JRmom - Garden is in!

[LovinLife]

That would be soooo funny! If you do make the car hot be sure to record when he gets zapped!! That would make you some money on Youtube and it would have me !!!

 

[Beanie]

That guy is the creepster of the year!!! Have the cops dusted for his fingerprints? He's probably in the system. (watching to many cop shows)

Zap him!

Put some rat traps near the car door for him to step on. Snap!!!

 

[JRmom]

No news on the car burglar.

Last night was my 2nd "Gardening for Dummies" class. In 5 hours we've already covered basic gardening, compost and building soil, pests, and plants that thrive in our county. The compost lecture alone was worth the price of the course, and the materials they provided are awesome.
Additional lectures will cover plant propagation, veggie gardening, lawns (yuck, but I'm sure there will something useful there), Florida-friendly landscapes, and on Saturday morning we'll tour the Extension Service demo gardens and the gardens of 2 Master Gardeners who live close by.

I'm really looking forward to the veggie gardening lecture. A few weekends ago I met the local Master Gardener giving the lecture and he is awesome. He was introduced as one of the premier veggie gardeners in the state so I can't wait to pick his brain.

I'm planning on going to our cabin Saturday after class and spending the week there to get my garden in. I'm really excited about a fall garden! I have cabbage and broccoli started that will be ready to plant, everything else I'll direct sow. I bought onion sets last weekend so those need to be put in the ground. Right now they are hanging out in a dark closet. I'll probably never get the smell out. I also have a tub of lettuce started here at the house.

I also bought a fig tree, which is supposed to do really well in our climate. Not my favorite, but my husband loves fig preserves. I would also love a papaya tree.

The weather has been GORGEOUS! Beautiful sunny days, and we've been getting nice rain showers in the evening. After the heat and humidity of the summer, September always reminds me again why I love Florida.

The dogs found another baby rat snake yesterday, right up next to the house. They killed it (and ate it and puked it up), but I didn't feel too sorry for the snake. I've relocated 2 of them, but it's giving me the creeps having them so close to the house, especially since one almost made it into the house.

Well, back to work....

 

[TanksHill]

Your class sounds great. Something like that would be very fun.

G

 

[JRmom]

Well, I'm not at the cabin. Work got in the way, plus the rain every afternoon has been downpours, so I guess it's best to wait until this weather pattern is done before planting seeds and getting seedlings into the ground. Hopefully I'll be able to get the garden in towards the end of the week. Fingers crossed we don't get a hurricane or a bad tropical storm. One more month to go.

Finished the Gardening for Dummies course. Most excellent! The last class was Saturday morning and we toured the Ag Extension demonstration gardens, about an acre of everything you can imagine... herbs, butterfly garden, shade garden, veggies, fruit trees (including 3 olive trees), berries, grapes, and a sinkhole that they've planted with swamp plants. Could have done without the mosquitoes though. The gardens included various composting ideas, raised beds, container gardening, rain barrels, and different watering techniques... it was amazing. And inspiring.

After that, we toured 2 master gardener's gardens nearby. The first was all native Florida plants, the second was very tropical... reminded me of Hawaii. They were completely different from each other, but both were gorgeous (even though neither garden included any edibles ). Both had Mason bee hives that were active, so that's another thing I want to put in my garden. I'd love to have honey bees, but I'd be wasting my money and inviting unwanted company. We have bears that walk right down our road.

When we were leaving we had a "bonus" stop... another master gardener right down the street whose yard has been awarded "Florida Friendly Yard" status. Good grief! It looked like a big mess to me, something that would catch the eye of code enforcement. Really, it looked like an abandoned yard that was all grown up. I don't even want to think about all the snakes hiding in that mess!

Decided to try straw bale gardening here at the house since I can't plant directly into the ground (the property is on an old dump site). We rent this house, so I really don't want to invest in raised beds either. Sent hubby last week to purchase 2 bales of straw. Now, we live smack in the middle of thoroughbred country... hay and straw are plentiful and reasonably priced. He came home and handed me the invoice. $20 for 2 bales. He bought "premium" straw. He didn't realize there are different grades, so of course they gave him the most expensive. The bales are out in the yard in a sunny spot "baking". Still deciding what to plant in them, but leaning towards lettuce and spinach.

Back to work... Hopefully I can get everything all caught up by Wednesday afternoon and head to the woods for a week!

 

[i_am2bz]

Decided to try straw bale gardening here at the house since I can't plant directly into the ground (the property is on an old dump site). We rent this house, so I really don't want to invest in raised beds either. Sent hubby last week to purchase 2 bales of straw. Now, we live smack in the middle of thoroughbred country... hay and straw are plentiful and reasonably priced. He came home and handed me the invoice. $20 for 2 bales. He bought "premium" straw. He didn't realize there are different grades, so of course they gave him the most expensive. The bales are out in the yard in a sunny spot "baking". Still deciding what to plant in them, but leaning towards lettuce and spinach.

Back to work... Hopefully I can get everything all caught up by Wednesday afternoon and head to the woods for a week!

Let us know how that works out, JR...I've been curious about straw bale gardening.

I get straw bales for $3.50 at the local landscaping place...but that must be a low grade, huh?

 

[JRmom]

Now $3.50 a bale sounds more like it! I guess these fancy million dollar race horses have to sleep on the best! And leave it to the guy at the feed store to stick it to my hubs!

 

[SSDreamin]

My MIL tried straw bale gardening this year, and was very disappointed. Hmmm...maybe it was because of the non-premium straw!

 

[JRmom]

My MIL tried straw bale gardening this year, and was very disappointed. Hmmm...maybe it was because of the non-premium straw!

That's why I'm only trying it with 2 bales (albeit expensive ones!). I've seen some failures with this, but also some great successes. I read that you're supposed to soak the bales thoroughly and let them "bake" for about a week, pull anything that sprouts, then plant once the bales cool down. I'll give it a shot. I have plenty of seeds and nothing to lose.

 

[savingdogs]

Maybe you should try the potatoes in a tire? That is above the ground. My potatoes did really well in the tires. My season for that is just ending however it was really easy to harvest, I just moved the tires and grabbed the taters.

What about using whiskey barrels for planting in? You could take those with you and are good looking. Tires not so much.