsion when you start the garden season, if you wait until later, you probably won't be able to find any. I have sung its praises so much, and it is not available right now, so I have poured a little in quite a few little bottles, and passed it out. Fortunately, I bought extra, so I had some to share. ) Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, look at all the garden center's clearance racks right now; everything seasonal is being marked down, you can get lots of good buys! It's a great way to get some things that you have wanted but haven't had the extra money to buy. ( They say seeds are cheap, and they are, but when you have to buy everything that you absolutely HAVE to have, some things you just have to wait until later on.)
6. I really need to water the garden as well- this is a time-consuming job. It usually takes me about an hour and a half to water. ( Of course, this is a great job for kids to do, THEY don't seem to mind if the hose "just happens" to get them wet as well as the plants!)
7. There are some BIG weeds that have grown around the edges, that the landscape fabric didn't quite cover, ( there is one huge plant that grew in one of my raised beds in the tomato patch, it has little ball-shaped seed pods on it.......... my husband asked me what kind of vegatable was the one growing in the tomato patch. It was kind of embarrasing to tell him that it was a weed that had gone to seed,.....he he he!) Since my weed-eater is not working, I will have to get the grass-shears and shear the weeds by hand. I enjoy this kind of stuff, but it is so hot, that I get wet from head to toe from sweat, how I long to take my clothes off; couldn't do that to the neighbors, though. My, how I do ramble!
Well, just from seeing a partial list, I have revved myself up, ..........I think? In any event, revved up or not , guess I'd better get to it. More later........
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