Tornados, Rain, Flooding

Photo taken by husband

I am thankful our yard drains well. It's sorta at a slant. Either way, I am supposed to be planting the summer garden seeds, but am thankful I put it off yesterday. We had tornados, rain, and flooding around the area with more expected today.

Within 15 minutes our property was a yard of flowing water. If I had planted my seeds yesterday they would have been washed to the other side of the yard!

Exhaustion and Relaxation

Spring Blooms

Once again the business of life has gotten in the way. I have not stopped gardening or planning, but I have stopped recording. I am thankful for April showers. We live in an area that receives a lot of rain, as well. This relieves my workload of daily watering the plants. It also increases my husband's workload of mowing more often.

 This is my favorite time of year at our house for the front yard. It's misting outside this morning so it's not quite as breath taking as in the sunshine, but it is still beautiful.

Update on Garden Bed 2 and 3

Before I move on to Summer Prep posts, here is an update on the Spring prep. You may recall Garden Bed 2, I planted back in March 15 and I added to Garden Bed 3. You may recall Garden Bed 3, I planted back on March 2.

My first discovery the seeds had actually survived was last week. Now for the progress photos!!!! *drum roll*

Romaine Lettuce

Celery

Spinach

Peas

The Beauty of it all

I couldn't resist snapping some neighborhood pics from my front porch. My flowers only receive the afternoon sun so they are not quite ready to bloom.

Beautiful Purple

Beautiful Red and White

My Yard is too Small

Spring Morning

We live on just over 2 acres. People mistakenly believe you must have more than 1 acre to have an operating homestead. For those of us who enjoy just vegetable and herb gardening, you can have no yard. Trees become vital in a large yard: for their shade (to prevent burnt grass in the heat of summer), minimize your mowing time, and provide a breeze. Here are some aspects to consider when opting for a bigger yard:

• How much money do you want to spend in gas for mowing?
• How much of your free time can you invest in maintenance?
• How often do you receive rain? This will definitely determine how fast your grass grows and how often you will have to mow your yard.

Here are some aspects to avoid when keeping your lawn mowed:

• Keeps bugs down. (They have no grass to live in.)
• Keeps your yard from shifting. When you just have dirt for a yard, any type of heavy rain will shift the layout of your land.
• Lowers the amount of dirt tracked in the house (but you will track in grass, lol).

 Gardens can grow vertically, in gutters, in pots, indoors, ect. There are a lot of good ideas on Pinterest on how to maximize the space of your yard. The only type of "space" you would need to consider is if you have larger livestock such as: pigs, horses, cows, and goats.

April Showers

Hearing the rain fall every few minutes, make me happy. Sometimes I will garden in drizzling rain. A few things to keep in mind when plants are wet.

• Wear gloves, for your plants. Plants do not like the oils of human skin.
• Assess the spots that are retaining water. The puddles can be slightly amended with wood chip mulch.
• Save your money and gather free mulch from your local tree cutting service.
• Avoid fancy mulch that uses chemicals to dye their mulch pretty colors.
• Incorporate crushed egg shells as your top layer to discourage crawling bugs from devouring your plants.
• If you have a rain barrel, make sure the netting is secure over the top to discourage mosquitoes.
• Remember standing water attracts mosquitoes. Either plant citronella and bright flowers such as marigolds, or find a way to rid the standing water.

Spring = Busy

Spring has caught up with me. Adding the simple chore of watering the plants each morning for 30 minutes has cut into my time. The only thing I can plant right now is summer squash. By the end of this month through the middle of May, I can plant all the summer plants.

The carrots are finally sprouting. I planted the carrots back and February and now understand that I should have just planted them the middle of March/end of March.

I have not forgotten to blog. Between birthday parties, cookouts, gardening, daily chores, and other events coming up next week my
motivation to write at night has dwindled.

Planting Almond Trees

Almond Tree bud Crook

We followed these guidelines when we went to plant our almond trees. I did get hung up on the whole bud crook part. Obviously the scion bud emerged on the right in this picture....right? Anyway, they're finally planted along with the fertilizer they came with.

When planting tiny trees be sure to mark their place with a rock big enough to see so that when you mow you don't mow over them....yea, guilty. :)

Mulch around trees. This is important because grass "kills" trees, not directly. Grass requires a lot of water and they prefer to the shade of trees, but because grass requires a lot of water, they soak up a lot of the water the young trees need. It is important to keep a mulch area around trees, especially when they are young to ensure proper watering.

Let It Be

Peas

I complained in a previous post - March 20th to be exact - how my garden was ruined because I planted too early. I told my native NC friend my disastrous attempt to not follow her advice. My favorite thing about "elderly" people? They are very forgiving in my experiences.

She didn't roll her eyes, or say, "didn't I tell you when to plant?", ect. She just encouraged me by saying, "don't worry, the seeds will still germinate when the temperature is right."

I didn't believe her....again. Yet, sure enough, this week all my lovely peas popped through. There are other greens that have poked through the soil, but I have no idea what they are....I think the curly leafy one is celery, but I'm not positive.

Blurry image of celery?

One lesson for sure, gardening exercises your faith! Your faith to believe in something you can not see. Your faith to believe in an occurrence you cannot observe.

Spring Blooms

Bradford Pear Tree

Azalea bush and ?

Back to reality, I live in NC. Here is what blooms first here in NC. During February and March, it is daffodils, tulips, Bradford Pear Trees, and such.

This is April, my favorite time of year in the North Carolinas for blossoms. There is the yellow blossoms of the above bush, which I don't know the name of. Azalea bushes will be in full bloom by the end of April through the middle of May.  Purple wildflowers, white wildflowers, dandelions, and such are in full glory this time of year as well.

I tried to capture the bees gathering nectar, but could not. I am so happy to see the bees and have purposely not mowed the grass yet so that they would come to our yard.

Warm Weather Plants

Orange Tree

Banana Trees

Lemon Tree

Hibiscus Tree

I grew up in Texas. My dream is to build a greenhouse for the plants I know how to grow. For now my favorite plants are kept indoor during the winter. These poor plants are going on 3 years old and they are brave little things....

Each winter these plants bear the least amount of sun and humidity. I focus on keeping them from going dormant as long as I can. Obviously, there is a difference of caring for them here in NC. Where I grew up, I never saw snow and the weather was warm, humid, and dry.

During the summers here, we water these plants every evening as the sun is going down. You want to not just water the soil. You want to spray these plants down, leaves and all. What I love most about these plants is that the leaves droop when they need water.

During the winter in NC, it is tricky. These plants love direct sunlight of over 12 hours....you can imagine what the winters do to the plant like that. During the least amount of sunlight, these plants leaves turn yellow and fall off. I barely water these plants during the winter and when I do it is from their basin to feed their roots more than their leaves and branches.

The Death Grip

Herb

Marigold

Continuing yesterday's theme, this is a picture of what happens to new plants.  These two leaves are considered the plants baby stage. When other leaves appear called the plants' "true leaves" , the plant can be transplanted outdoors. The problem with plants in the beginning stage is they are fragile. Plants do not like the oils on human's skin. I brushed up against that one marigold and within minutes it wilted. By the end of the day, it had withered. I call it the death grip.

When growing from seed indoors:

• Please, do not touch the plants with your bare skin
• Water the soil preferably into the dish and allow the soil to soak it up like a sponge.
• The greenhouse lid is needed only for the initial incubation.
• Personally, I like to rotate the greenhouse to ensure the plants grow straight.

Where to Begin?

Wildflowers in our yard

Where to begin? Last night was the "final straw" of mishaps for me. I pouted.  Today is a new day.

This weeks mishaps consisted of the following:

• Forgot my camera at my mom's house. (hence no posts here)
• Kids playing in the mud....which is fine, but they do not understand that after playing in the mud, they might as well stay in their clothes.....so yea, two laundry loads of muddy clothes
• The youngest deciding to carry the eggs to the house, cracking one egg and deciding to pick it up.
• The final straw: The kids shutting the lid to the portable green house. The heat fried my flowers and I cried.

I pouted while vowing that gardening was for adults with no responsibilities or children. I fumed about all the "patience" of waiting wasted. I bemoaned the fact that my precious marigolds had lost their chance to be planted with the spring plants. Here's to a new week of gardening.