Mulch and fish

Kev helped me the other day to put mulch - what was left from David's foray into the wonderful world of mowing the lawn (not something he has had a lot of practice doing) -around all our plants. I remember Kev throwing vegetable and fruit scraps into the soil as well as the usual grass clippings. But, I read an online article and Little House said that you can also use all those leftover tea bags and coffee filters. Kev said that if we bury the carcasses of all the fish that died in our pond (we think it may have been a lack of oxygen in the water and many of our goldfish passed on in the past two days) that the plants would shoot up.

I'll try to remember to recycle our tea bags, coffee filters, and food scraps, but I'm really not relishing burying all those dead fish in the garden.

ONLINE ARTICLE:

How to Make Your Own Mulch: A Beginner's Guide for the Lazy Composter by: Little House (http://www.wisebread.com/how-to-make-your-own-mulch-a-beginners-guide-for-the-lazy-composter)

Weeds

Lemon Verbena and Peppermint

Peas and Zucchini (and lots of weeds)

We've had a good amount of rain recently and the newly planted veggies have really shot up. But, what also has shot up are the weeds! Everything on the right side of the picture are weeds. I cleared most of those away today and planted what I believe to be carrots (I lost track of which seeds were which a few weeks ago) near the tomatoes and peas.

The zucchini plants are spreading out at a tremendous rate. I'm hoping that we don't get the blight that killed our zucchini plants last year. The leaves got all moldy and the plants eventually died. I did read recently that some people use chamomile tea and spray it on the leaves. I may try it this year if it happens again.

Almost ready

We're almost ready to plant the rest of the plants we started as seeds a few weeks before. Hopefully with all the rain we've been getting lately they should take as nicely as the plants we put in the ground last weekend.

Peas Were First

The peas were ready first. I had never seen peas from a pod before. Kev and I didn't wait to cook them. We just sucked them right out. They were surprisingly sweet.

Heirloom Seeds

Last year, I played around with a few tomato plants and herbs bought from Walmart and a few of the local nurseries. Over the winter months, I read a few books and magazines on gardening and I thought that I'd like to try my hand at growing heirloom veggies from seed. I did an Internet search and came up with a company called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I was astounded at the number of varieties of different types of vegetables.

A few months back I purchased seeds for:

• Emerald Evergreen Tomatoes
• Stevia (leaves taste like sugar)
• Toothache Plant (supposed to enhance the immune system, improve digestion, and help with nausea)
• Borage (leaves that taste like cucumbers and are added to salads; pretty flowers, too)
• Lemon Cucumbers
• Yellow Strawberries
  

The tomatoes shot up right away. I lost track of which was stevia and which was borage. I guess I'll figure that out when they come up fully. Kev and I already planted the tomatoes and cucumbers, but we're waiting for the others to mature a little more before they go in the ground.

I then bought some small plants from Walmart and some neighborhood nurseries:

• "Early Girl" and "Beefsteak" Tomatoes (in a planter, but I think they will be transplanted in "the field" where they will get more light and growing room)
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Sweet Basil
• Eggplants - deep purple and ghost white
• Thai Basil - withering : (
• Lemon Verbena : -) smells divine
• 2 Peppermint plants that are growing all over the place
• Sage
• Thyme
• 2 Zucchini
• Peas
• Beans (from seed)
  
• 1 Cayenne pepper & 1 Jalapeno pepper plant
• 4 small Red Bell Pepper plants and 2 Green Bell Pepper plants
• Slicing cucumbers
• a variety of Carrots (which I'm not sure I even started from seed yet...00ps)
• Broccoli (from seed)
• Watermelon (from seed)

A friend of mine at work also gave us a bunch of garlic chives to plant.

This is all quite a departure from the few tomato plants and herb window garden I'm used to.

In the beginning...

I don't know what made me want to begin this blog except that I wanted to get more into the computer age as well as document something that I thought I'd never do.

I grew up and spent more than 25 years living in Queens, New York which was about 20 minutes by Long Island Railroad from Manhattan. I was in love with the city - from the Broadway plays to the clubs to the museums and all the great things the city offers. Like many people from Queens, I refer to "the city" as Manhattan. But, in reality, Queens is the city...just with more grass in places.

Year after year, I saw that my little neighborhood in Queens seemed to get more and more congested as well as the houses getting very expensive. So, after being married about 3 years (my second marriage) we decided to buy a four-bedroom ranch near Selden, NY. It was a nice piece of property so much larger than anything I would have every believed I would have ever lived on.

I began to dabble in growing tomatoes and planting flowers. But, most of the flowers were perennials so there was little work involved and somehow I didn't kill the roses even thought I forgot to water them often. I can't say as much for the wandering jew and other house plants friends had given my as housewarming presents. Oh, well.

When my marriage ended two years ago, my son and I had discovered that we had fallen in love with the wide-open spaces of Suffolk county. Although it would have been more practical to move closer to the middle school I worked at in Queens, I couldn't bring myself to leave. So, instead of moving closer, I wound up moving a little further out.

Today, my boyfriend and I rent a small house on a few acres of land in Suffolk county...long ago a horse farm. So, there is plenty of room for trying out gardening. Kev, originally from Long Island, has a real green thumb. I'm hoping that it can transfer by osmosis...