The Imagination Garden

That time of year again...

2010-02-24T16:58:00.000-08:00

It is still winter, but this year we are having incredibly warm weather. Flowers are budding and some are even blooming. I have been finding these little beauties scattered in the yard. Even though I tried to collect all the viola seeds last year, it appears a few managed to seed themselves wherever nature wanted them. Of course, I'll just leave them. I LOVE violas. It doesn't bother me one bit to see them scattered in the rocks next to the patio, or wherever. Hopefully my hubby will leave them alone, too.

I tell ya - even my bird seed has sprouted. Poor birds! This feeder was full of sunflower seeds that I had collected from my Lemon Queen sunflowers. Now I have little plants growing in the feeder. My husband commented that the feeder must have been the perfect temperature for germination.

My gardening catalogs are starting to arrive. It is such fun looking through them and dreaming about this year's garden. I wonder if our last frost will really be as late as it usually is (around Mother's Day). I think it is time to start planting my early seeds indoors. I'll have to pull them out of the refrigerator and see what I have and what I need to buy.

Of course, this year I plan to continue gardening my main vegetable beds using the square foot gardening method. Square foot gardening is so easy! I have a large side yard that I will put a lot of attention on this spring - I hope to experiment with home scale permaculture in that location. It will be much prettier for the neighbors to look at. Taking the leap to home scale permaculture is a bit intimidating, but I'm sure I can figure something out. I'd like to finish the installation of a rain garden this season, too. Lofty dreams. I got a lot done last year, though... I just need to keep plugging away.

I realize I didn't post many of my late season pictures from last summer. I will try to do that soon.

Happy Gardening!

Um...

2009-09-11T20:34:00.001-07:00

I can't help but chuckle at my last post. Let's see... it was June 20th when I posted last, and it had been 10 days at that point. Now that it is September 11 - how many days does that make? Hee, hee! Well, I guess I'd rather be in the garden than here on the computer writing about the garden.

The garden still grows. Today we reached 100 lbs. of absolutely yummy 100% organic homegrown food. I will admit, I am truly amazed that such a tiny garden has grown so much.

I'm looking forward to expanding the garden by next spring. I have a side yard that is torn up right now, and it will become my first attempt at an ecological garden - with ornamentals and edibles intermingled together. I love my Square Foot Gardens on the other side yard, but somehow, I don't think the neighbors would appreciate my turning the most visible portion of our yard into a series of Square Foot Gardens, despite my admiration for the Square Foot Gardening method.

Well, I have lots of work to do, so I have a feeling this poor little blog will remain neglected until late fall. I have taken lots of photos through the summer, and hopefully they will find a way onto this blog in the near future. Until then... happy gardening!

The Reading Room

2009-06-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been 10 days since my last post. Things got a little busy during the last couple of weeks of school. I tell you, I'm very happy school is out and the children and I have time to learn and play together.

Speaking of the children, they are too funny. They are learning so much about the garden, and about nature, that it amazes me. We had an aphid infestation on our bell pepper plants. My husband and I chit-chatted about what to do, then I decided I would just try to manage the aphids by squirting them off with water and hope for the best. I didn't even realize the children had paid any attention to our aphid conversation at all until today. This morning my daughter screamed for her big brother to come quick because she saw an aphid and he needed to "get" it. I have no idea if she really did see an aphid, but her big brother proudly ran over to save the day. I'm not exactly sure what he did to "get" it, but their interaction sure was cute!

Now for some garden pictures...

The bean teepee is growing nicely. The marigolds have helped the beans significantly since this patch seems to be under constant attack by slugs. I call this little spot in my garden the children's "Reading Room".

Speaking of slugs, here's a photo of one of those slimy creatures just moments before a fateful death in the "slug bucket". What's a slug bucket? It's a small white pail that has salt sprinkled on the bottom. I had to come up with a solution to keep my husband from "a-salting" the slugs wherever they were. I just couldn't handle seeing piles of salt and dried up slug all over my garden any more. The slug bucket works very well.

I harvested our broccoli a bit late. It didn't taste as good as it could have, but I'm just chalking it up to a learning experience.

I love how vibrant this ivy geranium flower is. I have many different colors of ivy geranium in my hanging baskets. This is my favorite color in the bunch.

I'm glad I snapped this photo of my Hidcote lavender a few days ago. For some reason, half of the plant died. I'm not sure what happened. I'm hoping the entire plant doesn't die on me. That would be sad.

The Good, Bad and Very Ugly

2009-06-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Let's start with the good.

My Kousa Dogwood tree is in full bloom. It always blooms in late spring long after most flowering trees have quit. This tree reminds me that, while it is still spring, summer is almost here.

I love to stand under the canopy of the Kousa Dogwood. The sunlight streaming through the branches casts a beautiful green glow. It is quite peaceful.

Now for the bad... (sigh)

It was one thing to hand pick the cabbage worms off of my 6 broccoli plants when the worms were so tiny that you could barely see them.

I shot the photo above through the magnification lens on this bug box.

Now they are so big it grosses me out to pick them up. Thankfully, I'm not finding as many anymore. Last night I found three. Tonight I found two. I hope I'm almost done with cabbage worms.

And for the very ugly...

I had to pull out 18 beet plants today. I was wondering why the leaves had a white "film" on them. I pulled one plant out to inspect it only to realize that the film was actually the top layer of the leaf. Something had gotten into the leaf and ate the center out. After some internet research - I believe my beets had some serious leaf miner damage. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone - I had to cut open the leaf to see if I could find the leaf miner. I couldn't.

This post must end on a good note...

The kids and I have enjoyed the sunflowers so much we decided to plant more! Today, my daughter and I planted 24 sunflower 'Moonwalker' and 19 'Lemon Queen' sunflowers. After they are growing, we'll figure out where to put them. Maybe we'll plant them out as "walls" for a fun sunflower room.

Finally - I'll end with today's sunflower photo. I love watching the fringe grow each day around the face of this sunflower 'Kid Stuff'.

Where are the Bees?

2009-06-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

My sunflower 'Moonwalker' opened its first bloom today, so I thought that it might be a good flower to observe for The Great Sunflower Project. Since I saw two bees early on during my observation yesterday, I thought I'd see at least one or two bees stopping by today. Sadly, during my 1/2 hour watch, no bees visited any of my sunflowers, or other flowers, that are in bloom in the garden.

Sunflower 'Moonwalker' is about twice the height of Sunflower 'Kid Stuff', yet its flowering head is smaller and the yellow color is paler.

Sunflower 'Moonwalker' is a multi-bloom sunflower. It looks like this sunflower may have as many as 10 blossoms on it.

This picture might give you a bit of perspective on how tall this sunflower is. It is much taller than I am, and I am 5'9" tall.

More things are happening in my garden. I was surprised to see these growing on my corn. I have never successfully grown corn before so I'm not quite sure what this is. It's in the center of the stalk. I thought "ears" grew on the side of corn, so I'm not sure if this is the beginning of an ear or not.

The corn "field" is taking on some height. The beans beneath the corn are hanging in there, as well.

Hey - look! I actually have pea plants! It took long enough! Three attempts at sowing peas and I finally have some. We'll see how they do since it may be the wrong season for them to grow in.

Observations for The Great Sunflower Project

2009-06-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today I gathered some bee data for The Great Sunflower Project. I snapped photos of the bees that I saw in hopes to assure proper identification.

Within a minute of watching, this bee landed on the sunflowers.

Here is a close-up. I'm pretty sure it is a bumble bee. If I am incorrect, please leave a comment and let me know.

Four minutes later this 2nd bee landed on the sunflowers.

I'm not sure what type of bee this is. Is it a honey bee?

Sunflower 'Kid Stuff'

2009-06-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

The plants in my garden that I am truly enjoying right now are my sunflowers. I started these from seed and raised them indoors for quite some time. I was hoping to get an early bloom - and I succeeded! I am sure our recent heat wave helped the sunflowers to bloom earlier than they would have.

Two of the four sunflowers are in full bloom.

I love how the petals have a vintage and ruffled appearance to them.

On the not-so-fun side of gardening, I have been battling the cabbage worm on my broccoli. I made the mistake of not covering my beds during our heat wave. This left the broccoli wide open for the moths to lay their eggs. Since I only have 6 broccoli plants, I have decided to attempt to save them by hand-picking and squashing the caterpillars. Now, I'm covering the beds each evening, as well. I hope I have the cabbage worms under control. At first I was hand picking a lot of them - now I'm just picking 3 or 4 a day.

What's that Bug?

2009-06-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

Can anyone help me identify these bugs? I don't know if they are beneficial bugs or not.

These bugs seem to love my chamomile. They are tiny - about the size of a pin head.

These bugs love to hang out on my sunflower leaves. These bugs are pretty small, too.

Any help identifying these would be appreciated!

A Little Out of Place and More

2009-06-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

Every year, when this rhododendron comes into bloom, I wish it was on our side yard instead of in our back yard. There are no "blue" hues in our back yard and it really looks out of place. Someday I may move it - but I'll admit... the thought of digging it out and transplanting it does not thrill me.

She sure does produce a beautiful round flower head though. And she's the last rhododendron to bloom in our garden.

This sunflower has really taken on some height during the past few very sunny and warm days!

I need to find a home for these Lemon Queen sunflowers - and soon!

Those busy little bees did their job well. We have pollination on our tomato plants!

I don't know that this flower (or the one that opened yesterday) will get pollinated - there are no other flowering summer squash nearby (at least none that I know of).

Our beans in the "three sisters" bed have finally begun to sprout!

It is fun to see the changes that are happening in the garden each day.

Good Night Bumble Bee, Sleep Tight

2009-05-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

I found a bumble bee sleeping peacefully on my fuchsia this evening. At first I was concerned that he may have died but after a closer inspection I noted that his antennae and abdomen would move every now and then.

I did a google search. I hope this is information is correct - it seems that bumble bee nests can often be small so the males may find a flower to sleep on. I also learned that male bumble bees do not have stingers so it is OK to take a closer look.

Sleep tight little bumble bee.

In the Morning Sun

2009-05-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

I went into the garden this morning to take some photographs. Our beautiful weather has been wonderful and I'm excited that it just may continue through the week.

This bearded iris is my absolute favorite flower in my garden.

Up close and personal.

Worshiping the sun.

I love the vibrant colors in my fuchsias this year.

They were a Mother's Day gift from my husband.

Simply stunning!

Our first home, where we lived more than 10 years ago, had beautiful lilac trees all over the lot. They were old trees, and the wood was thick - thick enough to climb on. I was sad to say goodbye to those trees. Of course, a few cuttings had to come with me! Only one cutting survived and this is it. I plan to propagate a few more now that this tree is well established.

The bracts of my Kousa Dogwood are beginning to turn white. Soon, this tree will be graced in its pure white spring attire.

More rhododendrons are blooming.

This pale pink rhododendron is my favorite. The bees must like it too, because they were all over it.

I would love to have a garage that is as beautiful as this!

Every garden needs a statue. I started the petunias from seed. They should be blooming soon.

Ah - my one and only very lonely pea. This was given to me by a friend after my many attempts to start peas from seed failed.

The Kennebec potatoes are out of control - again. Guess I'll be hilling them in today.

The russets must like the weather we are having, too. They are doing well way down in that garbage can.

Do you see what I see? This is one of my summer squash plants.

I know that onions are biennial. I don't know what their flowers look like. This store-bought onion sprouted on me, so of course I couldn't throw it away. I had to plant it.

These first sunflowers are getting big. I have another set that are doing well, but since they were planted later (at the proper planting time for our location) they are much smaller.

Got rock? We do. Too much of it!

What's Growing (and What's Not)

2009-05-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

I planted beans next to the corn plants today. And... believe it or not, I'm on my 3rd attempt with peas. Yup. My daughter and I planted peas in late May. Why? Because it bugs the living daylights out of me that I couldn't get a single pea to germinate from the first packet I bought - and I found a packet on sale, so I thought I'd see if peas from a 2nd packet would germinate. If anything, it was fun for my daughter to poke the round peas into the ground.

The strawberries didn't seem to make it. I'm not sure what happened there. I planted according to the package directions - and at the time the package said to plant them. I pulled them out and planted them in a large pot and put the pot in the sunniest spot in my yard. Now I'm just going to see what happens. The "strawberry bed" has been converted to an herb garden. If I can't grow strawberries this year, I'll grow herbs. :o)

My Kennebec potato bins went crazy during the recent days of rain. As soon as I saw them, I was rushing to get them filled in again.

My large can of Russet potatoes hasn't been as active. I'm guessing it's because they don't get as much light way down there in the bottom of a large garbage can.

It looks like my bearded iris are about to bloom. They are my favorite flower in my garden. I can't wait to see their beautiful faces.

I'm almost finished installing another raised bed. I double-dug it to 12" like I did with all the other beds. I tell ya - my wrists are getting so tired from digging out the rocks. But, this year, we just didn't have the money to invest in building up and using soil mixes.

Tomorrow I hope to finish filling in the new bed with screened soil so I can begin the process of getting some more of my seedlings out of my house and into their new home.

Last, my tomatoes continue to amaze me. They seem to like their new home on the back patio.

The three early planted tomato plants are flowering. It's fun to see.

Happily Growing Along

2009-05-18T20:59:00.000-07:00

On May 14, Ciscoe Morris wrote in his column that it was finally time to plant tomatoes. My hubby just couldn't help but tease me about how I planted way too early. Of course, I couldn't help but run out and snap a photo of these beauties that are already beginning to bud with flowers. They have come so far... now I just hope I can keep them alive until they fruit.

The "field" of corn is coming along. I know that this may not be enough corn to actually get pollination - although that would be nice. My main goal here is to teach the children how corn stalks grow (they planted the seeds) - and to grow a living "pole" for more pole beans.

So far, the summer squash seems happy in its bed.

Viola! Just another pretty face in the crowd.

Our state flower in all its glory. This is such a pretty time of year. I truly enjoy seeing all the plants in our garden happily growing along.

First Harvest, Strawberry Bed and More

2009-05-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

It's harvest time! Well, not quite, but I did pull this absolutely delicious radish from the garden on May 10. This morning, I pulled two more. The leaves were shading some little seedlings. Wow! As a child, I remember how delicious I thought radishes were, but I quit eating them because I haven't liked them that much as an adult. Now I know why - my mom grew radish in her garden when I was a child. They were GOOD! Store purchased radish are not the same. The three radish I have pulled out of my own garden this year have been so delicious I plan to find every little nook and cranny that I can tuck some more radish seed into.

This is a photo of my tomato plants on May 8. They've grown much taller and are developing flowers. I'm wondering if it is too early for tomatoes to flower here in our Pacific Northwest weather. We will soon find out.

I have been busy working on more beds. As with all my beds, I am double-digging to at least 12". My body just can't take double-digging any deeper than that. The ground gets too rocky and the rocks just get bigger and bigger.

As I fill them back in with native (sandy) soil, I screen all the rocks out. Then I add a little bit of aged steer manure and some compost.

Can you believe ALL of these rocks came out of the strawberry bed? I can no longer count how many wheelbarrows full of rock that we have dumped over the cliff. It is a long and tedious process, one that I hope pays off big-time with a beautiful and thriving garden.

Happy May Day!

2009-05-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy May Day to all! We don't celebrate May Day in a formal sense, but when May rolls around I am so excited to see all the beautiful changes that spring has in store. It is now 14 days from our "safe" planting date. Soon - all the effort of bringing plants inside each night will be past.

I'm not a big fan of a lot of statuary in the garden. But, I do think it is fun for the children to see a few fun items decorating the garden. I like that this bunny almost looks real.

The garden is beginning to green up. I can't wait to see a lush garden filled with lots of plants and texture. I love how big my tomato plants (along the back wall) have gotten, and I am very grateful that 5 of my early started sunflowers have survived to this point.

I'm also noticing that we need to paint the caulk on the house before the plants make that chore a little difficult. LOL!

My seedlings are patiently waiting for the moment it is safe to plant them in their final homes. Yesterday, I did transplant 11 petunias that I started from seed. When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was check to see if they survived the night. They did. Thank goodness! I'm holding back on planting these remaining petunia seedlings just in case something happens to the others.

Ever wonder what a 42' long trench looks like from below?

Ah... the trench project. I dug 1/2 of the trench myself. Thank you to DH for stepping in and helping me out with the 2nd half. This particular trench is almost finished.

I know a few little munchkins who loved to play in it.

One little munchkin in particular thought it was very cool to watch the water make it to the end of the trench.

We laid the pipe and filled it in. Just a little more sod needs to be placed back on top and it will be finished.

Unfortunately, we are not finished with digging trenches. We still have one to dig along the side yard. The new one will be more complicated. It will be attached to a gutter and rain barrel system and will drain into a rain garden.

Poster by Good Nature Publishing.
I was given one of these beautiful posters last night at a rain garden workshop.

What's a rain garden?
The rain garden poster says it best:
Rain gardens work like a native forest by capturing and infiltrating stormwater from rooftops, driveways, and other hard surfaces. Rain gardens reduce flooding by absorbing water from impervious surfaces; filter oil, grease and toxic materials before they can pollute streams, lakes and bays; help to recharge the aquifer by increasing the quantity of water that soaks into the ground; provide benefical wildlife habitat.

And, last... does anyone have any idea what this strange looking bug is? I thought it was pine needles at first. I wish I could have gotten a better picture - the morning sun was glaring on it.

Edit: I learned that this is a "Plume Moth". A better photo can be found here: http://www.insectidentification.org/user/imgs/plume-moth.jpg

From the Garden...

2009-04-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

I must thank the squirrel who planted this Poet's Daffodil in my yard. I think I'll purchase and plant more of them next fall. Walking by this bloom each day has made me smile.

From the trenches... yep, the trench digging continues -- and continues -- and continues. I'm keeping my thoughts on the outcome - no more side yard flooding and having a beautiful native rain garden to enjoy.

My MOPS table leader gave me this beautiful Nemesia 'Berries & Cream'. I planted it in a large container along with some Lamb's Ear. The plant is doing OK despite the fact that we've had some pretty cold frosts and hail.

I can't wait to taste the berries from this Heritage Everbearing Raspberry plant.

Hoop Houses

2009-04-25T11:07:00.001-07:00

Thank goodness I installed hoop houses on the two finished raised beds last week. We continue to have frost each night... yesterday morning my husband even had to scrape ice off his vehicle. The days have been beautiful, and with the protection measures in place, the plants are doing well.

We are getting further along on the garden beds and the trenches. I haven't had a chance to blog about it. But I will soon.

Building the Raised Beds

2009-04-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

The building and installation of the raised beds has proven to be a time-consuming process. For this reason, we are stopping at 4 wooden raised beds for the year. My husband is building them out of untreated 2"x4" wood. They are 8" tall after they are complete. They have long stakes attached to the corners to hold them securely in place.

In order to install them, I dig a deep hole on each corner, level them and fill the corners with soil that has been screened. Since we live on a bed of rocks, whenever we do any work in the yard, we screen rocks as much as possible.

After each bed is installed and leveled, I double-dig it to 12" deep. At first I thought I would double-dig as deep as 24" using the biointensive process, but, not on my land. The deeper I go, the bigger the rocks get and it's just too difficult to dig by hand. As it stands, I would guesstimate that we have dumped at least 5 wheelbarrows full of pure, screened rock over the cliff during the last few weeks.

The process is moving along at a slow, but steady pace. I wish the beds were complete, because I really need to get back to addressing the flooding issue that surrounds our side yard. I have to get the beds finished so I can move that dirt back out of my way before I can begin on the trench that will drain to the rain garden.

Seedlings Planted

2009-04-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

The first wave of seedlings went into their raised beds last night. We'll see how they do. Temps could still drop too low for them, but I had to make a choice - either lose them because they're too big for their pots, or lose them because they froze.

Now we can start new seeds, just in case.

Snow?

2009-04-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

It makes it a little difficult to harden off plants when it is snowing outside. I can't wait for my row cover fabric to get here!

A Happy Find

2009-03-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

I went to Fred Meyer last night in search of bamboo and was happy to find a pre-built bamboo teepee for less than it would have cost to buy 9 bamboo poles! This was truly a very happy find. We have space to plant around 13 of the poles, so, if sunlight is adequate, we should end up with a very lush pole bean teepee for the children to play in.

I love how the teepee is "closed" right now - that will give the plants time to establish before the children start to go inside. We'll place pavers on the floor of the teepee and plant thyme in between the pavers so the inside of the teepee will smell wonderful when the children do begin to play in it. After the plants are established, we'll cut a door into the teepee and the children will have their own little secret garden hideaway.

BTW... when the children saw it last night they were laughing and running around it and dancing. They are so excited about it!

Progress

2009-03-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've had a few people ask me where I have been. I seem to have fallen off the face of the earth. Well... my seeming disappearance does have something to do with earth. Couple that with the fact that I've been very sick for a week and a half with some bug I just can't get over, it's all I can do just to keep up with the task I'm working on outside.

Here's the "after" picture. This is where the side yard stands today. My 4-year-old daughter and I spent most of yesterday screening rocks out of the dirt and filling the holes where the tree and rhododendron once stood. She had fun, and was a big help. Her concern for every worm's safety was absolutely adorable!

While part of this task is because I am on a time crunch to get the children's garden beds in, but the most important reason I'm working so hard on this even while I'm as sick as I am is because of this nasty foundation crack (below). My husband thinks he should bring a professional in to look at and possibly repair the foundation cracks (there's a 2nd crack in the back of the house by our back bedroom).

This crack has expedited my work on this. It is why I will not stop until the trees are out and the drainage systems are in. Since those are tasks I know how to do, I'm OK with doing them. My husband doesn't hire anyone to help for anything whatsoever. I am not going to mess this up and end up with him changing his mind about bringing in a pro to deal with the cracks. I will get all the trees out, dig the roots out, get the ground excavated and the water flowing away from the house if that is what he wants to have done before he brings a pro in.

Back in time a couple of days... the tree shown below is gone. Whew! Thank goodness. This is how far I had the tree dug out when my husband got home from work on Sunday afternoon. All of the soil had been unearthed up to the huge taproots at the bottom. I just couldn't get below the taproots. I was so happy when my husband volunteered to take the tree down the rest of the way.

Here he is swinging an axe at the taproots. He got the tree out, chopped it in half and got rid of it. Let me tell you - that trunk was heavy!

While he was busy with digging the tree out, I got busy digging one of the trenches for drainage. I thought this might be long enough, but I guess not. He wants the trench to be very long and go through the front yard. We don't have sewer, so we don't have to pipe the water back into a sewer system. We just need to make sure the downspout drainage system is long enough and angled correctly to allow for adequate drainage. So, my next task is to cut out the sod (preserving it if possible) and continue digging a long trench. Then we'll partially fill it with gravel, attach a long corrugated drain pipe with a drain sleeve on it, top it with gravel and then put all the dirt and sod back. I have a lot of digging to do!

What comes next?

- Completion of the gutter drainage system
- Cutting down and digging out 1 more tree (barely visible on the left side of the picture above)
- Correcting the slope of the side yard
- Digging and building a 2nd French drain along the side yard in hopes to correct the side yard drainage problem (which is one reason we need to take out another tree)
- Install a gutter on the tool shed and connect it to the new side yard French drain. We're considering having it connected to a rain barrel as well.
- Installation of the children's garden beds (four 4'x4' square beds)

So, if my good friends are wondering where on earth I am... you would be right to assume that I'm bonding with God's good earth.

Photos of the Day

2009-03-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Seemingly happy seedlings - although leggy because I don't have a proper lighting set-up:

Larger seedlings thriving in their 4" soil blocks. They are wrapped in plastic because I used regular potting soil to make the soil blocks and not soil block mix. Seems to work OK. Time will tell.

Soil Blocking

2009-03-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

I have been using Jiffy Peat Pellets to start my plants. The cost of peat pellets adds up quickly. Walmart has 25 peat pellets for about $4. I recently stocked up on peat pellets, but when I run out, I will be in search of the 2" soil block maker. The cost for this sweet tool is around $32.00 and it can be used over and over.

Our weather hasn't been cooperating and I have been getting nervous that my large plant starts were not going to survive in the peat pellets much longer. I continued my quest for knowledge of how to deal with this problem. I wanted to minimize transplant shock as much as possible since I have lost plants in the past after transplanting them. I found a solution to my problem HERE with pictures posted by a guy known as SoCalDan. Go take a look... check out his homemade 4" soil blocker that was made using legos.

This guy had a brilliant idea - and let me tell you, it works! The cost of the 4" soil block maker is around $129.00. The cost of this home-made 4" version doesn't have much of a dollar amount associated with it. It cost about the price of a new sponge (I used the green scrubby part from a new sponge) and a few minutes of listening to my 7-year-old son exclaiming that his legos don't belong in the dirt (which is normally the case).

Here is a picture of my homemade 4" soil block system based on Dan's idea:

Transplanting a seedling:

Covering the seedling with soil:

Check out the directions to using the "real" soil block system. This PDF also give you the list of ingredients you need to make soil blocks that will hold together well. I used dampened potting to make my 4" soil blocks because that was all I had on hand at the time. It worked, but I don't know how well or how long they will hold together. You can read more about using regular potting soil with soil block makers HERE.

Thumbs Up!

2009-03-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Thumbs up to First Lady Michelle Obama! She's building a kitchen garden and having the children help plant and harvest. Now that's being a down-to-earth First Lady!

One Step at a Time

2009-03-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

My oldest son is home sick with a high fever. My youngest son is at preschool and my daughter, who doesn't go to preschool this year, was more than happy to take advantage of her big brother's sick-on-the couch cartoon watching time. So, while they were watching TV, I snuck out to work on the children's garden.

It was drizzling - but the temperature was close to 40° F so I was happy to be in the fresh, clean air. With all the inclement weather, I spent some time weeding and cleaning up tree debris. I love how easy it is to pop the weeds out of the ground when the earth is soaked. Then I tackled moving dirt and laying out the 2nd set of side boards for the raised garden bed. I need the short board laying to the left cut in half to make the end caps. The boards are not level - I'll tackle that after the end caps are cut. We still need to buy 5 more boards so we can get the raised bed the height we want it to be.

I cleared out the rose bed and am trying to decide if I want to extend it into the yard a bit so I can plant the three sisters garden (corn, beans, squash) in the bed. I moved some cottage stone into the bed, because if it is growing vegetables, I would like the bed to be raised. Saying "good-bye" to the last of the roses is no longer a sad thing for me. In our rainy weather, black spot is a nightmare to control, and, quite honestly, I'm done trying to deal with it.

After clearing out the rose bed, I had a hosta I didn't want to get rid of, so I planted it in this pot. I don't know how well it will do in a planter, but right now, I just don't know where I would want to put it. It will be a learning experience for the kids and I to see if it will grow in a container. Maybe the slugs will leave it alone if it's up high (wishful thinking).

Temporary Fixes and More Progress

2009-03-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Morning snow, followed by late morning rain, then wind, then sun, a bit of hail and now more rain. Mother nature has many moods today.

I have been tracking all the conditions of the side yard where the children's garden will be. This has included the way the sun falls, how the wind flows through and even where water accumulates. This particular side of the yard has a known drainage problem, and this morning I went out to check on it.

Today's storm hasn't been very bad, just strange, and yet flooding is still an issue. We DON'T want the water seeping into the vent beneath house any more. We had a pretty bad flood into the vent earlier this year, and we don't want that to happen again. When I realized the water was about to go in the vent, I went out to tackle the problem.

In this area the water accumulates in a large pool. I realized I should deal with this, too.

Water is seeping underneath the tool shed, and I knew I definitely should deal with that right away.

So I spent a good portion of the morning digging. Since I haven't yet called the gas company, I figured the safest place to dig was along the fence line.

I dug a long trench all the way alone the fence line. But, I needed somewhere for the water to flow to. Since the rhododendron needed to come out, I decided to dig it out and have the water flow to the hole where the rhododendron was.

It seemed to work great. The water now flows away from the house and shed, fills the hole and absorbs into the ground.

After it was finished, I decided that was enough for the day. The winds had picked up, and I was wet and cold. When I went to the door, Bob took one look at me and said "You're dirty!" I busted up laughing.

Now... you know, I may not have a thing for shoes, but I must say, I do LOVE my Hunter boots. Last summer Bob told me to get them because he knew I'd use them. I had a difficult time spending $80 on rubber boots - today, I am SO glad I did. I wear them all the time when I'm out and about in the yard. They were a good investment. Even with all the muck, mud and water, my feet stayed warm and dry.

Next project... digging out this tree. I think I need to call the gas company to get the gas lines marked first, though. After that, I think a French drain may be in order. I have installed one before so I know how to do it. I just don't want to accidentally take out a gas line in the process.

Progress

2009-03-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday afternoon the weather was beautiful, so I took advantage of it. I finished building the raised bed for the children's pole bean teepee. I mixed a bag of steer manure in with topsoil. I still need to add some compost to it. I took this picture this morning (Sunday). Yep, it snowed again. Thankfully, it turned to rain and washed away.

Friday evening, after the pole bean raised bed was complete, I tackled the rhododendron and tree that needed to come down. Bob helped me cut the larger branches down (sparing the neighbor's fence). It took me until late in the evening to haul the branches across the street so I could toss them over the cliff. That night I was so sore, I could hardly move.

The Sunflowers Kid Stuff continue growing in the garden window. I wonder how big they'll be before it warms up enough to transplant them. What is with this weather this year? We don't normally get snow like we've had this year.

The Lamb's Ear have been growing outside for the past few years. I transplanted them into this pot - it seems that they are hardy enough to deal with the many snows of the season.

Almost Spring?

2009-03-11T05:01:00.000-07:00

This is NOT what we wanted to see over the weekend. I took this picture on Sunday. It snowed Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was crazy! I can't wait for this long winter to be over so we can get back to the garden.

New Plans

2009-03-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

Plans have changed. The Pole Bean Tee Pee will now be in the backyard so the children can play in it whenever they wish. The children are not allowed in the front yard unless I am right there with them. We will plant the Tee Pee where the compost bin used to be. On Monday, I moved the compost bin and put it behind the children's shed. It's nice to no longer have to look at the compost bin. It's not the most attractive thing on earth. I’m hoping the late evening shade from the children’s shed won’t affect the growth of the Pole Beans. We’ll see. It’s all a learning experience!

In front, where the tree and rhododendron that we are removing are, we'll plant a butterfly garden. I'm still working on the design for it.

I'll post pictures that I took on Monday as soon as I get them downloaded.

Building a New Garden

2009-03-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

I worked in the children's garden until it was raining too hard and was feeling chilled. My 4-year-old daughter was out helping me. She picked up weeds and put them in her little bucket.

I shot this photo just before going inside. The brick raised bed was last year's children's garden. It will be removed and the new wooden raised bed will be about 16' long by 4' wide. There will be a walkway around the entire raised bed. This should help the children and I be able to reach the garden plants much easier.

I already started removing limbs off of this large tree that will be coming down. Taking the tree down will give the children's garden a lot more sunlight. The rhododendron will be removed, as well. It doesn't look very healthy. There is another tree to the left of the rhododendron and it casts a lot of shade on it. Part of me is sad to see these two plants go, but I'm excited about what we'll be placing in the space instead.

It's exciting to watch some of the seeds sprout in their little Jiffy pots. All six of our Kid Stuff Sunflower seeds have sprouted, five of our Marigolds have sprouted, two Gaillardia and one Moonwalker Sunflower have sprouted.

We're looking forward to see the changes that occur this week!

Try and Try Again

2009-02-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Last year was our first attempt at a children's garden. It didn't quite turn out the way we had hoped. We built a flower bed next to the house. An overgrown, un-pruned tree shaded part of the flower bed early in the day. I was afraid to let the children water the plants near the back of the bed because I didn't want water damaging the house foundation. We didn't mix in any nutrients into the soil, so the plants had to try and grow in plain old top soil. Many of the plants ended up being smashed by excited children trying to touch them.

Raccoons ate our pumpkins just as they began to turn orange. Fortunately, I had taken photos of two of them when they were green and growing on the vine so we have some record of their existence.

The carrots looked like mangled, dwarfed, conjoined twins - they looked so bad I wouldn't even let the children taste them for fear that they were severely diseased. I even speculated that the gas line that runs up to the house may have caused the mangled carrots. To this day, my husband chuckles at my theory.

I spent the year browsing gardening and children's gardening websites online and reading two books that were given to me by the author, Cindy Krezel. Cindy is the sister of a friend of mine, Marcie Krezel. If you are planning a children's garden, take a look at Cindy Krezel's books - they are wonderful books.

Kid's Container Gardening has some adorable ideas for creating year-around container gardens with children.

The book I find myself referring to over and over is 101 Kid-Friendly Plants. The book is an easy read, it is bright and colorful and it has wonderful ideas for what plants will work well in themed gardens. This year, the ideas we plan to implement in our children's garden include the "Five Senses Container Garden" and the "Butterfly Garden".

This year we hope our attempts at a fun-filled children's garden is much more successful. We are getting an earlier start. We are taking out the overgrown tree and an adjacent Rhododendron that no longer looks very healthy from being shaded for too long. We are taking out the raised bed we built last year and installing long narrow raised bed in the center of the space. The idea is to have a walkway all the way around the raised bed with easy access to all of the plants. We will be working compost and manure into the soil. We started out seeds in indoor Jiffy Pots to give them a good start. Where the large tree is right now, we plan to grow a pole bean Tee Pee for the children to play in. And, of course, we are starting to come up with some ideas to add a bit of whimsy to the children's garden - maybe we can find an old sink, or an old bike to plant flowers in for a decorative accent.

The children and I are looking forward to a fun-filled season growing a children's garden. Their daddy is even taking an interest - he wants to build an arch and small fence to give the children a grand entrance to their own little secret garden.