Spring fever

Yep, I have a good case of spring fever. Last night I started 18 tomato seeds. All heirloom. (Gold medal, .brandy wine, and flame hillbilly.) Today I am planting a hybrid. Beef master.. Just in case the others fail due to what ever mother nature throws at us. I am not one for gmo food. But this is one of the earliest  hybrids. And are the results of cross pollination. To improve on the health or size of the plant. It to me is not like a test tube modification.  Or chemically engineered product.

Definitions
 Heirloom tomatoes are old varieties grown from seed saved from season to season. Heirlooms are a category unto themselves. They tend to be less disease resistant and "wilder" in appearance. Fans insist that their flavor and uniqueness make up for any disadvantages.
Hybrid tomatoes are developed to give growers the best characteristics of all varieties. Fruit size, crop yield and disease resistance are all traits of hybrids.

 I use a small pinch of stuffing like you would use in a pillow or toy. I place it in the bottom of a shot glass size cup. This works well for wicking water  up to the soil, with out soaking the soil. After the plant gets a good start, I transplant it in a 12 oz cup, or a self watering soda bottle. I have had very good results this way.I reuse these cups to replant. So they are not wasted.
 

I use a box covered with trash bags to make like a green house or terrarium affect. In a few days the seed should sprout.

I took a walk around my yard today and found signs of early or false spring. We have had some warm days. Not normal for this time of year. So I took a few photos.

This is a self watering drum I cut in half to make 2 planters. I have asparagus planted in this one. And should be able to cut off and eat some of it this year. I planted it from seed a few years ago.The sticks you see in it are last years plants. They look like wood sticks. I should have added more dirt..

This photo shows a juice bottle in the corner to add water to the bottom.
 It also allows me to see the water level. So I can add more if needed.
 

 The photo below is elephant ear garlic starting to grow already.

I have Iris starting to green up too.  And daffodil are up 2 inches. 

So it looks like an early spring is on its way.

 If you want more information on how I did the containers please click on this link
 http://itsgreenday.blogspot.com/
 It will take you to my old garden blog. I have not up dated it since 2009/10. I gave up on gardening after the summer of 09. Too much rain. And last year drought. This year I am planning to be ready for what ever mother nature throws at us. By using more self watering containers. And or umbrellas. HEHEHE.

Note:
 Hybrid plants, such as ‘Big Boy’, ‘Beefmaster’ and ‘Early Girl’ tomatoes will produce viable seed. Plants grown from that seed, however, will not be just like the hybrid parents; instead, they will be a completely new combination of the good and bad traits of the plants that were initially crossed. It’s impossible to predict just how the seedling plant will perform or what qualities the fruit will have.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

Garden up date

I have been experimenting with color mulch this year. You can see more on my garden blog if you like.

My tomatoes with the cypress mulch is out growing the others with red or silver mulch. The cauliflower is growing great silver, but getting a bit larger on red.

cabbage is doing well with aluminum foil under it.

please do not mind the weeds I have not been able to work on them in a few weeks.

now look at this poor cabbage with no tin foil.
big difference

My self watering buckets are trying both colors. The silver one was just planted yesterday. And had to go through the storm we had. So It needs some catch up time.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. - George Bernard Shaw

Self watering container

We have had so much rain my only hope of controlling the environment for my tomatoes are these self watering tubs. with plastic over my tomatoes.

In the tub above I have yellowing on the leafs of the tomato . The asparagus seems fine. So I took off the bottom yellow leaves and added more composted manure. along with dry grass and clover.My upside down tomatoes are the only healthy ones I have at this time. I can control the amount of water they get by covering the hole on top.
I added plastic to protect the tubs from all the storms we are expecting.
I will uncover them when weather is clear.
___________________________________________________________________________The photo above shows above shows how I use the sleeve of an old cotton work shirt for a wick to pull water from the bottom of the tub to the top of the soil.
I them take a tomato seedling that has yellow leaves and remove it from the self watering soda bottle. I pull off all the yellow leaves.

Next step is to plant it deeper in the tub so it grows more roots and hopefully creates a healthy plant. Click here to see how my self watering tubs were created.

Click here to see more of my garden.

Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. - George Bernard Shaw

My garden design

I did my garden design with windows paint and adobe photo deluxe. 4.0 I have version 6 & 7 to but do not like them yet.
I did an overview of the yard. Then added photos of last summer to remind me of what I did then.
Now I have to decide how to expand. Where to put things like tomato and corn so not to cross pollinate. I need more information on distance. So I can keep the seed pure. I also need a place for melons. as they did not do well last year.

I looked for an online designer or free soft ware.

So far this is the first one I have found it is simple and basic.
virtual online plan graph designer
I will use it later for placement of veggies

.My first plan above is the whole yard. placement of trees house etc. The tan color is house or buildings. gray is rock.The color yellow is where the is a chance . either full or part sun. White is full shade. Blue is water. Red is fruit tree or berry. Green is flowers , bush or veggies. We have allot of trees so there is not much full sun locations. My main veggie garden is the top of photo beside the house. I do not use the back because there is a dry creak bed that will flood . We have crawdads in that area also. I my try corn back there near the property line. or container or top soil bags this year.





This is my basic design . I used the 3 sisters method of growing last year. beans using the corn to grow on and yellow squash between the plants. It worked quite well in saving space.
I plan to try self watering buckets.
And the no dig method of top soil bags . This will help to expand the garden.

I also used companion plants to prevent insect damage to the veggies.
I will expand on that and add more flowers.





Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.
Grammy

My New trash to treasure find

When I lived in St. Louis there was unbelievable things set out to the trash.
Where I live now. Nothing is thrown away unless it is unusable by any one.
This shelf is savable though.

It has one bar on the back side that is rusted through. I will clean it up paint it and put a piece if pvc plumbing pipe over it to hide and secure the bar. Then I have a bakers rack for free. As I have left over paint and pvc.

Seed up date.
My recycled green house is working

We will be having our Thanks giving gathering Saturday.
As my youngest has to work on Thanks giving day.
She just finished CNA classes last month. Now she is working at a nursing home. And she has already saved the lives of 2 people in the last 3 months. I am so proud of her.
Blessings to all.
Have a wonderful day!

Recycled Seed starters

There is nothing blooming in my yard so

I decided to start some seed in the house.
I prefer to recycle and reuse. So I saved toilet paper rolls.
You fold them in half, then open them up and fold in half again to create a square.
You can cut them in half again to make 2 tubes or leave tall for 1.

Cut slits about 1/2 inch in all 4 sides to form a box bottem

Now you can use tp around them with a rubber band or find a container like this. The yellow tray and insert is from fresh chicken they cut up and called chicken tinders. I washed them well so not to pass on germs from raw meat. I can put water in the bottom tray and wick it to the plants . I can put this in plastic like a green house to sprout seed. then uncover to grow. With this tray it held the rolls together so I did not need the rubber bands.
But for now I have a used taco salad container and it holds the insert and 2-3 full size tubes. I put water in the bottom and lid on top for now. I hope to grow my own salad in doors. I will try this with some flower seed and see if I can grow a green thumb. For indoor plants. After the seed sprouts I will show you how to make your own arrow garden out of recycled things and Store bought light. or you can look at this link for another persons ideal. My way will not use a metal coffee can as I do not buy them and would not risk my hands on cutting the can. But the rest of there Ideal is great.

This is one of my favorite blooms from this summer
This is like Stella d'Oro a daylily It is a re bloomer.
It gives you Orange/yellow color blooms from May-July.
But this is more orange than yellow.
This was a gift from my first new friend in this town I live in now.
Her name is Bobbie Joe.

Today is Jeans Bloomin Tuesday, Stop by and see what she has bloomin.

Its here

I received my Oct-Nov issue of Mother earth news magazine yesterday. And they did print my picture of Uncle Quacker. I did not get paid for this it was just an honer that they picked my pictures as an editors pick. 3 days ago I received another email from them that my Antique tractor show pictures made editors pick. Wow that makes 3 collections of my pictures picked.
I really like this magazine. But I like the web site better. You can learn so much there. Like on the picture below my duck, shows a garden done with bags of top soil.
When I first read about doing this on there web site I thought how tacky. Then I thought there is no benefit for the plant in the bag. But after seeing this picture. I thought that don't look that bad with all the mulch. You could also cover the bag with mulch so it is not seen. Also you could add compost and manure or peat to the bag to give the plants good soil and make then organic. After those thoughts I feel I may try this next year. It would make an easy no did garden. I would be good for people with hard clay like we have here and there in my yard. It would be an easy way to expand my garden with out digging.
OK I guess I sold my self on the Ideal. But would it be cheaper to use potting soil ? I will have to see. So next year I will try the bags like this, and the self watering 5 gallon buckets. Like on the recycling blog I wrote. This may turn me into a container gardener.
This would be cheaper than having a truck load of dirt brought in. Dirt is like gold here in mid Missouri. We have a high rock table. My friends mom had to hire a backhoe to plant a pear tree in her yard. My yard is not as bad as hers. But we flood.

This is a picture from my kitchen window today

This is a picture of what the birds are looking at.
We have baby bull frogs in the water.We keep a board in there in case any thing falls in.
I started doing this after I found a squirrel swimming
for its life in a free standing pond I had in St. Louis.
It also helps the birds to get water.
So you can call it my wild life tub.

Click here to see my photo collection.

Green News

An eco-friendly peat alternative

Coconut Coir Fiber

I asked the same thing What is it? Whatis it used for?
I was reading more on Inside Urban Green tonight.He uses this to start roots for his Ficus cuttings in soda bottles. He don't use soil. So I looked up Coir on google at Wikipedia I find it is coconut fibers make up about 1/3 of the of coconut pulp. The other 2/3 is called the pith or dust,

It is is a coarse fiber extracted from the fibrous outer shell of a coconut
it is biodegradable but takes 20 years to decompose, and it is resistance to bacteria and fungus growth.

Coir coconut fiber works anywhere you would normally use peat moss, rockwool, vermiculite, perlite, or pumice...and worms love it! It contains no nutrients. It is also used in hydroponic growing

Also used in ropes, mats, brushes, caulking boats

Note this is not intended to promote use of this , it is for educational purpose only.

Please use a search engine to find out more on your own if you think it would be of use to you.

recycling plastic

How creative is this. They took 50 gallon drums and placed them on old dollies and turned them into fun for the kids. click on the pictures to enlarge.
The boy in blue shirt is my grandson.



Picture was taken at the tractor show. In Eldon , Mo. The train engine is a lawn tractor. Made to look like a train.



This year I used empty Icing buckets that were headed for the trash at my local grocery store. I cut a 2 inch hole in top and bottom and placed 4 coffee filter in the bottom. They were cut to go around the stem. I held the plant while placing dirt in bucket. So that 3-4 inches were covered by soil. I used potting soil mixed with peat moss & grass clippings. We bought 3 4x4's to make the frame to hold them. There is room to add 2 more buckets. And if we add to the out side it will hold more.


In this picture I have a empty soda bottle hanging from the tree. I cut a hole in it and added a peace of PVC pip for the birds to stand on and eat seed from the bottleNext summer I want to try planting some of my plants in double 5 gallon pails like on this video. I found this video on Green Roof Growers Also check out Inside Urban Green
This site will show you how to use empty soda bottles to propagate plants.
I am going to try it to see if i can keep my seed starts alive for next year.

fun in the garden

The grandsons came for a week of fun in June.

Oh what fun it was to have the grandson's come to visit this summer.We enjoyed simple fun. They played on the sip and slide. Ran threw The tall field grass. Jumped and ran threw the mud puddles. I hung a tether ball from the beam in the kitchen.
It is so much fun to have them for a visit..

This is the end result of my tomatoes in a bucket

now it time to put the garden to rest

I used early girl tomatoes.They started out better than the ones in the ground. I picked my first tomato from them. But they were very unproductive. Some buckets never produced one tomato. All were small in size. And they were first to go brown in leaves.They did not have any bug problems. But stems were thick and cracked places when we had to much rain, I covered the whole and slowed the water intake that helped. But I had no Ideal what the things sticking out on branches were at the time. But I believe they are new roots. trying to grow. Because of the high amount of rain we had this summer. I only had to water maybe 3 times the full summer.

I will try this again next year with a diffrent type of tomato.