sheftali52

Baldur's weather resembled Sheftali's--unusually hot for the time of year. I have eaten peas from my garden recently, and anxiously await the next batch. The garden is growing like mad, and I hover in it daily, hoping to keep it going. So far, so good. The bugs and fungus have yet to attack. The daily vigilance keeps weeds at bay, and life is good. Sheftali composts her kitchen scraps in one corner of the garden, and that area is rampant with fat earthworms. I've thought of harvesting said earthworms and selling them to the fishermen in this area, but my garden needs them more. Mother Nature has been kind to Sheftali this year so far--volunteer petunias have sprung up in a pot out front, and flowered nicely; cleome seeds from last season have populated the flower bed around the deck; and the volunteer impatiens are getting bigger each day. And, as a final gardening note, an amaryllis that hasn't done anything in a couple of years has a bloom emerging. (Can you tell that Sheftali loves gardening!?!)

marius

Ahh, love your garden stories, sheftali. (And those of others too.) marius' gardens are doing well this year. The spiderworts are looking better than ever and right now the front garden is ablaze with lemon drops and purple and red salvias. Bright and lovely.

Meanwhile, sweat a bit in the sun today and came in to find this link on an email. It was titled, "You think YOUR job is hard!" Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV-iP1jSMlI

Dragon

I've seen that one before marius, always gives me a chuckle. Here's another one that makes you think some constructions sites need better equipment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGj-KkjwXJY

Dragon

I love hearing the gardening stories too. I've decided since I can't have my own garden I'm going to garden vicariously through my Think Draw friends. So just know that every time you're digging and transplanting and weeding, I'm at home thinking of your beautiful garden.

sheftali52

Loved the Dragon and marius youtube videos. Humans can be very ingenious. And Dragon, there are gardens both big and small. Sheftali had only a few herbs growing in a pot on her balcony when she lived in an apartment. But as far as I was concerned, that was still a garden! Today, I watched a rabbit chomp on one of the hostas in my back yard. Must spray the plants with this stuff that rabbits hate. After all, there's plenty of grass for them to eat, so they can spare the other stuff!

Dragon

Yes all my gardening is done indoors, I do have a small pot with a rather feeble looking Basil plant growing in it. I would do something outside but we live in a basement suite without a patio. I've considered doing a little window box but the only window it would really work with is right next to the buildings door and with our awful neighbours it would probably end up full of cigarette butts or someone would use it to prop the door open cause they're all to lazy to carry their keys with them. Anyway, I'm kinda glad I don't have a garden started today as it's snowing quite vigorously (sp?) here. Ah the joys of living in Central Alberta, sigh. I can hope it gets nice for next weekend at least, we're doing the MS Walk in Calgary and snow would not be a welcome thing.

indigo

Hi Dragon....really strange spring this year, couldn't
believe all the snow you guys got and we are melting here
wish I could send you some heat to melt your snow....he, he!

Dragon

Well it snowed all day until about 10 minutes ago (I'm not holding my breath though, it could start up again at any time). The trees were all bent over with the weight but I didn't see any broken branches. I think the snow was wet enough that it slid off the leaves. 2 or 3 years ago we got such a bad snow storm in May that trees were broken all over town. The tree in my backyard (which I parked under) broke almost in two with the half that came down thankfully being the side away from my car which was brand new at the time.
It's funny indigo, it seems like whenever our weather here is gorgeous you guys have it rotten and vice versa. What a crazy country we live in. :b

Arw65

I have recently started gardening- 4 planter boxes- aprox 8sq feet each. 2 filled with flowers and herbs, and 2 filled with a small variety of produce plants(watermelon, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries.- so if anyone has any tips for me I'd love to hear them!- or read them as the case may be.- we moved from flagstaff so we are in a marginally warmer climate now.

matthew

Are you now at 1/2staff??? (Ba~dum~bum~~Ching)...

sheftali52

Lol matthew--glad to see you're chiming in with funny barbs. Dragon, I can understand your reluctance to grow stuff, faced with the challenges from those who live around you. I hope the snow goes away soon in Alberta. Arw--good on ya for your four planter boxes--that's such an efficient way to grow things. Sheftali wastes space in her garden, just because she can. I also clip articles from the newspaper, and save things I find on the internet, in a file that I read in the dead of winter. From said sources, I learned that banana peels and egg shells do wonders for tomato plants, for example. I also try to use the most organic solution possible when it comes to fertilizer, bug control, and fungal infestations. But, if the organic solutions fail, I do use the least amount of traditional stuff to control the issue. So, I'm not a purist by any means, but a practical person. I suppose it also helps that I'm married to a farm boy from Kansas who grew large gardens when he was a boy and sold the produce to supplement his family's income. It's all fun--man (woman?) against nature, and the good part is that the eating is good if I'm successful.

Dragon

I've heard that growing garlic in the same pot as tomato or pepper plants keeps spiders from bothering them. I'm not sure how accurate that is but even if it doesn't you still get garlic.

sheftali, do you grind up the banana peels into the soil?

matthew

No, no, no... you are thinking about keeping vampires out of your garden... Not only that, but have your plants held up with plenty of stakes & give the scarecrow a gun with silver bullets...

sheftali52

Lol to matthew as usual! Hmmm Dragon, had not heard of the garlic-tomato connection, but who knows? As for the banana peels, I don't grind them--I just bury them around the tomato plants and let the peels decompose. I suppose the peels might do better ground up, but sheftali is too lazy to do that! I picked the second batch of peas today, and I think that's the last of them, as the weather is getting too hot nowadays. Note to self: plant many more peas in the Fall, so the crop is not so measly.

On a happy note, yesterday I noticed the first fireflies of the season. Not a lot of them, but just enough to make me notice. Oddly, I didn't notice any mosquitoes outside today. (And that's fine!)

Hazer

Hubby and I have come across a location that we think may work for us to fulfill our dream of operating a guest ranch and B&B. We are going to try to take a look at it as soon as we can get a week-end that works for us to make the trip. It will take us about 6 hours by car. We are so excited and have been planning how we will set it up all weekend.

Sheftali, you've been picking peas? I am so jealous!

Speaking of mosquitoes...I just said to hubby today that I haven't seen a mosquito since we moved to our present location in Alberta. Can't say as I've missed them!

sheftali52

Oh Hazer--guest ranch and B&B? You must keep us updated--sounds exciting!

Arw65

I don't doubt the garlic thing- This march my mother and i took a road trip to Oregon- by way of California- We drove though several what looked like cherry orchards- but they smelled heavily of garlic- when we got home a rancher friend of ours informed us that growing them together made the little bugs leave the orchards alone!

sheftali52

Arw--I believe the garlic thing, too. Gilroy, California claims to be the garlic capital of the world and has a festival each year, I think. They even have garlic ice cream at the festival, though I've never attended to verify that. Somehow, garlic and ice cream don't seem a good match, but who knows? I'll have to grow some garlic in my garden. I plant marigolds in the garden each year, which helps keep the pests at bay, too.

Hazer

I've heard it said that roses love garlic so I'm sure that they are beneficial for other plants too. I do like to plant marigolds as well. They help with bugs and cats don't like them either.

Dragon

Hazer, I didn't think there was anywhere in Alberta that didn't get mosquitos. Trust me, if I were there they'd find me. 3 weeks ago I just about got eaten alive by them out on the North Saskatchewan River, nobody else was particularly bothered by them. Maybe I should start carrying around some garlic in my pockets!