A little garden update…



We finally got some good rain. Yesterday, it rained off and on all day, including one series of downpours that left everything STILL kind of wet and dewy. That really saved the day.




This one sunflower is a case of “bloom where you’re planted”. I’m not quite sure how it got there but it’s been kinda neat to watch it grow up through the table!

The Meyer lemons are doing so nicely! I think I’ll need to transplant them into their forever pots soon, those are bound to be a little too small for them. Been reading and I think they will do pretty well inside, almost go into a sort of dormant stage. And then when spring springs, they will go back outside for another 7 months of solid sunshine and warmth. It would be SO cool if one of them actually blooms… and has a baby!!! How cool!


These are my three butterfly bushes and a little aspen tree. They are going gang busters this year! Just love it! They were twig rejects two years ago and now, they are filling out and there are tons of butterflies all over them through the day. I’ve seen swallowtail and monarchs, even a lot of moths and other fluttering insects. I’m going to have to get a book or something and see who all has been visiting. I think I will crop them down a bit in the fall, to encourage them to fill out a little bit more next year. Just really pretty!


The last of my fancy onions and a few heads of garlic… did okay, but not great. Not sure why not. Going to do some reading on all that. I know that I need to top dress my first year beds before fall with that good compost that I got from the local place. The three beds that were solid with this compost mix are just insane. They are all my tomato and sunflower beds and it’s amazing how they are doing. BY contrast, the fourth new bed I just used bagged dirt and my own compost. It’s definitely not as robust. That’s cool. It just means that I’m going to have to see about having a load delivered in the late fall, and top dress all the beds ready for a bit of rain and snow and then a great spring fling!


My first pepper! Yah! It’s a red Marconi pepper… That baby is going to go on the grill I think… If i had some red tomatoes then it would be in a sweet pepper salsa… Yum! My pepper plants got a little late start, but they’re doing fine. We really have another easy 6 weeks of growing time, so they will do fine. Since they are all in one bed, I might let them go as long as I can with a floating row cover. Build a little frame over them with plastic or something. I dunno. I have my cold frames, and I plan to do peas, broccoli and carrots in them. I’ve given up on growing cabbage.


Yes… my two cheapo $3 trees are in cheapo $3 wastebaskets! HAHAHA…. Well, this is kind of a funny story. I got these two nice little semi-dwarf red delicious apple trees for $3 each. End of the season. And I wanted to plant them on the southside of the Moby, by my meter boxes and all. Well, I did a little light light digging in that area and decided that was a terrible idea. There are lines and cables and all that good stuff all over. So, planting is not good. I looked all over the estate and well, I’m just about out of tree space now. Not without taking away my teeny bit of dog lawn, that kind of thing.

So I thought, well, why not put them into some pots like I did the cherries, which are doing fabulously, and I started to look around for a pair of pots. Well, the pots were all way too expensive for me. I was about to give up and I walked by the plastic aisle and there they were. Nice sturdy, deep, CHEAP wastebaskets on sale for $3 each! A sign from above! So I got two, filled them deep with the nice compost mix, and popped the little dudes in there. And then I set them out by the meters. They’re doing fine. I think come winter I might move them in closer to the shed, or maybe even near the Moby and all, so they are sheltered nicely. I think they are kinda fun. I think they’ll do fine and it will be nice to be able to move them around some.


Come next year I might build a little surround to hide the poles and mechanicals and such, and I might put the trees inside, so that they just peek out of the top. I don’t know yet what next year will bring, but I’m pretty much out of room for any more beds and I think I’ve got enough for us to handle.

I am going to build a much better trellis system and watering system for sure next year. My tomato cages are just a mess, the plants are so big and vigorous they have toppled most of the cages. I am just letting them grow in a heaping mess. They are supporting each other and the cages in there are helping some. I don’t really have to worry about tomato yield this year. Not with 41 plants. My gosh, they are so loaded with green tomatoes that I am worried. I’m going to be canning until December!!! I have already been sizing up some canning recipes… I know I’ll make sauce out of my Amish Paste and striped Romans…. I’m going to try and dry some of the big heirlooms in slices and then also make salsa from them. And I’m going to try to make a couple batches of ketchups, fancy chunky ketchups. And of course, a years worth + of stewed tomatoes! I love using stewed tomatoes in soups and roasts. And of course, I’ll be giving away some of my beauties for sure. Should be interesting!!!

Next year I plan on using the wire trellis style of tomato control. And I don’t plan on planting so many. I am going to narrow it down to my top 4 favorites, I think. I’m going to try at least. Maybe 5. And I like the idea of just a strong pole at either end of the bed with a series of wires strung like a fence, back and forth. I saw how Tom at Tall Clover Farm did his, and it looks a lot nicer and easier too. Just weave the growing plants in and out of the wires and also do a little bit of tying with that neat foamy twist wires. Just enough to give them some support. Looks great to me!



Yes… FINALLY…. I have some tomatoes ripening. I can not wait! These are little Gajo De Melons… from the Baker’s Seed Catalog….

Gajo De Melon Tomato
Imagine melons, imagine sugar, mix in some tomato, and you describe the delicious taste of this lovely cherry tomato. They are pink and yellow, blended and marbled together, in lovely melon tones. Plants produce these gourmet fruit well.

Oh boy… I can’t wait! A little sweet cherry tomato. I hope that this year I can get my girls to give tomatoes a chance. Oh yeah, didn’t I mention? My kids don’t like tomatoes. So that leaves ME to eat all these things. hahaha… WHAT WAS I THINKING? Hahaha… I can sneak stewed tomatoes in, sometimes, but they usually pick around them. And they will eat my homemade ketchup, but only if I whine a lot. Maggie doesn’t like red spaghetti sauce and Jessy will eat it now and then. My kids are WEIRD. They don’t even like salsa! But I’m going to try and bribe them this year. I think they might just change their minds. Maybe. I hope so….

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About Mobymom

the banjo player for Deepwater Bluegrass, and the editor of BuckeyeBluegrass.com as well as the main graphic designer of the Westvon Publishing empire. She is a renaissance woman of many talents and has two lovely daughters and a rehab mobile home homestead to raise.

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