Dana's Garden

Charlottesville experienced a crazy thunderstorm last Thursday night that seemed to come out of nowhere.  The Weather Channel (which I no longer trust) predicted a 30% chance of rain, and sunny 95-degree weather for Thursday evening.  Although the chance of rain was slight, I’d still hoped, in the back of my mind, that it would rain.  That way, the garden would get watered, and I wouldn’t have to play softball in the extreme heat (we had a game scheduled that night).

Around 5:00 pm, I was sitting at my desk at work and heard thunder rumbling.  “YES!” I joyfully exclaim.  My wish had come true!   Errr….ish.

The storm was crazy.  It didn’t last very long, but what it did do was wreak havoc on an unsuspecting Cville.  Traffic lights at major intersections on 29 were out.  Tree branches were scattered across the roads.  Monstrous trees were uprooted from the ground in various front yards.  From what I hear, the storm also destroyed a neighborhood by McIntire Park.  The power at my apartment was out until about 6 or 7 am the next morning.

So along with all of this, naturally Kurt and I were concerned about the garden.  We tried to go by after the storm to check on it, but fallen trees were blocking the entrance.  I think we both had mental images of our corn stalks laying down on the ground.

Luckily, as we found out yesterday when we were both able to stop by, nothing was harmed.  We had some tomato branches laying down on the ground, but nothing the storm caused – they’re just getting too big.  By the way, when we had to start staking our tomato plants, we went to Lowe’s to buy cages but they were sold out of the large ones, and told us they were not going to order any more for the rest of the year (what’s up with that?).  The small ones were pretty flimsy, so we went with our own method and bought some small border fencing (the kind that folds over about 7-8 times), took them apart by the hinges, and gave one little fence piece per plant.  We just tie them up next to the fence pieces.  If they get too big for those, we’ll supplement with some sticks later on, but so far they’re working great!

Things are still going well.  The corn is getting silk on it.  Another big bag of green beans picked earlier in the week.  Peas are finishing up (too bad they don’t replenish themselves).  We’ll probably take the pea trellis down soon and plant something else, TBD.  I saw some more zucchinis on the plants yesterday, so that’s exciting.  I’m really jonesing for some home-grown tomatoes – can’t wait for those to finally turn red!

I’m visiting my parents in Belmont this weekend.  They have a nice vegetable garden in their backyard, and I’m pretty impressed with the tomatoes and squash they’ve picked thus far. 

I was rooting through family pictures on their computer and found one of when my parents visited me back in April and got to come see the garden, in its infancy.  Literally nothing (except maybe a few radishes) was growing at the time.  It leaves me in a state of awe how much it’s grown since then.  I leave you for now with the Before and After pictures.  Until next time!

Dana

April 2010

June 2010

June 2010

We’re in for a very dry week in Charlottesville.  Low- to mid-90s every day and only 10-20% chance of rain until next Tuesday.

This presents an inconvenience for us, since we currently have an empty rain barrel and no system of catching rain, if there was any to fall.  The other problem is that, during my move a couple weeks ago, we mistook our black garbage bag of water jugs for trash, so they all got dumped.   A fresh bunch of jugs from Food Lion is now in our possession, so with that, we were able to water the garden tonight.

We really need to build a rain-catching system next year.  I’m getting tired of hauling jugs around.

On a positive note, we had a huge harvest yesterday!  Here’s the spread:

Nasturtiums, radishes, green beans, sugar snap peas, lettuce, jalapeno, cilantro!

We cooked the green beans as our side with our burgers, and everything else went into a nice salad:

Pretty, and all edible (yes, even the flowers)!  A variety of flavors here:  the nasturtiums lend a peppery taste, peas are sweet, radishes a little hot.

Speaking of “hot”…yesterday was a scorcher.  Somehow we believed that it would actually be cool in the morning, if we got up and started working in the garden around 8 am.  Hahahaha.  Yeah.  It was already 85 degrees by then.  I got burned on my back pretty bad.  Looked into the poison ivy Kurt’s been telling me about, in the corner of the plot where nothing is really growing right now.  Kurt is extremely allergic to poison ivy (like, a trip to the hospital kind of allergic), and it’s never affected me before (despite many years of childhood spent playing outside and probably frolicking through it), so guess who had to clean it up.  I uprooted it with the shovel, probably took about 10 minutes.  Not a big deal.  Wore long sleeves and pants, threw those things in a bag and then straight into the washing machine when I got home.  Took off the gloves I was wearing immediately and used another pair (going to steer clear of the other ones for awhile).

Despite the heat, we got a lot of work done.  Lots of weeding done…the thicket that is the right side of our garden is now clear thanks to Kurt!  Plant rows are nice and tidy now.  The rest of the landscaping cloth is laid down now, so we have nice pathways to everything.

I also got a replacement for the blackberry plant that Kurt accidentally dug up the other day.  (He tried to put it back, but the whole thing turned brown.  It happens.)

Tonight after watering, we picked a whole bag of green beans, with plenty left on the plants.  That felt pretty good.   I also made some pico de gallo using the jalapeno and cilantro picked yesterday.  Put it on top of some shrimp and rice and was so tasty!  (Recipe here:  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pico-De-Gallo/Detail.aspx).

So, progress continues, and things are coming along nicely.  I think we’re both pretty pleasantly surprised with the strides the garden has taken.  Everything started out so small and it was kind of all up in the air.  Now, we have something we can be proud of.  And all of this from starting with a plot of land that was halfway underwater.

Bon appetit!

Dana

Kurt always complains that we don’t take enough pictures of the garden.  So, here is a whole truckload of them for you to enjoy. As you can see, things are getting HUGE – plus, we were able to pick a zucchini that was nearly a foot long, and our first little jalapeno!  Things are going great overall.  We really cleaned up a lot of the weeds and to prevent rework on the weeding (which we’re both pretty tired of doing), we’re laid down weed control fabric, too.  (Claire, Logan, Genevieve and Bill have a spectacular garden across town at Azalea Park and so we picked up the fabric idea from them. )  Although I didn’t realize how cumbersome it is to put that fabric down.  The anchor pins hit rocks in the ground so you have to keep moving them around to find just the perfect spot, so the whole process takes awhile.  But totally worth it!

We’re also going to have to think about water, since it didn’t rain nearly as much as I thought it was going to in the past week.  Poor little plants are probably getting dried out over there.   Of course, during the move to my new apartment, we accidentally threw out all our water jugs – so, it looks like a trip to the store for me to get some new ones.  I’d wait until I go through some more OJ jugs, but it’s going to be 96 degrees tomorrow so it’s probably in our best interest to get these guys watered tonight. 

Also going to run out to Fifth Season Gardening Co. to see if they have any winter squash seeds (Kurt is raving about winter squash) and to look at their selection of window sill planters.  I have a nice little “juliet” balcony at my new place and want to put some planters on the balustrade, and make that my mini at-home herb garden. 

Anyway, I digress – here are the pictures!  Enjoy!

Dana

The past several rains we’ve gotten here in Charlottesville have been TERRIFIC for the garden. Kurt and I can’t believe how quickly everything is popping up. To see all these plants coming to life and growing every day just gives us such an incredible feeling.
Radishes got picked today! Not a huge bunch, but just right for 1-2 people. Of course, Kurt and I don’t really like radishes…we’re really growing them for his sister-in-law, Michelle. Hope she enjoys.

(Taken with the Nikon)

Everything is looking great, overall, but there have been a few problems as of late. Namely, bugs are eating through our leaves – mostly on zucchini, broccoli, and green beans. Oh and don’t even get me started on eggplant – they’re goners! But I still find myself watering them in the hopes they’ll step away from the light and come back to us.

So we’re trying out a mix of cayenne pepper and water and spraying that on the leaves. So far, it hasn’t killed anything good, so that makes me happy. Anything to discourage those little pests without hurting our plants is fine by me! Holding my breath on pesticides and Round Up. (Monsanto is an evil, EVIL company and can kiss it!)
The other problem, which is sort of mystifying me, is the fungus that’s growing in Raised Bed #2 which is currently housing broccoli, lettuce and tomatoes and probably NOT home to our spinach anymore. Not that it was doing anything anyway. But anyway, this fungus is killing me! First it popped up near the tomatoes, on the soil and on the side of the bed wall. So we took that out. And now, on another side of the bed, on the soil and wall. It’s really strange…I haven’t researched it yet. I would appreciate your comments and suggestions on this!

Icky, isn’t it?

So let’s talk about the good stuff! The peas are amazing me. I’ve never been able to successfully grow peas. At my old house in NC, rabbits ran rampant and would eat the whole plant before it could even get much more than 6″ tall. But NOW – these things are getting TALL – and as I’d hoped, they’re climbing up our twine trellis on their own! I have to help them out now and then and show them how to climb, but most of them are finding their way themselves. I’m so proud of my peas!

Sunflower is getting BIG – Kurt is excited.  I think I’ve figured it out – there’s a pattern here.  He gets excited about:  corn, pumpkins, sunflowers.  In other words, anything that’s going to take up a ton of space.  Bigger is better I guess.

I, on the other hand, am excited about the nasturtiums.  They’re so easy to maintain, you might as well have some.  And you can’t see it yet, but there are some little hot pink blooms growing in there.  Will definitely take pictures again once they bloom – they’ll be beautiful!  (And you can eat them too, how cool is that?)

New green bean rows have come up!  I looove green beans.  Yes.  Now that the first rows are getting taller though, we need to build something (another twine trellis?) for them to grow up.  Too late for bean teepees – maybe we’ll do those next year.

And chamomile!  The surprise herb that we didn’t plant.  Not sure if it was planted before I got the plot, or if it just finds its way over from other plots.  But whatever the case, it’s great, and we’ve been drinking it in our tea a lot.  I just put some chamomile in a tea infuser in the tea pot – and it’s just like Sleepy Time tea!

And carrots are getting bigger too.  It’s exciting to see them get all the new leaves and get taller every day.

Everything else is fine too, those were just the notables.  Tomatoes and peppers are OK but I wish they were growing a little faster.  New corn seeds are coming in and filling in the gaps where they didn’t come up the first time.  New zucchini plants have come up and old ones getting bigger.

Kurt dug up a ton of the weeds that were plaguing about 25% of our plot (way to go hon!), so things look a bit cleaner now.  Patio chairs to be moved over soon!  And it had better be soon too, because I’m moving to my new apartment at Walker Square next weekend and need to chuck whatever I can to fit into that 800 sq ft condo!  Ooo and I love the fact that the garden will now be closer to my abode AND will be on the way home from work now!  YES!

Speaking of moving, the cleaning and chucking garbage and packing is really taking a lot out of me.  On top of everything else I do – work, sports, and now I’m selling Pampered Chef.  It’s a lot to juggle!  I had intended to update this blog and my Facebook page much more often, but unfortunately there just aren’t enough hours in the day.  But I’m trying my hardest!

Hope people are still reading this and enjoying it!  I know my aunt Regina is – THANK YOU

Cheers,

Dana

So, I’ve been out of sorts for a bit.  Had a business trip to go on and therefore was out for a week.  Then I got back and thought I’d actually get some things done with the garden – WRONG!  Caught the worst head cold imaginable instead.  Damn you, airports.  And your friggin’ germs.

I recovered by about Tuesday…ish.  And then I became even busier.  I just became a Pampered Chef consultant to make a little extra dough (plus I just really love their products so why not?  http://www.pamperedchef.biz/danaholler … </plug>), and so I had a little “practice” show on Tuesday night.  Wednesday was PMI-Charlottesville meeting, Thursday was softball, Friday was my first real Pampered Chef cooking show.  Plus, Kurt was sick all week too (thanks to me), so whenever I wasn’t off doing something, I was tending to him.

Saturday was errands day, along with Farmers Market.  We finally got to take a friend – Cheryl – to see the garden after we picked up some tomato plants.  Kurt wanted to get a lot of plants and I only wanted to get two more.  We had a small scuffle.  No one was hurt.  We had to cram some plants in here and there (yes, we have tons of space but only so much prepared soil).   It’s all good!  We’ll have tons of tomatoes to give away at work. 

Then came Sunday – today – and we finally got a chance to get some things done around our busy day of softball and kickball games.  We weeded around plants, planted some more radish (we’ll have a big bunch of those to pick soon), green bean,  and corn seeds, and also planted some swiss chard.  A couple more zucchini, too – one of our plants isn’t doing well for some reason but the other ones are growing nicely.  Corn rows look sweeeeeet, but for some reason one of the four rows really didn’t grow so that’s why we replanted.  Peas are getting big!  Pretty soon they’ll be touching our ghetto-twine trellis.  Sunflower is getting big, I think that one is Kurt’s favorite for whatever reason, so we planted more of those too.  Buddy kept licking the blackberry plant, dogs really like blackberries I guess.  Carrots are getting a little leafier.  Cilantro is making an appearance.  Eggplant looks like bugs are eating holes through the leaves.  Strawberries are looking sad.  Oh well.   Waiting for nasturtiums to flower.

I’m happy that it’s supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow!  Less work for me! 

And here’s the photo gallery.  You can see we still have a ton of weeding to do.  We’ll get to it one of these days.

Going to bring the patio chairs and chiminea over soon so we can have a little sitting area (relax, neighbors, chiminea for decorative purposes ).  Next year we plan to build more raised beds for herbs etc., and want to build a brand new fence around our plot.  Just need to save up some funds first.  Kurt has a plan all drawn up for next year, so that’s pretty nice.  I’m glad he’s investing so much time and thought into the whole project.  Makes for a happy Dana.

Goodnight all!  Will try to do posts more often but you know how things get when you’re busy.

Love,

Dana

So I think I’ve learned from all of this that I really suck at starting plants from seed.  Herbs that I’m going to keep inside seem to do well – however, transplanting to the ground is a whole different story.

I guess maybe I didn’t let the seedlings get big enough first, but I had left them outside for a couple weeks to harden, transferred them to bigger pots – but they just weren’t getting any bigger – what gives?  I’d really appreciate some feedback from people who might have tried this before!

I tried to transplant my peppers and eggplants to the garden, but…they just didn’t make it.  They were just really small and flimsy I guess, and didn’t want to root into the ground.  So alas, I made a trip to the City Market this Saturday and bought 4 red/yellow bell pepper plants, a jalapeno plant, and 2 eggplant-plants and transplanted them.  (Kurt says I cheated because I didn’t grow them from seed.  I appreciate his new enthusiasm for gardening, but come on! )  I also picked up another Navajo thornless blackberry plant – loving those!  They’re still pretty small, but they’re doing great in the ground and are flowering little white flowers. Pretty.

As I made the trip over Saturday morning to transplant, I also noticed peas coming up!  Sunflower is getting bigger too.  Getting concerned about water supply – I typically take over about 8 gallons of water, which used to be much more than what you needed in one day, so I could kind of stock up on water, per se.  However, now that we have so much planted, it takes almost 8 gallons for just one watering!  Yikes.  We really need to come up with a rain-catching system soon.  My little ghetto project from several weeks back never panned out.

Anyway, I’m out of commission this week since I’m on another business trip.  Kurt will be running the show in my absence.  Gotta love him!

Good night folks,

Dana

So here’s a quick update – I realize that I ramble sometimes and people ain’t got all day…

Sunday:

• Went back and built the pea trellis I’d mentioned (used old tree branches as posts, and twine).  The posts were leaning towards each other and the ground was kind of soft, so I used two little statues I had (a turtle and a frog) to hold them up.  (I feel like MacGyver sometimes except only maybe half the things I try go right. )  Planted two rows of peas, to climb up each side of the trellis (probably about 100 seeds).  Also built bunny fences around my raised beds and laid down more cardboard between rows for a walking path/weed barrier.

Monday:

• Went to transplant some broccoli and lettuce into the raised beds.  Epic fail.  Next time I’ll ignore the articles that say to start these indoors and just sow the seeds right into the ground.  Sowed some rows of broccoli and lettuce, as you may have guessed.  May be too late in the season to be planting that stuff since they tend to like cool weather, but lesson learned – I can at least grow them in a fall crop.
• Noticed little green strawberries on the strawberry plants.

Today:

• Was fortunately keeping up with my daily weather look-see and noticed the Frost Advisory for Virginia for tonight (mid- to low-thirties, yikes).  Remembered old bed sheets I could sacrifice as plant covers and took those over to blanket all plants and seedlings.  (Not sure if the frost will kill prevent seeds from germinating?  I didn’t have enough sheets to cover everything but I guess at least I can always sow new seeds if they don’t come up in another couple weeks.)

• Many more carrots coming up now.  Think the seeds just take longer to germinate.
• Another zucchini plant just popped out.
• I *think* I see corn coming up already but feel like that’s way too quick – maybe I am just seeing really nice-looking weeds?

More to come!  Hopefully tomorrow I can go out and start planting some tomatoes!  And start up another row for peppers and such.

Bon soir,

Dana

Before heading over to Fridays After 5 last night, Kurt and I stopped by the garden to plant some more carrot seeds.  There are only two little tiny plants popping up and it’s been awhile since we planted.  Not sure if it’s the soil or what…so we tried to plant a few rows again.

We met a really nice neighbor, Jean, while we were there and she gave us all kinds of tips on compost, pointed out morning glories growing up the fence, which I hadn’t noticed before.  She also took down my email address because she’s starting up a Google group for the community garden – sweet!  Would love to get to know everyone better and get some advice from some of the gardeners that have been there for years now.

I went to the Charlottesville City Market this morning to see if I could find some new plants for the garden.  I know, I have a ton of different seeds, but I think Kurt and I are both getting a little antsy to see some bigger plants in the garden, as everything is bare or very small at the moment, so I figured why not get some transplants?

I’m glad I went, because they had strawberry plants for $2.50/ea. (hooray!), thornless blackberry plants, and nasturtiums (edible flowers).  I picked up four strawberry, two blackberry, and five nasturtiums.  Since the rain held off today, I went straight to the garden to plant those guys, and then I got carried away and ended up staying there for four whole hours.  I even forgot to each lunch because I was that into the work.

I planted a lot more radishes (realizing I can plant them much closer together and adding some rich soil to the plot), planted all the corn, some green beans, dill and cilantro (all of this being seeds, by the way).  Also planted lettuce seeds in the raised bed with the spinach – lettuce not doing so hot at home.  Probably too hot underneath the lamp – more of a cool-weather sort of veggie.  Went ahead and prepped a spot for tomatoes too which, once I plant, I’ll alternate with marigolds and basil to keep the bugs away.

With the corn, I hadn’t realized until I started paying more attention to the back of the seed packet that I actually need four rows of corn, not two.  This is to make them cross-pollinate.  We had only prepped two rows for that.  But, no problem.  The rows were wide enough to plant two rows each as long as I planted them as close to the edge as I could.  Still have a bit of walking space in between.

Now, I was going to plant peas today too, and just have a row grow up the fence at the back of the plot.  But as I was digging around near the fence, I came across some little white things and then a ton of ants!  Ack!  So I’m going to leave that area alone.  I have an idea for pea trellises anyway.  I think if we just take two big posts or tree branches, stick them in the ground, and then run a web of twine between them, the peas will be able to climb up that.  That’ll make a nice little project for Kurt and me.

Indoors – planted some more bell peppers and tomato plants.  Moving more plants outside on the deck to harden off.  Also planted about 20 marigolds since the ones outside didn’t have great soil and therefore didn’t fare well.  Hoping to move the tomato, bell pepper, and broccoli plants that are ready to the garden sometime this week.  I’m a little anxious, though – I want them to do well and I guess I’m just afraid to even touch them!  I guess the soil is better now so they should do fine.

Oh and I also stopped by the Fifth Season Gardening Co. on Preston – what a neat little shop!  They had some really nice window sill planters, so maybe I’ll go back and pick some up once I move into my new place.

I think I’m done with my ramblings now!

One more note – just want to say I’m inspired by everyone who’s planting this spring, and also really appreciate the kind words that friends and neighbors have given me – definitely keeps my motivation and dreams alive!

Ciao,

Dana

Kurt and I went out to the garden yesterday evening to dig up some new rows.  Man, was the dirt rock solid.  Seriously, we broke two garden tools (the hoe and the fork) trying to get through it.  Luckily, brought six with us.    At one point, though, I felt myself starting to cave.

“You think we should cave and rent a tiller?” I asked Kurt.

“No.  This really isn’t taking that long to do.  Plus, I like the idea of us doing it ourselves and not using things like that, and I want to stick to that.”  Ahhhh, he’s great.    If he can relate to my stubborn idea of not wanting to use power tools, oil/gas, etc. then he’s a good man.

We managed to get through with the shovel and then used the cultivator to mix in some garden soil (from store) and some really nice leafy compost from the community compost pile.  That should help treat the soil a bit, and keep the moisture in when we have the rain coming in this week (which will last for several days, so not sure how much work we’ll get done for awhile).  Despite the rain, it’ll be good to let the soil sit for a week or two anyway, before planting any other seeds.

We dug up four new rows.  One of them was where we had planted the corn.  But no worries.  We’d only planted two seeds, so no loss really.  The back two rows will be for corn only (two rows so that they can cross-pollinate, as we’ve heard a few friends tell us).  The other two rows will be home to our tomatoes, bell peppers, and maybe peas and green beans.

I need to play with the layout a bit.  We now officially have half the garden ready for use, but that leaves this whole other empty half that’s still just a lot of dried-up clay and weeds.  I already know that a big chunk of that will be dedicated to our pumpkin patch, which we’ll sow the seeds for in July.  The rest is up in the air – of course, we have TONS of seeds to plant, but just not sure exactly where to put them all yet!  Eggplants and broccoli need a home for sure, so we’ll need a couple rows for that.  Swiss chard can pretty much go anywhere since it grows in even the most craptastic soil.  I had intended on doing strawberries, but I’m nixing the idea.  Plants are $9 each!  Not worth the money!  I like being able to buy veggie seeds for $2/pack.   I’ll just get my strawberries from the farmers’ market, or Chiles pick-your-own.

We’ll be moving some items to the garden as well!  Nice to have the great outdoor “rental” space.  Now I don’t intend to make my plot look like Sanford & Son, just putting out some lawn chairs that I have on the deck right now that I don’t want to get rid of when I move to the smaller apartment next month.  Oh, and the chiminea.  And a bunch of plant pots.  Birdhouse.  Statues.  Etc.  Don’t judge me!  I just don’t want to give up these things when I give up my deck.  Plus, why not decorate the plot?  Make it look a little more interesting.  Don’t worry, I’m falling short of pink flamingos.

So what else is going on?  Plants outside still doing fine.  Actually have some sunflowers coming up!  Didn’t get the pictures, since the sprouts are still really small.  But, here are pics of the zucchini, carrots, and radishes (one of each):

Plants inside still doing fine.  The seedlings I moved outside were starting to get a little wilty today, so I gave them a nice watering and hopefully they’ll spring back.  They’re not dead, just a little droopy.  They could still be OK….right?

Still need to build a little chicken wire fence around my compost pile.  Especially since I’ve started adding food scraps…don’t want to attract the critters.  Although I understand deer are a problem regardless, and we actually saw some pulling out of the garden yesterday.  Saw a beaver the other day too!  (har har har)  He was running out of someone’s plot like he was totally guilty of eating something.  Better stay out of mine, that’s all I’m saying.

Nighty night,

Dana

Wow, it’s been a crazy week full of extracurriculars, cleaning up the house, and a visit from the parents.  Thus my reason for not writing so much.

But, I’m here now, and I have some catching up to do as far as writing and as far as working.  Here’s a summary:

• Not a lot of actual work in the garden since I got back from San Diego last weekend, per the items mentioned above.
• Brought over plenty of water in the old milk jugs and dumped them in the rain barrel, so we have a nice stockpile of water now.  I probably take about 8 gallons each time I go out, but only use about 2 to actual water the little that’s out there so far.
• Brought over some kitchen scraps from the house for the compost pile.  Ummmm, don’t ever wait 2+ weeks to empty that thing out (remember I’m using a big metal coffee can with a plastic lid).  It does the job great, but it’s pretty stinky.  I think you’re only supposed to dump it out every few days.
• Soil at the garden is incredibly dry-clay-rocky right now.  *Sigh* That’s the awful thing about clay.  When it’s wet, it’s way too wet.  When it’s dry, it’s way too dry.  So I bought 4 big bags of garden soil to spread out and mix in with the clay.  I also walked over to the community compost pile (a great source for composted leaves) and got a big bag full.  I hoed just a little patch last night and mixed in some garden soil and leaves to see what it’ll do.   That is the plan for the rest of the week, in the evenings when I can get out there – to do that to the rest of the plot, let it sit a week or two and then plant some things out there.
• Carrots are finally coming up in the raised bed, although not many.  I don’t think they’ve gotten enough water, with me being so busy and the weather being so dry lately.  Zucchini’s doing great.  Planted another row of seeds for those and the carrots.  Spinach coming up as well.  Radishes actually doing decently in the clay, I think there are 5 of those coming up.  Corn and sunflowers are MIA, as expected.  They just need better soil.
• At home, seedlings doing great in the greenhouse.  Just moved the first bunch I planted outside to the deck, so they can get used to the weather before I plant them in the ground (and those were tomatoes, bell peppers, lettuce and broccoli).  Inside, have more of the same shooting up, as well as eggplant and jalepenos.
• Inside, just planted basil, cilantro, dill, and some more lettuce.
• Took my parents over to the garden.  Was pretty uneventful as expected, since there’s not a lot there, but I think they were happy to see it anyway.  Also as expected, “Hey, you have clay just like we do!”
• Met my next-door garden neighbor, Steve.  He is a cool guy.  His plot is looking great now that he tilled the whole thing up.  He told me of his success with tomatoes last year but said that a fungus got a hold of a lot of his plants. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to me!  He also said he was putting up a new fence around his plot, so at least I’ll have one new wall of fencing.  Hooray!

Well, that’s about it for now.  I’ll try to write a little more, but last week was just too crazy.  Maybe this week will be a little nicer to me.

Until next time,
Dana