Monday, April 7, 2008

It's that gardening time again...


We spent the better part of our Sunday raking leaves (yeah, we never got around to THAT in fall) and dug out all my empty pots for another season of gardening. The week before we purchased some vegetable and flower bedding plants we got from the local nursery.


For vegetables we planted several varieties of bell peppers, hot peppers, jalapeƱo, tomatoes and green onions. Not counting the flower bedding plants, I planted some Cleome, and Brown Eyed Susans.

My annual Cannas, Elephant Ears, and banana plants are all growing vigorously!

The seeds remaining to plant are:

Zinnia
Sunflower
Morning Glory
Texas Bluebonnet
Wildflower mix

And more tomato and bell peppers. I'm hoping to start a watermelon patch at the farm this year as well. I can only plant in pots around the house as we have very little space due to the pool. I've read that some families are turning their front yards into vegetable gardens. Sometimes I toy with that idea, but if we did, I'd have to get rid of our basketball goal and stray balls. Not sure if spouse would be pleased with the idea. If prices keep rising, practicality might take precedence!

Today, I'm running to the store to buy a new hoe and a hammock. We are working feverishly to get the yard in shape. Planning to spend a lot of time at home due to the gas prices.


Gotta grow those hotpeppers. As soon as I locate some Serrano peppers, I plan to plant those. Our favorite pastime is to eat sliced Serrano's over sardines and crackers!

Most gardening done in pots. I did order some Malabar Spinach online and once they arrive, I'll more than likely plant them in the ground next to my trellis. Will keep you posted on those!


It's been a chore cleaning the pool. Thanks to Alan, he's been working daily on extracting leaves from the bottom. Sometimes I think it's a curse having so many trees in our yard, but on those HOT summer days, and I mean (((HOT))) it's NICE swimming in a crystal clean pool under the shade of a tree!

The picture of the pool is actually more aqua than the green that is shown. (But it did look THAT green last week.) Two weeks earlier, it looked like vegetable beef soup!

I've added several bottles of algaecide, shock, and some PH. Now that the PH is good, we should have NO PROBLEMS bringing the water back to crystal clear. I purchased some Clarifier the other day and this SHOULD do the trick. I'm hoping to be able to swim by this weekend.


Say hello to the newest member of the farm! One of our donkey's gave birth last week! This makes donkey number 9 and he's only 5 days old!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You're way ahead of me with the gardening. Its been sunny and warm here but I spent yesterday grilling and sitting on the deck. I need to get off my lazy butt and start planting :)