Category Archives: Gardening

Garden transformation and what we’re eating

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Sandy

I’ve gardened for years, but most of my gardening experience has been with ornamental (as opposed to edible) plants.  When we moved into our house in 2002, we knew the yard needed a lot of work.  We had no idea that … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Clothesline season, garden disappointments, and corn

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Sandy

A beautiful sunny weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to kick off the clothesline season for the year.  As I’ve previously written, our highest electricity usage happens on the weekends, which is when I do all the laundry. On a … Continue reading →

Posted in Electricity usage, Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Mid-May planting: Beans, squash, cukes and melons

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Sandy

Sunday was a beautiful day to garden, which was great since I had a pretty long to-do list.  Above you can see one section of the garden.  The far raised beds are planted with raspberries.  The raised bed in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Photo album: Greenhouse in May and self-watering containers

Posted on May 3, 2009 by Sandy

Today, pretty much all my garden time was spent working on projects in the greenhouse. In spite of a weather forecast that predicted mostly cloudy weather today, it was really mostly sunny, making the greenhouse quite warm. I opened up the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Gawky chicks and the indoor phantom insects return!

Posted on April 28, 2009 by Sandy

A few things for my quick post today. First, I noticed more insect damage under the grow lights yesterday. As you can see in the lower right, one of the watermelon seeds was cut down.  So the seedling damage continues.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Under the grow lights: The summer crops emerge

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Sandy

Last weekend, I seeded my summer crops.  As you can see, I’m having really good germination and early growth under the new grow lights.  In these 28 pots, I have three types of cucumbers (Alibi, Green Slam, and Boothby’s Blonde), … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Help! Something is chopping down my seedlings

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Sandy

Ok, I need some help with a quick diagnostic here.  Something is chopping down my pepper seedlings.  The plants, as you can see, are chopped off at the base.  These seedlings are indoors under the grow lights.  The plants did have … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged | 8 Comments

Seeding for summer and more blueberries!

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Sandy

We had a colder than usual winter and a number of my more tender lavender plants (Spanish lavender) died. This left a section of our yard looking quite a mess. Today, I tackled removing all the dead lavenders and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Tomato before & after and plum in bloom

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Sandy

Previously, I mentioned that my LED grow light system was not working out well. The plants were too leggy and were not maturing as fast as they should.  I broke down and purchased a new light system before the next … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Photo album: Raspberry beds, Walla Walla sweet onions, rhubarb, lettuce box, greenhouse in April, and baby chicks

Posted on April 12, 2009 by Sandy

In this picture you can see our two new raised beds for raspberries. Yesterday, Derek built the first set of supports for  the raspberry canes. You can also see the composter in this picture.  I’m mostly using this composter to quickly … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Homesteading | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments